If you’re a college basketball fan in the state of Kentucky, Tuesday was a night to forget. It doesn’t matter which side of the big rivalry you fall on.
It was a brutal night, on a wild night of basketball.
We’ll start with the earlier game, LSU’s visit to Kentucky. There are a lot of opposing teams that haven’t had much success at Rupp Arena, and LSU is certainly among them. Their last win there was ten years ago, and they had not beat a ranked Kentucky team there in over three decades. In other words, while this LSU team is good, if history is a guide they weren’t likely to leave Lexington with a win.
Kentucky led by eight at the half and at one point by nine, and LSU has fell behind often of late even as they have continued to win. As they have done often, the Tigers rallied, and in the final seconds Skylar Mays put up a shot that missed, but LSU’s Kavell Bigby-Williams came in and tipped the ball in at the buzzer. I didn’t see it live, but after hearing the buzz about it I made sure to see it later, and with no replays shown from right above the rim, the ball looked like it was still in the cylinder as it was tipped. The call was not reviewable, which led to some post-game comments about what is and is not reviewable and the history of that from Kentucky head coach John Calipari.
LSU is now all alone in second place in the SEC, a half game back of Tennessee, who Kentucky visits on Saturday (after they host South Carolina on Wednesday night).
If you thought that was something, Duke and Louisville did you one better.
Louisville had a nine-point halftime lead, then shut down Duke in the early going of the second half and led 59-36 just over halfway through the second half. It looked like the rout was on, so much so that even a well-respected TV weighed in with some larger implications:
If @CoachChrisMack isn’t careful, he’s going wind up right in the middle of the coach of the year conversation. @LouisvilleMBB
— Dan Shulman (@DShulman_ESPN) February 13, 2019
I don’t share this tweet that didn’t age well for anything against Shulman, who I think the world of. It can happen to any of us. It just tells you how things looked at the time, and his larger idea there is well-taken all the same, but that’s another subject for another time.
Duke would score the next seven points, then after a three-pointer, another nine straight, and with over five minutes left it was a ballgame. Down 66-57, Duke would then score another seven unanswered, and through this entire run they forced numerous turnovers with their over-playing 2-2-1 defense that Louisville couldn’t figure out, and after a miss at the other end, R.J. Barrett left a drop pass for Cam Reddish, who hit a long three-pointer to tie the game at 69 with 1:29 left.
It was amazing. But this wasn’t over yet.
Another Louisville turnover, a miss by Reddish and a miss by Jordan Nwora would get Duke the ball back. Reddish would hit two free throws, then Louisville would miss one last chance, and Duke had miraculously rallied to win 71-69, outscoring Louisville 35-10 in the final ten minutes of the game.
Duke forced 17 turnovers for the game, just enough to overcome shooting 36.5 percent from the field. For Louisville, this can turn into a crushing defeat if they let it. We’ll begin to find that out on Saturday when they host a Clemson team that has suddenly won four straight.
And so ended a tough night to be a basketball fan in Kentucky, no matter which side of the rivalry you come down on.
Side Dishes
In Queens, Shamorie Ponds has carried St. John’s for much of the season, but on Tuesday night it was Mustapha Heron who led the way as he had 28 points to lead the way in a 77-73 overtime win over Butler. That evens their Big East mark at 6-6 while dropping the Bulldogs to 5-7, no small matter as the regular season winds down.
Elsewhere in the SEC, Arkansas suffered a damaging loss, a 79-78 setback at Missouri that drops them to 5-6 in SEC play, and Mississippi State improved to 5-6 by taking care of Alabama 81-62 in Starkville.
A busy night in the Big Ten saw Wisconsin lose their second straight, both to Michigan teams as Michigan State came to Madison and won 67-59, while Maryland snapped Purdue’s eight-game winning streak with a solid 70-56 win in College Park as Bruno Fernando had another double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Then came the shocker of the night: Penn State held off Michigan 75-69 for just their second Big Ten win of the season, getting 26 points and 12 rebounds from Lamar Stevens.
Among teams that went on the road and took care of business are Marquette, 92-73 winners at DePaul behind 36 from Markus Howard; Davidson, who took care of Fordham 79-69 in the Bronx; and Buffalo, 76-70 winners at Akron.
The surprising struggles of Saint Joseph’s hit a low point on Tuesday night as St. Bonaventure came to town and blew out the Hawks 76-51. The Bonnies won both games between the two teams this season, with the first being a 26-point blowout in Olean. Nine of the Hawks’ 14 losses have been by double digits.
Just as Kansas State has gone on a run, including Tuesday night’s hard-fought 71-64 win at Texas largely on the heels of a big second half, an injury hits that will hurt their depth as Cartier Diarra will need surgery to address a hand injury. The sophomore guard has been their best reserve and has been playing especially well of late, and it’s not known if he will return this season. The Wildcats are two games up in the Big 12 in the loss column, with four teams lurking in the immediate vicinity.
UT Arlington has picked up Arkansas transfer Jordan Phillips, a native of nearby Forth Worth. Phillips will be eligible after the first semester next season and have three full seasons of eligibility in addition to the remainder of next season, and the 6’7″ forward will boost a team that should return everyone as the Mavericks are one of a handful of teams in Division I without a scholarship senior. They are one of the pleasant surprises thus far as they are tied atop the Sun Belt Conference despite a great deal of change from last season.
Tonight’s Menu
It’s a busy Wednesday night that includes a few conference showdowns, as well as more with bubble teams jockeying for position.
- An unusual 11 a.m. tip gets things going as Boston University goes to Army in a Patriot League battle.
- Tennessee’s latest challenge comes in a visit from South Carolina (6:30 p.m.), and in later SEC play, Auburn hosts Ole Miss (8:30 p.m.)
- In the Big East, Villanova hosts Providence (6:30 p.m.) early on, while later Georgetown visits Seton Hall and Creighton goes to Xavier (8:30 p.m.)
- Florida State tries to stay hot as Wake Forest visits, while Clemson tries to build off their recent win as they travel to Miami (7 p.m.), while later on Virginia Tech tries to bounce back as they host Georgia Tech and NC State has a tough one at home with Syracuse in town (8 p.m.)
- A big rivalry game is on tap in the Atlantic 10 as VCU hosts Richmond (7 p.m.)
- The MAAC has a key game on tap as a hot Siena team hosts Iona (7 p.m.)
- In-state rivals meet in a key American Athletic Conference game as UCF hosts USF (7 p.m.)
- The Atlantic Sun has the second showdown on tap between the clear top two teams as Liberty hosts Lipscomb (7:30 p.m.)
- A late Mountain West game to watch is Boise State at Fresno State (10:30 p.m.)
- In Pac-12 games of note, Arizona State goes to Colorado (10:30 p.m.) and Stanford hosts USC (11 p.m.)
