On a full day of action in the Atlantic 10, we got a sense of how the conference looks right now, and suffice it to say, it’s largely what non-conference play told us. It’s early yet, and a lot can change, but it was interesting to see a lot hold to form in a season where very little has done that.
It started right away in the first two games that tipped, with Richmond going to Rhode Island and VCU going to George Mason. The road teams were the better ones coming in, and the game results reflected it, and that happened in five out of the seven games on the day.
Richmond built a double-digit lead about halfway through the first half and was never seriously challenged after that, holding URI to a season-low 19 first-half points en route to a 69-61 win that wasn’t quite that close. The Spiders are now 12-3 overall, their best 15-game start in 32 years, and 2-0 in Atlantic 10 play, a big turnaround for a program whose coach was thought to be on a very hot seat. Chris Mooney is one of the most high-character men in college coaching, so seeing the program’s patience get rewarded to this point is a nice story.
Meanwhile, the Spiders’ arch rival took on a long-time rival going back to the two programs’ days as signature programs in the CAA. VCU had an underwhelming non-conference – good, but not as good as many had expected given that they were thought of as preseason favorites – and they had been surpassed by Dayton. We’ll get to the Flyers, but like the Spiders the Rams made the first half lead stand up and rode a 26-point (10-14 shooting), 12-rebound afternoon from Marcus Santos-Silva and a 40-25 rebounding edge to a 72-59 win over the Patriots.
The game was close for a lot of the first half before a 12-2 run broke the game open. Then another run keyed by Santos-Silva built the lead up to 18 points, and the Rams were never challenged after that by a Patriot team that has a nice record, but against a weak non-conference schedule, thus making them a tough team to project. They have now lost two in a row after bring thumped at TCU last Monday.
Now, about Dayton: they hit the road, too, this time to Hagan Arena at Saint Joseph’s. The Hawks stood up to them for a half, as the two teams were tied going in to the locker room, and the Flyers may have been in some danger a few minutes into the second half. Up 44-40, Obi Toppin picked up his fourth foul and had to sit with under 15 minutes to play, and that’s when Trey Landers, Ryan Mikesell and Jalen Crutcher took over to pull away from the Hawks en route to an 80-67 win. Landers and Mikesell each had 18 points, and Toppin was able to rest for over 11 minutes because the Flyers didn’t get into any danger, leading by seven when he returned to the floor.
The one other team in the conference that appears to be a contender, Saint Louis, needed overtime against UMass, but pulled out an 83-80 win as Hasahn French continues to do great work with 19 points and 13 rebounds. French is almost averaging a double-double on the season, something teammate Jordan Goodwin is doing, so before long two Billikens may be in that category.
Elsewhere, St. Bonaventure is getting better, and they went to George Washington and pulled out a 71-66 win behind emerging big man Osun Osunniyi (20 points on 8-8 shooting, nine rebounds and five blocked shots). Improving La Salle continued the road success as they went to Fordham and held off the Rams 66-60. And Davidson underachieved in non-conference and started off Atlantic 10 play by going to Duquesne and losing to the Dukes for the first time 71-64 as Michael Hughes had 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead the winners.
The way this season has gone, days like Sunday aren’t likely to hold up, at least not for long. The Atlantic 10 also has good strength at the top, plus road teams aren’t likely to have this kind of success all the time even though quite a few road teams did well on Saturday around the country. But for the first full day of Atlantic 10 games, the conference held to form.
Side Dishes
The story was entirely different in the Big Ten, where the home team won all three games on the day. Michigan State won the rivalry game over Michigan 87-69 behind a career-high 32 points and nine assists from Cassius Winston and solid support from Xavier Tillman up front, while Michigan didn’t have Isaiah Livers due to a groin injury that kept him out of last week’s game. Later, Daniel Otoru had a monster game with 19 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots to lead Minnesota past visiting Northwestern 77-68, and Illinois blew out Purdue 63-37 as the Boilermakers shot just 25 percent from the field.
A surprise came in the Pac-12, where Colorado looked to be in good shape against Oregon State. The Buffaloes built a 12-point lead on their home floor and still led by 11 with under eight to play. That’s when Oregon State’s pressure started to force turnovers, and the Beavers rallied with a 10-0 run, then a 9-0 run a couple of minutes later put them up 71-66 en route to a 76-68 win. While the Pac-12 is better overall this year, not many have been talking about the Beavers as part of that. Yet they are now 11-3 with this win and a win over Iowa State, though the latter is losing value, and they still have some work to do to overcome a loss at Texas A&M. The other Pac-12 game on the slate was surprising in that it was a blowout, as USC could never get going against Washington‘s terrific defense in the Huskies’ 72-40 romp in Seattle.
Other results of note: Xavier got past St. John’s 75-67 in Cincinnati, holding the Red Storm under 35 percent from the field including just 1-16 on three-pointers; Bucknell took some lumps in non-league play, but the Bison are 2-0 in Patriot League play after going to Lafayette and beating the Leopards 78-66; and young St. Peter’s moved to 2-0 in MAAC play with a 66-40 thumping of Marist.
Tonight’s Menu
As will be the case for most Mondays from here on out, the slate is light tonight, with just 16 division I games on tap.
- Two Sun Belt games lead the way early as UL Monroe goes to Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State hosts Louisiana (7 p.m.) Later on, Little Rock hosts a Georgia Southern team that is right behind them (7:30 p.m.), Texas State hosts Troy, UT Arlington hosts South Alabama in a matchup of the league’s preseason favorites and Arkansas State hosts Georgia State (8 p.m.)
- The lone Patriot League game on tap also tips at 7 p.m. as Army hosts Colgate.
- A busy slate of MEAC games is on tap as Bethune-Cookman goes to Howard, Coppin State hosts Norfolk State, Florida A&M visits North Carolina A&T and South Carolina State goes to Morgan State, all with 7:30 p.m. tips.
- Four SWAC games are also on tap, with Alcorn State at Texas Southern, Alabama A&M at Jackson State and Alabama State at Grambling all tipping at 8:30 p.m., while Prairie View A&M hosts Southern with a 9 p.m. tip.
- One game in the Big 12 is on tap and on TV as Oklahoma State hosts West Virginia in a battle of teams trying to bounce back from a Saturday loss (9 p.m. on ESPN2).
