Saturday started with two undefeated teams in NCAA Division I college basketball. To the surprise of few, the day ended with none.
Michigan and Virginia entered the day without a blemish on their records, but both also were playing on the road. The Wolverines were taking on a Wisconsin team that had already lost twice at home this season and knew its season is sliding ever closer to the brink, while the Cavaliers had to play at only the most celebrated, hyped arena there is in the sport at this time, against a Duke squad that entered the week ranked No. 1.
Wisconsin defeated Michigan 64-54, the final margin obscuring that it was a one possession game with less than a minute left. Not obscured was that this was not the Wolverines’ finest day, with freshman Ignas Brazdeikis held scoreless and John Beilein’s team committing an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers. The Badgers received 26 points from Ethan Happ and just enough timely shots from others to get a huge win, just when it seemed UW’s season could be slowly drifting away.
A few hours later, Duke concluded a narrow 72-70 win over Virginia, ending the Cavaliers’ unbeaten run. R.J. Barrett scored 30 and Zion Williamson added 27 points, and while the Cavaliers were efficient near the basket, they were a rough 3-for-17 from three-point range, including missing some wide open looks there for the taking.
In it’s own way, the Blue Devils played a very Virginia-like game. Duke excelled inside more than outside, per usual, but it also kept turnovers to a minimum and won without point guard Tre Jones, who the school teased could be back already from his injury (how is it our institutions of higher education are regularly so bad at estimating injury time? More and more we find players who are rumored to be out for substantial time suddenly make a “miraculous” recovery). A titanic clash was generally everything that could have been asked for, and the countdown can now begin to these teams’ next meeting in just 20 days in Charlottesville.
Side Dishes:
- Looking at Saturday’s top individual performances: Murray State’s Ja Morant is in a class by himself for excitement this year. Morant scored 40 points, dished out 11 assists and also was 21-for-21 from the three-point line as the Racers had a fight before winning at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 82-72.
- Christian Lutele scored 35 to lead surprising Massachusetts-Lowell to a surprising 76-73 win at Hartford in the America East.
- Florida Gulf Coast guard Schadrac Casimir, a transfer from Iona, scored 34 to lead the Eagles to a 72-59 win at Kennesaw State.
- Keaton Wallace scored 33 points and chipped in nine rebounds for Texas-San Antonio, but the Roadrunners lost to UAB 83-73.
- Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy was a rebounding machine again, corralling 21 caroms to go with 19 points as the Golden Gophers survived Penn State 65-64.
- Buzzer beaters: Jordon Varnado scored 32 points and grabbed nine boards and hit the game-winning three-pointer with 1.7 seconds left as Troy defeated Georgia State 7-75 for the Panthers’ first loss in the Sun Belt. Bucknell edged Lehigh 85-83 in a classic in the Patriot League, as Jimmy Sotos scored the game-winner on a drive with 1.2 seconds left. Otis Livingston II drained a three-pointer with :00.4 remaining to give George Mason a 71-68 win over Fordham. And, Andrew Kostecka scored 26 points and scored the game-winner at the buzzer in overtime to lift Loyola (Md.) to an encouraging 67-65 win at Holy Cross that moves the Greyhounds ahead of the Crusaders in the Patriot League.
Today’s Menu:
- Somewhat surprisingly, it’s a very light schedule. It opens with Florida State at Boston College (ESPNU) and Providence against Marquette (CBSSN), both at noon Eastern time. The Seminoles have had some time to stew since losing at Pitt on Monday, while this could be a season-turning win for Providence if it can win. As an aside, there’s more than a little irony in the Big East with many proudly Catholic schools playing on a Sunday morning. Anything for TV.
- Iona takes on Monmouth in an MAAC series that has apparently lost its luster to TV (after some red-hot meetings a couple years back), but this one is still important as the Gaels are just a game behind league-leading Rider and the Hawks are just one-half game back of Iona in third.
- Illinois is at Iowa for what promises to be another offense-heavy game (1 p.m., Big Ten Network).
- Two very disappointing teams in the Missouri Valley meet with Bradley at Southern Illinois (4 p.m., ESPNU). Also in the league, Missouri State has become a tough out as Tulio Da Silva has been a load for Valley teams, and the Bears are at Drake.
- NBC Sports Network has done an outstanding job of covering the Atlantic 10 in conference play, to the extent that we wish the network covered more leagues. Its next game is Duquesne at George Washington (4 p.m.). Quietly, the Dukes are right there with a mess of other, more regular names that make up six squads with one loss or less at the top of the A-10.
- The Pac-12’s two Rockies members clash with Colorado at Utah (6 p.m., ESPNU). The Utes have had the upper hand in this series of late, winning nine of the last 12.
Have a relaxing Sunday.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
