Turkey Day Round-up

This is all you are getting from us today, as we will be enjoying our turkey. Be sure to check back tomorrow, as we will have a full recap of the first round action from the 76 and Old Spice Classic's before heading back to Madison Square Garden to see the finals of the Preseason NIT.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Preseason NIT: UConn beat LSU 81-55 and Duke held on against Arizona State 64-53. See the write-ups here and here.

Maui Invitational

• Gonzaga 61, Cincinnati 59: Gonzaga always seems to be in a dogfight every game they play in the Maui. If you like tough, defensive basketball, then you were in heaven yesterday as the Zags won the Maui title over Cinci. Gonzaga fought back from a 10 point deficit midway through the 2nd half, eventually tying the game at 47. The teams traded hoops over the final few minutes before the Bulldogs found themselves down 55-53 with under 30 seconds left. But Steven Gray, who was named co-tournament MVP with Matt Bouldin, found Robert Sacre for a short jumper to tie things up. At the other end, Sacre broke up an alley-oop (on what could have been called a foul) from Lance Stephenson to Yancy Gates.
  
  In the OT, the two teams traded free throws before a Robert Sacre dunk gave Gonzaga a 59-57 lead. After two Gonzaga free throws surrounded a Yancy Gates dunk, Cashmere Wright missed a shot and Elias Harris gathered the rebound to end an exciting game. Some personnel notes: Lance Stephenson really has some impressive 1-on-1 moves, and is going to score a lot of points this season; Matt Bouldin struggled against the bigger, stronger, more athletic Cinci guards, but he still managed double digit rebounds and played some tough defense; Yancy Gates needs to realize he isn't a jump shooter and focus on hitting the glass.
• Wisconsin 78, Maryland 69: The Badgers got down 7-0 early in the game, but they responded with a 16-2 run to take a 16-9 lead they would not relinquish. Maryland got within 51-48, but a 14-5 spurt opened a a 65-53 lead, and the Terps never threatened again. Brian Bohannon had 20 points on 4-5 shooting from deep as the Badgers knocked down 10 threes on the day. Jon Leuer had 16 for Wisconsin, while Greivis Vasquez found his shooting stroke a little bit, going for 18 on 6-13 from the floor.
• Vanderbilt 84, Arizona 72: The Commodores shot 69% in the second half as they turned a five point deficit into a 12 point win. AJ Ogilvy had 20 points and 7 boards for Vandy, and Jermaine Beal added 18 and 5 dimes. Solomon Hill led Arizona with 17, while Nic Wise was held to just nine.
• Colorado 73, Chaminade 58: Colorado needed a late 13-2 run to hold off a pesky Chaminade team.

Kentucky 73, Stanford 65 OT: So apparently John Wall is clutch. Not two weeks after he buried a game-winner against Miami OH, Wall hit a 10 foot fadeaway to tie the game with 30 seconds left before knocking down two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to force OT. Wall finished with 23 points and 5 assists, but there are some serious issues with this UK team. Eric Bledsoe turns the ball over too much. DeMarcus Cousins is lazy, and will need to really improve his attitude if he is going to be as good as advertised. Darnell Dodson is in Cal's doghouse, apparently for violating team rules. But the biggest issue is that this group is not very good defensively, and that they are way too selfish on the offensive end of the floor. Until they buy into Coach Cal's system, UK fans are going to have quite a bit of stress this season.

San Diego 76, Oklahoma 64: Brandon Johnson scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half, and when he was slowed by a hammy in the second half, the rest of the Toreros picked up the slack. A 13-4 run early in the half pushed a six point halftime lead to 50-35, and the Toreros eventually extended that to as much as 23. It was the second loss in five days for Oklahoma, who played at VCU, 4,000 miles from Anchorage, on Saturday. Willie Warren has 30 for Oklahoma, but most game after the game was decided. The biggest issue for Oklahoma right now is interior play. They are bigger than San Diego, but were outrebounded by 42-31.

Kansas 89, Oakland 59: Xavier Henry had 19 points, including three thunderous alley-oops, while Marcus Morris added 19 and 11 boards as Kansas ran away with their 44th straight home win, the best streak in the country. More impressive was that Kansas beat a good Oakland team picked to win the Summit by 30 when Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins, the resident all-americans, combined for just 13 points.

Other notable scores:

• Miami 77, Florida-Gulf Coast 58: DeQuan Jones led three scorers in double figures with a career-high 16 points to lead the Canes, who are now 6-0.
• Washington State 87, Alaska Anchorage 68: 25 points from Klay Thompson led the Cougars to the win in the Great Alaska Shootout's first round.
• BU 69, Northeastern 64 OT: Corey Lowe scored 18 for the Terriers, including a jumper with 23 seconds left to force OT, where Jame O'Brien gave BU the lead for good with a jumper with 51 seconds left.
• Virginia 76, Cleveland State 65: Virginia got 20 points from Sylvan Landesberg and 18 from Will Sherrill, including 15 in the second half, as the Cavs over came a 10 point halftime deficit.
• South Florida 76, Kent State 54: Jarrid Famous and Gus Gilchrist combined for 35 points and 15 boards as the Bulls improved to 5-1.
• Pacific 71, San Diego State 63: Terrell Smith had 16 points and 5 assists as Pacific improved to 5-0 on the season.

Today's games - a lot of great tournament action today:

Old Spice Classic

• 12:00 pm: Creighton vs. Michigan
• 2:30 pm: Xavier vs. Marquette
• 6:30 pm: Alabama vs. Baylor
• 9:00 pm: Florida State vs. Iona

76 Classic

• 2:00 pm: Long Beach State vs. West Virginia
• 4:30 pm: Texas A&M vs. Clemson
• 8:30 pm: Minnesota vs. Butler
• 11:00 pm: UCLA vs. Portland

11:30 pm: Houston vs. Oklahoma in Anchorage