Saturday Roundup

Hope Thanksgiving leftovers treated everyone well. A lot of action in the pre-season tournaments last night. 

Pre-season NIT Finals:

• Oklahoma 87, Purdue 82 OT: Despite being double and triple teamed all night, Blake Griffin still managed to put up 18 points and 21 boards. Taylor Griffin added 19 points, but it was the play of the Sooner guards that won this game for them as Willie Warren scored 22, Austin Johnson had 11, and Cade Davis added 10. E'Twaun Moore led the Boilermakers with 22 while Nemanja Calasan added 20 and 8. The game ended in a bit of controversy. Down 81-80 with 40 seconds left Purdue turned the ball over, but seemingly forced a Oklahoma turnover on the ensuing possession. An inadvertent whistle by the ref (he thought Oklahoma called a time out) gave the Sooners possession on a jump ball. Purdue was forced to foul and OU hit their free throws down the stretch.
• Boston College 83, UAB 77: Tyrese Rice scored all of his 24 points in the second half as the Eagles rallied to beat the Blazers. UAB got 29 points and 8 boards from Lawrence Kinnard and 22 and 9 from Robert Vaden (although Vaden, who struggled in both games in NYC, was just 8-27 from the floor).

Old Spice Classic:

• Gonzaga 81, Maryland 59: Josh Heytvelt led Gonzaga with 22 points and 9 rebounds while shooting 9-10 from the floor and Austin Daye added 17 and 10 as the 'Zags outscored the Terps 29-13 during one stretch to push a one point lead to 17. Maryland, who shot 9-19 from deep in their romp of Michigan State, was just 1-13 from the floor.
• Tennessee 90, Georgetown 78: Tyler Smith led the Vols with 21 points and Bobby Maze added 14 points and 9 dimes (and 0 turnovers), but it was the play of Cameron Tatum off the bench that made the difference in this game. Tennessee outscored the Hoyas 33-13 in the last six minutes and Tatum scored 14 of his 17 during that run. Chris Wright led the Hoyas with 18.
• Michigan State 94, Oklahoma State 79: Raymar Morgan scored 29 points in 23 minutes off the bench and sparked a 28-5 Spartan run that turned a 14-7 deficit into a 36-19 lead. Terrel Harris led the Cowboys with 21. 
• Wichita State 72, Siena 70: It looks like Gregg Marshall might finally be turning things around for the Shockers. Clevin Hannah had 19 and Toure Murry added 18 as Wichita State had their second straight strong performance (they gave Georgetown all they could handle on Thursday). Siena was led by Edwin Ubiles, who had 20 and 8.

76 Classic:

• Baylor 87, Arizona State 78: LaceDarius Dunn had 27 points including two three's in a 14-0 run midway through the second half that pushed the lead to 15. What have I been saying about Baylor? God, I hate it when I'm right. James Harden led the Sun Devils with 32.
• Wake Forest 82, UTEP 79: The Demon Deacons got 29 points from Jeff Teague as they held off a game UTEP team. Stefon Jackson had 31 for the miners, who have looked tough in their first two games in Anaheim.
• St. Mary's 79, Cal St. Fullerton 54: Patty Mills had 21 points and 6 assists, Diamon Simpson had 12 and 17 boards, and Omar Samhan added 14 and 14 as the Gaels ran all over the Titans in the second half.
• Providence 67, Charlotte 62: The Friars trailed by 10 at the half and 5 with 3:00 to go but rallied to knock off Charlotte. Providence scored the last 10 points of the game and forced 13 second half turnovers.

Other games to take note of:

• West Virginia 87, Iowa 68 (Las Vegas Invitational)
• Kentucky 74, Kansas State 72 (Las Vegas Invitational)
• Pittsburgh 80, Texas Tech 67 (Legends Classic)
• Washington State 63, Mississippi State 52 (Legends Classic)
• Duke 95, Duquense 72
• Dayton 60, Auburn 59 OT: Dayton set a record by going 0-24 from deep. And still bat Auburn. The SEC is terrible.
• Illinois 69, Kent State 63 OT
• Charleston 82, South Carolina 80 OT: What was I saying about the SEC?
• Syracuse 73, Virginia 70
• Kansas 85, Coppin State 53
• California 73, UNLV 55
• Tulsa 67, Texas A&M 56
• Villanova 64, Towson 47
• Marquette 73, Northern Iowa 43
• Florida State 58, Cincinnati 47
• USC 70, UT-Martin 43

Games of note today:

• 12:00 PM: Milwaukee (3-3) @ Wisconsin (4-1)
• 1:00 PM: Bryant (1-2) @ UConn (5-0)
• 3:30 PM: Stetson (2-2) @ Miami FL (3-1)
• 4:30 PM: Miami OH (2-2) @ Xavier (5-0)
• 5:30 PM: Texas Tech (4-1) vs. Mississippi State (5-1)
• 5:30 PM: Texas A&M (4-1) vs. Kent State (3-1)
• 8:00 PM: Pitt (6-0) vs. Washington State (5-0)
• 8:00 PM: Dayton (5-0) vs. Marquette (5-0)
• 8:00 PM: Cincinnati (4-1) vs. UNLV (5-1)
• 8:30 PM: Villanova (5-0) vs. Rhode Island (5-1)
• 10:30 PM: Florida State (6-0) vs. Cal (5-0)
• 10:30 PM: Kentucky (3-2) vs. West Virginia (4-0)