Wednesday's Shootaround: You should know who Omar Samhan is by now

St. Mary's 101, Portland State 80: With this blow out win over Portland State, St. Mary's is now just a two point loss to Vanderbilt away from being undefeated. They have wins over San Diego State, Utah State, and Oregon. But, most importantly, they don't seem to be missing Patty Mills all that much. Mickey McConnel (11.4 ppg, 6.1 apg) and Matthew Dellavedova (14.2 ppg, 3.6 apg) have more than made up for the scoring and the playmaking that they lost with Mills, while Benn Allen (9.7 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 3.0 apg) is proving to be quite a well-rounded player.

But the guy you want to keep an eye on is their mammoth center Omar Samhan. Samhan is averaging 21.2 ppg and 12.4 rpg in the Gaels' nine games this season, and last night was no exception as he overpowered the Vikings en route to 31 points and 17 boards. McConnell added 16 points and 9 assists while Allen chipped in with 10 points, 8 boards, and 6 dimes. Maybe its time we start to give SMC a little bit of respect out West.

UCLA 100, New Mexico State 68: The Bruins needed this win. Badly. Malcolm Lee had 20 points, a career high, while Tyler Honeycutt added 14 points and 7 boards in his best came since coming back from an injury. The win snapped a five game losing streak for the Bruins, who played at a much faster pace. Could Howland be changing his coaching style? I doubt hit, as the offensive explosion was more a result of careless Aggie turnovers that led to easy baskets.

Other notable games:

• Texas 104, Texas Pan-American 42: Avery Bradley led the Horns with 18 in their final tune-up for UNC.
• Duke 113, Gardner-Webb 68: Jon Scheyer had his best game as a Dukie, going for 36 points (on 13 shots) while adding 9 assists and 8 boards. Andre Dawkins had 16 points in his first game back since his sister died.
• Tennessee 77, Wyoming 58: What was an exciting first half turned into a snoozer in the second half as the Vols wore down the Cowboys. Scotty Hopson's 14 points led the way for Tennessee.
• UNLV 77, Southern Utah 59: Tre'Von Willis had 16 points and Chace Stanback added 15 as the Rebels pulled away late.
• Florida State 62, Georgia State 55: Solomon Alabi scored a career-high 22 points and added 6 blocks as the Seminoles opened up a lead as big as 17 in the second half.
• Minnesota 89, Northern Illinois 48: Blake Hoffarber had 26 points, hitting 8 three's, in the win.
• Baylor 90, Jackson State 60: Tweety Carter scored 22 of his 27 points in the first half as the Bears pulled away early.
  

Tuesday's Best:

• Omar Samhan. 31 points and 17 boards. Enough said.
• Blake Hoffarber's had 26 points, hitting 8 threes, in Minnesota's win, but he was outdone by Jacksonville State's Jeremy Bynum, who had 27 points on 9 threes, as the Gamecocks beat Nicholls State, who got 33 from Michael Deloach.
• All three of those players were outdone by Jon Scheyer's 36 points (on 11-13 from the field, 7-9 from three, and 7-7 from the line, 9 assists, and 8 boards.
• Seattle's Charles Garcia just produces. He is averaging 24.6 ppg and 10.2 rpg after going for 29 and 13 last night. You think Washington wishes they were able to get this kid into U-Dub?