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December College Games
December 31
The Big Game
Wisconsin 64, Georgia 54
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Wisconsin 64 (14-1)
For most of the game senior Alando Tucker was more than 50% of the Badgers’ offense. He scored his 25th and 26th point on a layup with 8:37 to play and then Georgia went to a zone which quieted Tucker for six minutes, until he hit a left baseline 3-pointer with 2:14 to go to put Wisconsin up by five. Tucker, who scored 29 points, was 5-for-11 from the field in the first half and 6-of-8 in the second.
The Georgia game was only the fourth game away from home, and the Kohl Center, for the fourth ranked Badgers. Their only loss was to Missouri State 66-64 on a neutral court. In road games this season Tucker is averaging 24.5 points and is shooting 53% from the field. Only Auburn, on a neutral court, was able to contain him and hold him under his average. Tucker scored 15 against the Tigers and hit only 5-of-14 shots. Tucker talked about playing on the road in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel,
"We're becoming a team that can play and win on the road. Before we came in I said this was going to be a game that shows me how we are as a team, how we measure up." |
Georgia 54 (8-4)
Georgia had a dreadful shooting day on its home floor. The Bulldogs made only 30% of their shots and 22% of their 3-pointers. Yet the Dogs led 32-31 at half and they were in the game until Wisconsin went on a late game 13-5 run. The starting five shot a miserable 32% (16-50) and made just 3-of-13 of their 3-pointers.
Only Takais Brown was able to accumulate points. He scored 20, but half came at the free throw line as he hit 10-of-11. Brown also led the team in rebounding with 13. Brown is a 6-foot-8, 250 pound junior college transfer playing his first season at UGA. He averaged 19 points and nine rebounds last season at Southeastern Illinois. In his first start at the Division I level he recorded a double-double and he is now the teams second leading scorer (14.7) and second leading rebounder (5.1). Brown talked about the Bulldogs play late in the game in the Atlanta Constitution (Georgia scored just three field goals in its last 15 possessions),
“We play good enough for three quarters of games; we've just got to get better, we've just got to get better for that last fourth, I think once we do that, we'll be a great team." Box score |
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December 31 College Basketball Fun Facts |
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Clemson/Ga.St.- rebounded from a 27-19 half and scored 78 2nd half points |
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14-0 Clemson needs four wins surpass Tigers’ best start (17-0 in 1986-87) |
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Duke’s Josh McRoberts- 15 points, 17 rebounds and in the 2nd half he had 11 & 11 |
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3-point shot not so easy for San Jose 1-12 and Duke 4-17. The two shot 17% combined |
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UCLA had 29 assists to 13 turnovers and forced Wash. State into 22 turnovers |
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Bruins’ guards Darren Collison 12 assists- 2 turnovers, Aaron Afflalo 8 and 0 |
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Both UNC & Dayton turned it over 21 times, but UNC shot 53%, Dayton 31% |
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BC and NE shoot it well- combined 56% for the game and 61% in the first half |
"Quick Quotes"
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"Quick Quotes" |
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Clemson coach Oliver Purnell on his teams start, “It is very special thing to go 14-0 in non-conference. Not very many players and teams get a chance to do that. Our guys have shown up and played very well and deserve some credit for that." |
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Duke had some second half struggles against San Jose State and Coach K used that as a motivational tool, "I want them to be frustrated. If you're not frustrated, then why would you change? If you're not frustrated about certain things, you are very mediocre, and you will allow yourself to live in mediocrity. If you get frustrated, you have a greater chance of attaining higher standards. |
December 30
The Big Game
Nevada 82, Gonzaga 74
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Nevada 82 (12-1)
The Nevada Wolf Pack is off to their best start in 55 seasons. Despite losing Nick Fazekas (24 Points) to a fifth foul (2nd time in his career he has fouled out) with 5:15 to play, Nevada was able to pull out the victory. Ramon Sessions took on some of the Pack's scoring load and he played a very efficient 28 minutes. The 6-foot-3 junior from Myrtle Beach, SC scored 20 points on just nine shots. He made 6-of-9 from the field, 2-of-3 from outside the arc and 6-of-6 at the line. He also had eight rebound, four assists and three steals. Sessions is now 8-of-16 on his 3-pointers. He was 6-of-30 shooting 3-balls in his first two seasons at Nevada. Wolf Pack coach mark Fox said in the Nevada Appeal that he has confidence in Sessions,
"I knew he had it in him," Fazekas said. "I always feel good when he does that stuff. He's improved his free throws, too. He shot free throws well down the stretch."
