-Here are the rest of the games from Saturday:
- Arizona 87, Oregon 77: Chase Budinger had 25 and 9 in the win.
- Michigan State 75, Indiana 47: Draymond Green had career-highs of 15 points and 12 boards.
- West Virginia 86, Providence 59
- Kansas State 65, Texas A&M 60: Fred Brown hit two three's in the last minute to seal the win for the Aggies.
- Utah 80, Wyoming 70
- South Carolina 79, Georgia 68
- Missouri 82, Iowa State 68
- Charleston 77, Davidson 75: Charleston blocked a three by Steph Curry at the buzzer as Charleston snapped the Wildcats 43 game Southern Conference winning streak.
- Iowa 56, Northwestern 51: Huge loss for the Wildcats, as this is a big blow to their tournament hopes.
- Florida State 65, Clemson 61: The Seminoles were down 44-25 with 14 minutes left in the game, but Toney Douglas scored 12 of his 23 points in a 24-4 run as the Seminoles knocked off the 'Canes in regulation.
- Duquense 72, Xavier 68: Duquense shot 81% in the first half as they opened up a 15 point lead. The Dukes stretched that lead in the second half, and X never got closer than ten the rest of the way.
- Butler 69, Wright State 51
- Ohio State 64, Minnesota 58: Evan Turner led the charge for the Buckeyes with 18, 10 boards, and 4 dimes
- Texas Tech 83, Kansas 76
- Arizona State 49, Oregon State 38
- Memphis 68, Gonzaga 50
-UConn held on to their #1 seed as they were able to hold on against a very game Michigan squad. The difference in this one, as is usual with UConn, was the play of Hasheem Thabeet. The big fella controlled this game, notching 17 points, 12 boards, and 6 blocks. Stu Douglass did his best to keep the Wolverines, scoring a career high 20 points (hitting six threes), but the Huskies were too much. Michigan went on a 9-0 run midway through the first half, but aside from that they could never really get anything going offensively.
-A couple games to get you updated on.
North Carolina shook off a slow start to beat Virginia 76-61. The one thing that stood out to me in this game was the Carolina defense. It wasn't that they were forcing a ton of turnovers or blocking a ton of shots, but they just made everything difficult for Virginia - the Cavs had 40 points with six minutes left. Wayne Ellington led the Heels with 20, 6 boards, and 6 dimes. Danny Green had 17.
Kansas roughed up on Oklahoma State 78-67 in a game that was never really close. Cole Aldrich led four Jayhawks in double figures with 12 and 18 boards.
-One more score to update you on. Nebraska knocked off Texas on the strength of 17 points from Ade Dagunduro, including a three pointer to give the Huskers the lead with 50 seconds left. It is the third straight loss for Texas, who does not look like the same team that beat UCLA and Villanova earlier in the season. They are getting great play on the interior from Damion James and Dexter Pittman, who is turning into a beast on the block, but their guards have not been very impressive of late. They are still trying to figure out their point guard situation, and as a result, AJ Abrams isn't getting as many good looks as he did last year.
That said, Nebraska is a better team than they have been traditionally. The other two losses in the streak? An OT game they dropped to K-State when Denis Clemente went for 44, and a game against Missouri, who looks like they will be in the mix atop the Big XII. So if you're a Longhorn fan, don't worry just yet. they will turn it around.
-Duke looks like they have gotten past their slump. After losing two of three (including a 27 point drubbing at the hands of the Clemson Tigers where Duke managed a meager 47 points), the Devils came out in this one and just looked bad. It wasn't like they weren't playing hard, however. It was more a case of the Devils waiting for someone to step up and be a go-to scorer. Kyle Singler was struggling and Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson were playing tentative.
I've been saying this the entire year. Duke is only a great team with Henderson and Scheyer step up and play like stars. They need to be 15-17 ppg guys for this team to really be a Final Four contender. Kyle Singler, as good as he is, is more of a complimentary guy. He's not going to take over a game scoring wise. He will draw charges. He will knock down open shots. He will rebound. He will defend. But he isn't a lead scorer.
With 17 minutes to go and down 38-22, the Blue Devils figured it out. Gerald Henderson scored 18 of his 19 after halftime, including 14 in a 24-4 run that gave Duke a 46-42 lead. Jon Scheyer finished with 22 points, breaking out of a horrendous shooting slump.
