Saturday provided the best college hoops gameday of the season, and at a perfect time, as the sport prepares to step into center stage with March approaching and the NFL season finally wrapping up. So, here’s what the menu looks like for a packed College Basketball Weekly article:
- Notable Results (a lot of them)
- Quick Hitters: Johni Broome, Texas and Vanderbilt
- A Houston Miracle
- Mark Sears benched again??
- Calipari comes to Lexington
- Duke-UNC part 1
Notable Results
(AP ranking)
(14) Mississippi State 56 @ (6) Tennessee 68
Ohio State 73 @ (11) Purdue 70
(18) Wisconsin 83 @ UCLA 85
(22) Missouri 53 @ Texas 61
Arizona State 65 @ (23) West Virginia 57
(13) Texas A&M 63 @ (16) Ole Miss 62
Maryland 91 @ (17) Illinois 70
(21) Michigan 64 @ (11) Purdue 91
(6) Tennessee 51 @ (1) Auburn 56
(7) Houston 92 @ (12) Kansas 86
(9) Kentucky 69 @ Vanderbilt 74
(13) Texas A&M 69 @ Texas 70
(15) Oregon 69 @ Minnesota 77
(16) Ole Miss 75 @ (22) Missouri 83
(23) West Virginia 60 @ Kansas State 73
(19) UConn 72 @ Xavier 76
SEC Quick Hitters
Texas! The SEC just keeps on coming. Last week’s dissertation on the depth of contenders in the SEC didn’t even include the Longhorns, so they showed me up by beating No. 22 Missouri during the week before pulling off a 22-point comeback victory over rival No. 13 Texas A&M to announce that perhaps they aren’t a bottomfeeder in year one of SEC play.
Johni Broome, ladies and gentlemen. In an absolute brick-slinger of a game between top-10 Auburn and Tennessee, the Tigers narrowly defended their home court with a 53-51 victory to maintain their spot atop the polls as well as Johni Broome’s spot as the National Player of the Year frontrunner. Returning from injury, he carried Bruce Pearl’s club with 16 points, 13 rebounds (seven offensive!) and four blocks.
Vanderbilt’s costly success. Hooray for Mark Byington as a completely revamped Vanderbilt team has now stormed the court on consecutive Saturdays after beating local rivals Tennessee and Kentucky. However, the Commodore athletic department budget has taken some sizeable lumps. They were fined $100,000 for storming the football field vs. Alabama, then $250,000 for a second offense against Tennessee in basketball; and now, they’ll write Kentucky a $500,000 check for Saturday’s party at mid-court. Tough loss for the ‘Cats, but that’s a nice silver lining for someone’s pockets. Heck, in the revenue-sharing age, that could buy a really good player next season!
Comeback of the Decade in Phog Allen
Not only did Houston accomplish the Herculean task of winning in Phog Allen Fieldhouse over Kansas, but Kelvin Sampson’s squad pulled off the most improbable comeback of the year, and likely of the entire decade.
With 18 seconds left in regulation, Cougar point guard Milos Uzan nailed a jumper to cut the Kansas lead down to two points. A Kansas turnover, a foul, and two made free throws from Houston’s J’Wan Roberts ensued to knot the game up at 66-66, forcing an unlikely overtime after trailing by four with under 20 ticks.
But what happened in overtime was much crazier. Houston was down 79-73 and sent senior Jayhawk point guard Dajuan Harris to the free-throw line with, once again, 18 seconds left. He missed both, Houston came down and got Emmanuel Sharp loose for a long three to cut it down to 79-76 with eight seconds left. The Cougars then did what they do best, forcing a turnover on the inbounds pass before finding the hero of the night, Mylik Wilson, for a triple to tie it back up and send the game to another overtime. Bananas!
After having their spirits broken in those two blown end-of-game situations, Kansas couldn’t muster another run and Houston sped away with the victory in OT No. 2, landing not only one of the best and most impressive wins of the season, but the most improbable as well. Just look at this win percentage chart.
Wild stuff, man. But for Houston? The Cougars have wind in their sails and a feather in their cap now with the road W over Kansas. Houston hasn’t lost since November and has only fallen in overtime to Alabama and San Diego State, and on a neutral court by five points vs. No. 1 Auburn. If there’s a 1B to the Tigers’ 1A, it’s these Cougs.
Mark Sears benched in another win
The Alabama point guard and engine of the Crimson Tide offense is having a strong but strange season after being named the preseason SEC Player of the Year. His numbers look about right, 18.1 points and 4.9 assists per game, but in Saturday’s lackluster home victory over LSU, he was benched in the second half for the second time this season, and also finished with 0 points for the second time this season. It was a mirror of what happened in the Illinois win back in November.
While Sears was visibly agitated on the sidelines, Nate Oats declined to comment on the veteran and merely stated that he played five guys who gave the Tide their best chance to win. When you win in spite of your All-American, it’s a pretty good sign for a basketball team, but benching a senior leader could have tumultuous consequences in the locker room. Sears found his groove after the Illinois loss, and hopefully, he’ll get right next time out. But admittedly, this is a bizarre storyline for a top-five college hoops team.
ALL EYES ON US
While next Saturday doesn’t promise the same level of chaos, it’s shaping up to be just as fun as the sports world finally tilts its full attention towards basketball on the first weekend without football since August. The schedule-makers knew this, since we have two of the biggest matchups of the season incoming:
Arkansas at Kentucky. This is the most interesting game of the season, bar none. Throw out everything about the two teams this year, because John Calipari’s return to Lexington is must-see television after how last March and April unfolded. Now that Arkansas is off to a 1-6 start in SEC play and Mark Pope has Kentucky in the top-25, the pressure is all the more on the Wildcats to show up their former leader at home. This is the best of college sports right here, a storyline every college hoops fan is invested in, because for 15 years, Calipari and Kentucky were an inseparable brand, and now, they clash as bitter rivals.
North Carolina at Duke. You know it’s really college hoops season nationally when the Tar Heels and Blue Devils tip it up. College GameDay made the mistake of passing on a once-in-a-decade type of storyline in Lexington to travel to Durham in what will be a lazy retread of the same show they do every year. But that decision aside, you can’t help but be excited for UNC-Duke as the appetizer to Cal vs. Kentucky. Hubert Davis has had Duke’s number, and he’ll need to pull a rabbit out of the hat in this contest or the return game, because if this juggernaut Blue Devil squad mops the floor with UNC both times out, Coach Davis could be on a much hotter seat this offseason given how the year has unfolded already.
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