Box score |
Gonzaga 74 (9-5)
Josh Heytvelt has been a much hyped player at Gonzaga, especially by the ESPN talking heads. The reality is the 6-foot-11 sophomore is averaging 16 points per game, but he is only taking 11 shots per contest. Against Nevada he scored 14 on 6-of-10 shooting. He took only 10 shots despite the fact that Fazekas had fouled out and didn't play the final five minutes. In those five minutes Heytvelt scored two points on two shots and grabbed two rebounds. His coach Mark Few said in the Seattle Times,
"That's kind of how he's been. He's still very young to the game, learning how to compete, learning the way to be successful. I think everybody was so quick to anoint him." |
The really, really big scoring game
Penn State 129, VMI 111 in regulation
Penn State made 45 field goals and only five were 3-pointers. 19 of VMI's 38 field goals were 3-pointers. There were 78 total free throws and Penn State made 34. Each team had six double digit scorers. There were 57 total assists and the Nittany Lions had 36. The two teams scored 130 points in the second half- Penn State 67, VMI 63. The fast paced Keydets came into the game averaging 96 and yielding 102. Penn State was averaging 70 and giving up 63. Crazy box score
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Florida 75, UAB 70 Stats
Indiana 71, Ball State 57 Stats
Tennessee 93, East Tenn. State 88 Stats
West Virginia 81, UConn 71 Stats
Creighton 77, Missouri State 74 Stats
Kentucky 78, Eastern Kentucky 65 Stats
Georgetown 67, Michigan 51 Stats
George Mason 63, Miss. State 59 Stats
Butler 55, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 50 Stats |
Arizona 89, Stanford 75 Stats
Oregon 76, Oregon State 73 Stats
Marshall 59, Virginia Tech 58 Stats
Marquette 69, Savannah State 51 Stats
Nebraska 82, Miami 67 Stats
Ohio 79, Cincinnati 66 Stats
Villanova 83, Temple 65 Stats
St. Louis 59, Ole Miss 56 Stats
Northern Iowa 63, Wichita State 59 Stats |
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December 30 College Basketball Fun Facts |
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Gators allowed UAB- 1st half 50% FG & 6-11 3-pters, 2nd half 31% FG & 2-5 3-pters |
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Despite not having a player taller than 6-6, Ball state outrebounded Indiana 38-35 |
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UT’s Chris Lofton- 28 Points, 7-14 FG, 1-5 3-pointers, 13-13 FT |
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Vol’s JaJuan Smith- 23 points, 8-13 FG, 5-9 3-pointers, 2-3 FT |
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In the Vols’ 14 games, Lofton has led UT in scoring 10 times and Smith 4 |
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Creighton shot a season-high 53 % FG and tied its season high with 20 assists |
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UK clamped down on Mike Rose 2-17 FG & 2-10 3-pters was shooting 46% & 40% |
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UK’s Randolph Morris 25 points, 10 rebounds, 9-12 FG, 3 blocks |
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Hoyas’ 2nd half at Michigan- GT 10-15 FG, 4-6 3-pters, Mich. 7-20 and 1-8 |
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Bad Butler- 15 turnovers (averaging 10), 1-10 3-pointers and 26-37 FT’s 70% |
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Arizona’s Marcus Williams- 23 points, 8 rebs, 10-14 FG and 2-2 3-pointers |
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Stanford’s Lopez brothers combine for 31 points, 16 rebounds & 3 blocks |
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After beating Oregon State, Oregon (13-0) is off to it’s best start since 1937-38 |
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Oregon State starters scored 68 points, the bench only 5 in 32 minutes |
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Huskers’ Marcus Perry off the bench- 25 points in 27 minutes, 7-12 3-pointers |
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Foul play- Fouls UC 24, Ohio 11, FT’s Ohio 30-36 UC 12-15 |
"Quick Quotes"
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"Quick Quotes" |
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Ball State packed the paint against Indiana daring the Hoosiers to shoot from the perimeter. IU was 7-20 3-pointers and shot 43% FG. Kelvin Sampson on the strategy, "They were saying, 'Shoot the 3's and we hope you miss.' It only works if you're missing shots. But at some point you've got to figure out how to get the ball reversed, and play with some intelligence and throw the ball inside.'' |
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UConn coach after losing his Big east opener by 10 at West Virginia, “It's too early for any of us. If I left the Marquette game last year and you asked me 'are we going to win the Big East championship?' I would say, 'Come on, we just got hammered.” |
December 29
The Big Game
Xavier 65, Illinois 59
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Xavier 98 (9-4)
Point guard Drew Lavender, a junior transfer from Oklahoma, scored 17 points (9-11 FT) and had five assists and more importantly no turnovers in 36 minutes. His assist/turnover ratio was 2 to 1 (44-22) coming into the game. In his last four games, a win over Arizona State and losses to Bucknell, Cincinnati and Creighton, Lavender tallied 11 assists and 10 turnovers. Laveneder told the Cincinnati Enquirer that his coach Sean Miller wanted him to be more efficient,
