Welcome to the February 20 winners and losers. On days with many games, this weems like the best way to break it all down. Here we go.
Photo via AP Photo / Gerry Broome from ESPN
WINNERS
Marcus Paige and North Carolina
The biggest game of the night was North Carolina's 74-66 victory over Duke. Marcus Paige made a huge impact late in the game by scoring 6 points during the last 2 minutes. Paige had 11 second half points. UNC has won 8 games in a row. It really looks like they could run the regular season table until the Duke rematch to close the season.
BYU
The Cougars got a much needed win by pulling away from Gonzaga in the second half. A balanced effort offensively and forcing 16 turnovers defensively really helped. So did 14 offensive rebounds. If this is going to be a multiple big league, this one really helped BYU's case. That being said, they should avoid losing their last two games.
Michigan State's 3 Point Shooting
The Spartans made a school record 17 three pointers in their 94-79 win at Purdue. Gary Harris hit 6-9 for 25 points, Travis Trice hit 4-6 for 14 points and Adreian Payne hit 4-8 as part of his 23 points. Michigan State made 17 shots total on Sunday against Nebraska. This was better.
Nebraska
The Cornhuskers topped Penn State 80-67 with 26 by Terran Petteway. Nebraska was 37-48 from the free throw line. Petteway was 14-19 and Tai Webster 8-10. Tim Miles has the boys rolling. This kicked off a string of 5 games against the 5 bottom teams in the league. Winning the next 4 would be pretty fantastic.
Shabazz Napier
The UConn star put up 17 points, thanks to 11-11 at the line, with 12 rebounds and 7 assists in the Huskie victory over Temple. He's making a push for All-American honors and conference player of the year honors.
Stanford
The Cardinal took care of USC by 21 points. Josh Huestis had 18 rebounds, 11 points and 3 blocks. After the disappointing loss to Washington, Stanford needs to take care of business. UCLA comes to town tomorrow. That would be a big win.
Green Bay
The Phoenix won big in the return game against Valpo. Not only did they get the satisfaction of that, but they clinched the Horizon league title. They are guaranteed to at least make the NIT. Congratulations to Green Bay.
Middle Tennessee and UTEP
Both of these teams are 10-2 in Conference USA and are co-leaders. They both went out and won on the road by double figures. UTEP won the only regular season meeting.
Belmont and Georgia State
the Bruins took care of business by 19 points tonight against Eastern Illinois. They are the best team in the OVC, at least in my book, and they are closing on the top seed for the conference tournament.
The Panthers moved to 12-1 in the Sun Belt with a 15 point win over UL Monroe. They have a 3 game conference lead with 5 games remaining. They do play teams 2-4 in the current standings though and have 3 road games.
Utah Valley and New Mexico State
The top teams in the WAC both won on the road tonight. They are sitting up their giant game for the top spot in the conference nicely.
UC Irvine
Keeping it out west, UC Irvine won at Hawaii in overtime. They are 9-2 in the Big West.
LOSERS
Georgetown
The Hoyas were never really in the game against Seton Hall. At 15-11, 6-8, the Hoyas have to finish strong if they want to make the NCAA tournament. The good news for them is that they get Xavier, Marquette, Creighton and Villanova to close the season.
Memphis
Hard to label a team that won tonight a loser but Memphis fits the bill. They didn't really play well against Rutgers tonight in a 64-59 win. The Tigers had 16 turnovers and went 4-13 from 3. They were 22-46, 48% for the game. They gave up 14 offensive boards to Rutgers. I don't know, there is just something about this team that seems unsettling. They've been playing down to the competition as of late. With Temple and Houston the next two games, it would be wise of them to shake out of it because they close really hard.
Gonzaga
The Bulldogs are gaudy record, not much meat on the bones. I think they'll make the NCAA tournament easy. The problem for them is going to be the seed. The Bulldogs are looking at a 7 seed on the bracket matrix. It's looking to be worse now. I don't think Gonzaga is that great and stepping up the degree of difficulty in the tournament right off the bat would probably mean another early and out.
Louisiana Tech
The Bulldogs dropped from a tie atop C-USA with a 7 point loss at East Carolina. This would be the part of the program where some handsome blogger says that he told you so that ECU was a hard place to win.
People who complain about rushing the court
The rush the court thing is dumb. I don't understand why people care what college kids do. 99% of the time they don't. But if college kids at North Carolina rush the floor after beating Duke, people get on their high horses. Who really cares?
TOP POINTS
- 35 – Kendrick Perry – Youngstown St
- 31 – Trymell Murhpy – FIU
- 31 – Billy Baron – Canisius
- 30 – Isiah Umipig – Seattle
- 28 – Austin Arians – Milwaukee
- 28 – Tyler Stone – SEMO
- 28 – Jarvis Haywood – Jacksonville
- 27 – Stacy Davis – Pepperdine
- 27 – Darion Rackley – Jacksonville St
- 27 – Louis Montes – Sacred Heart
- 27 – Jordan Threloff – N.Illinois
- 26 – Anthony Ireland – LM
- 26 – Gary Winston – Portland St
- 26 – Reid Koenen – Texas St
- 26 – Karvel Anderson – Robert Morris
- 26 – Umar Shannon – Qunnipiac
- 26 – Terran Petteway – Nebraska
- 25 – Kareem Jamar – Montana
- 25 – Gary Harris – Michigan St
- 25 – Tre Bussey – Ga Southern
- 24 – Tate Unruh – N.Colorado
- 24 – Jelani Hewitt – Ga Southern
TOP REBOUNDS
- 18 – Josh Huestis – Stanford
- 18 – Jordan Threloff – N.Illinois
- 15 – Taran Brown – UCSB
- 15 – Michael Zangari – East Carolina
- 13 – Brad Waldow – St Mary's
- 13 – Myles Taylor- Tenn-Martin
- 13 – Kevin Hill – New Orleans
- 13 – Mychal Ammons – South Alabama
- 13 – Rakeem Buckles – FIU
- 13 – Ousmane Drame – Qunnipiac
- 13 – Da'Sonte Riley – E.Michigan
TOP ASSISTS
- 11 – Reece Chamberlain – Belmont
- 11 – Brent Jones – St Francis (NY)
- 10 – Jeremiah Samarrippas – Tenn Tech
- 9 – Holton Hunsaker – Utah Valley
- 9 – Steve McWhorter – Milwaukee
- 9 – DJ Cole – Youngston St
- 9 – Keith Appling – Michigan St
- 9 – Kenneth Smith – LA Tech
- 9 – KJ Rose – Fairfield
- 8 – Jeremy Major – Pepperdine
- 8 – Lucas Nutt- SEMO
- 8 – Jason Brickman – LIU Brooklyn
TOP BLOCKS
- 8 – Alec Brown – Green Bay
- 5 – Taylor Johns – UC Riverside
TOP STEALS
- 5 – Trey Sumler – W.Carolina
