If you needed a reminder that college basketball doesn’t have a dominant team this season, Tuesday night served you one. While Ted Sarandis and I talk about this more in our forthcoming podcast, it bears further commentary here.
First, we go to the opener of the Jimmy V Classic, where Texas Tech had lost three in a row coming in, and they were the Red Raiders’ best quality win chances to date. They went 0-2 in Las Vegas, losing to Iowa and Creighton, and then lost at DePaul for three in a row.
The Red Raiders led by three at the break, then pulled away in the second half thanks to a couple of three-pointers by Davide Moretti, the one starter returning from a year ago. Their defense took over from there, as they held Louisville to 34 percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers, and also had a 40-38 edge on the glass.
Texas Tech now has a signature win on their resume, all the more important because their remaining non-conference games – at home against Southern Miss, UT Rio Grande Valley and Cal State Bakersfield – offer no chances for non-conference quality wins. Only their visit from Kentucky in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge will offer such a thing. There will be opportunities in the Big 12, of course, but relying on that is not ideal.
The Red Raiders were a team that people were all over the map about before the season given the personnel losses. But one common idea was the one that Chris Beard & Co. would figure it out and should not be underestimated like last year. The three-game losing streak threw that idea into question a little. But perhaps they just needed a little more time – as well as a little extra hit on the bottom line at first – before they start to put it all together. We’ll find out before too long.
Then we go to Happy Valley, where an early Big Ten game was on tap as Maryland came to town. The Nittany Lions were blown out at Ohio State in their Big Ten opener, so getting to come home was a welcome change. But that alone wouldn’t knock off a Maryland team that belongs among the nation’s best right now.
Instead, it took great defense and very balanced scoring to pull off the 76-69 win. Penn State had 10 blocked shots, 10 steals and forced 20 turnovers while holding the Terrapins to 33.3 percent shooting. At the offensive end, Mike Watkins and Lamar Stevens each posted double-doubles with 15 points, with Watkins grabbing 11 rebounds and Stevens 10, while Myreon Jones and Izaiah Brockington each had 14 points and Myles Dread had 12.
Penn State led for most of the game, finishing this one better than the tough loss to Ole Miss in the NIT Season Tip-Off. Although it’s a conference game, the Nittany Lions now have some significant wins boosting their NCAA Tournament resume, as they beat Georgetown (a win that might look less impressive later in light of the Hoyas losing players recently) and blew out Syracuse before this. This isn’t a bad loss for Maryland at all, as Penn State is better than some might think.
Early on in the evening, two big results got a lot of attention, and understandably soon. They led the way on a wild night of college basketball.
Side Dishes
The nightcap in New York went to Indiana, who started slowly but took the lead before haltime and then held on at the end for a 57-54 win over UConn.
In a game that was as good as advertised, Butler rallied after being down by ten at the half and 13 early in the second half, but Baylor made enough defensive stops including a last-second blocked shot to overcome a few misses to hang on for a 53-52 win in Waco, handing the Bulldogs their first loss of the season and making it three teams that lost their first game of the season on the night.
The wild night didn’t end there, though, as Northern Iowa traveled to Boulder and scored the last six points to knock off Colorado 79-76 to go to 9-1.
Other results of note: Hofstra pulled away from nearby rival Stony Brook 71-63; Temple routed Big 5 rival Saint Joseph’s 108-61; Monmouth got a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Ray Salnave to edge Princeton 67-66 and drop the Tigers to 1-7; and BYU thrashed Nevada 75-42.
Tonight’s Menu
It isn’t the busiest night of game action, but there are a few good ones to highlight it.
- Yale heads up Interstate 91 to give UMass a test, while Merrimack plays its first Division I home game against another Division I opponent as Army visits (7 p.m.)
- More Big Ten action is on tap as Wisconsin heads to Rutgers (7 p.m.) and Michigan goes to Illinois (9 p.m.)
- Also tipping at that time is a local rivalry as Fairleigh Dickinson makes the short trip to St. Peter’s (7 p.m.)
- Omaha makes the trip to Tucson to take on Arizona, while a nice mid-major matchup is on tap as Arkansas State goes to Missouri State (8 p.m.)
- Two more good matchups near the middle of the country are UT Arlington going to Houston and Tulsa hosting Boise State (8 p.m.)
- TCU tries to bounce back from their loss to USC as they host Winthrop (8 p.m.)
- The best matchup out west looks to be Cal hosting Fresno State (10 p.m.)