I hate to be cliche, but Duke finally got their swagger back. When I watch this team play, there are a lot of times where I just say to myself "Duke's going to win this game". It is like that with any great team. Watching them play Wake Forest, Clemson, and Miami during the first half, I wondered where that team was. But once the Devils got rolling in the second half, you knew they were going to win.
Whether its Paulus slapping the floor on defense (which I hate, by the way), the underrated Dave McClure coming up with every loose ball, or Duke's wings knocking down big shot after big shot, Duke just gets this look like "there is no way these fools are beating us."
You could see that in the Devils when they made that second half run.
Miami looked impressive, however. If they could close out overtime games, they would be sitting at 7-3 in the league. So far this year, they have lost to Virginia Tech, NC State, and now Duke in OT.
The Hurricanes gets UNC next. The Hurricanes are two-thirds of the way through a three game stretch against Wake, Duke, and the Heels. Their record may not be great right now, but if the 'Canes happen to beat the Heels, this has got to be a tourney team, right? I mean, how many schools can beat Wake, take Duke to OT in Cameron, and knock off UNC back-to-back?
Jack McClinton, who always gets lost in the discussion for ACC player of the year, was outstanding today. He went for 34 points, and just about single-handedly kept Miami in this one down the stretch.
-Some score updates:
- Oklahoma 77, Colorado 72: Blake Griffin finished with 26 and 12 and Tony Crocker added 24, hitting 7-11 from three.
- UCLA 89, Notre Dame 63: The Irish got embarrassed as their losing streak has been extended to seven. Alfred Aboya had 19 and 7 boards.
- Rider 90, Siena 88: The Saints lost their first game in the MAAC, which really will hurt their chances of getting an at large bid, considering they whiffed on all of their games against big-time opponents. Rider hit 11-19 three's in the win.
- Pitt 92, DePaul 69: DeJuan Blair had 32 points and 14 rebounds (9 offensive), Levance Fields had 13 points and 12 assists, and Sam Young finished with 10 and 10.
-Tennessee lost to Auburn on the road, 78-77. Kovortney Barber, who finished the game with 21 points, scored with six seconds left for the win. I know I always say that a loss on the road in conference is forgivable. But with the position that Tennessee is in right now, it may not be. With the loss, the Vols drop to 14-8 and just 5-3 in a weak SEC.
I don't know what it is with Tennessee this year. It's not a lack of talent. Tyler Smith, Wayne Chism, Scottie Hopson, Bobby Maze, Cam Tatum, JP Prince - all of these guys can play and they all have the physical tools to excel in Bruce Pearl's system. Personally, I think that it is chemistry issues. This team just doesn't look like they mesh, and they don't seem to play together well. A lot of what they do on the offensive end turns into guys going 1-on-1 or forcing up three's.
I don't want to say that the Vols are in trouble just yet, but they better start winning some games. They may be Tennessee, but if they end up, say, 9-7 in the SEC (not a stretch considering they still have to go to Kentucky, South Carolina, and and Florida), is that enough to get in?
-Dante Cunningham finished with 31 points and 10 boards as Villanova hung on to beat Syracuse for their fifth straight win. 'Nova is now 7-3 in the conference, with their last two wins coming over Pitt and Syracuse. I wrote about him earlier today, but Cunningham has really developed, so much so that he will most likely end up getting drafted come June, which is quite impressive considering he averaged a mere 2.2 ppg as a freshman.
Syracuse, on the other hand, again came out flat. I like this Orange this year. I love Jonny Flynn, and I think that the Orange are as talented as any team in the country. But they need to come out ready to play. Every game. When they finally woke up today, they were down by 19 points and Villanova was rolling.
I hate to say it because I respect him as much as anyone in the profession, but I blame Jim Boeheim. You have to know that your team has been struggling all season with coming out ready to play. We are now in February and more than midway through the conference schedule. Why is this still a problem?
Maybe a bigger issue for the Orange right now is the right knee of Arinze Onuaku. He is clearly not 100% right now. Not the best athlete in the world to begin with, he has no spring in his legs. It hurts just watching him try and get up and down the floor. I respect that he is out there trying to work through it, but at a certain point it might be better to just take off a week or two and see if you can't get that thing healthy (although it is tendonitis, which may not get better in a week).