"Me and Coach Miller, we had a little talk. He said tonight was the first night of the new Drew. He didn't like the old Drew." Box Score |
Illinois 59 (12-3)
Illinois committed 17 turnovers and was outrebounded 20-10 in the second half. The Illini was very sluggish in their first game in eight days. They shot only 41% FG and coach Bruce Weber, who gave his team some off time during Christmas told the Decatur Herald-Review he regretted doing that,
''I have never given four days off at Christmas, but we've been so boogered up I thought it would be good for us. 'But I don't think I'll ever do it again.'' |
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Florida State 92, Providence 62 Stats
LSU 60, Samford 45 Stats
DePaul 97, Northwestern State 67 Stats
South Carolina 80, Jacksonville 73 Stats
New Mexico 101, Pepperdine 96 Stats |
Alabama 80, Lipsomb 58 Stats
South Florida 75, Wake Forest 67 Stats
Delaware 58, LaSalle 56 Stats
Winthrop 71, Old Dominion 65 Stats
BYU 72, Oral Roberts 62 Stats |
Fun Facts
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December 29 College Basketball Fun Facts |
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For the 3rd time in 4 seasons Hamilton’s Noles have opened the season going 12-2 |
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LSU didn’t shoot much in the 2nd half, but the Tigers did hit 13-19 FG 68% |
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LSU starters played 168 of 200 minutes against Samford |
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De Paul's Sammy Mejia scored 40 points, 27 in the 1st half 17-24 FG, 5-7 3-pt |
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Both New Mexico and Pepperdine went 13-30 (42%) on 3-pointers |
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Bama outrebounded Lipscomb 39-24 and has beaten 11 of 13 opponents on the glass |
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So. Florida’s Kentrell Gransberry in 22 minutes 17 points, 15 rebounds, 6-9 FG |
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Darnell Harris (14 pts) was the only double-digit scorer for poor ole LaSalle |
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BYU hammers ORU on the boards- 52-31 total and 19-6 offense |
"Quick Quotes"
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"Quick Quotes" |
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DePaul’s Sammy Mejia on his 40 point game, ''In the first half, a lot of things went my way. Things were clicking. The ball was coming to me, guys weren't doubling me. I don't know what else to say. I've done it in high school, but in the college game, to have that many points says something about our team and our coaches and our program.'' |
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Bama coach Mark Gottfried on his team apparently not respecting Lipscomb, “I tell our team all the time, you know, you fear nobody no matter who you play, but you have to respect everybody. And I didn’t think in the first half we really respected them. Especially a team like this, with upperclassmen that have won a lot of games." |
December 28
The Big Game
Duquesne 98, Boston College 93
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Duquesne 98 (4-7)
With head coach Ron Everhart in the hospital suffering with abdominal pains, the Dukes pulled off a major upset on the road. Everhart's staff ran the game with lots of input from their boss. Richard Pitino, Rick's son, said in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
"Me and the other assistants must have talked to coach Everhart for at least 10 hours over the last two days. We worked for him. We know it was his win. We were doing what he told us to do." Box Score |
Boston College 93 (7-4)
The Eagles wasted three standout efforts. Sean Marshall scored 30 points, Tyrese Rice added 29 and Sean Williams had his first ever triple-double. The shot blocker scored 19 points had 10 rebounds, and swatted away a career-high 13 shots. Wow. But the Eagles lost and coach Al Skinner expressed his frustration in the Boston Globe,
"Oh, no question about it, because we had control of the game. Credit to Duquense, they came after us, they played hard, and they didn't relinquish. I just thought we were very cavalier and I just don't think we respected them enough to do what we had to do, and because of that we made tremendous mistakes |
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Indiana State 89, Purdue 70 Stats
UCLA 55, Washington St. 52 Stats
Georgia Tech 85, Troy 55 Stats
South Carolina 71, UNC-Asheville 51 Stats
Louisville 76, San Francisco 63 Stats
Tennessee 101, Tennessee Tech 77 Stats
Clemson 75, Georgia 60 Stats |
North Carolina 87, Rutgers 48 Stats
Kansas 63, Detroit 43 Stats
Memphis 87, Lamar 62 Stats
Maryland 91, Mount St. Mary's 50 Stats
Notre Dame 101, Rider 51 Stats
Arizona 94, California 85 Stats
LSU 92, Miss. Valley State 58 Stats |
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December 28 College Basketball Fun Facts |
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Purdue has lost 25 straight on the road. Last win was Feb 2004 at Minnesota where they play Monday |
