This will be the longest scoring recap so far this season. Let’s not waste time by flirting here…
–UPSET–Nebraska 88, No. 16 Oregon 79 (OT). Thought that the Ducks would get a good, tough win on the road once this game went to overtime, but instead, they appeared to mail it in. Porter’s clutch play wasn’t quite enough for O’Town. Meanwhile, the ‘Huskers (8-2) might develop themselves into one of the surprises of this season. Let’s wait on that, though…
–UPSET–Purdue 67, No. 22 Louisville 59. Shouldn’t really qualify as an upset, but what the hell. It’s turning into a tumultous season for the ‘Ville. They are now 5-3 and will probably not garner any votes for Top 25 placement.
–UPSET–Arizona State 77, No. 17 Xavier 55. CHJ told you that this could be a good game, but to see it as a 22-point victory for the Sun Devils? Wow. A sick Ty Abbott came up big for ASU, scoring 17 and helping on the defensive end as well. The stat you need to know? Thirty-one percent shooting for the Musketeers, 60 percent for the Sun Devils
–No. 2 Memphis 65, Middle Tennessee State 41. I watched a good portion of this game, and the scary part about Memphis is the fact that, in my opinion, they only went about 70 percent in this one and still dismantled a Division I opponent.
–No. 3 Kansas 88, Ohio 51. Some folk thought that Ohio might be able to sneak up the Jayhawks in this one, but kudos to Bill Self for having his team prepared in nearly every facet of the game. Brandon Rush looked pretty good in his first start of the season as well.
–No. 4 Texas 96, Texas State 81. Longhorns hit the double-digit, yet-to-lose plateau in getting to 10-0. Connor Atchley (26 points), D.J. Augustin (24) and A.J. Abrams (20) all played magnificently.
–No. 5 Georgetown 110, Radford 51. Getting yourself a double-up will get you plenty of love here at CHJ. What’s there to say? G’Town is balanced and has an amoeba-like attack with every game: They can adjust to anything you do
–No. 8 UCLA 89, Idaho State 49. Darren Collison is the most valuable point guard in the country. Ben Howland gets win No. 100 as head coach of UCLA (has he really been there that long already? Or, oh wait, is that good of a coach…) and I really believe this is best team yet.
–No. 9 Michigan State 79, Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne 57. Marquise Gray and Drew Neitzel lead the Spartans to the victory. It should be a very interesting race between MSU and Indiana for the Big 10 this year.
–No. 10 Marquette 82, Sacramento State 51. Blowout from first horn to final.
–No. 12 Tennessee 88, Western Kentucky 82. Newsman/Vols bench/role player Brian Williams had a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) and propelled Tennessee to the win. But I beg you to implore the notion that maybe, just maybe, Tennessee is winning with smoke and mirrors so far this season. Doesn’t seem possible, right? I mean, they are 9-1 and ranked 12th in the country, after all. But, I dunno, only a six point win over Western Kentucky (still a very formidable team), and the defensive effort doesn’t appear to be consistent right now. If the Vols play like this all season long, they will be a trendy first-weekend-out pick by many a pundit.
–No. 11 Pittsburgh 85, Oklahoma State 68. Panthers avoid the trap game before their big one against Duke on Thursday.
–No. 13 Indiana 100, Western Carolina 52. Twenty-six points. Eric Gordon is doing just fine, thank you.
–No. 18 Butler 79, Florida State 68. It says something about the state of a program like Butler when they expectedly beat a program like Florida State at home with relative ease. No hangover-from-the-loss performance here.
–No. 25 Brigham Young 86, Pepperdine 67. The AP headline read, “Cummard pours in 21…”. Yes, yes he did. Lee Cummard defiled Pepperdine all night long.
Notable:
Florida 52, Georgia Southern 49. This game took place in Jacskonville, and the Eagles had a nine point lead at halftime on the young Gators, but only six total points in the final five minutes? Hey, it was enough to keep Florida a one-loss team.
Saint Louis 56, Southern Illinois 51. Whaa?? The Salukis dismantle Saint Mary’s earlier this week, but allow Rick Majerus’ team to take this one? At 4-4, the Salukis have fallen back with the rest of the decent mid-major pack. And that’s a shame.
Oklahoma 83, Arkansas 72. Sooners ran away with this one down the stretch—they looked like the better team, anyway.
Central Michigan 78, Michigan 67. Imagine you’re the die-hard sports fan from the state that’s shaped like a mitten, who grew up with Michigan athletics and Desmond Howard, and the Fab Five…and this is your freshman year. Wolverines are 4-7.
New Mexico 80, Texas Tech 63. Alford bests his mentor, Knight; Lobos are 9-2.
Syracuse 125, East Tennessee State 75. Uh HELLO! Offensive explosion from the Orange! Donte’ Green led all scorers with 25. Syracuse shot 76 PERCENT from the floor. Ridiculous. Maybe this will wake the team up and send them on a winning streak that they could really use going into conference season.
