At a time when tournaments and showcases are dominating the landscape – and it’s a good thing considering the games have been very good in them, for the most part – on Tuesday, it was a game outside of any tournaments that took center stage. That means it must have been quite a game, and maybe even have some real significance.
Stephen F. Austin gave it plenty of significance. Nathan Bain finished the deal.
The school in Nacogdoches, Texas has been around for nearly 100 years. It has been a powerhouse on the hardwood in the Southland Conference for much of the past decade. When Brad Underwood was at the helm, they lost just 14 games over two seasons. Danny Kaspar got them going, and Underwood took them to a whole new level by winning an NCAA Tournament game in his first year, and they were agonizingly close to being a Sweet 16 team two years later under his successor. Kyle Geller hasn’t sank the program by any means, as they went to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 as well, but this isn’t the same Stephen F. Austin program that lost just three Southland Conference games from 2013-16, going undefeated twice.
The Lumberjacks went to Durham on Tuesday night to take on Duke. Visiting teams don’t win in Cameron Indoor Stadium often, especially those outside the ACC. The last time Duke lost a non-conference home game was on February 26, 2000, when St. John’s pulled it off – 150 non-conference home games ago. So as this game was tight and then needed overtime, the possibility certainly existed, but probably seemed remote to most.
The game was tied in the final seconds of overtime – after Duke had two chances in the final seconds of regulation but came up empty – and when Duke got an offensive rebound, you could be forgiven for thinking a Blue Devil win was inevitable. But then a pass got deflected and boxed around. Gavin Kensmil got it. It was Duke’s 22nd turnover of the night. With no one on him, Kensmil managed to get to a sitting position. Then he found Bain and got the ball to him.
Bain has been around for a while, seemingly forever. He was on the team in 2016 that lost the aforementioned heart-breaker against Notre Dame. But he couldn’t think about that, because time was running out after he split two Duke players to break free. He had less than four seconds to go. As he got to the basket, he saw the clock, got the ball out his hand just in time and into the basket.
Just like that, Duke’s winning streak was over. Stephen F. Austin won 85-83 and captured everyone’s attention for a night. The program is not a one-hit wonder, as noted earlier, but this is at least the biggest regular season win in program history.
Duke can look at a lot of things that put this game in the loss column. They were 24-40 from the free throw line in addition to their 22 turnovers. They still surrendered 11 offensive rebounds, though they out-rebounded the Lumberjacks.
There was plenty of significance to this game, all right. That’s the only way it could have grabbed so much attention ahead of the tournaments.
Side Dishes
First, the tournament/showcase roundup:
- The Maui Invitational continues to be as good as advertised with great games. In consolation games, Michigan State held off a furious rally by Georgia for a 93-85 win, with Cassius Winston scoring 28 points and handing out eight assists, while Anthony Edwards had 37 points, 33 in the second half. UCLA then took care of Chaminade 74-48. In the semifinals, Dayton got another big game from Obi Toppin and demolished Virginia Tech 89-62, then Kansas pulled away from BYU 71-56.
- If it wasn’t for Stephen F. Austin’s thrilling win, the game of the night might have been in the Hall of Fame championship game. Before that, Oklahoma took care of old conference rival Missouri 77-66. Then Butler had a few leads, but could never break away from Stanford in a battle of undefeated teams. In the final minutes, Kamar Baldwin hit one big shot after another, but none bigger than his step-back jumper in the final seconds that gave the Bulldogs a 68-67 win.
- After New Mexico took out Wisconsin 59-50 in the third place game, Auburn won the Legends Classic with a 79-65 win over Richmond on the strength of a big second half.
- On day two of the Gulf Coast Showcase, Drake edged Northeastern 59-56 and Murray State held off Weber State 69-68 in consolation games, and in semifinal action South Alabama pulled away from Miami (Ohio) 82-71 and La Salle held off Wright State 72-70.
- Closing out the day was the MGM Resorts Main Event, where TCU rode a double-double from Desmond Bane (22 points, 11 rebounds) to a 64-47 win over Wyoming for third place, then Colorado rallied late to edge Clemson 71-67 to take home the championship behind hometown kid and MVP Tyler Bey (18 points, 11 rebounds).
Other results of note: DePaul is now 7-0 after rallying from an 18-point halftime deficit with 56 second-half points for an 88-75 win over Central Michigan; and Arizona State just got by Princeton 67-65 behind 33 points from Remy Martin.
The Wooden Legacy is about to get started on Thursday, and on Tuesday night ESPN announced that the event will go down to four teams in 2020. The event will have Georgetown, Kansas, UCLA and Virginia, and it will still be played during Thanksgiving weekend in Anaheim.
Creighton is hiring Terrence Rencher as an assistant coach to take over for Preston Murphy, who resigned on Friday. Murphy’s name surfaced in the FBI investigation into corruption, as he was allegedly paid $6,000 to push prospects to Christian Dawkins. Rencher, who is the all-time leader in scoring and steals at Texas, will leave his current position as an assistant coach at San Diego, starting his new job on Thursday when the Bluejays take on San Diego State in Las Vegas.
Tonight’s Menu
The slate gets a bit lighter, but the big games don’t take a dip a day before Thanksgiving.
- The Battle 4 Atlantis gets underway with a big slate of quarterfinals. It opens with Michigan taking on Iowa State (noon), then Alabama battles North Carolina (2:30 p.m.) In the evening session, Gonzaga takes on Southern Miss (7 p.m.) before a big end to the day as Seton Hall takes on Oregon (9:30 p.m.)
- The Maui Invitational draws to a close, beginning with UCLA playing Michigan State for fifth place (2:30 p.m.), Dayton taking on Kansas in the championship game (5 p.m.), Georgia taking on Chaminade for seventh place (9 p.m.) and BYU taking on Virginia Tech for third place (11:30 p.m.)
- In a Gotham Classic game, Saint Louis visits Boston College (2 p.m.)
- The NIT Season Tip-Off has semifinal action at the Barclays Center, with Ole Miss taking on Penn State (5 p.m.) and Oklahoma State taking on Syracuse (7 p.m.)
- In the Fort Myers Tip-Off, Kansas State and Bradley clash for third place (6 p.m.), then Pittsburgh and Northwestern meet in the championship game (8:30 p.m.)
- The Gulf Coast Showcase has one more day of action, beginning with the seventh place game between Northeastern and Weber State (11 a.m.), then the fifth place game between Drake and Murray State (1:30 p.m.), third place game between Miami (Ohio) and Wright State (5 p.m.) and the championship game between South Alabama and La Salle (7:30 p.m.)
- The Cayman Islands Classic concludes, starting with Loyola-Chicago taking on Old Dominion for seventh place (11 a.m.), then Colorado State battles Washington State for fifth place (1:30 p.m.), South Florida takes on Nebraska for third place (5 p.m.) and New Mexico State takes on George Mason for the championship (7:30 p.m.)
- The headline matchup among the four games in the Cancun Challenge is Wichita State taking on West Virginia (8:30 p.m.)