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Troy missed first 14 shots against GT and the Trojans shot just 30% |
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Louisville has shot under 40% in the first half in their last six games |
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For the first time in 6 games Lofton (14 pts) didn’t lead the Vols in scoring |
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UNC point guard Ty Lawson has 51 assists and 10 turnovers in his 7 starts |
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Maryland’s Mike Jones scores a career high 29 and hits 7-13 3 pters |
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UCLA beat Wash. State despite shooting just 33% FG, Bruins made 8 3-pters |
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UCLA is 50-1 versus Washington State in Los Angeles |
"Quick Quotes"
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"Quick Quotes" |
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Purdue coach Matt Painter was upset with the officiating in the loss to ISU. He even picked up a technical, but after the game he didn’t blame the stripes for the loss, "We weren't very good tonight. For us to place blame on anybody but ourselves would be wrong. I think we got beat by a very good basketball team." |
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Arizona’s bench blew a 26 point lead and coach Lute Olson is going to make them watch the game tape, “They get to watch the horror show (on tape) just by themselves and one assistant coach. We'll see if they can keep their stomachs like we couldn't on the bench.'' |
December 27
The Big Game
Cincinnati 60, Miami, Ohio 52
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Cincinnati continued its recent domination of Miami, Ohio. The Bearcats have beaten the Redhawks nine straight times and Miami coach Charlie Coles is 0-6 versus Cincinnati.
Deonta Vaughn and John Williamson have been Cincinnati’s tops scorers this season, each averaging 15 points per game. But against Miami, Ohio, two juniors, 6-foot-2 Jamual Warren and 6-foot-8 Marcus Sikes led the Bearcats offensively with 15 points each. Warren hit six of his nine field goal attempts, while Sikes had 10 rebounds. Vaughn, the Big East Rookie of the Week, was held to six points in 27 minutes and Williamson also scored six points and took only five shots. The fact that other players stepped up pleased coach Mick Cronin as expressed in this quote in the Cincinnati Enquirer,
“That was something I was concerned with going into the Big East. We've got to find some other guys to put the ball in the basket. You can't become a team that if people take our top two guys away, you can't win.” Box Score |
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UConn 84, Coppin State 41 Stats
Louisville 61, Northeastern 41 Stats
Ohio 97, Rhode Island 69 Stats
Wis.-Milwaukee 75, Wyoming 73 Stats
Wisconsin 98, Gardner Webb 40 Stats |
LSU 71, Wright State 45 Stats
Northern Iowa 76, Bradley 65 Stats
UAB 78, South Florida 62 Stats
TCU 63, Texas-SA 51 Stats
Northwestern 66, Loyola, Md. 60 Stats |
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December 27 College Basketball Fun Facts |
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UConn led Coppin State by scores like 10-0, 25-8 and 41-14 |
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The young Huskies outscored opponents by 28.7 points during 11-game homestand |
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Poor Tywain McKee he was 3-24 FG and 1-10 3-pters as Coppin St. shot 21% vs. UConn |
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Louisville held NE to 14 points in the second half and just 5 field goals and 27% FG |
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Ohio outshot RI 56% to 41% and outrebounded the Rams 45-28 |
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After leading 9-8, Wisconsin outscored Gardner Webb 43-11 and led 52-19 at half |
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Badger’s 58 point win largest in school history & at 13-1 is off to best start under Bo Ryan |
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LSU’s Glen Davis- 26 points, 12 rebounds,10-13 FG, 3-5 3-pointers, 3-4 FT |
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No. Iowa’s Grant Stout had 17 points & 15 rebs & Eric Coleman added 16 & 14 |
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Northwestern’s 6-11 C Vince Scott scored 16 points and was 7-7 FG & 2-2 3-pters |
"Quick Quotes"
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"Quick Quotes" |
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Northeastern switched defenses constantly against Louisville and Edgar Sosa said, "It was kind of confusing. You came down and called a man set and they were in a zone, or you called a zone set and they were in man." |
December 16
The Big Game
Butler 68, Purdue 65
The Butler Bulldogs continue to prove that they are not a fluke by knocking off every big Division I school that they have played especially in their home state of Indiana. With the win over Purdue, the Bulldogs have now beaten the Irish, Hoosiers and Boilermakes in the same season for 1st time since 1948-49.
