Tuesday's Shootaround: Two upsets and a buzzer-beater

Davidson 80, No. 11 Kansas 74: See here.

LSU 67, No. 10 Marquette 59: See here.

Southern Miss 64, Arizona State 61: The Golden Eagles did everything they could to hand this game to Arizona State.

USM dug themselves a 30-21 hole in the first half by missing seemingly every shot they took. After battling back to take the lead, they got Torye Pelham -- who had nine offensive rebounds in the game -- ejected for fighting with Ruslan Pateev. Then after rebounding to build up a double-digit lead with just 1:33 left on the clock, USM decided to miss free throws and turn the ball over, allowing Arizona State to tie the game with 5.0 seconds left. Luckily, Darnell Dodson was there to bail them out:



Dodson, who was playing his first basketball game in a year and a half, scored all 17 of his points in the second half, sparking USM's comeback and, eventually, winning the game. Dodson was good enough to start at Kentucky. He may not have played since the 2009-2010 season, but he adds a dynamic for the Golden Eagles that should put them into the conversation for a wide-open Conference USA race.


Marshall 87, Belmont 86: DeAndre Kane had a career-high 29 points while Dennis Tinnon added 24 points and 10 boards and Damier Pitts went for and 11 assists as the Thundering Herd won an exciting game against the Bruins. Controlling the game for much of the second half, Kerron Johnson led a comeback that came up just short. After Pitts missed two free throws with five seconds left, Johnson went the length of the floor and go tall the way to the rim before missing a would-be buzzer-beating layup. With the loss, whatever miniscule chance that Belmont had of earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament has been wiped out.


Cal 70, UC-Santa Barbara 50: Finally, someone in the Pac-12 makes a statement with a win. Playing without Jorge Gutierrez (food poisoning) and Richard Solomon (injured foot), the Bears came out and jumped all over the Gauchos early, opening up a double digit lead early in the first half. That lead was extended in the second half as Justin Cobbs made people forget that Gutierrez was on the bench. He finished with 25 points and played a lot of defense on Orlando Johnson, who shot just 4-13 from the floor for nine points.


No. 21 Creighton 83, Tulsa 64: The Bluejays rolled over a struggling Tulsa team, taking a double-digit lead late in the first half and pushing that lead to 17 in the first three minutes of the second half. Doug McDermott, as you might expect, was the star for the Bluejays, but he did it differently than we are used to out of him. McDermott scored 35 points on 16-23 shooting for the floor, doing the majority of his damage in the post.

The rest of the top 25:

No. 5 Duke 90, UNC-Greensboro 63: UNCG was in this thing for about 15 minutes before Duke woke up. Mason Plumlee led five scorers in double figures with 15 points and 13 boards, but his struggles from the free throw line continued (3-8).

No. 6 UNC 99, Nicholls State 49: How about this for a stat? UNC had 72 rebounds, 31 on the offensive end of the floor. They shot the ball 85 times and scored 99 points, but their leading scorer had 14 and only four guys reached double-figures.

No. 7 Baylor 95, Paul Quinn 54: Paul Quinn is a small liberal arts school in Texas, not just one person.

No. 12 Florida 82, Mississippi Valley State 54: Florida hit their first eight shots, opened up a 20 points lead midway through the first half and put all five starters into double-figures.

No. 18 Indiana 107, Howard 50: Indiana put six players in double figures and hit 11 threes as they rolled over the Bison.

No. 20 Michigan State 89, UMKC 54: Branden Dawson scored a career-high 16 points as the Spartans took a 20 point lead into the halftime break and cruised from there.

No. 23 UNLV 81, UL-Monroe 63: Chace Stanback broke out of a season-long slump, hitting 8-9 from beyond the arc and scoring a career-high 29 points. Hopefully, the senior can build off of this performance.

No. 24 Illinois 64, Cornell 60: Illinois struggled again against inferior competition. Cornell hit six threes in the first ten minutes to open up a 24-14 lead and again took control midway through the second half as Illinois missed 12 of 13 shots at one point. But down the stretch, the Illini scored six straight points, including back-to-back jumpers from Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson, which sealed the game. Meyers Leonard had 19 points, 16 boards and three blocks.


Other notable scores:

- Delaware 70, La Salle 66
- South Florida 70, Cleveland State 55
- East Carolina 76, Coastal Carolina 51
- Memphis 85, Lipscomb 75
- Virginia Tech 85, North Florida 55
- West Virginia 72, Tennessee Tech 53
- Notre Dame 106, Sacred Heart 65
- Denver 57, Wyoming 46
- Vanderbilt 99, Longwood 71
- Temple 77, Rice 70
- San Diego State 80, UC Riverside 55
- St. Mary's 74, Kennesaw State 51
- Stanford 75, Bethune-Cookman 56


Top performers

Javaris Barnett, Charlotte: Barnett had 26 points and 12 boards in a win over Coppin State.

Justin Cobbs, Cal: Cobbs had 25 points on 10-12 shooting and played a large role in holding Orlando Johnson's off-night.

Eric Griffin and Darren White, Campbell: Griffin had 18 points, 15 boards, four assists and three blocks while White went for 29 points, but Campbell still lost to UNC-Wilmington.

Kevin Jones, West Virginia: Jones had 25 points and 14 boards in a 72-53 win over Tennessee Tech.

Maurice Jones, USC: The diminutive point guard had 25 points and seven assists as the Trojans knocked of TCU 83-59.

Marshall: The Thundering Herd had a number of big performances in their 87-86 win over Belmont: Deandre Kane (29 points, four assists, four boards), Dennis Tinnon (24 points, 10 boards, two blocks) and Damier Pitts (19 points, 11 assists, five boards).

Robert Nyakundi, SMU: Nyakundi scored 29 points in a win over Southeast Missouri State.

Doug McDermott and Grant Gibbs, Creighton: McDermott had 35 points and seven boards on 16-23 shooting, but Gibbs was terrific as well, finishing with nine points, seven boards and ten assists.

Wendell McKines, New Mexico State: McKines had 20 points and 16 boards in a 91-66 win over Southern.

Josh Watkins, Utah: Watkins had 26 points and six assists as Utah won their second straight game, 72-67 over Portland. BREAK UP THE UTES!!!