Saturday's Shootaround

Sorry, late start to the morning. But isn't that what Saturday's are for?

Yes. Yes it is.

Anyway, before we get into last night's action, a couple news and notes to get you caught up on:

• BC has suspended three players, including projected starters Rakim Sanders and Corey Raji, for the season's first two games after a violation of team rules. They missed last night's win over Dartmouth, and they will also be out of Tuesday's contest with St. Francis.
• BYU head coach Dave Rose, fresh off a successful battle with a cancerous tumor in his pancreas, has received a five year contract extension.
• Harry Statham, head coach of NAIA McKendree, won his 1,000th game last night.
• Colorado head coach Jeff Bzdelik missed the Buffaloes opener last night after flying back east to deal with a family emergency.
  

Now to the games:

Arkansas 130, Alcorn State 68: On Monday, Alcorn State lost by 40 to Ohio State as Evan Turner recorded the second triple-double in school history. On Friday, Rotnei Clarke of Arkansas scored 51 points, hitting 13-17 threes. When you win a game by 62 points, it is difficult to say that it was an important win, but for the Razorbacks this was. Arkansas had just seven scholarship players last night, and with everything going on around that program (suspensions, rape allegations, academic fraud), a win like this and a performance like Clarke's will do a lot to keep the Razorback faithful's attention. For a school with the fan base Arkansas has, a season opener with just 7,700 fans is a bad sign.


UPSET! Rider 88, Mississippi State 74: The other big news of the night was Rider's upset, on the road none-the-less, of Mississippi State. The Bulldogs were a trendy pick to make some noise in the SEC during this season, but with Renardo Sidney not in uniform, MSU struggled on the offensive end. The Bulldogs are not a great team offensively. Without a go-to low post scorer, they have a tendency to devolve into an offense that consists of one-on-one drives and tough three point shots.

Where they do get a lot of points offensively is in transition. They have some long perimeter players, and combine that with shot blocking prowess of Jarvis Varnado, the Bulldogs can be successful overplaying and jumping passing lanes.

Rider didn't do that last night, especially in the second half. In fact, it was Rider that was getting the easy baskets off of turnovers. they had 18 points off of ten Bulldog turnovers in the first half, and in the second half the Broncs were really able to lock down, holding MSU to just 10 second half field goals.

Defensively, the issue for Mississippi State was that they left too many shooters open. When you have a shot blocking presence like Varnado, penetration by guards in a good things. You don't want to help off of the wings, especially when a team is in the midst of a 10-16 shooting night from deep. Let the guard get to the basket and try and finish over Varnado, who ended up with 22 points, 14 boards, and 7 blocks last night.

Perhaps the most telling quote from last name came from reserve forward Kodi Augustus, who said to reporters "I talked to my dad, and he said we got outcoached tonight." Team chemistry issues maybe? That's not exactly what you want a team member to be saying to the national media.


Other notable games:

• Kansas 101, Hofstra 65: Sherron Collins had 23 points, Cole Aldrich went for 11 points, 8 boards, and 4 blocks, but the most impressive performance of the night was from super-frosh Xavier Henry. He finished with 27 points, hitting 5-8 from deep but also adding a couple impressive dunks, including a one-handed tip-dunk in traffic. If Henry can keep performing at this level, the Jayhawks may unbeatable. Charles Jenkins had 23 for the Pride.
• Michigan State 97, Florida Gulf Coast 58: Raymar Morgan and Delvon Roe, who were both questionable, combined for 22 scoreless minutes off the bench. But Kalin Lucas led six scorers in double figures with 21 as a Durrell Summers dunk sparked a run midway through thr first half that put the game away.
• Kentucky 75, Morehead State 59: Patrick Patterson had 20 and 12 while Darnell Dodsen added 15 points, but the star of the show was Eric Bledsoe. The "other" Kentucky freshman point guard went for 24 points, 7 boards, and 4 assists in the UK win. Bledsoe is a bulldog of a point guard, who uses his strength and ability to absorb contact to get into the paint. He can draw fouls as well as anyone, getting to the line 10 times last night. The problem for UK last night wasn't their defense, their hustle, or their rebounding (although, the athletic Kenneth Faried did look impressive against the bigger, bulkier Wildcats front line; just something to keep in mind). It was their offense. MSU sagged off of Kentucky in a 2-3 zone, daring them to shoot trying to prevent the dribble drive. As a result, the Wildcats looked stagnant at this end, turning the ball over 24 times (Bledsoe had 7, Darius Miller had 5, and Dodsen had 4) and hitting just 4-19 from deep. One last note: Patterson apparently has the green light to shoot out to the three point line. He knocked one down early and looks to have a solid stroke this year, but he needs to learn to pick his spots. He rushed a couple jumpers last night that never really had a chance.
• Villanova 84, Farleigh Dickinson 61: Corey Stokes scored 17 second half points to spark the Wildcats, who took just a 35-34 lead into intermission. The Wildcats have some experienced leadership this year, but overall this is a roster loaded with youth and inexperience. But with the talent this team has in the back court, once guys like Mouphtaou Yarou, Taylor King, and Maurice Sutton figure out their roles, this team will be dangerous. Scottie Reynolds struggled last night (2-10 shooting, 8 points), but the combination of Antonio Pena and Taylor King (18 points, 17 rebounds) looked pretty solid.
• Purdue 89, Cal St Northridge 64: Purdue made seven of their first eight shots, went on a 25-3 run to open the game, hit 8-13 threes in the first half, and led 55-20 at the break. Yup, this was a mismatch.
• Duke 96, UNC-Greensboro 62: With Nolan Smith and Mason Plumlee out of the line-up, Duke started Kyle Singler at the two along side Jon Scheyer. It worked out pretty well, as Singler had 14 of his 20 points in the first half, knocking down 9-15 from the floor. Scheyer was excellent as well, finishing with 18 points, 4 dimes, and most importantly no turnovers. Duke, as expected, got excellent big man play - 14 and 7 boards from Zoubek, 12 points and 7 boards from Lance Thomas, and 10 points, 9 boards (5 offensive), and 3 blocks from Miles Plumlee.
• Tennessee 83, Austin Peay 54: Outside of a run by the Governers to close out the first half, Tennessee controlled this game with their defense. Tennessee's length, athleticism, and aggressiveness in their press is what makes them so effective. They forced 19 turnovers and scored 22 points off of them, wearing the Governers down. It also helps when a team that relies heavily on the three hits them - the Vols were 10-23 from deep. If the Tennessee offense plays like it did in last night's second half (52 points, 54% FG), the Vols will be dangerous.
• Washington 74, Wright State 69: This game wasn't as close as the final score indicated, as the outcome was not in doubt for the last 30 minutes of the game. A big reason for that is the performace of Isaiah Thomas, who scored 30 points last night. Of note - freshman Abdul Gaddy came off the bench for the Huskies, scoring 5 points with just 1 assists and 2 turnovers. Venoy Overton started in his stead.
• UConn 75, William & Mary 66: The Huskies were in control for most of this game, but they never really could put away W&M. Every time it seemed like UConn was about to take control of the game, the Tribe would respond with a couple easy baskets off of turnovers or a couple of threes (they were 13-34 from deep). The Huskies are far from a finished product right now. Jerome Dyson looked like a star, going for 27 points, 8 assists, and 4 steals. Sticks had a few nice dunks en route to 17, 7, and 3 blocks. Kemba Walker showed flashes of being able the jitterbug penetrator everyone predicted him to be this year. But who is going to shoot on this team? Where is their depth going to come from? Its not a good sign when all five starters play 32+ minutes in the season opener. Of note: freshman Alex Oriahki looked pretty good, as he had three nice buckets on post moves and grabbed 10 boards.
• Minnesota 87, Tennessee Tech 50: The Golden Gophers hang their hats on their defense, and the didn't disappoint last night, holding Tech to just 28% shooting and forcing 27 turnovers. As a team, the Gophers had 15 steals and 15 blocks (Damian Johnson had 6 and 5, respectively). Tubby got pretty much what he expected from everyone in his line-up, but the big surprise was freshman Rodney Williams, who went for 14 points and has 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks off the bench.
  