-A couple scores to keep an eye on: Tennessee is down 67-66 at Auburn with 7:27 left; Texas is down 18-13 early at Nebraska; and DePaul is beating Pitt at home 25-23 midway through the first half.
-Cincinnati hangs on to beat Georgetown 64-62. No one hit a field goal in OT, but the difference ended up being two free throws by Deonta Vaughn. Huge win for the Bearcats, equally big loss for the Hoyas, who are getting close to the edge of the bubble (although, with how weak it is this year, they should be fine). The bottom line is that you cannot lose home games in the Big East. The conference is just too good. Cinci is now 16-8 and 6-5 in the league with two wins over G'Town and one over Notre Dame. They still have a tough schedule to play (including four in a row against Pitt, Louisville, West Virginia, and Syracuse), but assuming they lose all four of those (which isn't a given) the Bearcats would still finish 9-9 in the league. Is that enough?
Another noteworthy score - just days after Miami beat Wake Forest by 27 and Duke lost to Clemson by 27, the Hurricanes are putting it on Duke, up 32-19 at the half in Cameron. McClinton has 10 for the Hurricanes.
-Georgetown and Cincinnati has gone to OT in DC. If Cincinnati wins this game, they are all of a sudden back into the conversation as far as at-large bids are concerned. Alvin Mitchell hit a three with a minute left to tie the game and force the extra period.
-Notre Dame has dug themselves a big hole in Pauley Pavilion, getting down by as much as 16 (although they cut it back to 10 at 28-18). I think the bottom line is that Notre Dame just is not that good this year. They are essentially a two-man team. Tory Jackson is a good point guard, but he has been turning the ball over much more of late. Ryan Ayers has lost confidence in his jumper. Luke Zeller, Zach Hillesland, Jonathon People - they just aren't good enough to be relied upon, especially for a team that wants to be an elite Big East squad.
The Irish had a lot of the same issues that the Orange had in their first half. They've been turning the ball over too much, they haven't been hitting open shots, and their defense has been porous, allowing UCLA to shoot well over 50% (their defense is horrendous as it is - Cincinnati is not a good offensive team and they put up 93 on the Irish). Unless ND can make a big comeback in the second half, their season is just about done.
Don't be surprised if you start hearing rumors about Mike Brey's job being in jeopardy. I like the guy. He runs a pretty clean program. His guys tend to stay out of trouble (and when they get into trouble, they get punished - ask K-Mac). But when you have a 1-2 punch of Kyle McAlarney and Luke Harangody, and you are all put written off as a tournament team in early February, some people are not going to be happy.
Since the ND-UCLA and Cuse-Nova games are blowouts, I'm putting on Duke-Miami. It is 14-11 right now, and Jon Scheyer just knocked down back-to-back three's, which is a good sign because he has been struggling of late.
-End of the first half, and Syracuse has gotten it down to
Everyone played well for Villanova, but the best player on the floor was Dante Cunningham, who had 18, 4 boards, and 2 assists. He has improved so much this season. Before, he was mostly just a rebounder/hustle guy, but now he has a solid back-to-the-basket game, and a deadly jumper out to about 17 feet. He might even end up being a first round pick. Just goes to show you what four years in college can do for a kid.
Switching over to the Notre Dame-UCLA game for a while.
-Villanova is destroying Syracuse. The Wildcats are much better than I have been giving them credit for. When they are at their best, their perimeter defense swarming. And that is exactly what they are doing today. Syracuse cannot get into any rhythm offensively as they keep turning the ball over. And when they do get shots, they are missing (as a team they are 3-14 from the field, and Rick Jackson has hit all three field goals). It is a good thing that 'Nova keeps on fouling jump shooters, because is the Orange weren't getting to the line, they would be down by much more than 19 with eight minutes left.
But the biggest issue for the Orange right isn't their offense - it's their defense. Villanova is doing what ever they want and getting any shot that they want. Syracuse just isn't active in their zone. There is no ball pressure, they are allowing cutters to run free, and when the Wildcats swing the ball around they are getting wide open jumpers. Bottom line - Syracuse just wasn't ready to play.
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