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Butler 68 (11-1)
Brandon Crone started off the game missing his first nine shots and he wound up just 2-of-13 from the field and 1-of-7 on his 3-pointers, but at the end he hit the big shots to beat the Boilermakers. He drove to the hoop for two and hit a free throw. So who is Brandon Crone? Coach Todd Lickliter described the 6-foot-6 senior's (10 pts per game) passion for the game in the Butler University Newspaper, “When you watch him play there is no question that his focus is on team success and that he loves to play the game.” Stats |
Purdue 65 (8-2)
Purdue outrebounded Butler 39-27, but like most opponents of the Bulldogs, they didn’t shoot the ball well. The Boilermakers shot just 41% from the field, although they did make 7-of-14 of their 3-pointers. Purdue coach Matt Painter said in the Indy Star,“They do a good job of beating you to the spot and battling for post position. We're a better basketball team than we were three hours ago. So now we've just got to go back and work on some things. Butler will expose you.” |
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Wisconsin 89, Pittsburgh 75 Stats
Kentucky 61, Louisville 49 Stats
Auburn 86, Wofford 76 Stats
Georgia 96, Gonzaga 83 Stats
North Carolina 93, UNC-Asheville 62 Stats
Texas 96, Texas State 70 Stats
Ohio State 72, Cincinnati 50 Stats
Alabama 77, Southern Miss 64 Stats |
Tennessee 93, Western Kentucky 79 Stats
Ole Miss 82, South Alabama 72 Stats
Appalachian State 87, Ga. Southern 84 Stats
Xavier 76, Arizona State 58 Stats
Syracuse 94, Baylor 71 Stats
VCU 53, UAB 44 Stats
UCLA 74, Oakland, Mich. 53 Stats
Fresno State 69, Creighton 54 Stats |
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December 16 College Basketball Fun Facts |
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TT Raiders not feeling pressure, last 2 games they have shot- 59% FG, 61% 3-pt |
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Badgers’- Alando Tucker 32 pts, 10-17 FG, Brian Butch 27 pts, 8-11 FG |
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Louisville’s 49 points is the second lowest in the Pitino era, Cards just 17-63 FG |
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Bama’s Jermario Davidson (25 pts, 8-13 FG) and Alonzo Gee (20 pts, 7-11 FG) |
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UGA’s guards Stukes, Mercer and Gaines each had 9 FG’s and combined for 65 pts |
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Ohio State and Cincinnati played for the first time since 1962 NCAA Title game |
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OSU’s Greg Oden had 14 pts (6-7 FG), 11 rebounds and 5 blocks in 27 minutes |
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UT’s Chris Lofton 30 or more 3 out of last 4 games- 32 pts, 11-15 FG, 5-9 3-pt |
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The Vols have forced 20 or more turnovers in eight games |
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Syracuse’s Demetris Nichols 28 pts, 12-18 FG, 4-6 3-pointers |
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Creighton was 4-of-24 on 3-pointers and missed all 13 taken in the 2nd half |
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"Quick Quotes" |
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Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon, "If you told me we were going to get outrebounded by 10 and they were going to shoot 44 free throws, I wouldn't have said we would have had a very good chance of winning, and that was exactly the case. They deserved to win and they outplayed us." |
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Xavier coach Sean Miller, “It's a long college basketball season. Don't judge us after 10 games.” |
December 15
December 14
The Big Game
College of Charleston 62, Chattanooga 60
The College of Charleston was slipping and sliding under new head coach Bobby Cremins. The Cougars had lost four straight- to Kentucky, Charleston Southern in OT, Appalachian State and South Carolina. During this stretch Charleston made just 35% of its field goal attempts and 29% of its 3-pointers with 39% of the team’s shots being 3-point attempts. In the first game, after nine days off, Cremins went with a motion offense against Chattanooga. The Cougars shot 47% FG, but were only 4-21 (19%) on 3-pointers and 39% of their shots were three’s. So mixed results on the change except for one thing, a Southern Conference victory.
