After a couple of slow nights following opening night, things got interesting on Friday night as there were some very good matchups, aided by the Veterans Classic. It had the promise of being a good night of games.
The end result was, most notably, quite a night for mid-majors playing on the road.
The first game of such note saw West Virginia hosting a Buffalo team noted for its rout of Arizona in last season’s NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers appeared to be in control for a lot of the night, hanging on to a high single-digit lead for a lot of the second half with Buffalo not appearing to have a big run in them. Down 79-69 with 4:43 left, the Mountaineers appeared to be in a good place.
Then C.J. Massinburg got going once again. The senior guard had 43 points on the night, going 12-22 from the field including 9-15 from long range, and after the Bulls scored the next four points and West Virginia answered with an Andrew Gordon layup, Massinburg hit two three-pointers to make it a two-point game. He would then tied it at 84 with 15 seconds left, and after the Moutaineers couldn’t score, overtime was on tap. There, the Bulls took an early lead, but over a minute in they took it for good. Up 88-86, Massinburg, who also had 14 rebounds, hit a three-pointer, then went on a personal 7-0 run to help Buffalo pull away and hang on for a 99-94 win in Morgantown.
Another New York school that came up big was Stony Brook, already noteworthy for winning at George Washington on Tuesday night after falling behind 22-0 to start the game. The Seawolves went to South Carolina and held off the Gamecocks 83-81, leading most of the second half. Stony Brook had a 49-33 advantage on the boards, grabbing 22 of their own misses to overcome five more turnovers and shooting 38.6 percent from the field to go to 2-0.
Staying in the SEC, UC Irvine, among the favorites in what should be a very competitive Big West, got a jumper in the final seconds to beat Texas A&M 74-73 in College Station and improve to 2-0 on the young season.
In the Midwest, Furman went to Loyola-Chicago and edged the Ramblers 60-58 on a dunk with less than two seconds to play. Naturally, this game is noteworthy as much because of the Ramblers’ magical Final Four run last season as anything else, but it is a nice win for Furman as they improve to 2-0.
Of somewhat lesser note, American went to George Mason and beat the Patriots 78-75 in overtime, which puts the Patriots at 0-2 in a year where more is expected of them than at any time since they entered the Atlantic 10.
Finally, one of the last games of the night was Yale playing against Cal in China. The Golden Bears had some embarrassing showings last year as part of a forgettable season for them and the Pac-12. Yale is no pushover, as the Bulldogs have been nothing if not a consistently good team in the Ivy League under James Jones, and they should be in the mix this season as well although Harvard and Penn are considered the favorites. All Yale did on Friday night was take control early and remain in control all the way in a 76-59 win over the Golden Bears. Yale shot 48 percent from the field and held Cal to 35 percent shooting, winning despite 19 turnovers.
Side Dishes
In the Veterans Classic at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wichita State got the kind of game they may need quite often from Markis McDuffie. The senior forward had 32 points on 12-19 shooting (including 6-9 from deep) to lead the Shockers over Providence 83-80. Maryland pulled away from Navy 78-57 in the other game behind 24 points from Anthony Cowan.
A few other SEC teams did fine on Friday night, with Auburn running out to a big halftime lead against Washington and never looking back in an 88-66 win behind 19 points and 10 rebounds from Chuma Okeke, but that was not the worst thing that happened on the night for the Huskies (more on that to come). Tennessee handled Louisiana 87-65 behind 31 points and 10 rebounds from Grant Williams, Kentucky pulled away from Southern Illinois 71-59 as Nick Richards had 19 rebounds, and Mississippi State blew out Austin Peay 95-67. LSU got a little tougher challenge from UNC Greensboro, but pulled out a 97-91 win behind big nights from Naz Reid (29 points, seven rebounds) and Tremont Waters (21 points, 10 assists).
Two other SEC teams that went down had tougher opponents from the Big 12, as Iowa State beat Missouri 76-59 in a game where neither team had their best player and Texas edged Arkansas 73-71 in overtime in the Armed Forces Classic. Missouri is without Jontay Porter for the season due to injury, while Iowa State’s Liddell Wigginton had his left foot in a cast due to what head coach Steve Prohm called a strain. It appears he’ll be out at least a couple of weeks, which is how long he should have the cast on (one week) followed by time in a boot (about another week) before rehabbing. Texas, meanwhile, didn’t have a good second half after going into the locker room up six, and managed to force overtime. There, they were up two in the final seconds when a solid defensive stand was enough to hang on.
The Boston area was home to a couple of good mid-major matchups on Friday night, with the road team winning both. CAA favorite Northeastern got a big night from George Washington transfer Jordan Roland (35 points) to beat Ivy League favorite Harvard 81-71 in Cambridge and Vermont beat Boston University 78-72 in a battle of former America East rivals, getting 19 points and 14 rebounds from Anthony Lamb.
Further west, an underrated mid-major game saw two favorites to win their conference square off. Despite 30 points from Georgia State star D’Marcus Simonds, host Montana took home an 81-74 win in the Grizzlies’ season opener.
As noted earlier, Washington had something else happen besides losing a basketball game on Friday night. About 15 miles outside of Montgomery, Alabama, the team’s bus blew a tire and caught fire, forcing players to evacuate the bus. There were no injuries, but the team had to wait on the side of the road at about 1:30 a.m. for another bus to take them to an airport to fly back to Seattle.
BYU will have to vacate 47 wins and a scholarship as a result of suspended guard Nick Emery being involved with boosters. The committee on infractions said Emery had received $12,000 in impermissible benefits from four boosters, and is currently suspended for nine games. Emery played in 2015-16 and 2016-17 before withdrawing after BYU acknowledged his involvement, but has since re-enrolled. Emery famously sucker-punched Utah guard Brandon Taylor when the arch rivals met in 2015, and after the school did not punish him severely enough for Utah’s tastes, the Utes bought out the game that was supposed to be played a year later. BYU has said it will appeal the NCAA’s ruling.
Miami did not have big man Dewan Hernandez in their 83-62 win over Lehigh, where all five starters scored in double figures. The school and the NCAA are reviewing his eligibility, which the team noted in a brief statement saying that he will be withheld from competition during that time. The junior figures to be a big part of the team this year with personnel losses from last year and as he continues to develop.
Tonight’s Menu
It’s a fairly busy day of action, though not as busy as Friday night as football takes center stage. Here are some that stand out.
- Wyoming heads west to visit Oregon State (3 p.m.)
- Evansville tries to bounce back from their season-opening loss to Illinois as they visit Xavier, while Oklahoma State travels to take on Charlotte (4 p.m.)
- Butler gets their season going as they host another team in their opener, Miami (Ohio) (7 p.m.)
- Villanova hosts a Quinnipiac team coached by former assistant Baker Dunleavy (8 p.m.)
- Also tipping at 8 p.m. are a pair of nice mid-major matchups involving Missouri Valley teams: Northern Iowa at UT Arlington and Illinois State at Belmont.
- The most interesting game late is Gonzaga hosting a Texas Southern that knocked off Baylor in their opener (10 p.m.)
