Illinois students got a nice win and a good memory to look back on once summer comes. Damn do I miss college sometimes. (AP)
—UPSET—Illinois 78, No. 5 Michigan State 73. I’m loving how the ESPN “GameDay” games are turning into must-watch matchups. You know how it can be. Lots of hype and then a dud. That hasn’t been the case so far this year. Although, Kentucky is next week’s destination. That thing could be over by halftime. Last night, Illinois got its first real flag-planting win by knocking out a Kalin Lucas-deprived Michigan State team. Demetri McCamey tied a career-best with 11 assists for the Illini. Eighteen turnovers for Sparty without Lucas, too. And I think MSU held in there and fought pretty damn well. It’s the first back to back losses since 2008 for the Spartans. MSU won’t be running away with this league like I thought it would.
—UPSET—Georgia 72, No. 18 Vanderbilt 58. TRAP GAME. I’m telling you, no coach with a sub-.500 team has looked as good as Mark Fox has this season. It’s true: 10-11 Georgia is scaring the crap out of SEC opponents. Maybe that’s because the SEC is turning out to be nearly as bad as it was last season. How good is Vanderbilt? We’ll see how it responds for Tuesday night’s game against Tennessee.
No. 1 Kansas 75, Nebraska 64. Can’t stop 55. KU extended its home winning streak to a double-nickel. And after disappearing for the better part of the first 30 minutes, Cole Aldrich contributed! I’m not too worried about him, though. After all, Kansas has Marcus Morris and his 20 points and his 11 rebounds to rely on. The issue for the ‘Hawks, who did struggle in this game — and Doug Gottlieb also made this point yesterday — is the lack of help in the backcourt for Sherron Collins. The clutch play is nice, but Tyshawn Taylor and Xavier Henry need to do some growing up in a hurry.
No. 14 Tennessee 79, South Carolina 53. Let’s be real. Tennessee and those associated with the program are undoubtedly happy that Wayne Chism blew up for 30 points last night … but I bet they’re also thinking, Damn, Wayne, couldn’t you save this for a bigger game? No way he duplicates this performance again versus Kentucky or in The Tournament.
No. 15 New Mexico 88, San Diego State 86. The game may have never gotten to overtime if it wasn’t for Darius Hobson’s hopeful heave before the half that fell pure.
The Aztecs had to have this one. Mountain West is only sending three teams dancing this season unless someone breaks form in the conference tourney.
No. 22 Pittsburgh 83, Seton Hall 58. The Panthers deserve a decent amount of dap for blowing out SHU, guys and gals. I know the Pirates have proven to be fraudulistic since Big East play began, but Pitt could’ve struggled with this one. Nope. Owning fools like they did for the better part of this season. Don’t forget about this team. They’re not making the Final Four, but plenty of winning is left in the tank.
No. 23 Butler 74, Wright State 62. Never before has Butler started 13-0 in conference play. Mildly shocking stat.
No. 24 Northern Iowa 55, Southern Illinois 52. Thanks to Adam Koch Northern Iowa still hasn’t lost at home this season. Koch scored 11 straight to get the Panthers past the sneaky Salukis. Panthers overcame shooting 39 percent from the field.
No. 25 Mississippi 74, Alabama 67. Ole Miss made UNI’s comeback look like a JV effort. Down 23 points, the Rebels got 21 points from Chris Warren and another 18 from Terrence Henry, as the two had a Herculean effort to avoid catastrophe in Oxford. Anthony Grant apparently held the Crimson Tide in the locker room for nearly 40 minutes after the game before the media had a chance to talk to him/them.
Notable:
Virginia Commonwealth 70, Old Dominion 58. Unfortunately, unlike the A10, the CAA has no wiggle room. Monarchs drop to 10-3 in conference.
UTEP 73, Tulsa 59. I know Tulsa’s only one game out of first place, but I guess I don’t get the team. UTEP and a svelte-looking Derek Caracter owned on their home floor last night. Nice little game we got to wind down the day. Tulsa may have issues, though. Will readdress in the coming week.
Washington 79, Arizona State 56. Oh, does Washington care about winning again? Let’s see a five-game winning streak, boys.
Florida State 71, Miami (FL) 65. When will coaches learn that front-loading the schedule with 300-type teams serves you no good purpose. Miami has fallen to 16-7 but has the respect of a team with a 7-16 record.
Missouri 84, Colorado 66. Kansas goes to Colorado and nearly gets defeated. After losing to Texas A&M, Missouri heads to the Rockies and steals the Buffs’ money. Hmm.
Coastal Carolina 98, UNC-Asheville 62. Just wanted to point out that Coastal is 21-4.
Murray State 65, Austin Peay 63. And that the Racers are 22-3.
Late on this from yesterday afternoon, but a nice slam from Donald Sloan in the Baylor game. Not quite up to snuff with CHJ’s Dunk-of-the-Year standards, though.
