Finally, we got a Saturday where college basketball didn’t have to compete with college football all day for attention. While last Saturday was a busy day, conference championship games on the gridiron still got a lot of the attention. This time around, it was all basketball.
Fortunately, the day of action delivered, and from start to finish.
There were a lot of big games and close ones along the way. It started with plenty of drama in Ann Arbor as Oregon nearly won in regulation, but Anthony Mathis still had the ball in his hand as he shot a deep three-pointer that went in, so they needed five more minutes to edge the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.
Georgetown moved to 3-0 since their season turned upside down from a personnel standpoint, beating arch rival Syracuse 89-79. Speaking of rivalries, Memphis picked up a nice road win at Tennessee 51-47, and later, New Mexico swept New Mexico State with a 69-62 win.
Wichita State made it a sweep of the Oklahoma schools this week, as they beat Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Sunday and then knocked off Oklahoma on Saturday.
Wake Forest got a nice win in edging Xavier in the Skip Prosser Classic. The Demon Deacons need a few more wins like that, especially in ACC play.
Colgate beat Cincinnati 67-66 with a strange finish. Jarron Cumberland put up a long heave with the game tied and over four seconds left, thinking the buzzer was about to sound, and Colgate rebounded the miss and got a foul on the Bearcats. One free throw broke the tie and they won it.
Finally, Gonzaga and Arizona gave us a game that was as good as advertised, with the Bulldogs hanging on for an 84-80 win.
It was all we could ask for on a day the sport didn’t have to compete with football for a change.
Side Dishes
For notes on many of the day’s games, please see the Saturday Notes.
That Seton Hall lost convincingly at Rutgers was not the worst part of the day. The Pirates saw star Myles Powell suffer a concussion and sit out the second half, and things didn’t sound too good. Head coach Kevin Willard said Powell thought they were practicing at Rutgers and wondered why, though he seemed to be better a little later on. Willard added that Powell will go into the concussion protocol, and with Maryland coming to town on Thursday in a game where they could really use a win, this is one more concern they didn’t need.
Tennessee and Memphis have one more game left in their current series, which will be played in Nashville next year, but what will happen after that seems unclear. Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway was repentant for his remarks after last year’s game and expressed a desire to keep it going, but Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes sounds like someone ready to move on without actually saying that. He spoke of having “flexibility” in his scheduling, which is a nice thought and understandable in a vacuum, but normally is code for wanting to move on from playing someone, especially when it’s a heated rivalry.
Tonight’s Menu
After a busy day, the schedule is a little lighter. Here are the highlights.
- Central Connecticut is still seeking their first win, and getting it now will be a challenge as they head to Boston College (1 p.m.)
- A couple of good mid-major matchups tip simultaneously as Norfolk State travels to Loyola-Chicago and Northern Kentucky hosts Illinois State (2 p.m.)
- UNC Greensboro gets another good challenge as NC State plays them at the Greensboro Coliseum, while Houston welcomes Oklahoma State (3 p.m.)
- North Carolina tries to get back on track as they host Wofford (4 p.m.)
- Two more Big Ten games are on tap as Nebraska hosts Purdue (4 p.m.) and Minnesota hosts Ohio State (6:30 p.m.)
- A rivalry game on tap down south is South Carolina hosting Clemson, while a good mid-major matchup tips at the same time as Georgia Southern visits Bradley (5 p.m.)
- USC welcomes Long Beach State to the Galen Center (6:30 p.m.)
- A solid matchup in the evening is VCU hosting Missouri State (7 p.m.)
- The last game of the night is out west as Hawaii hosts Samford (8:30 p.m.)
