The Barclays Center was home to a tripleheader on Tuesday night in the Air Force Reserve Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational. It’s fair to say that the opener and closer were dandies, while the middle game was a dud.
Two out of three ain’t bad.
In the opener, two solid mid-major programs that have had a tough go of it this season matched up as Iona took on Princeton. The teams came in with a combined 4-11 record, although this was just the sixth game of the season for Iona. Princeton has had a bit of tough luck, losing a close one to Arizona State and losing to Monmouth on a buzzer-beater, so the Tigers are perhaps a little better than their record might indicate.
Iona built a 42-30 halftime lead and looked like they might be on their way, especially when they built the lead up more to 56-40 over six minutes into the second half. Princeton then scored the next nine points as part of a 19-6 run to get within a possession. Iona had answers until less than three minutes remained, as the Tigers tied it at 69 and later led twice in the closing minutes before Iona got a game-tying jumper from Asante Gist (game-high 23 points) to send it to overtime.
The extra session was similar to regulation, as Iona led for much of it until Princeton took the lead with less than a minute to go on a three-pointer by Drew Friberg (team-high 22 points). This time, the Tigers were able to seal it with enough free throws to leave with a 90-86 win.
The middle game saw Florida dominate struggling Providence 83-51, shooting almost 51 percent from the field including 8-18 from long range and holding Providence below 26 percent. The Friars made just one of 18 shots from long range and gave the ball away 15 times in losing for the fifth time in seven games.
Miami and Temple met in the final game of the night, and this came right down to the end. Miami led by as many as nine in the first half, but you never sensed they were on the verge of running away with it. Temple would then go up six early in the second half, but Miami got going and regained the lead before a back-and-forth final few minutes. It took two Chris Lykes free throws in the final seconds to put Miami over the top for a 78-77 win as he led five players who scored in double figures with 17 points.
It was a good night for Florida teams in Brooklyn, and two out of the three games were good ones.
Side Dishes
What had surely been feared by North Carolina fans became reality on Tuesday, as Cole Anthony had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to address a partially torn meniscus and will be out 4-6 weeks. The Tar Heels, who bring a three-game losing streak into Spokane on Wednesday night as they visit Gonzaga, have struggled to score with Anthony in the lineup, so life without him will be a test of what kind of ceiling this team has.
Also becoming official on Tuesday is that Seton Hall placed star guard Myles Powell in the concussion protocol and ruled him out indefinitely, which head coach Kevin Willard indicated would happen after Saturday’s loss at Rutgers. While he came back faster than expected from an injury earlier in the season, it would appear that no such miracle will happen this time with Maryland coming to town in a very important game on Thursday night. The Pirates really need a win for their NCAA Tournament resume in that one, but it will be much harder without their star.
Other results of note: Florida State handled North Florida 98-81; Georgetown stayed on a roll with an 81-55 romp over UMBC behind 22 points and 13 rebounds from Omer Yurtseven; Wright State kept Mississippi Valley State winless with a 92-50 romp; Marquette took care of Grambling 93-72 behind 25 points from Markus Howard; Ohio State bounced back from their first loss by rolling over Southeast Missouri State 80-48; Dayton took care of North Texas 71-58; Purdue took care of Ohio 69-51 in Athens; Creighton pulled away from Oklahoma 83-73, handing the Sooners a second straight loss; Stanford moved to 10-1 with a 64-56 win over San Francisco; and Washington handled Seattle 81-59 behind 27 points and 13 rebounds from Isaiah Stewart.
Tonight’s Menu
A lot of good games are on tap, including a tripleheader.
- The Toyota Center plays host to a tripleheader in the Battleground 2K19, starting with Oregon State taking on UTSA (5:30 p.m.), then South Florida takes on Utah State (7:45 p.m.) and Baylor takes on UT Marting (10 p.m.)
- Virginia will get a challenge as Stony Brook comes to town (6:30 p.m.)
- Phoenix plays host to a doubleheader in the Basketball Hall of Fame Holiday Showcase, starting with Vanderbilt taking on Loyola-Chicago (6:30 p.m.) and concluding with Saint Mary’s taking on Arizona State (9 p.m.)
- A couple of good ones to check out early on are Tennessee traveling to Cincinnati and LSU hosting East Tennessee State (7 p.m.)
- A solid mid-major matchup is UNC Greensboro traveling to Vermont (7 p.m.)
- In Big Ten action, Northwestern hosts Michigan State (8 p.m.)
- The Southland Conference opens up tonight with six openers, highlighted by Stephen F. Austin hosting Houston Baptist (7:30 p.m.) and New Orleans hosting Abilene Christian (8 p.m.)
- A Sun Belt opener is on tap for Louisiana and host Arkansas State (8 p.m.)
- Radford travels to Mississippi State and Oakland goes to Syracuse (8 p.m.)
- North Carolina has a big challenge in trying to stop their three-game losing streak as they visit Gonzaga (9 p.m.)
- Two late games are noteworthy, with Montana visiting Oregon being the undercard to Kentucky taking on Utah in Las Vegas (11 p.m.)
