College Basketball 3/23

GAMES OF THE DAY
Stanford 82, Marquette 81 OT
Things didn't look good for the Stanford Cardinal in the first half. Brook Lopez was not playing well, they were down by 6 at the half, and Head Coach Trent Johnson was ejected for arguing a foul call. But lead by Team Lopez and PG Mitch Johnson, Stanford regrouped and sent the game to OT on a free throw by Robin Lopez with 8 seconds left. Overtime was the Jerel McNeal and Brook Lopez show - with McNeal scoring 9 of Marquette's 10 points and Lopez scoring 8, and assisting on a Mitch Johnson 3 (Stanford's only other basket). The Cardinal pounded the ball inside to Lopez in OT with Marquette center Ousmane Barro fouled, and the last possession was no different. Johnson found Lopez posting up on the right block, and Lopez turned over his right shoulder and hit a tough little baseline leaner with 1.3 seconds left to win it.


PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Darren Collinson/Kevin Love, UCLA
Love and Collinson combined for 40 points in UCLA's 51-49 win over Texas A&M. Love had 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 big blocks to help hold Joseph Jones and Deandre Jordan to a combined 12 points. Collinson had 21 points. The two combined to score the last 8 points for the Bruins. Love hit two consecutive turnarounds to tie the game and 45, then give UCLA their first lead in the second half. Collinson kept the Bruins ahead with two tough lay-ups in the lane - the second of which put UCLA up 51-49 with 9.5 seconds left.

Mitch Johnson, Stanford
Johnson scored only 9 points, but he had 16 assists and just 1 turnover as Stanford fought off a tough Marquette team to advance to the Sweet 16, where they will play Texas. Johnson was almost as important to the Cardinal as the Lopez twins, consistently getting the Twin Towers the ball where and when they needed it. Team Lopez combined for 48 points on 17-30 shooting.

Honorable Mention
Joe Alexander, West Virginia (22 pts, 11 rebs, 3 blks, 40 mins), Michael Beasley, Kansas State (23 pts, 13 rebs), Luk Harangody, Notre Dame (10 pts, 22 rebs), Trevon Hughes, Wisconsin (25 pts, 4 3's)Brook Lopez, Stanford (30 pts),Jerel McNeal, Marquette (30 pts, 8 rebs, 2 asts)


TEAM OF THE DAY
West Virginia
The Mountaineers shocked just about every not wearing blue and yellow by beating Duke 73-67 in front of a packed house in Washington DC. The Mountaineers advanced to the sweet 16 for the first time since the Pittsnoggle era. After two quick Duke baskets to start the second half, West Virginia was down 38-29, but they caught fire from that point on. Joe Alexander and Alex Ruoff scored 22 and 17 points respectively, and Joe Mazzula played a great floor game scoring 13 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and dishing out 8 assists. Seldom used Cam Thoroughman played great minutes down the stretch for the Mountaineers, scoring 4 points and grabbing 4 rebounds (3 offensive) in 9 second half minutes.