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College of Charleston 62 (4-6) (1-1)
Dontaye Draper, a 5-foot-11 senior, scored 18 points including six crucial ones down the stretch and the game winner with 4 seconds left.
Bobby Cremins praised Draper, who is averaging 17.5 points, in the Post and Courier, “They had us buried. But we didn’t quite. And finally at the end Draper made some big plays. We put the ball in his hands and he delivered.” Stats |
Chattanooga 60 (4-5) (0-1)
Chattanooga led by 7 at half, by 13 with 12:35 left and by 10 with 9:13 to play in the game. In the final four minutes, the Mocs were outscored 6 to1 and had 1 turnover, missed 3 3-pointers and a free throw.
UTC coach John Shulman said in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, “We made one bonehead play and it got the ball rolling. The guys who did that had not been in that position. The guy who won it (Draper) had been in that position many, many times.” |
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December 14 College Basketball Fun Facts |
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Arkansas tuned up for Texas Tech- 56% FG, 57% 3-pt, 86% FT, 20 A, 18 S |
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USC smashed BC on glass- 42-19 rebounds, 17-8 offensive boards |
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USD's Ross DeRogatis 27 points, 9-14 FG, 7-12 3-pt, 2-2 FT |
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Memphis whips the Govs- FG 62%-35%, and 24 of 34 buckets came off assists |
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Memphis’ Chris-Douglas Roberts 28 pts, 10-12 FG, 8-10 FT, 5 assists |
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CS-Bakersfield first D I win in 20 years and first as a D 1 school |
December 13
The Big Game
U Mass 72, Louisville 68
Rick Pitino is either a prophet or maybe he is just a wise coach who can accurately guage the state of his team. After the Cardinals' last victory over little Bellarmine Pitino said, "Some of you guys (media) have a tendency not to believe me. But I'm telling you right now: If we play like we did these last three games, we have no chance against Massachusetts. Zero.” Ding, ding, ding Pitino was right. His Cardinals came out and promptly trailed the Minutemen by as many as 17 in the first half and they shot just 23% from the field before the break. Louisville did come back and tie the game in the second half with 4 1/2 minutes to play, but U Mass ended the Cardinals' chance to prove Pitino wrong by scoring eight straight. U Mass's Rashaun Freeman scored 21 points as did Louisville's Terrence Williams, who scored eight straight points in the second half.
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U Mass 72 (9-2)
Rashaun Freeman scored 21 points and was 7-of-11 from the field and 7-of-10 from the line.
U Mass first year coach Travis Ford, who played for Rick Pitino at Kentucky, reflected in the Boston Herald on some prior Pitino words after watching Lousiville come back in the second half, "Something Coach Pitino taught me is that when you get a big, big lead like we had, 15 points or whatever it was, and you’re on the road, and you see the whole thing just deplete, a lot of teams can wilt. And we didn’t wilt. I thought we gained a lot of character out of that.” Box Score
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Louisville (68) (5-3)
Louisville made just 3-of-15 of its 3-pointers and had only 8 assists while making 16 turnovers.
