There should be little question about Tennessee’s toughness, but for those who might still be looking for more against the SEC’s best teams, the Volunteers finally pulled out a tough one on the road in conference on Wednesday.
Also shown: Mississippi is no fluke, and Kermit Davis’s team certainly looks capable of riding its outstanding guards and underrated role players around them to make some noise in March.
The best game of the night saw Tennessee on the road at Ole Miss, where the two teams swapped the lead 14 times and were tied on seven other occasions. The Rebels will rue one that got away after losing a three-point lead in the final minute and falling 73-71 in front of a sellout crowd in Oxford.
Grant Williams muscled his way inside for the go-ahead basket with three seconds left in the game, but the outcome still wasn’t decided until Devontae Shuler was called for a charge while attempting a potential winning three-pointer just before the buzzer. The call was a controversial one, so much that Davis spiked his jacket after and was called for a technical, with Williams making one of two free throws for the final margin.
A battle of contrasts saw Tennessee do much of its work inside (36-18 advantage in paint points) while Ole Miss countered with nine three-pointers. Williams scored 21 points and Lamonte Turner added 17 big points, while the Rebels’ backcourt of Terence Davis and Breein Tyree both scored 16 points each, but Bruce Stevens also added support with 14.
This one had a big-time feel throughout. Terence Davis had several huge dunks in the first half, and Kermit Davis’s changing defenses have quickly become a thorn in the side of SEC schools. Neither team could shake the other, but in the end, to get a win like this on the road says a great deal about Tennessee. And that’s the biggest takeaway of all: this was a tough road win, and the Volunteers earned it.
Side Dishes:
- Marquette came very close to all but officially knocking Villanova off its Big East perch for this season, but the Wildcats came through late for a 67-61 win at home half a game behind the Golden Eagles in the conference standings. This one was about defense and rebounding-it certainly wasn’t about Villanova burning the nets (34.5% from the field, just 9 of 32 from three-point range). Marquette had plenty of chances to build a lead down the stretch, but Villanova disrupted Markus Howard just enough and was all over the offensive glass in the final minutes for repeated second and third chances. Also, freshman Jermaine Samuels had a massive game, with his career-high 29 points more than he had scored in any two games this season and more than his 10 previous games combined. It’s a real pleasure to watch the Wildcats when they get down and dirty and find ways to win even when not playing well.
- Rolling: Virginia drilled Georgia Tech 81-51 and Houston bombed East Carolina 99-65. Both of these teams are absolutely Final Four contenders.
- A number of teams squeezed by Wednesday night. Texas Tech at home needed overtime to edge Oklahoma State 84-80. Cincinnati got an expected challenge from SMU, which was embarrassed in its loss to Central Florida on Saturday, but the Bearcats won 52-49 despite shooting a dreadful 26.6%. Also, Auburn got a three-pointer from Chuma Okeke with 26 seconds left in a 78-75 win at Georgia.
- Not as fortunate was Maryland, which was nowhere close to overtime in a 78-61 loss at Penn State which wasn’t that close. Give the Nittany Lions credit for playing better of late, with wins in four of their last five.
- Texas seems to have a magnetic attraction to being on the bubble but the knack to stay just a smidge above it, and it appeared the Longhorns would again build themselves a slight cushion when they built a 19-point second half lead over Baylor. They couldn’t hold it, falling to the Bears 84-83 in overtime on Mario Kegler’s two free throws with 3.2 seconds left. That puts Texas at 15-13 overall, and no matter what quality wins the Horns have, that should not be anywhere close to an NCAA Tournament record right now. Losses matter, and this team simply has too many, to the point where one has to ask: if the NCAA Tournament doesn’t take Texas, would the NIT?
- Louisville continues to leak some serious oil. The Cardinals have now lost five of their last six since coughing up a late lead against Florida State followed by the meltdown at home against Duke. Even a trip to Boston College was trouble last night, the Eagles winning 66-59 behind Ky Bowman’s near triple-double (25 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists). Whether the Cards are feeling psychological effects from the Duke game or this was a team that overachieved much of the year, it’s clear they need a reprieve.
- Central Florida just keeps taking care of business in games it should, as the Knights completed the sweep of South Florida with a 75-63 win. Tacko Fall had another nice game-18 points and 6 of 8 from the free throw line-and UCF shot 55.6%
- A big surprise in the Atlantic 10, where La Salle knocked off Davidson 79-69 behind a career-high 25 points from Isiah Deas. The Explorers have made strides after a 0-10 start to the season, while the Wildcats now slip two games behind league-leading VCU.
