Selection Sunday is just three weeks away, the NCAA Tournament is drawing near, and talk of top seeds and the “bubble” and such can dominate most any conversation this time of year. While that was naturally part of the story of Saturday, the day also saw varying storylines across the country going much further.
Among them:
- Syracuse faced Duke in a rematch of the Cuse’s surprising win at Cameron Indoor Stadium last month, yet coming in that storyline, as well as the one of Zion Williamson not playing, took a backseat to Jim Boeheim. Most all know the story now about how the Syracuse coach was involved in a fatal accident this week, and this was Boeheim’s first time returning to the court since the accident.
Boeheim was clearly very emotional before the game, and understandably so. His team gave top-ranked Duke plenty of trouble, leading at halftime and into the second half and staying in it until the end until the Williamson-less Blue Devils eventually prevailed in the Carrier Dome 75-65.
Duke’s bottomless supply of highly rated recruits yielded a 30-point game from R.J. Barrett as well as 20 from Alex O’Connell in his first start of the season. An NCAA on-campus record crowd of 35,642 also was on hand and made for a terrific atmosphere. - Kansas’s run of Big 12 championships is not over, but it may be in more peril than it has been at any time in the last 14 years.
Saturday night saw the Jayhawks get blasted by Texas Tech 91-62 in Lubbock, with the Red Raiders delivering a performance dominant in every way. Tech shot 60.7%, hit 16 of 26 from three-point range (tying a school record for makes from behind the half-moon line) and on defense time and again lured KU players into charges with its superior help defense inside.
With the loss, Kansas dropped two full games behind state rival Kansas State, which moved to 11-3 in the Big 12 with an easy 85-46 blowout of Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks now are not just two games out of first with four to play, but they’re also in third place, sitting also behind Texas Tech. Kansas hosts Kansas State Monday night. If the experienced Wildcats can pull off the road win, it will almost certainly be time to start reading last rites for The Streak. - One of the day’s biggest games was-maybe to the surprise of many-in the Southern Conference. To the surprise of no one, the game was nowhere near TV. While Wofford and Furman met in a big game with possible NCAA Tournament implications for both, the two did so via stream only while games like K-State’s unsurprising rout of Oklahoma State and SEC also rans Florida and Missouri facing off were given national television spots.
Matt Zemek of CBBToday.com nailed it in calling out ESPN for this serious miss and pointing out the network’s lack of foresight in covering the sport. (In the past, schedules were more rigid than they are now; ESPN has displyaed plenty of flexibility in its scheduling this year) Quite simply, decisions like these are hurting publicity of this sport, and judging by what we saw on social media, many agreed with Matt, too, and apparently understood better than TV executives what people really wanted to see on this Saturday.
The game went to Wofford, which continued its outstanding run through a tough SoCon, improving to 15-0 in league with a 72-64 win on Furman’s Senior Day. The Terriers showed why they’ll be a great darkhorse pick for a deep run in March.
Fletcher Magee scored 23 points and hitting repeated daggers in the late going, but Wofford also displayed once again a very underrated inside game. Cameron Jackson scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds (as well as leading the team with four assists), and the Terriers did considerable damage on the offensive glass with nine offensive boards leading to a 12-2 advantage in second-chance points. - Wofford has the second-longest winning streak in Division I right now at 15 games, three behind Gonzaga (which pulled away late to bury BYU 102-68). The country’s third-longest streak also stayed alive as New Mexico State topped Texas-Rio Grande Valley 88-79, and with the win the Aggies clinched a share of the Western Athletics Conference title and already the top seed in the WAC Tournament next month.
NMSU has quietly lurked off the radar but has put together a second straight outstanding season with a gaudy win total under Chris Jans. The Aggies are now 24-4 overall and have done it with defense and depth, with 13 players regularly seeing the court and almost any of them capable of having a big game on any given night. New Mexico State hasn’t gotten much national buzz yet, but an athletic team that defends well, has plenty of size and players capable of getting hot, and even has had a magic touch in close games (see its buzzer-beating wins in the WAC) is another that certainly bears watching in March.
Side Dishes:
- Hoopville’s Phil Kasiecki has his Saturday Notes from all of the day’s biggest games right here.
- South Dakota State senior Mike Daum became the 10th player in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history to top 3,000 points for a career, reaching the mark in the Jackrabbits’ 94-89 comeback win against South Dakota. Daum entered the game needing 19 for 3,000 and scored 25 as SDSU improved to 23-7 overall and stayed atop the Summit League at 13-2.
- Among the day’s top individual performances, it starts again-to no surprise-with Chris Clemons, who revved it up for 41 points and Campbell outlasted Longwood 74-72.
- James Madison sophomore guard Matt Lewis exploded for a career-high 40 and hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime, and the Dukes upset CAA leader Hofstra 104-99 on the road in Hempstead.
- Memphis’s Jeremiah Martin has put up some huge numbers of late and he did it again, scoring 37 as the Tigers outlasted Wichita State 88-85 for a good road win.
- Ross Cummings scored 37 points, exactly half of his team’s total in Mercer’s 74-69 win over Tennessee-Chattanooga, and yet he wasn’t even the highest scorer in his conference on Saturday-VMI’s Bubba Parham exploded for 38 as the Keydets nipped Western Carolina 83-78 for a Southern Conference win.
Today’s Menu:
- The biggest game of the day, maybe the weekend, is in the Big Ten with a top-10 battle of in-state rivals with Michigan State at Michigan (3:45 p.m., CBS). One of the most anticipated home and homes of the season, it’s taken seemingly forever for these two to play, but this is their first of two meetings in 14 days. One of the country’s highest-powered offenses meets one of its best defenses.
The day tips off in the American Athletic Conference, where SMU and Central Florida meet for the second time in two weeks (Noon, CBSSN). Aubrey Dawkins and Jimmy Whitt had a great duel in the first matchup. Also in the American, Cincinnati is at Connecticut (2 p.m., ESPN). - Villanova has been sputtering a bit, and now it has a tricky one at Xavier (1:30 p.m., CBS).
- There’s a showdown for first in the wacky Metro Atlantic. Sure enough, it includes Iona, which has won five straight to work its way back to the top and now hosts current leader (by one-half game) Canisius.
- Patriot League co-leaders Bucknell and Lehigh are both at home, with the Bison hosting Lafayette and Lehigh welcoming Holy Cross.
- The Missouri Valley co-leaders are both in action on the road against two of the league’s many chronically up-and-down teams. Drake-which has easily the league’s best overall record at 21-7-goes to slumping Illinois State (2 p.m., CBSSN), which defeated the Bulldogs already in Des Moines. Loyola (Ill.) also plays at Southern Illinois (4 p.m., ESPNU).
- There’s another big one in the Southern Conference, where East Tennessee State is at UNC Greensboro in the latest installment between the two teams that have met in the SoCon tourney final each of the last two years.
- North Carolina State tries to avenge an earlier loss to Wake Forest when it hosts the Demon Deacons (6 p.m., ESPNU).
- With games to finish the regular season against Purdue and at Maryland, Minnesota probably can’t afford a Big Ten loss at Rutgers (6:30 p.m., Big Ten Network).
Wishing all enjoy a relaxing Sunday.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