After watching his team struggle for much of the game Louisville coach Rick Pitino said in the Louisville Courier, "A lot of our guys still don't understand who they are, what they are or what they do best. It's something we've got to figure out in a hurry." |
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Cincinnati 67, Xavier 57 Stats
Marshall 79, Wright State 72 Stats
Maryland 101, Missouri-KC 50 Stats
Wisconsin 68, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 49 Stats
DePaul 78, Wake Forst 63 Stats
Belmont 72, Arkansas-Little Rock 57 Stats |
SMU 68, Prarie View 51 Stats
Iowa State 70, Savannah State 59 Stats
Lamar 86, BYU 77 OT Stats
Air Force 70, Norfolk State 47 Stats
Penn State 66, Long Island 45 Stats
UTEP 79, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 51 Stats |
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Wednesday's College Basketball Fun Facts |
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Turnovers- Xavier 18, Cinci 8, 22 of 67 Bearcats’ points were scored of TO’s |
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Xavier’s Stanley Burrell couldn’t buy a bucket-0-10 FG, 0-4 3-pters |
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17 of Cincinnati’s 21 rebounds were on the offensive glass |
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Marshall erased Wright St.’s 15 point halftime lead in 4:16 with 17-0 run |
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Maryland’s Mike Jones (27 pts) broke school record hitting 9 straight 3’s |
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With 14:43 to play Missouri-KC had 30 points and Mike Jones 27 |
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DePaul had 25 assists (8 players contributed) and only 9 turnovers |
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SMU’s Donatas Rackauskas scored a career-high 21 and hit 10-of-12 shots |
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Lamar’s James Davis, a 7-foot-1, 335 pounds had 20 points and 16 rebounds |
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Air Force went 15-29 on 3-pointers with 7 players hitting a long ball |
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"Quick Quotes" |
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Maryland’s D.J. Strawberry on teammate’s Mike Jones hitting nine straight 3-pointers, "I don't know what they were thinking leaving him wide open after he hit a couple. He was just burying them, three after three. I looked up and I saw he had 27 points. I knew he didn't make a layup. I was trying to calculate in my head how many threes he had." |
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Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan on coaching against former assistant Rob Jeter (UW-M head coach). "At first I thought how hard it was going to be. If you enjoy playing golf against somebody or playing basketball against somebody or tennis, it's good, because I know that he knows what we're doing and what to try to take away." |
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Iowa State’s Greg McDermott told guard Mike Taylor, who had 56 turnovers in 9 games (7.0 per game), "I said I cannot allow you to lead the country in turnovers, and there's only two ways we can fix this. Either you change, or I'll have to take you out of the game." Taylor had only 1 and 25 minutes against Savannah State after those words." |
December 12
The Big Game
Drake 76, UC-Irvine 73
Dr. Tom Davis has Drake playing its best roundball since 1999-2000. But to go 6-2 and win their fifth straight game, the Bulldogs had to rally at home, from 18-down, with 15:01 to play, to pull off the school's second biggest comeback.
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Drake (76) (6-2)
Those Korvers can shoot. Klayton, a 6-foot-5 junior who entered the game averaging 8 points, scored a career high 20 and he nailed 7-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from beyond the 3-point line. Older brother Kyle is averaging 14.5 points per game and is shooting 48% from the field and 51% on 3-pointers for the Allen Iverson-less Philaelphia 76ers.
Nick Grant, a 6-foot-3 junior, was another spark in the comeback, he scored 11-of his-14 points and had four steals in the second half. Grant explained the comeback in the Des Moines Register, "In the first half, our feet were in the mud. We didn't have any intensity. But you play 40 minutes. We knew we got another 20." Stats |
UC-Irvine (73) (3-6)
Drake held Cal-Irvine scoreless for nearly seven minutes late in the game and capitalized on 15 second-half turnovers by the Anteaters. Drake's defense also had 18 steals, 13 of which came in the second half.
Adam Templeton shot the ball well on the road, the 6-foot-6 sophomore from Rapid City, South Dakota, hit 7-of his-11 field goal attempts and he made 5-of-9 from the 3-point line and scored a career high 20. |
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Tuesday's College Basketball Fun Facts |
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Nick Fazekas is the 5 th player in WAC to score 2,000 pts with 1,000 rebs. |
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Ole Miss’ Dwayne Curtis, 6-8 jr, 16 points,11 rebounds- 1st half 10 &10 |
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3 days after being outrebounded 43-16 by A-LR, Gophers beat UCF 42-30 on glass |
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Minn. double-doubles- Dan Coleman 29 pts and 10 rebs, Spencer Tollackson 13-11 |
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Ga Southern's 27 assists led to 43 field goals, GSU 57.3% FG Flager 33% FG |
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Ga. Southern’s Jimmy Tobias scored 22 and hit 10-of-11 field goals in 23 minutes |
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Billicans’ trio, Bouzoukis (17), Liddell (17), Lisch (16) scored 50 of 67 points |
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Md.-BC’s three starting guards were 3-26 (12%) FG and 1-13 (8%) 3-pt |
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St. Francis, NY (0-11) one of 4 winless D I teams, 4 losses have been by single-digits |
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"Quick Quotes" |
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Gopher coach Jim Molinari on improved rebounding, “Players don’t learn what you teach, they learn what you emphasize. We emphasized rebounding and our guys rose to the challenge.” |
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Hofstra coach Tom Peocra on his team, “I've said it before. These guys are wonderful guys, but I don't want them to be wonderful guys on the floor.” |
December 11
The kind-of big game
Most big and small schools are taking time off from playing games this week so their players can take exams. So the pickins' are slim.
