Monday Morning Shootaround: Kansas, Louisville, and Michigan State all pick up big wins

Louisville 62, Marquette 58: Louisville got 16 points off the bench from senior Andre McGee as the Cardinals kept pace with UConn atop the Big East standings. Terrence Williams added 14 points, 8 boards, and 7 dimes for the Cardinals, who also got 10 points and 13 boards from Earl Clark. Playing their first game without Dominic James, who broke his foot on Wednesday against UConn, Marquette had a valiant effort, and may have even won the game if Jerel McNeal had shown up (he finished with 10 points on 3-19 shooting). Mo Acker had an up-and-down performance starting his first game. He finished with just 3 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists, going 1-5 from the floor (all from three, which included one that rattled out with under a minute left that would have cut the lead to one), but he had just 2 turnovers in 33 minutes, and for the most part, played some harassing defense on Louisville's guards. While Marquette is clearly no where near the team they were with James running the show, this performance should show you that the Eagles are still a team that can knock someone off come tournament time.

Rick Pitino is undefeated in his Colonel Sanders costume.
(Photo credit: Ed Reinke/AP)

In other news, Rick Pitino is now 2-0 wearing the all-white suit. Well, maybe you can't give the suit credit for last year's win against Georgetown (remember, he changed at halftime).

Kansas 90, Missouri 65: For the second time this season, the Tigers allowed Kansas to jump all over them early in the game. Last month in Columbia, they were able to come back from a 30-16 halftime deficit to win. On Sunday, not so much. Kansas used an 18-1 run early and never looked back, opening up a 26 point half time lead. Sherron Collins finished with 25 points and 6 assists, Cole Aldrich had 19 points and 14 boards, and Tyshawn Taylor added 15 and 6 dimes. The biggest difference in this game was turnovers. In their first meeting, the Jayhawks had 27 turnovers, including many down the stretch as Mizzou made their comeback. Sunday, they had just 16, while shooting 56% from the floor (and 8-14 from deep).

Michigan State 74, Illinois 66: Michigan State clinched at least a share of the Big Ten title as they were able to hold off a second half Illinois comeback. The Spartans had taken a 41-30 lead early in the half, but thanks to the post presence of Mike Tisdale, Illinois was able to tie the game up at 58. At 7'1", Tisdale has a feathery touch around the rim, and a jumper that he can hit out to about 19 feet. When he adds some meat to his bones (he can't weigh more than about 230 lb right now), he is going to be a tough match-up. He finished this game with 15 points on a series of jump-hooks and jump shots, but didn't score in the last nine minutes of the game. Why? Because Tom Izzo out seldom used Idong Ibok on him. Ibok, who was seeing his first court action since February 17th, is 6'11", 260 lb, and was able to keep Tisdale from being able to establish position and score in the post. Kalin Lucas, who finished with 18 points and 4 assists, hit a lay-up with about five minutes to go to give MSU their final lead.

The rest of Sunday's action:

• Tennessee 79, Florida 75: Tennessee led 59-43 midway through the second half, but Erving Walker's hot hand helped lead the Gators back. Florida was down 75-72 with under a minute left, but Walker had a three from the corner tipped by Scottie Hopson, and the Vols held on the win. Tyler Smith had 19 points and Wayne Chism added 18. Tennessee moved into a tie in first place in the SEC East with South Carolina, while Florida dropped back into a second place tie with Kentucky. The biggest question for me right now is whether or not you can give the SEC East four bids this year. Tennessee has to be in. They top 30 in the RPI, have played the third toughest schedule in the country, and currently lead the SEC East. South Carolina and Florida have mid-40's RPI numbers, but neither has put together much of a resume. SC is 1-4 against the top-50, but they are 5-1 against 51-100. Florida has a win against Washington, but not much else (and they've played the 93rd toughest schedule). Kentucky is the most interesting case. They've beaten West Virginia, Tennessee twice, and Florida, but they also have losses to South Carolina (twice), Mississippi, Mississippi State, and who can forget their game against VMI. Kentucky and Florida play in the last game of the regular season, meaning that one of them is going to finish the year 9-7 in the SEC. Is a 9-7 SEC NCAA worthy, over a team like Providence or Miami?
• Providence 73, Rutgers 66: The Friars picked up a key win in their pursuit of an at-large bid thanks to 28 points from Weyinmi Efejuku (on just 7 shots). The Friars were up 19 in the second half before Rutgers went on a 16-0 run to cut the lead to three. But five straight points from Jeff Xavier ended that threat. PC is now 10-7 in the Big East, but even with the win against Pitt, the Friars are probably going to need to beat Villanova on the road if they want to ensure a trip to the dance. If they don't, they probably need to have a good showing in NYC during the Big East Tourney.
• Wisconsin 60, Michigan 55: In a game with all sorts of bubble/Big Ten tourney implications, the Badgers got 19 points from Trevon Hughes as Wisconsin took control in the second half. The Wolverines made a run at the end, but Jason Bohannon hit two free throws to seal it with 5.7 seconds left (before that, however, the Badgers had missed four of eight from the line). The win means that Wisconsin moves into a tie in fourth place (at 9-7) with Penn State (meaning those two would get the first round bye in the Big Ten tourney) a game ahead of three teams. Michigan, at 8-9 in the league, is a half game out of sixth.
• Maryland 71, North Carolina State 60: Maryland really helped their cause in trying to earn an NCAA bid as they were in control most of the way. Greivis Vazquez took over in the second half, scoring 21 of his 33 points and finishing with 5 assists. With wins over UNC and Michigan State, if the Terps win at Virginia and reach .500 in the ACC, they have a good case for an at-large bid, especially if they win their first round ACC tourney game. If they can knock off Wake Forest at home, then they should be a lock. At the end of the game, Vazquez once again reminded people why he might be the most hated player outside of Greg Paulus. With the game in hand, he started jawing with some fans in the student section, before hitting an unguarded three at the buzzer. At least he says he regrets it (although more than likely he is just trying to avoid a beat down from Ben McAuley next time he plays the Wolfpack).
  
• Syracuse 87, Cincinnati 63: The Orange baffled the Bearcats with their zone in the first half, holding Cinci to 17 points on just 6-30 shooting and 1-15 from deep (why Cincinnati, a team with one shooter, took 15 three's in a half is beyond me). Jonny Flynn had 17 and 7 dimes for the Orange. For Cinci, the loss is bad for two reason's - it really hurts their NCAA tourney chances (they need to win out to get above .500 in the league, and even that may not be enough), but the loss also drops them to ninth, a game behind West Virginia and Syracuse, in the Big East standings. 5-8 gets a bye in the first round of the Big East Tourney.
• West Virginia 64, South Florida 50: The Mountianeers moved into a tie for seventh in the Big East with a win over the Bulls. Alex Ruoff had 13 of his 16 in the second half, and WVU used a 12-1 run to open the second half to blow the game open.