The Morning Dish – Wednesday, December 22nd
Cardinals Win in Spite of Setbacks: Despite two injured forwards and an ineffective starter, Louisville pounded IUPUI 80-60. Good shooting and a breakout game for freshman forward Juan Palacios helped the Cardinals win without Otis George or Ellis Myles. Myles was scratched from the starting lineup because of tightness in his right hamstring. Myles’ injury comes one day after coach Rick Pitino said George will miss two to four weeks with a foot injury. Pitino started freshman Terrance Farley, who has been dismissed and reinstated in the past week. Farley must not have won back Pitino’s favor; he played only four minutes. Palacios had career highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds, and the Cardinals shot better than 55 percent to beat the Jaguars.
It Happened to Jordan, Too: North Carolina coach Roy Williams does not take excuses and does not make exceptions. So when superstar Rashad McCants, the team’s leading scorer and self-proclaimed victim of bad Chapel Hill traffic, showed up late for the Tar Heels’ game last night against Vermont, Williams benched McCants for the first four minutes. Williams consoled McCants by relating a story that legendary Tar Heel Michael Jordan also showed up late for a game once because of traffic and received similar treatment. McCants rebounded with a Jordan-like 19 points in 25 minutes. Junior forward Sean May led North Carolina with 20 points and eight rebounds. The Tar Heels stifled the Catamounts’ stars, Taylor Coppenrath and T.J. Sorrentine, holding the pair to 24 points. Vermont shot less than 40 percent from the floor in the game as the Tar Heels won easily, 93-65.
Run For Cover: Oklahoma State proved why the Cowboys are one of the best teams in the nation by bombing Northwest Oklahoma State with a school-record 15 three pointers in a 92-35 rout. The numbers are staggering, but against non-Division I competition, that should be expected. Nevertheless, Joey Graham, John Lucas and JamesOn Curry each hit four three pointers for the Cowboys. Graham and Lucas led the way with 21 points apiece, which would have been enough to take out Northwestern Oklahoma State. The Cowboys’ opponent made only 15 shots from anywhere in the entire game, shooting less than 28 percent from the floor.
More Top 25 Scores: Salim Stoudamire scored 23 points to lead Arizona to a 105-75 win against Manhattan. Stoudamire had been suspended for pouting during a close call against Utah.
• North Carolina State bounced back from a loss at Washington by beating BYU in Provo, Utah, 72-61. Julius Hodge led the Wolfpack with 22 points.
• The student surpassed the master as Iowa coach Steve Alford guided the Hawkeyes to an 83-53 embarrassment of Texas Tech and his mentor, coach Bob Knight. Alford played for Knight at Indiana and helped the Hoosiers win a championship in 1987.
• Paul Davis and Michigan State handed UCLA its second loss of the season, 76-64. Davis scored 18 points, and the Spartans used a 10-point run to open the second half to bury the Bruins.
• Meanwhile, Gonzaga avoided a letdown from the huge upset of Georgia Tech by beating Eastern Washington 83-70. Sophomore guard Adam Morrison led the team with 25 points, his sixth game with at least 20 points this season.
Vacation Travels: While most students return home for the holidays, four teams traveled to Puerto Rico for the San Juan Shootout. In the first game, Toledo waxed Delaware 81-58 despite a 30-point effort by Harding Nana. Puerto Rico-native Sammy Villegas scored 14 points for Toledo. Toledo will play Auburn in the championship of the shootout after the Tigers slipped past Middle Tennessee State 79-74. Neither team had much support from its bench – the subs collectively scored 16 points of the total 153.
You Lost to Who?!: About a month ago, Illinois-Chicago took Georgia Tech to the final possession before losing by one. So a home game against non-Division I Wisconsin-Parkside should be a walk in the park, right? Uh…not quite. The Rangers pulled off an astonishing upset with 33 points from Gareth Malkowski and 47.5 percent shooting from the field. That kind of loss ruins the good name of mid-major programs.
Game Ball Goes to Chaney: Temple beat Princeton 48-46 the other night in a typically painfully slow Princeton game. But the biggest story wasn’t the score or junior guard Mardy Collins accounting for more than 50 percent of Temple’s total. Venerable coach John Chaney earned a victory in his 1,000th game as a head coach. He becomes only the 19th coach to reach that mark. His career includes a successful run at Division II Cheyney State, where his team won a national title. Chaney has coached the Owls since 1982 and amassed an impressive 487-229 record. If the Owls live up to their talent, they should help Chaney get to win No. 500 later this season.
Wisconsin Gets Big Badger Back: A couple of weeks ahead of schedule, Wisconsin freshman center Greg Stiemsma is back at practice with the rest of the Badgers. But coach Bo Ryan said Stiemsma is not ready to participate in a complete practice. He has participated in shooting and 5-on-5 drills, but his timing and footwork still need work before he is ready to become a factor in games. Stiemsma injured his right foot in mid-November and was scheduled to be out for six to eight weeks.
Heal!: Barring a Christmas miracle – or the supposed healing powers of evangelists such as Billy Graham – Kansas senior forward Wayne Simien will spend most of the next month to six weeks nursing his injured left thumb. Simien had surgery on the thumb Monday night after he severely sprained in it the Jayhawks’ 64-60 win against South Carolina Saturday. Simien’s injury may end any hopes he had of becoming the national player of the year, but the Jayhawks may benefit from his absence as other players receive more playing time during his absence.
Home on the Range: Arizona redshirt sophomore guard Beau Muhlbach has left the Wildcats to transfer to Texas A&M, where he hopes to earn more playing time. Muhlbach will be best remembered at Arizona for putting up 36 points in an intrasquad scrimmage before last season. He scored 29 more points in that game, however, than he would score in eight appearances during all of last season. With a stacked backcourt, Muhlbach realized he was not destined to earn much playing time at Arizona, so he will take his three remaining years of eligibility closer to home in Lufkin, Texas.
Wayward Guard Kicked Off Team: New Mexico State sophomore guard Robert Frazier is off the team – again. Coach Tony Stubblefield announced that he dismissed Frazier from the team because he violated team rules. Frazier quit the team in May but had a change of heart and rejoined the team to average 6.8 points per game so far this season. Frazier missed his freshman year because of a back injury after playing only three games. Stubblefield did not provide any details about the rules violation.
Ram Bam Thank You Ma’am: Junior swingman Alex Davis has apparently ended his basketball career at Rhode Island nearly as quickly as it started. After playing only three games, the JuCo transfer has quit the team and returned home to Tuscon, Ariz. Davis has played in three games for a total of eight minutes. During that marginal playing time, Davis tallied one assist and one rebound. University officials did not provide any additional details.
A Day in Court: Two BYU players appeared in court to essentially find out when they must show up again later in court. Antwaun Harris appeared in court on charges of providing false statements to police in the investigation of a rape case involving four former BYU football players. Another BYU basketball player, Billy Skinner, appeared in court on a charge of dealing harmful material to a minor. Harris’ initial appearance concluded with an appointment to return Jan. 18. Court officials said he will likely waive his right to a preliminary hearing. Skinner merely learned that his initial appearance will not occur until Jan. 4.
CBS/Big Ten Relationship Continues: Officials at CBS and the Big Ten agreed to a contract extension that will guarantee Big Ten games will appear on national TV through 2010. They did not release financial terms. The agreement means that CBS will continue its 14-year association with the Big Ten, home of the No. 1 team in the land, Illinois. The contract kicks in next year and guarantees 26 appearances per season on the network, with the number increasing to 30 during the 2008-09 season.
