Thursday's Shootaround: Rough night for the big schools

Sorry for the late start this morning, it was a long night last night at the Garden.

Kentucky 64, UConn 61: What a night at the Garden (by the way, we have already done our obligatory John Wall gush here, so we are going to look at the other 23 players in this post). Kentucky looked like they were going to run away with this thing early, as John Wall had three steals and three buckets in an early 12-0 run. But the Huskies would respond, using a 26-6 surge, helped out by Wall picking up his second foul, to take a 26-18. The two teams would trade baskets for the rest of the half as UConn took a 29-23 lead into the break. The biggest reason the Huskies were able to make their run was defense. They forced Kentucky to play a half court game, really limited penetration, and rebounded the ball well.

But in the second half, UConn just simply did not have enough answers for Wall. He scored 12 of the last 15 points for the Wildcats, including a taking a handoff from Darius Miller, splitting the UConn defense, and absorbing a big hit from Alex Oriakhi to draw a foul while laying the ball in.

This post isn't about Wall, however. I hate to say things like this in a loss, but UConn looked really impressive. They played physical, they competed on the glass, and they did a decent job of scoring in the half court. Kemba Walker was obviously outplayed by Wall, but he turned a lot of heads with his 12 point, 8 rebound, and 6 assist night punctuated by the 7 turnovers he forced Wall into. Gavin Edwards looked really impressive, playing as well, if not outplaying, Kentucky all-american Patrick Patterson. Jerome Dyson, who carried the Huskies in the first half, and Stanley Robinson, who was extremely important in helping to defend Wall down the stretch, both had good games.

UConn's issue all season long is going to be depth and effort. UConn really doesn't have a bench right now. Charles Okwandu is not ready to play at this level. Jamaal Trice, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, and Darius Smith are all talented freshman, but they are still aways from having the confidence and the ability to play for Calhoun. Donnell Beverly can contribute some minutes off the bench, and Ater Majok may be able to help UConn's front line depth, but right now it looks like the Huskies really really only go six or seven deep. With the effort that Calhoun asks from his players night in and night out, how long will guys like Walker and Dyson and Sticks be able to play 37 minutes a game?

Kentucky, on the other hand, has the depth, they just need the maturity. Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, and Daniel Orton are only going to get better as the season progresses, which is a scary thought considering how good the Wildcats are right now.


MID-MAJORS HAD A NIGHT:

UW-Green Bay 88, Wisconsin 84 OT: After climbing into the rankings with a win over Duke, Wisconsin came out flat on the road in a classic trap game (they play rival Marquette next). Bryquis Perine scored a career high 22 points and Randy Berry added 13 points and 12 boards, his third double-double, to lead the Pheonix to their first ever win over the Badgers. Trevon Hughes had 27 points, a career-high, but fouled out in overtime as UW-GB students stormed the floor after the win.

Oral Roberts 60, Missouri 59: Missouri was up by 11 in the second half and 10 with five minutes left before the Golden Eagles came storming back. Dominique Morrison scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half, including 7 of ORU's last 11 points and the game-winning assist on Michael Craion's lay-up.



Harvard 74, Boston College 67: Jeremy Lin scored 25 points and Keith Wright added 21 as Harvard upended the Eagles. Harvard is making quite a habit out of beating BC after bigs wins - last year, the upset came right after the Eagles had beaten North Carolina. This year, BC is coming off of back-to-back wins against Michigan and Miami.

Utah 68, Michigan 52: Utah got a career high 22 points from Marshall Henderson and Carlon Brown added 10 of his 12 points in the second half at the Utes knocked off their second Big Ten opponent. Michigan once again struggled shooting from the field, as they were under 30% in the second half. Manny Harris is looking more and more like the only threat on this roster, as he had 25 of Michigan's 52 points.

Other notable games:

• Villanova 97, St. Joe's 89: Scottie Reynolds had 22 points and Taylor King added 20 points and 9 boards while hitting two big threes down the stretch as the Wildcats held on to beat the Hawks. In a physical game, Villanova's free throw shooting was more important than their three point shooting, as the Wildcats went 30-31 from the charity stripe in the second half. Idris Hilliard had 22 and 7 boards to lead the Hawks.
• Kansas 99, Radford 64: Cole Aldrich held Art Parakhouski scoreless in the first half as Kansas raced out to an 18 point lead. In the second half, Parakhouski scored all 21 of his points, but Kansas scored a season high 63 points in the second half for the win.
• Purdue 86, Valpo 62: JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore both scored 19 points as Purdue hit 10-22 three's and assisted on 20 of their 29 field goals.
• West Virginia 68, Duquesne 39: The Mountaineers man-handled Duquesne, holding them to 32% shooting as they went up by as much as 34 points in the second half.
  
• Providence 110, George Washington 97: There wasn't much defense played in this game as Providence got 16 points and 13 assists from Sharaud Curry and the Friars hit 16-29 threes.
• St. John's 66, Georgia 56: DJ Kennedy led the Johnnies with 11 points, 7 boards, 5 assists, and 4 steals as SJU was able to overcome three starters being benched for missing the team bus.
• Notre Dame 93, IUPUI 70: Ben Hansbrough had 22 points and Tim Abromaitis had 18 points as the Irish jumped out to a 45-22 halftime lead.
• Virginia Tech 98, VMI 73: Jeff Allen led the Hokies with his best game of the season, notching 24 points, 13 boards, 5 assists, and 2 steals. Malcolm Delaney had just 9 points.
• Oklahoma 86, Centenary 62: Tony Crocker scored 29 of his career high 33 points in the first half and added 13 boards as Oklahoma won their third straight.
• Memphis 76, Montana State 51: Elliot Williams led the Tigers with 22 points while Wesley Witherspoon added 13.
• Arizona 83, Louisiana Tech 67: Nic Wise scored 24 points and Jamelle Horne added 20 points and 8 rebounds in an Arizona win.
• Washington State 76, Idaho 64: Klay Thompson had 25 points and 9 boards and DeAngelo Casto added 16 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 blocks.

Wednesday's best:

• La Salle's Rodney Green had 25 points, 7 boards, and 6 assists in a win over Rider.
• Harvard's Jeremy Lin scored 25 points and hit 5-6 free throws down the stretch as the Crimson upset BC.
• Jeff Allen went for 24 points, 13 rebound, and 5 assists - all team highs - as Virginia Tech cruised against VMI.
• Lamar's Justin Nabors went for 16 points and 24 boards in the Cardinal's win.
  
• David Kool had 34 points and hit 8 threes as Western Michigan knocked off Eastern Illinois.
• Kawhi Leonard of San Diego State went for 23 points and 18 rebounds, 10 offensive, as the Aztecs beat Cal State Fullerton.
• Adrian Oliver had 30 points and 11 boards in 44 minutes as Cal State Bakersfield beat San Jose State in overtime.