Good morning all. Wishing everyone a blessed, Happy Thanksgiving.
The two teams may have run up and down the court, combined for 176 points, and both just missed topping the 90-point barrier, but let it be known: Gonzaga’s 89-87 victory over Duke in a superb 2018 Maui Invitational championship game came down to defense.
First, it was the top-ranked Blue Devils’ inability on D to slow down the Bulldogs almost the entire game, as the No. 3-ranked team in the country shot 64.5% in the first half, took that all the way up over 70% in building a 16-point lead in the second half, and finished the game at 52.3%. The Zags were outstanding in their execution, making Duke pay for virtually every poor rotation, soft challenge or missed box out, and for 32 minutes the Bulldogs were as impressive as can be and clearly a step ahead of Duke. Rui Hachimura (20 points), Zach Norvell (18) and Brandon Clarke (17) all were terrific and showed just how many different weapons on this team can beat an opponent.
Even with Gonzaga’s excellence, the Blue Devils’ ballyhooed freshmen still just about won this one anyway. Zion Williamson-who is well on his way to ESPN hype overkill in the footsteps of Trae Young last year and Ben Simmons the year before (we found out essential information during the Wisconsin/Stanford Battle 4 Atlantic game yesterday that he enjoys anime)-scored 22 points and added 10 rebounds. Seven of those boards were on the offensive end, one example of the unique talent that makes his play so captivating. R.J. Barrett also scored 23, even while not shooting it well, and Tre Jones repeatedly off the drive hit short jumpers or floaters in adding 17.
Duke fired down the floor after Gonzaga misses or turnovers, drove to the basket time and again and attacked the offensive glass ferociously (22 offensive boards) and fought all the way back to tie it at 87-87 in the final two minutes. Hachimura scored the next time down to put Gonzaga back ahead, but the Blue Devils had ample opportunities to tie or win in regulation.
The Bulldogs made a critical adjustment in that last minute, though, collapsing down hard every time a Duke player went to the basket. The Blue Devils got off seven shots in the final 54 seconds, but four of them were swatted away, and almost every one of them had two, three and sometimes even four Zags contesting them. It was appropriate that Barrett’s final attempt with a second left was blocked by Clarke, preserving Gonzaga’s second Maui title and giving the Blue Devils their first loss in six trips to the event.
The Bulldogs’ win and overall performance showed that the breathless overreactions surmising that Duke might go undefeated this year were way premature. It also showed that Maui continues to be a treasure of the college basketball season (even as this game was played at the strange hour of 5 p.m. Eastern-and noon on the island-so ESPN could as always prioritize its NBA coverage). Most of all, this matchup of top-three teams made it very easy to envision these two meeting again later this season-very late in the NCAA Tournament.
Side Dishes
- Also in Maui, Auburn won the third-place game 73-57 over Arizona with depth, getting 33 points from its bench. The Tigers showed very well here and look certainly worthy of their top 10 ranking.
- So much for Creighton being down this year. The Bluejays capped a three-day offensive bonanza at the Cayman Islands Classic by defeating No. 16-ranked Clemson 87-82. The story was Ty-Shon Alexander, who scored 36 and hit seven three-pointers. Creighton scored 94, 93 and 87 in the tourney and shot at least 54.5% in all three games. The Bluejays’ dismantling of Georgia State in the semifinals also looked even better after Wednesday when the Panthers pummeled Georgia 91-67 in the third-place game. Malik Benlevi hit eight triples (24 points) and Georgia State dominated the first half and never looked back, hammering a Bulldogs team that look so good in the quarterfinals against Illinois State but was feeble here.
- Bradley won the Cancun Challenge with defense and scored a name-brand victory topping Penn State 59-56. Elijah Childs scored 18 and the Braves won despite PSU’s 45-28 advantage in rebounding, as the Nittany Lions shot an ice-cold 28.8%. Bradley is an excellent defensive team and repeatedly turned away PSU shots late. This is the Braves’ first in-season tournament title in 35 years and first that they didn’t host since 1966.
- Boston College handed Loyola Chicago its second loss of the season, taking the Fort Myers Tip-Off Classic with a 78-66 win. The Eagles shot 51.7% and owned a huge 30-8 advantage in bench points, which was a theme through a number of games on this night.
- Minnesota finished undefeated in the Vancouver Showcase, though it took some NBA-caliber ignorance of basketball’s traveling rule to stay there. Gabe Kalscheur hit the game-winning three-pointer against Washington with two seconds left, though not before performing several steps of The Hustle before shooting. An obvious travel was missed or ignored, and the Golden Gophers picked up a 68-66 win to move to 5-0.
