The Morning Dish – Monday, January 31st
Huskies Back in First: Behind 23 points from Nate Robinson, Washington defeated Arizona State 79-70 in Tempe. The win moved the Huskies back into a first-place tie with Arizona in the Pac Ten. UW forced 21 Sun Devil turnovers and held Ike Diogu to only 14 points and one free-throw attempt, down from his nation leading 9.8 free throws per game. The Huskies salvaged a split in the Grand Canyon state after losing to Arizona on Thursday 91-82.
Better Late Than Never: In a game that was supposed to be played Saturday, Alabama trounced Georgia 75-47. Kennedy Winston led Alabama with 18 points in a game which the Crimson Tide played reserves most of the second half. Georgia had trouble leaving Atlanta because of ice storms, but looking at the game, it’s hard to tell if they actually made it to Tuscaloosa. They trailed 62-23 at one point in the game and six different players fouled out.
Blue Devils Back in Win Column: After suffering their first loss of the season Wednesday, Duke bounced back with a 100-65 win over Virginia Tech. J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams both had monster games. Redick hit six threes en route to 29 points while Williams had a double-double at halftime and ended with 25 points and 17 rebounds. Hokie leading scorer Carlos Dixon injured his elbow early in the second half. He returned to action after X-rays came back negative, but he will be reexamined Monday nonetheless.
Another Ranked Team Falls to Terrapins: For the second time in a week, Maryland has knocked off a ranked foe. Wednesday, the Terrapins upset previously unbeaten Duke, and Sunday, they upended Georgia Tech 79-71. Nik Caner-Medley continued his breakout season by leading all scorers with 19 points. Isma’il Muhammad scored 15 points for the Yellow Jackets who have now lost four out of five and fell to 3-4 without second leading scorer B.J. Elder, who is out with a strained hamstring.
Golden Domers Hang on: Connecticut trailed Notre Dame by two with 15 seconds to go when Marcus Williams stole the ball and drove coast-to-coast to attempt the game-tying basket. Unfortunately for Husky fans, he left the layup short, and Chris Thomas grabbed the rebound and made two free throws to ice the 78-74 win for the Irish. The miscue overshadowed a solid game from Williams who tied a season high with 16 assists. Notre Dame was led by Torin Francis who scored 19 points and dominated the paint all game long.
Cowboys Bounce Back: Coming off a ten-point loss against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State blitzed Colorado 104-86. The 104 points was a season high as the Cowboys shot 60 percent and made 13 threes. John Lucas scored 26 points to lead all scorers while JamesOn Curry scored 22 points in his first career start. Chris Copeland led five Buffalos in double figures with 19 points but it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome Oklahoma State’s hot shooting.
Free Basketball Times Five: In the second half, Florida International trailed Arkansas-Little Rock by as many as 14 points and appeared to be well on their way to staying winless in the Sun Belt Conference. So why does this get mentioned in the Dish? The Panthers fought back to force overtime — five of them — and ultimately won 118-114. Ismael N’Diaye scored 34 points for the Panthers in 59 minutes. In a losing effort, Arkansas-Little Rock’s Brandon Freeman led all players with 38 points and 61 minutes. The game fell two overtimes short of the NCAA record of seven set in 1981 in a game between Cincinnati and Bradley.
Xavier Down Another Big Man: Musketeer center Brian Thornton may miss the remainder of the season with a bruised shin. He originally injured it three weeks ago against Massachusetts and has been hobbling through games ever since. The breaking point came in a recent game against Saint Joseph’s when coach Sean Miller realized he was hurting his team by playing Thornton. Miller doesn’t think that Thornton will be able to play the rest of the season, which would mean that Xavier has now lost three big men and is now down to one big man on the roster in Will Caudle.
Tonight’s Menu
• Kansas tries to stay unbeaten in Big 12 play when it hosts Missouri.
• Pittsburgh hosts Providence, the only team winless in Big East play.
• Utah faces in-state rival BYU in Provo.
• Two potential Cinderellas host games. 18-3 Old Dominion faces Drexel and 15-2 Pacific hosts UC Davis.