- The Missouri Valley race will come down to the final day, with both Drake and Loyola Chicago tied for the top spot. The Bulldogs handled Indiana State 80-68, while Loyola held off Northern Iowa 56-55. Missouri State fell out of a tie for the top spot with a 65-57 loss at Illinois State, but the Bears could still forge a three-way tie for the title at 11-7 if they beat Drake on Saturday and if Loyola would lose to Bradley. Which would probably be fitting for a league where the top seven are separated by two games and six of the 10 teams have overall records no more than two games above or below .500.
- UMBC has been surging in the America East, but Stony Brook reminded that it’s also a contender with a 78-63 win over the Retrievers. Five scored in double figures for the Seawolves, who have a quietly terrific season at 23-6 overall and are just a game behind Vermont in the league standings. On the other hand, UMBC shot 1-for-20 from three-point range.
- Niagara edged Canisius 86-84 in the 187th meeting between the longtime Western New York rivals. The teams split their season series, but this was costly for the Golden Griffins, who were in a four-way tie for second in the Metro Atlantic but now slip further back.
- Sam Houston State has wrapped up the Southland outright regular season title. The Bearkats topped New Orleans 71-60 on the road, and this is clearly the best team in the league. It would be very unfortunate if it doesn’t win the league tournament.
- Late at night, Nevada took care of rival UNLV 89-73 to move to 26-2. Caleb and Cody Martin and Jordan Caroline all topped 20 points, combining for 67 including 12 of the Wolf Pack’s 13 three-pointers.
- Texas A&M guard T.J. Starks will miss the rest of the season after separating his shoulder in the Aggies’ loss to LSU Tuesday night. Starks was third on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game and also led the squad with 3.5 assists, and
- Iowa announced on Wednesday that head coach Fran McCaffery has been suspended for two games after his profane comments while following an official in a hallway after the Hawkeyes’ loss at Ohio State Tuesday night. McCaffery has a history of periodic colorful outbursts, and while it still in most cases seems ridiculous from here to suspend people for words, his following the official in a hallway and accusations of cheating certainly demanded reprimand.
- The Cancun Challenge released its matchups for its 2019 event. As most tournaments lamely do now, this one also has what is essentially its A-List and B-List, and the A level (known as the Riviera Division) will have South Carolina against Wichita State and West Virginia versus Northern Iowa in the semifinals.
Tonight’s Menu:
- Open the night with an early start in the Northeast Conference, where Robert Morris is at Sacred Heart (6 p.m. Eastern, CBSSN). The Colonials still harbor hopes of a regular season title, trailing St. Francis (Pa.) by one game. The Red Flash have a difficult one tonight, too, at Wagner, but are aiming for their first NEC title since 1990-91.
- Xavier tries to continue a late-season charge, looking for its fifth straight win when it goes to St. John’s (6:30 p.m., FS1), which will play its home finale in front of a sellout crowd.
- Michigan is back in action for the first time since falling at home to rival Michigan State, this time hosting Nebraska (7 p.m., ESPN).
- Ranked in the Associated Press poll for the first time in school history, Wofford faces a tricky one on the road at Tennessee-Chattanooga.
- It may be the game of the year in Conference USA, where Old Dominion goes to Texas-San Antonio for the second time this season (8 p.m., CBSSN). ODU can clinch the regular season title with a win, and a win also would wipe away the memory of when the Roadrunners came back from 18 points down in the final three minutes for a stunning win in the teams’ first matchup.
- CAA leader Hofstra is at Drexel, while second-place Northeastern-just one game back-also is away at Delaware.
- New Mexico State starts its Midwest swing in the WAC and puts its 13-game winning streak on the line at Missouri-Kansas City.
- The Sun Belt has become a good three-team race. Texas State still holds the point but is at Troy, while Georgia State and Georgia Southern are one game back tied for second. GSU (State) hosts Arkansas State, while GSU (Southern) welcomes Arkansas-Little Rock.
- A deserving TV date for Jacksonville State, which is right there in the four-team race atop the OVC and tries to keep pace while at Eastern Illinois (9 p.m., ESPNews).
- Slumping Minnesota needs a win in the worst way. An NCAA Tournament team needs to be able to get the job done at Northwestern (9 p.m., ESPN2).
- The battle for Los Angeles has two of the season’s talented-but-disappointing teams with USC at UCLA (9 p.m., ESPN).
- Arizona State closes the regular season with three on the road, but could solidify its NCAA Tournament case with some road wins, starting tonight at Oregon.
- UC Irvine has won nine straight and can clinch at least a tie for the Big West title if it can win at UC Davis (11 p.m., ESPNU).
Have a great Thursday. March is now just hours away.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