- Toledo came back from seven down at halftime to defeat UC Irvine 67-60 for an impressive Gulf Coast Showcase title. The Rockets handed the Anteaters their first loss by holding them to 37.5% shooting and also outworking UCI on the glass for a 40-37 advantage. Also in Florida, Louisiana-Lafayette topped in-state opponent Tulane 68-61 for third place; South Dakota State handled Colorado State 78-65 for fifth behind a career-high 32 for David Jenkins; and Texas-San Antonio defeated Florida Gulf Coast 76-65 with star guard Jhivvan Jackson scoring 21 off the bench in just 15 minutes, as he played light minutes in this tourney as he continues working back from an ACL injury.
- Arizona State pulled away in the second half to hold off upstart Utah State 87-82 in the MGM Main Event final. Luguentz Dort is an absolute load, and he dominated this game with 33 points. And this was a very encouraging showing by the Aggies in a convincing win over Saint Mary’s and this close loss.
- The NIT Season Tip-Off is frankly a shadow of the great event it used to be (this once was a real, 16-team, single-elimination tournament, and one of the highlights of the early season). It has now been reduced to a cheesy predetermined semifinals format, but it will end up with a heck of a final game this year after Kansas came back to defeat Marquette 77-68 and Tennessee outlasted Louisville 92-81.
- The Battle 4 Atlantis has probably one of its less-enticing fields, with a number of teams in reloading or rebuilding mode. Still, the quarterfinals featured a few surprises as Oklahoma topped Florida 65-60 and Dayton moved to 4-0 with a 69-64 win over Butler. Virginia also pulled away from Middle Tennessee State 74-52 and Wisconsin did the same against Stanford 62-46, the Badgers winning despite making just one three-pointer (and attempting just eight).
- Pittsburgh has played a pillow-soft schedule, but 6-0 is 6-0, and especially after the Panthers’ 75-73 win over Saint Louis at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, considering the Billikens won at Seton Hall a few days earlier.
- Another reason why the idea of Duke going undefeated wasn’t a sound one is because it’s been quite clear that the Blue Devils’ blowout opening win wasn’t as impressive as most thought. Kentucky has continued to win since then, but again showed immaturity in an 87-74 win over Winthrop as a 26-point lead was knocked down to 13. P.J. Washington posted another double-double (19 points, 11 rebounds), and this is a team in progress, but right now it is not the top-10 squad it is being ranked as.
- Anthony Lamb scored a career-high 34 and Vermont got a good win, defeating Yale 79-70. Another Ivy League team felled by a career best was Princeton, which was at home at Jadwin Gym but lost to Fairleigh Dickinson 77-66 behind Darnell Edge’s best of 28 points.
- San Francisco held off Harvard 61-57, the Dons moving to 5-0 with another plenty solid win. Also in the West Coast Conference, Loyola Marymount edged stubborn Central Connecticut State 76-74 by scoring the final seven points 0f the game, and the Lions are now a very surprising 6-0.
- Few games this season will have two better pure scorers than last night’s Hofstra/Cal State Fullerton tilt. The Titans’ Kyle Allman won the individual battle over Justin Wright-Foreman-barely-but lost the proverbial war. Allman lit it up for 38, Wright-Foreman scored 37 as Hofstra prevailed 80-71.
Today’s Menu: The Thanksgiving Day schedule continues to get a little bit longer every year.
- The day’s hoops start with the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals, with Wisconsin against Oklahoma first (1:30 p.m. Eastern, ESPN) followed by Virginia versus Dayton (4 p.m., ESPN).
- The AdvoCare Invitational (the ESPN Thanksgiving tournament based near Disney World, not Disneyland) begins with Villanova taking on Canisius (1:30 p.m., ESPN2). Among intriguing games later is College of Charleston trying to slow down LSU (7 p.m., ESPNU).
- The Las Vegas Holiday Invitational has Massachusetts against Southern Illinois (1:30 p.m., FS1) followed by Tulsa against Nevada (4 p.m., FS1).
- The Wooden Legacy (the Disney World one) begins with La Salle meeting Miami (Fla.) 2:30 p.m., ESPNU). Also keep an eye on Northwestern against Fresno State (4:30 p.m., ESPNU), Seton Hall later taking on Grand Canyon, and Hawaii against Utah (11:30 p.m., ESPN2) in the final game of the night.
- Besides those games, the big event of the day is the Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational (not to be confused with the Las Vegas Holiday Invitational…wait…what?). Texas takes on North Carolina in the first game (7:30 p.m., FS1), with Michigan State meeting UCLA in the second (10 p.m., FS1).
Happy Thanksgiving. Wish your day is filled with lots of family, turkey and football (and basketball, too).
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
