Even at a time when the nation’s collective attention span is allegedly supposed to be turned to college football, Saturday promised to be a good day of college basketball. And it sure was.
The day included 14 ranked teams in action, including a trio of games matching two ranked squads. Three teams squads were knocked off by unranked, and three more very nearly were. Number One went down.
In the end, though, the biggest storyline was the undefeated teams. Specifically, the day started with three. By the end there were none.
Just after 3 p.m. Central time, the first undefeated went down. TCU fought back from an 11-0 deficit to start the game to lead Oklahoma almost the entire second half, including by 13 at one point. The Horned Frogs couldn’t put away the Sooners, though, and that’s bad news with Trae Young on the court.
Young posted monster numbers again with 39 points and 14 rebounds (and already is getting treated like an NBA star apparently, with a ridiculous 18 free throw attempts, making 15). His two foul shots with seven seconds left were the difference in a 90-89 win.
While those two were finishing up, top-ranked Villanova’s contest at Butler was starting. The Bulldogs were a thorn in the Wildcats’ sides last year, handing them two of their three regular season losses, and Butler picked up right where it left off.
The Bulldogs scored a 101-93 win, providing us yet more evidence that the college three-point line is way too short by draining 15 of 22 from long range, including 10 for their last 10. Jalen Brunson scored 31 and Villanova shot 53.5%, yet couldn’t keep up with the home team’s 60% marksmanship.
Kelan Martin scored 24 for Butler, but a real story is Paul Jorgensen, a George Washington transfer who is proving to be incredibly improved from his time with the Colonials. A rather unimposing 6-foot-2 guard, Jorgensen scored 23, scoring not just from long range (4-for-7) but even inside the arc (8 of 13 overall), and he is on the short list of impact transfers who have also made the most improvement at their new schools.
It almost seemed a formality at that point, then, that final unbeaten Arizona State would go down, especially since the Sun Devils faced talented rival Arizona on the road, and indeed the Wildcats would take the 84-78 victory in both teams’ Pac-12 opener.
Though not victorious, ASU showed plenty in defeat, though, rallying from a pair of 12-point second-half deficits to get within two on two occasions late. Tra Holder scored 31 for the Sun Devils, though Arizona also got its own monster game with DeAndre Ayton’s 23 points and 19 rebounds.
Arizona gets a leg up on its rival in the Pac-12 race and has now won eight in a row. For Arizona State, though, and perhaps all three of the last unbeatens, they may not drop much, if at all in the rankings next week. Finally, per ESPN Stats & Info last night, this is the first time in the Associated Press era (1948-49, also the year NCAA Division I as we know it was formed) that every single team has a loss before January.
If that doesn’t tell one that this season is wide open without a true favorite, nothing else will.
Side Dishes:
- Hoopville czar Phil Kasiecki is back for the rest of the season with his Saturday notes with recaps of all the day’s biggest games.
- More on Saturday’s games from the Dish: Duke, North Carolina and Virginia all had narrow escapes in the ACC. The Blue Devils trailed Florida State 93-91 with three minutes to play but finished the game on a 10-0 run for a 101-93 victory. Marvin Bagley had 32 points and 21 rebounds and Wendell Carter added 14 points and 16 boards, and all five starters scored at least 13. Concerning possibly, though, is how hard Mike Krzyzewski leaned on the starters here, with reserves combining for just 29 minutes and three points.
- North Carolina also needed a run at the end, with Wake Forest leading 69-65 before the Tar Heels scored the game’s final eight points, most importantly Joel Berry’s floater with 13 seconds left of a 73-69 win. Quality effort by the Demon Deacons, while Luke Maye continues to show he’s more than a supporting player-he’s one of the best in the ACC, with 17 points and 15 rebounds in this one.
- Virginia escaped with a 59-58 win over suddenly dangerous Boston College thanks to Ty Jerome, who scored a career-best 31 that the Cavaliers needed every last point of.
- Alabama drilled fifth-ranked but shorthanded Texas A&M 79-57, and this wasn’t just a Collin Sexton show-John Petty scored 18 and four starters scored at least 16 in the convincing win. The Aggies, meanwhile, showed what happens when a team can’t buy one from three-point range: a sorry 2-for-21 on the way to 30% shooting as a team. There will be better days for A&M. The Crimson Tide did release some bad news as gritty senior Riley Norris will miss the rest of the season due to a hip injury. Norris injured the hip this summer and originally sat out the team’s first three games but had played in all nine since, averaging 4.8 points per game.
- Wichita State finally pulled away from Connecticut in the final minutes to win 72-62 in the Shockers’ American Athletic Conference debut. Sweet-shooting WSU was its usual self from long range (12-for-25) but had considerably more trouble from inside the arc (16-for-42, plus 4 of 12 from the line).
- Arkansas came back to edge Tennessee 95-93 in overtime, holding serve at home in a battle of what sure looks right now like two NCAA Tournament teams. The Volunteers let one get away, unable to hold a nine-point lead with less than four minutes to play in part due to some uninspired offense. Great comeback for the Razorbacks, though, who got 33 points including numerous big three-pointers from Darryl Macon, plus 28 more from Jaylen Barford.
