What do we make of Kentucky right now? It’s a question many had before Saturday, and after an 84-83 overtime loss to Seton Hall, it remains an open question.
Frankly, we just don’t know. The Wildcats aren’t bad, but we don’t know how good this team is. Are they a Final Four contender that’s slow out of the gates with their youth? Or are they just another NCAA Tournament team relevant only because they’re Kentucky and coached by John Calipari?
We have to wait a little longer to get a real sense.
Let’s be honest about their two losses. The manhandling by Duke came in the season opener, and the Blue Devils played very well while the Wildcats did not. That combination in any matchup will usually spell a blowout, unless the team that played very well has a lot less talent. And Saturday’s loss to Seton Hall came in overtime and against a Pirate team that is clearly better than many thought coming into the season.
In fact, while thinking about the Wildcats, we need to take a minute to point out that Seton Hall is good. Kevin Willard’s team lost some big pieces from last season, and it wasn’t clear who would fill in as key supporters to Myles Powell, who had 28 points on Saturday that included going 6-11 from long range. The fact that Powell is averaging a career-best 23 points per game on career-best shooting numbers tells you he’s not scoring on volume alone while others just watch him shoot. Sacred Heart transfer Quincy McKnight has settled one guard spot, while Michael Nzei is converting almost 73 percent of his shots and blowing away his career numbers prior to this season. The Pirates go solidly eight deep.
Seton Hall is 6-3 now with a Wooden Legacy championship that includes a win over Miami, and now a win over Kentucky. The blowout loss at Nebraska is the biggest blot on their resume; a close loss to Atlantic 10 contender Saint Louis is forgivable, as is a another close one to Louisville.
Kentucky needed a miracle three-pointer just to send the game to overtime, as Keldon Johnson hit from midcourt as time expired to tie the game at 70. And now, with final exams ahead, the Wildcats are done with the relatively easy part of their schedule.
What is the best win on their resume? Southern Illinois? UNC Greensboro? We won’t know for sure until later on, but those two seem to stand out at the moment; neither is going to make the NCAA Tournament selection committee jump out of their shoes. All of their wins have come by double digits, but none against teams that are NCAA Tournament locks now or are likely to be in two months. That means they don’t tell us much about a team thought by some to be a serious national title contender prior to the season.
Now it gets tougher for this team. They host Utah next Saturday, then North Carolina a week later and then go to arch-rival Louisville before SEC play starts. They get Kansas in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in late January.
Now we’re going to get more of a sense of just how good this team might be.
Side Dishes
Staying in the SEC for a moment, Auburn is quietly 8-1 after handling Dayton 82-72 behind a big night from Bryce Brown (34 points), whose play has mitigated the transfer of Mustapha Heron. Meanwhile, Florida is another team where the picture is a little mixed, as they dropped a tough one to Michigan State in Gainesville by a score of 63-59 to drop to 5-4. That’s not a bad loss by any means, but they had a chance to build nicely on Tuesday night’s win over West Virginia.
It’s a great thing that Syracuse and Georgetown still play despite the Orange now being in the ACC due to football. Tyus Battle capped a 26-point outing with the game-winner to give Syracuse a 72-71 win over the improving Hoyas, who got 22 points and 12 rebounds from Jessie Govan.
Nebraska gave the Big Ten another good win as they took care of Creighton 94-75 in Lincoln behind 30 points from James Palmer Jr. The Cornhuskers are now 8-2 and look like they’ll be in better shape should they repeat last season’s Big Ten performance, although now we could expect them to get a quality win or two in conference play as well. Indiana also scored a nice win, edging Louisville 68-67 to build on their two straight Big Ten wins earlier.
Not many people realize how good New Mexico State is, but the Aggies gave Kansas all they could handle and then some in Kansas City on Saturday night. In fact, you could make the case that the Aggies let this game get away, a 63-60 loss that will be tough to take. Much was said about how Kansas did not have Udoka Azubuike, and he could have helped in what was a slow-paced game. But the Aggies should be given credit because they played well and are very good, but they’re hidden away in the WAC.
Marquette won a big rivalry game in overtime, knocking off Wisconsin 74-69 at Fiserv Forum. The game featured two players who should be in All-America conversations in a few months, and both played up to that standard: Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ (34 points on 16-21 shooting, 11 rebounds) and Markus Howard (27 points), although Sam Hauser came up big for the winners as well with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Villanova also beat an arch-rival, taking care of Saint Joseph’s 70-58 to run their Big Five winning streak to an amazing 25 games, but another Big East school, Xavier, didn’t fare so well against their arch-rival as Cincinnati took care of them 62-47 for their ninth straight win.
Tulsa had quite a week against Big 12 opponents. First, they beat Oklahoma State on Wednesday night, then on Saturday they edged Kansas State 47-46. The Golden Hurricane is quietly off to a 7-3 start. Speaking of Oklahoma State, they went down again on Saturday night as Houston remained undefeated with a 63-53 win in Stillwater.
There were a couple of better results for the Big 12 elsewhere. Oklahoma is now 8-1 after blowing out Wichita State 80-48 behind another big game from Christian James (14 points, 13 rebounds), while the Shockers are now 4-4. West Virginia helped salvage the day with a 69-59 win over a Pittsburgh team that appears to be exceeding expectations to at least some degree.
The Never Forget Classic had a nice doubleheader, though the second game was clearly more competitive. Mississippi State took care of Clemson 81-62 in the opener, keeping their hot start going and leaving Clemson still in search of a quality non-conference win (unless Georgia surprises us), then Florida State held off UConn in the nightcap 79-71.
The Pac-12 had a mixed bag of a day, with the bad including Utah losing 74-59 to arch-rival BYU at home behind a monster game from Yoeli Childs (31 points, 11 rebounds), but Cal knocked off San Diego State 89-83 to make it an 0-2 week for the Aztecs and UCLA held off Notre Dame 65-62 after blowing a double-digit lead.
Quietly, Penn has moved to 8-2 despite losing a key player in their season opener, taking care of struggling La Salle 83-65 on Saturday. Ashley Howard will need time to get the Explorers going and is surely preaching patience, but an 0-10 start is painful all the same.
Boston College was slated to play at Texas A&M on Saturday evening, but due to travel issues for Boston College, the game was canceled. Boston College released a statement late Saturday morning outlining mechanical and logistical issues with their charter aircraft, as well as weather conditions and requesting contingency plans to move the start time, which Texas A&M declined. The game was to be the first of a home-and-home between the two schools, and the contract penalty for not playing the game is reportedly $100,000 if Texas A&M wants to pursue it.
Tonight’s Menu
The slate is considerably lighter but has a couple of doubleheaders to highlight it.
- The MSG Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden starts with Columbia taking on Iona (11 a.m.) and is followed by Princeton taking on St. John’s (1 p.m.)
- Arizona gets another road test as they head to Alabama (1 p.m.)
- A good matchup of nearby rivals is Virginia hosting VCU (1:30 p.m.)
- The Air Force Reserve Jerry Colangelo Classic in Phoenix starts with the game of the day as Tennessee takes on Gonzaga (3 p.m.) and is followed by Nevada taking on Grand Canyon (5:30 p.m.)
- Oregon State travels to Saint Louis to take on one of the Atlantic 10 favorites (3:30 p.m.)
- Texas tries to snap a three-game losing streak as they host Purdue (6 p.m.)
- The last game of the day has the potential to be a good one between local rivals as Washington hosts Seattle (9 p.m.)
