JaQuan Newton might have put Miami into the NCAA Tournament, all in the blink of an eye.
If he or anyone else who was in the Dean Dome says everything is a blur, you can’t blame them. Miami’s 91-88 win had that kind of ending. And if that seems improbable, well, it was, in more ways than one.
Miami led by eight at halftime and scored on their first seven possessions of the second half to add to it. They held a double-digit lead for several stretches of the second half. But the Tar Heels went on a 10-2 run after the Hurricanes went up 76-65, and they got within one a couple of times in the final minute, which then led to the dizzying sequence.
Newton made two free throws with about nine seconds left to make it 88-85 Miami. Joel Berry II dribbled up the floor, found just a bit of daylight and swished home a three-pointer to tie the game with 4.1 seconds left. It looked like overtime was likely on the way, but Newton had another idea.
Rather than use a timeout, Miami inbounded to Newton and he kept going. He got past midcourt, and with still just over a second left, launched a shot that found the bottom of the net as time expired to give Miami a 91-88 win, their sixth in the last nine meetings against North Carolina, and snapping the Tar Heels’ five-game winning streak..
This puts Miami at 10-7 in ACC play, their fifth season with at least 10 conference wins in seven seasons under Jim Larranaga. It’s their fifth top 50 win and first against a top 10 team in the RPI, and they have overcome one loss to a team in the 100s (Georgia Tech). Only a visit from Virginia Tech remains before the ACC Tournament, so they don’t have to dodge a bad loss just yet (they might have to in the ACC Tournament). And to this point, they have held their own against fellow bubble teams, having gone 2-2 against Florida State, Louisville and Syracuse.
Miami has been on the bubble for a while, though many projections had the Hurricanes in before Tuesday night. A win at Chapel Hill makes them pretty close to a lock if they are not one now.
Side Dishes
Amazingly, Chapel Hill was not the site of the wildest game of the night. That honor has to go to Olean, NY, where Davidson and St. Bonaventure played… and played… and played some more. It took three overtimes, and pretty much all of the third extra session, to decide it, as Matt Mobley sealed it with two free throws with 0.7 seconds left, a 117-113 win for the Bonnies. The win gives them a school-record 23 and keeps their slim hopes of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid alive. Five players scored over 30 points in the game, something that basically never happens. Jaylen Adams had 34, Mobley finished with 33 and Courtney Stockard had 31 for the Bonnies, while Peyton Aldridge had 45 points and 12 rebounds and Kellan Grady added 39 for Davidson in the losing effort.
It was an interesting night in SEC play. Tennessee handily beat Mississippi State 76-54 in Starkville, while Florida won by almost as many at Alabama, 73-52. Arkansas held off a late rally by Auburn for a 91-82 win in Fayetteville, while Missouri won at Vanderbilt to stop the bleeding.
In Big 12 play, TCU should be a lot closer to being a lock for the NCAA Tournament after knocking off Kansas State 66-59 in Fort Worth, while Baylor boosted their chances again with an 87-64 thumping of Oklahoma in Waco.
The shocker of the night came as Saint Joseph’s traveled to Rhode Island and blew out the Atlantic 10 regular season champion Rams 78-48. This was never really a ballgame in the Rams’ only real clunker of the season.
The Patriot League Tournament got underway on Tuesday night, and home teams won two close ones as No. 7 Lafayette beat No. 10 American 93-86 and No. 8 Loyola (Md.) edged No. 9 Army West Point 82-79. The Big South Tournament also got started, with No. 10 Longwood pulling off the upset at No. 7 High Point 68-55 and No. 8 Charleston Southern knocking off No. 9 Presbyterian 68-51.
With Malik Pope’s name surfacing in recent reports regarding the FBI investigation, San Diego State conducted an internal investigation into his eligibility and said he was okay to play after their determination was that he did not receive an impermissible benefit. The senior forward was held out of Saturday night’s game at San Jose State because of this, and the Aztecs took care of the lowly Spartans without their leading scorer and rebounder. The night ended with Pope and the Aztecs handing Boise State a damaging 72-64 loss that likely ends any remote hope the Broncos had of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
Notre Dame is about to get a much-needed boost as star forward Bonzie Colson is set to return to action on Wednesday night against Pittsburgh. The senior, who was a serious Player of the Year candidate, has missed the last 15 games with a left foot fracture he suffered in a practice. Notre Dame has gone 6-9 in that time, with other injuries hitting them as well, but a late run would make them a very interesting team for the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee to evaluate.
Once again, teams competing in a postseason tournament get to be guinea pigs as the NCAA tests out four new rules, three of which make little if any sense. In the NIT this year, there will be a longer three-point line (just over 22 feet – okay), a wider free throw lane (the NBA’s width – why?), four ten-minute quarters (seriously?) and the shot clock resetting to 20 seconds instead of 30 after an offensive rebound (bad idea). Teams in these tournaments first want to compete, and the last rule change is bound to be a tough adjustment after playing 30 or so games without this silly change. Apparently, the NCAA really wants these tournaments to seem like a consolation to the NCAA Tournament – if you don’t make that one, you get to play under a different set of rules.
Tonight’s Menu
Three tournaments get going in addition to some important late regular season games.
- The Big Ten Tournament gets underway in New York with two opening round games: No. 13 Illinois takes on No. 12 Iowa (5:30), then about 25 minutes after that one ends, No. 14 Rutgers takes on No. 11 Minnesota.
- Quarterfinal action is on tap to start the Northeast Conference Tournament, with No. 8 Central Connecticut traveling to No. 1 Wagner, No. 7 Robert Morris heading south to No. 2 Mount St. Mary’s, No. 6 Fairleigh Dickinson traveling to No. 3 Saint Francis University, and No. 5 St. Francis Brooklyn making the shortest trip of all as they go to No. 4 LIU Brooklyn, all tipping at 7 p.m.
- First round action in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament has SIU-Edwardsville taking on Tennessee Tech (7:30 p.m.), then Eastern Illinois battling Tennessee State (9:30 p.m.)
- Big East action has Providence traveling to Xavier (6:30 p.m.), Villanova heading north to Seton Hall (8:30 p.m.) and St. John’s hosting Butler (9 p.m.)
- In SEC play, LSU visits South Carolina (6:30 p.m.), Ole Miss goes to Kentucky (7 p.m.) and Texas A&M travels to Georgia in the most important of the games (8:30 p.m.)
- A busy slate of Southland Conference games are on tap, highlighted by New Orleans hosting Southeast Louisiana (8 p.m.)
- Key ACC action on tap mainly comes later, with Clemson hosting Florida State and Boston College hosting Syracuse (9 p.m.)
- The last game of the night should be a good one as it’s a battle in-state rivals in the Mountain West with UNLV hosting Nevada (11 p.m.)
