Saturday's Shootaround

Before today's games, lets get you caught up on what happened last night:

• Michigan State 72, Wofford 60: Michigan State struggled against Wofford, but Raymar Morgan, who finished with 19 points and 11 boards, led four players in double figures.
• Florida 85, Jacksonville 67: The Gators got 33 points from Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton as they hit 12 threes in a game that was closer than the final score indicated.
• Texas A&M 74, Akron 62: The Aggies jumped out to a quick 15-4 lead, and stayed ahead the rest of the game. Akron got it down to single digits for much of the second half, but the Aggies, bolstered by 17 points from Donald Sloan, hung on for the win.
• Pitt 47, New Hampshire 32: Ashton Gibbs and Bran Wanamaker scored all but five of the Panther's points in one of the ugliest games in college basketball history. The score was 15-7 at the half.
• Xavier 77, Kent State 61: Jordan Crawford scored 21 points and the Musketeers used a 13-3 run midway through the second half to pull away from the Golden Flashes.
  

THE DAY'S BEST GAMES

12:30 pm: Kentucky @ UNC: One of the best match-ups of the young season. Both UNC and Kentucky are young teams that still have quite a few question marks. The Tar Heels answered some of those questions on Tuesday with their win over Michigan State, but Kentucky has yet to win a game against a power conference team (and no, Stanford doesn't count because they play in the Pac-10).

There are so many interesting story lines in this game. How will Kentucky's young, but talented, front court match-up against the big bodies of UNC? Will the Wildcats play well enough defensively to take Heels out of their rhythm, both in a half court set and in transition? To me, I see the key to this game being the match-up between Larry Drew and John Wall. Can Drew keep Wall under control while being as effective as he was against MSU?

3:30 pm: St. John's @ Duke: St. John's gets their first real test of the season The Johnnies are much improved over last season, but winning in Cameron is a much different story than winning at Temple. Duke is coming off of a loss to Wisconsin and is going to be ready to play. I'm not sure St. John's has the size inside to handle Duke, which makes the play of Sean Evans and Justin Burrell critical. If you haven't seen DJ Kennedy play yet this season, you're in for a treat. Am I the only one hoping to see him matched up with Singler?

5:30 pm: Wake Forest @ Gonzaga: Gonzaga is coming of a nice comeback win over previously undefeated Washington State, while Wake Forest was outclassed in the second half against Purdue in their last game. Wake is a very big team this season with three seven footers that play, but Gonzaga has their own talented front line. Two match-ups I look forward to watching in this one - Demetri Goodson and Ishmael Smith at the point, and Al-Farouq Aminu matching up with Matt Bouldin.


BEST OF THE REST:

3:00 pm: NC State @ Marquette: Marquette has been one of the more surprising teams this season after making a run through the Old Spice Classic. Can the Wolfpack bigs stay with Lazar Hayward and Jimm Butler playing on the perimeter?

4:00 pm: DePaul @ Vanderbilt: DePaul is one of the best defensive teams in the country in the early season, and Will Walker has been excellent, but can the Blue Demons handle AJ Ogilvy inside with Mac Kowshal injured?

5:00 pm: Oregon @ Missouri: Mizzou is at their best when they are pressing, forcing turnover and getting easy baskets off of it. But Oregon has a pretty solid back court with TaJuan Porter, LeKendric Longmire, and Teondre Williams. Michael Dunigan is back for the Ducks.

6:00 pm: USC @ Georgia Tech: An undermanned USC team played valiantly against a Texas team with a big front line. Georgia Tech's frontline isn't quite as big as Texas, but Gani Lawal nd Derrick Favors may be more talented. The issue for the Trojans will be if they can slow down Iman Shumpert and Mfon Udofia in the back court.

9:00 pm: Washington State @ Kansas State: Kansas State may not have an answer for Klay Thompson, but K-State is a much more balanced team than Wazzu.

11:00 pm: Iowa State @ Cal: The Bears have been disappointing this season as Harper Kamp and Theo Robertson have been out. Does Cal have someone that can match-up with Craig Brackins? I don't think they do.

Other notable games:

• 12:00 pm: Eastern Michigan @ Ohio State
• 12:00 pm: VCU @ William & Mary
  
• 1:00 pm: Southern Miss @ Ole Miss
• 1:00 pm: Providence @ Rhode Island
• 1:00 pm: Grambling State @ Wisconsin
• 2:00 pm: St. Bonaventure @ Mississippi State
• 2:00 pm: Lehigh @ Dayton
• 3:30 pm: Brown @ Minnesota
• 4:00 pm: Penn State @ Temple
• 4:00 pm: Northeastern @ Drexel
• 4:00 pm: American @ Georgetown
• 5:00 pm: Buffalo @ Purdue
• 6:00 pm: San Francisco @ BYU
• 7:00 pm: Charlotte @ Louisville
• 7:00 pm: Maine @ Syracuse
• 7:00 pm: Valpo @ Butler
• 7:30 pm: Boise State @ Illinois
• 7:30 pm: Albany @ Siena
• 8:00 pm: Arkansas State @ Memphis
• 8:30 pm: Morehead State @ Murray State
• 9:00 pm: New Mexico State @ New Mexico
• 9:00 pm: Idaho State @ Utah
• 9:05 pm: St. Mary's @ Utah State
• 10:00 pm: UNLV @ Santa Clara