Saturday Recap

Here is a quick recap of the games from Saturday

• Villanova 89, UCLA 69: The Wildcats absolutely dominated the Bruins from the tip. They were more physical, more active, and simply wanted it more. Dante Cunningham led Nova with 18 points and 10 boards, but Reggie Redding and Corey Fisher were the two best players on the floor. Redding finished the game with 13 points, 6 boards, 7 assists, and 4 steals, while Fisher added 13 points, 5 assists, and a number of tough buckets at the rim. It was a bit of a disappointing showing for the Bruins, who had been to the Final Four the last three years.
  
• Memphis 89, Maryland 70: Memphis once again was on fire from three, hitting 10-19 from beyond the arc, as the Tigers ran Maryland off the floor. It was a different type of win for Memphis, who usually beats teams with their defense. The Tigers shot 70% from the field in the first half as they scored 53 points and took a 20 point lead into the break (in contrast, the Tigers beat Tulane 51-41 earlier this season). Tyreke Evans led five players in double figures with 19 points and 5 assists.
  
• UConn 92, Texas A&M 66: The Huskies got Jim Calhoun back on the bench after the coach spent a night in the hospital, and UConn went on to blow out the Aggies on the strength of 27 points and 8 assists from AJ Price and 23 points from Jeff Adrien. UConn was in control for the entire way, as they scored the first 10 points of the game and were up by double digits for the last 32 minutes of play.
• Purdue 76, Washington 74: Purdue had been up 14 points earlier in the second half, but the Huskies had cut the lead to two, and had the ball with about a minute left. Isaiah Thomas, was had scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half, drove into the paint and a decent look at a floater, but JaJuan Johnson blocked it. Washington got the ball back, and it ended up in Quincy Pondexter's hands, who tried a 12 footer. Johnson, once again, blocked the shot, and Purdue got the ball back with under a minute left. The Boilermakers would go on to make their free throws and hold on to beat the Huskies. Johnson was the best player on the floor for Purdue, as he finished the game with 22 points, 6 boards, and 4 blocks.The Boilermakers advance to face UConn.
  
• UNC 84, LSU 70: LSU looked as if they were going to give the Heels all they could handle. After trailing 38-29 at the half, the Tigers started out the second half on a 13-3 run to take a one point lead. But that is when Ty Lawson took over. He seemingly aggravted his toe injury in the first half, but the point guard was the best player on the floor down the stretch. He scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half, and was, without a doubt, the best player on the floor for UNC. He also had 6 assists and 0 turnovers in 31 minutes. Marcus Thornton had 25 for the Tigers, but it was not enough as he took a number of contested jump shots down the stretch.
• Oklahoma 73, Michigan 63: Blake Griffin was beat up. Again. He landed hard on his back after Manny Harris undercut him on a rebound, was given a bloody nose on an elbow from Zak Novak, and also split open his elbow. But it didn't matter, as Griffin still muscled his way to 33 points and 17 rebounds. Michigan was in it in the first half, but Oklahoma went on a 12-2 to open up the second half (Griffin had eight points in the run). The Wolverines never really made it interesting the rest of the way.
• Gonzaga 83, Western Kentucky 81: In the game of the day, Western Kentucky started out on fire. Orlando Mendez-Valdez scored 17 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, and WKU took a 37-35 lead into the half. But Gonzaga's size and strength took over in the second half, and the Zags took an 81-72 lead with 2:14 left on a Josh Heytvelt dunk, and the foul. The Hilltoppers were not done, however. A Mendez-Valdez three and a Steffphon Pettigrew dunk cut the lead to two. After a stop, AJ Slaughter missed a three, but Pettigrew was there to tip in the miss with 7 seconds left. Demetri Goodson took the inbounds, and went coast to coast, making a lay-up with 0.9 seconds left. All five starters ended up in double figures for Gonzaga, led by 20, 8 boards, and 6 assists from Matt Bouldin.
• Duke 74, Texas 69: Texas had come back fron eight points down in the last five minutes to tie the game at 69 with a minute left. Nolan Smith would knock down two free throws to give Duke the lead. At the other end, Damion James had a three go in and out. Duke came up with the loose ball, and Henderson hit a free throw to put the Devils up three. After Abrams and James both missed chances, Jon Scheyer ran the ball down in front of the Texas bench and flung it behind his back down court. In the race for the ball, Gary Johnson and Elliot Williams got tangled up, and Johnson picked up the foul (the second loose ball foul called against Texas in the last 30 seconds of the game). Williams knocked down both free throws to seal the win. Now, I don't want to say that Duke gets all the calls, but, well, they did at the end of this one.