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Mississippi State (70) (6-2)
Barry Stewart, a 6-foot-2 freshman from Shelbyville, Tenn., came off the bench shooting 3-balls. 11 of Stewart's 14 shots taken were 3-pointers and 5 of his six makes were 3's.
The Bulldogs took a 27-11 first half lead on the road. Last season, MSU was a weak road team. After beating Charlotte 53-38, The Bulldogs lost eight straight road games, all in the SEC. MSU coach Rick Stansbury talked about improving this season's road record in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, "This team has to find an identity somewhere. This team last year didn't do it after the Charlotte game." Box Score |
Miami (52) (6-4)
The fans must have been on an exam break too. Only 2,889 showed up for this regionally televised game.
Dwayne Collins, 6-foot-8 freshman from Miami, came off the Hurricane bench and scored 14 points. He was 7-10 FG with six rebounds and five blocked shots in 29 minutes.
The 18-point loss was the worse in Frank Haith's tenure in Miami. Haith told the Miami Herald, ''They whipped us. They whipped us in every phase of the game. I know there's going to be games where we're not going to shoot the ball well, but I don't think we had the fight in us." |
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Monday's College Basketball Fun Facts |
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Hartford, isn’t in the Ivy League, but if the Hawks were, they would be 3-0 |
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Tyrone Nelson is now playing for New Mexico St., missed 8 games with broken hand |
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With Nelson in the lineup the Aggies can field this front line- 7-0, 6-10 and 6-9 |
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Oregon is 8-0, coach Ernie Kent’s longest win streak in his 10 seasons at OU |
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VMI’s Matt Murrer scored 32 points- 11-18 FG, 7-7 FT |
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VMI’s 3-point shooting last 3 games, 9-41, 12-48, 22-49 Total 43-138 (29%) |
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"Quick Quotes" |
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The officials put .7 seconds back on the clock at the end of regulation in the Hartford/Yale game drawing this response from Hartford coach Dan Leibovitz, “The only thing I can liken it to was the Olympics in '72’. I'm never surprised at what happens. You can't be surprised. It was an odd sequence of events." |
December 10
Sunday College Games
The Big Game
Texas 76, LSU 75 OT
In a rematch of a Final Four semifinal, a young bunch of Texas Longhorns beat the more experienced LSU Tigers, in a game that was close the whole way. The Longhorns' A.J. Abrams, who scored 18 points, hit the game winning 3-pointer with 1:03 left in overtime. On LSU's final possession Garrett Temple tried a 3-pointer, against the Texas zone, that hit the front of the iron. Earlier, Temple had tied the game with a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left. D.J. Augustin had a career high 25 points for the Longhorns. Tasmin Mitchell led LSU with 23. Glen Davis scored 21 points with 10 rebounds in 44 minutes.
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How close was this game? Very. Texas opened up a 7-0 lead and LSU led 25-18 in the opening half. But in the second half it was back and forth. Texas tied the game at 49 with 11:48 to go. From that point on the biggest lead for either team was four points with 3:03 to play in overtime when LSU took a 72-68 lead on a jumper by Tack Minor. This game was tied 13 different times, including six times during the final 11:58 of regulation and overtime. |
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Texas (76) (6-2)
Freshman Kevin Durant, who had Dick Vitale yelling and screaming his diaper dandy routine, recorded his fourth career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds and he fouled out Tasmin Mitchell. But Durrant was 5-of-15 from the field and 0-4 from outside the arc in 43 minutes.
LSU switched to a zone at the end of the game to stop the Longhorns' dribble penetration and that opened up the perimeter for the guards. A.J. Abrams, who hit the game winning shot, told the American-Statesman, "It was unexpected. Once they did it, I was calling for the ball more. Fortunately, D.J. found me." Box Score |
LSU (75) (5-2)
Even at the end of regulation and overtime, the Longhorns stayed in their zone. Glen Davis was able to dribble in the gaps and muscle his way to the bucket. However, | |