• Georgetown 74, Tulane 58: This is a typical Hoyas win - run efficient offense, defend well, keep control of the game, but never really blow a team out of the water. Greg Monroe has 18 and 11, while the Hoyas back court of Austin Freeman, Jason Clark, and Chris Wright combined for 40 points, 12 boards, 12 assists, and 7 steals. But they also had 10 turnovers combined and each played 34+ minutes. This win did nothing to alleviate my biggest concern about Georgetown - they have no depth.
• Clemson 84, Presbyterian 41: The Tigers jumped to an 18-4 lead and never looked back. Freshman Noel Johnson looked promising, hitting four threes and scoring 14 points.
• Ole Miss 92, Arkansas-Little Rock 64: Chris Warren struggled (3-11, 9 points), but Murphy Holloway and DeAundre Cranston combined for 38 points and 17 boards up front. Terrico White had 16.
• Virginia 85, Longwood 72: Sylvan Landesberg had 23 points to lead UVa to a win in the opener of the Tony Bennett era.
• UCF 84, UMass 67: Marcus Jordan was held scoreless.
• Seton Hall 53, St. Peter's 51: Not a good start to the season for Bobby Gonzalez. After dealing with Keon Lawrence's crash on Monday morning, the Pirates needed a 28 foot one-hander from Eugene Harvery at the buzzer to avoid being upset.
• South Carolina 88, Alabama A&M 50: Devan Downey had 23 points to lead the Gamecocks.
• Xavier 83, Youngstown State 57: Jordan Crawford led five players in double figures with 14 points as the Musketeers jumped out to a 24-8 lead. Is Xavier's balance back?
• Iowa State 88, Idaho State 68: Craig Brackins had 17 points and the Cyclones went on a 17-2 run late in the first half to bust this game open.
• Maryland 89, Charleston Southern 51: Greivis Vasquez came off the bench, and despite shooting just 3-14 from the floor, Vasquez had 13 assists while freshman big men Jordan Williams and James Padgett had 22 points and 17 boards.
• Wake Forest 76, Oral Roberts 56: Al-Farouq Aminu led the Demon Deacons with 25 points and 13 boards. Wake's size was more than apparent, grabbing 20 offensive rebounds and outboarding ORU 51-25.
• Tulsa 72, St. Mary's (TX) 47: St/ Mary's cut the lead to 57-45 with six minutes left, but managed just two points the rest of the way as Tulsa went on a 15-2 run to close the game.
• Pitt 63, Wofford 60: Brad Wanamaker had 15 points and Dante Taylor came off the bench to score 13 as Pitt, who was playing without Jermaine Dixon or Gilbert Brown, rallied from a 13 points second half deficit to win.
• Illinois 96, SIU-Edwardsville 69: Brandon Paul scored 22 points, and 11 of Illinois's first 21, as the Illini jumped on SIUE early.
• Siena 85, Tennessee State 69: Clarence Jackon scored 24 points and looked like a suitable replacement for Kenny Hasbrouck as the Saints win their opener on the road.
• Texas A&M-CC 67, Oregon State 43: The Beavers could not handle the Islanders press, scoring just 18 first half points while shooting 32% from the floor and 46% from the line.
• Idaho 94, Utah 87: Plagued by foul trouble all game, Idaho's Mac Hobson scored eight of his 16 points during a 13-6 run over the last six minutes as Idaho knocked off the Utes in Utah.
• Auburn 69, Niagara 65: The Purple Eagles just missed on a chance to knock off a BCS conference team. Auburn's DeWayne Reed scored 8 of his 24 in an 11-0 run over the last 89 seconds of the game.