Blogging away the Sunday with BIAH

- Its over. MSU wins 61-50 on the strength of a 32-9 closing run. Goran Suton had 16 and 10 on the game, 14 and 7 in the second half.

- Michigan State dug themselves a 41-29 hole early in the second half, but they are slowly taking control of this game. As I am typing this, Goran Suton knocked down a free throw to give the Spartans the lead after a 18-4 run. The way the Spartans have done it is with tough, pressure defense and pounding the ball inside of offense. Raymar Morgan is still not 100%, but MSU looks pretty impressive considering they are beating up a tough Wisconsin team on the interior. If they get this kind of performance from Suton and Delvon Roe, and guys like Kalin Lucas and Chris Allen perform the way they are capable of on the perimeter, this is a dangerous team. That's a lot of ifs, however.

Chris Allen just knocked down a three in transition to give MSU a 52-47 lead. The run is now at 23-6.

- First round of games are done:

• Villanova 89, Syracuse 86: The Orange missed a number of open three's down the stretch, including one at the buzzer by Jonny Flynn that would have sent the game into overtime. Dwayne Anderson had 22 points for Villanova.
• Clemson 81, Georgia Tech 73: Trevor Booker went for 21 and 12 has Clemson was able to overcome an early fourteen point deficit.
• Illinois 70, Ohio State 68: The Illini got 22 points from Mike Davis, and looked much better than they did in a loss to Penn State earlier this week (when they scored just 33). With the win, Illinois stayed alone in third place in the Big Ten. OSU dropped their third straight game, falling to a three-way tie for sixth in the league (top five get a bye in the Big Ten tournament).
• Xavier 71, George Washington 53: CJ Anderson led five Musketeers in double figures with 14.
  

- Clemson and Illinois have both opened up eight point leads with under five minutes left. Villanova, after their 11-0 run, has held off a couple Syracuse pushes. Syracuse has just been making bad decision after bad decision - turnovers, quick threes, forced penetration. But they are still hanging around, down seven with 2:30 left. The Orange need to slow down the 'Nova guards and they have a shot.

- So after back-to-back threes by Andy Rautins put the Orange up 59-57, 'Nova responded by going on an 11-0 run, capped by two fast break dunks. Kellogg was right. That was quick. The last two baskets came off of Syracuse turnovers.

- Dante Cunningham wears some ENORMOUS shorts (h/t Buddens). Seriously, those things could be used as a parachute.

- Syracuse and Jonny Flynn have woken up in the second half. Flynn has scored four points and picked up another assist in a 9-2 run by the Orange to get the lead down to 57-56.

Clark Kellogg made a really good point about Scottie Reynolds. The guy never looks like he is playing hard. He doesn't blow by anyone. He isn't going to dunk on you. But he always seems to get to where he wants to be on the court and gets the shot that he wants.

- Halftime in Syracuse and the Orange are down 46-40. It is the little things killing the Orange right now - turnovers, offensive rebounds, and not playing any sort of defense ('Nova shot 55% from the field in the first half). Jonny Flynn never really got it going in the first half, going 1-6 from the floor, although he did have 5 dimes. Paul Harris led the Orange with 13 first half points. Villanova is getting balanced scoring, as Dwayne Anderson has 11 (3-4 on three's), Dante Cunningham has 10 and Corey Fisher 7. Scottie Reynolds has not played all that well either, but the Wildcats do have 13 assists on 17 field goals.

Other scores: Xavier is up 36-20 on GW, Clemson and Georgia Tech are tied, and Illinois is up on Ohio State 32-27.

- Clemson is in the midst of a 10-0 run, cutting the Ga Tech lead to 29-25. Gani Lawal just picked up his second foul as well.

- Just came across this gem from the UConn-South Florida news conference. This reporter doesn't sound like he knows what he is talking about.



My question: What is the Comcast deal he is referring too?

- Dwayne Anderson has nine early points as Villanova has opened up a 32-20 lead in the Carrier Dome. Devo has 10 points right now, but Syracuse needs to stop turning the ball over.

- Gani Lawal already has 10 points and 6 boards just 10 minutes into the Yellow Jackets game with Clemson as Ga Tech has taken a 25-10 lead. It would be interesting if the Jackets can hang on to win this thing - their only ACC win right now is against Wake Forest.

Yup, we are back couch side for all your college hoops needs. Here is a quick schedule four your Sunday viewing pleasure:

• 1:00 PM: Clemson (21-4, 7-4) @ Georgia Tech (10-15, 1-11)
• 1:00 PM: Villanova (21-5, 9-4) @ Syracuse (19-7, 7-6)
• 1:00 PM: George Washington (8-15, 2-9) @ Xavier (21-5, 9-3)
• 1:00 PM: Illinois (21-6, 9-5) @ Ohio State (17-7, 7-6)
• 3:00 PM: Wisconsin (17-9, 8-6) @ Michigan State (20-5, 10-3)
• 3:00 PM: West Virginia (18-8, 7-7) @ Rutgers (10-16, 1-12)
  
• 5:00 PM: Michigan (17-10, 7-7) @ Iowa (13-13, 3-10)
• 7:00 PM: Northwestern (14-10, 5-8) @ Minnesota (19-7, 7-7)
• 7:45 PM: Wake Forest (20-4, 7-4) @ Duke (21-5, 7-4)
• 10:00 PM: Arizona (18-8, 8-5) @ Arizona State (20-5, 9-4)