- Give a call to Saint Mary’s, which is now up to 13-2 and has won eight straight after its nightmarish Wooden Legacy performance. The Gaels won at much-improved BYU 74-66 in overtime, a true gut-check win, and Jock Landale delivered an All-American performance with 31 points (13-for-15 from the field) and 13 rebounds. Also a call to the Cougars’ Yoeli Childs, who had 29 points and 10 boards in the loss.
- Middle Tennessee State won at UAB 63-60, as Nick King had another huge game-30 points plus eight rebounds. King and Giddy Potts (19) combined for nearly 80% of MTSU’s points, but the Blue Raiders get an early leg up in Conference USA.
- But don’t forget about Old Dominion in C-USA. The Monarchs are now a quiet 10-3 after drubbing UNC Charlotte 89-58.
- We’re all in on St. Bonaventure. Really liking the talent and how it’s meshing on this Bonnies team, which got 32 points from Jaylen Adams in a 98-78 destruction of Massachusetts. If Bona doesn’t slip up too much on the road, we think its got a real chance to unseat Rhode Island (which handled George Mason 83-64) at the top of the Atlantic 10.
- A statement win in the Colonial for College of Charleston, which toppled Towson 73-62. Not the sweetest shooting of clubs, the Cougars shot their best number of the season against a Division I team-51.2%, and Jarrell Brantley scored 24 points.
- The Southern Conference is going to be a blast to watch the next two months, and UNC Greensboro roared back from a 14-point halftime deficit against Wofford for a 71-67 win in the Terriers’ first game since stunning North Carolina.
- Finally, a couple late night stunners in the Big Sky: Idaho State won at Weber State 62-60 and Sacramento State came back to top Portland State 80-75, with Justin Strings scoring a career-best 34 points. The Hornets did a beautiful job with the Vikings’ pressure defense, with their 11 turnovers tied with none other than Duke for the fewest by a Portland State opponent this season.
- Among the day’s top individual performances not listed above: Andrew Rowsey scored 35 in Marquette’s 74-65 win over Georgetown; Division II transfer Max Strus scored 33 for DePaul, which looked fantastic in road blue uniforms with white numbers and letters and red trim and without the hideous black letters anymore, but came up short in a 77-72 loss to No. 6 Xavier; Tanner Leissner scored 32 for New Hampshire in its 83-66 win over state rival Dartmouth, and Jon Elmore fired away for 32 in Marshall’s 78-65 win over slumping Louisiana Tech. Also: William & Mary and Hofstra have put on some dandies in recent years and did so again, the Tribe holding on for a 90-87 win with talented big man Nathan Knight putting up 31 points and 11 rebounds while Justin Wright-Foreman scored 36 for the Pride/should be Flying Dutchmen in the loss.
- San Diego State defeated Utah State 79-59 yesterday, but more news from the Aztecs is Montaque Gill-Caesar is leaving the team. Gill-Caesar is a one-time transfer from Missouri who has had a variety of ailments and had played in just seven of the team’s 12 games so far this season, averaging 4.3 points per game when he was on the court.
Today’s Menu:
- You could start your day with Savannah State at Michigan State (Noon Eastern, Big Ten Network), but-with respect to both teams-we might ask: why? If ever there was an example of why there are too many games on TV these days, it’s this. If looking for something to watch, locate a feed of what should be a far more competitive game between Jersey rivals Monmouth and St. Peter’s in the Metro Atlantic. Or wait an hour for two more good MAAC games (Rider at Niagara, Iona at Canisius) or an early Northeast Conference tip (Wagner at St. Francis-N.Y.).
- Good stuff in the Southern Conference with rapidly improving East Tennessee State at Mercer. This should be one of the very best conference races to watch all season.
- Tulane is becoming a team to keep an eye on, and the Green Wave hosts Tulsa in a rare American game not on an ESPN network. (Sorry-ESPN3 doesn’t count for us)
- The best game of the day comes with Providence looking for its second Big East road win when it goes to Creighton (2:30 p.m., FS1). Later, St. John’s is at Seton Hall (5 p.m., FS1).
- Old city rivals Memphis and Cincinnati renew acquaintances (4 p.m., ESPNU).
- Two upstarts in the Southland Conference meet when Southeastern Louisiana is at Central Arkansas.
- Two of the better teams in the Big Sky early have been Idaho and Northern Colorado. The Vandals look for their second conference road win.
- Georgia gave Kentucky a rough time in each of their three meetings last year, even as the Wildcats won all of them. Of course, hardly anyone is left from that UK team, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Bulldogs were pesky again (6 p.m., ESPN).
- Virginia Tech is getting closer to a national ranking, but the guard-oriented Hokies have a test against Syracuse’s looooong zone (6 p.m., ESPNU).
- Utah has a chance for a sweep of the Oregon trip to open its Pac-12 schedule when it takes on Oregon State’s Beavers (6 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
- Surprising Washington is becoming one of this season’s better stories, and the Huskies have another chance to prove it at UCLA (8 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
- Your last tip-off before the ball drops in Times Square is Colorado at Oregon (10 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
Happy New Year everybody.
