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[Commissioner]

Tuesday, December 3

Horizon
Kent State 92, Detroit 57. A dreadful second half leads to another blowout. Two straight games surrendering 90+ points. We have given up at least 74 points in every game, including 76 to Wyoming, which averages just 54 points per game. Detroiter Danny Pippin led the onslaught for Kent (7-1) with 18 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and 7 blocks. The Titans shot 8 for 39 in the second half. Hard to see any bright spots tonight other than continued excellence at the free throw line. That's not gonna be enough.

Except for the Titans, it was a pretty good night for the conference. I didn't know it was Horizon/MAC challenge night.

Oakland 72, Western Michigan 62. Oakland (5-4) handed the Broncos (4-5) their 5th straight loss behind 26 points from Xavier HIll-Mais. That put Hill-Mais over the 1000 mark for his career.

Northern Kentucky 76, Miami (OH) 54. Dantez Walton had his 3rd straight 30-point game against D1 competition as the Norse (6-3) stomped Miami (4-4. Remember that the Norse are without their best player, Jalen Tate, who is probably out at least through Christmas.

Wright State 76, Western Kentucky 74. This is a really good win for Wright State (7-2), against the pre-season CUSA favorite. Wright State trailed most of the game, with the Hilltoppers lead briefly reaching double digits, but the Raiders claimed the lead with 8 minutes to go. IUPUI transfer and 2019 Second Team All Horizon guard Cameron Justice put Western back on top with a jumper with 1:36 to go, but Wright State came back on a Cole Gentry layup on its next possession. After Western star Charles Bassey missed a shot, Grant Basile hit one ot two free throws with 55 seconds remaining, and that ended the scoring, with Western missing a couple chances to tie or win. Billy Wampler led Wright State with 22, Gentry added 17, and Basile had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Bassey led Western Kentucky (6-3) with 19 points and 9 rebounds.

Drake 56, Milwaukee 53. Milwaukee (5-4) played well on the road but ultimately fell to a Drake team whose 7-2 record includes wins over Nebraska and Murray State. Drake won it on a three by Noah Thomas with 2 seconds left--Thomas's only points of the game.

Titan Non-Conference Opponents
Eastern Michigan 85, Valparaiso 79. I get it. I totally understand Coach's scheduling philosophy. Don't tell me how it builds the team for the regular season etc etc. You don't need to explain it. Me? I'd like to see some wins. EMU (and Milwaukee, a bad team which is 5-4 now and was competitive with a good MVC team tonight), have chosen another route, to rebuild their teams by letting them grow into a tougher schedule with a bunch of relatively easy early games. Eastern is now 7-1 after swatting down our old rival but now MVC-based Valpo (5-4). How much buzz would a 7-1 Titan team with a win over an MVC team and Antoine Davis leading the nation in scoring be able to generate? In both football and basketball, scheduling down, rather than up, has very often been used successfully to recreate a culture of winning, rekindle fan interest, and attract the attention of recruits; that done, teams schedule up. Ty Gross had 23 points for EMU tonight.

Louisiana 98, Southeast Louisiana 81. Jalen Johnson had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Louisiana (5-3).

Some Other Results You May or May Not Find Interesting
#1 Louisville 58, #4 Michigan 43. Juwan Howard is no longer unbeaten as a collegiate head coach. Michigan shot a dismal 26%, 16% from three, down in the Ville. They'll be back.

#10 Duke 87, #11 Michigan State 75. A month ago most people probably thought this would be #1 against #2. Anyway, it wasn't as close as the final score suggest, and that score doesn't suggest a close game.

Mid-Major Win of the Day: Charleston 68, Missouri 60.

#15 Memphis 71, Bradley 56.
Indiana 80, #17 Florida State 64. Impressive win for Indiana (8-0), which pulled away in the final 10 minutes.
#18 Baylor 78, Maryland-Eastern Shore 46.

#19 Dayton 99, Houston Baptist 68. Dayton did something rare this week--it moved into the Top 25 after a week in which it lost a game. I was glad to see it--they were very impressive in their overtime loss to Kansas (plus wins over Virginia Tech and Georgia), certainly meeting the eyeball test of a Top 25 team. Too often there is this internal iron logic to the polls where you must drop after a loss.

#24 Ole Butler 67, Ole Miss 68.

Pittsburgh 71, Rutgers 60.
Iowa 68, Syracuse 54.
Northwestern 82, Boston College 64. The B10/ACC challenge is tied at 4-4.

Texas 67, UAB 57.

Georgia State 83, Dartmouth 80 (OT). Corey Allen had a season high 28 for Georgia State (5-3), including a buzzer beater that sent the game into overtime.

Loyola 70, Ball State 58. Loyola (5-4) hasn't gotten a lot of mileage out its Final Four appearance yet.
Belmont 80, Lipscomb 57. A bigger Nashville rivalry than Toby Keith vs. the Dixie Chicks.

[Commissioner]

Wednesday, December 4

Horizon
Another bad night for the Horizon.

Toledo 80, Cleveland State 65. Toledo ended CSU's little 3 game winning streak. Five Rockets (6-2) scored in double figures and two had double-doubles, with Luke Knapke just missing a triple double with 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 (!) blocks. Al Eichelberger had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Vikings.

Xavier 84, Green Bay 71. Green Bay (3-5) gave Xavier (8-1) a tussle before succombing. Freshman Amari Davis scored 19 and JayQuan McCloud had 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Morehead State 56, IUPUI 51. IUPUI (2-7) couldn't recover from a 12 point first half in which they shot 5-25 from the field and 1-8 from three.

Youngstown State 81, Robert Morris 70. Darius Quisenberry led YSU (5-4) with 23 points.

Titan Non-Conference Opponents
#3 Maryland 72, Notre Dame 51. Maryland (9-0) held Notre Dame to 20 points in the first half. The Terps had a tough time getting started themselves--the score was 13-13 before Maryland made it move more than 15 minutes into the game. John Mooney had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Notre Dame (6-2).

#9 Gonzaga 101, Texas Southern 62. Gonzaga (9-1) had 7 players score in double figures. Right now, I think Gonzaga would beat us by about 56 points. We've got 3 weeks and change to get a lot better.

North Carolina State 69, Wisconsin 54. This isn't the caliber of Wisconsin (4-4) team we've become accustomed to. Jericole Hellems led NC State (6-2) with 23 points.

Northeastern 78, Maine 63. Jordan Roland had 28 points for Northeastern (5-4), passing Antoine Davis into the second spot on the list of the nation's top scorers.

Air Force 86, Wyoming 77. Hunter Maldonado had a good game with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists, but Cowboys (3-6) on the ground are no match for the Air Force (4-5).

Chicago State 89, SIU-Edwardsville 81. Someone had to win this game. Zeke Moore, a 6-7 junior forward, led SIUE with 28 points.

Ohio 90, Rio Grande 51. Rio Grande could have used Bevo Francis tonight. Jason Preston had 13 assists for Ohio (6-3).

Other Games
Purdue 69, #5 Virginia 40. I'm not sure which is more impressive, Purdue (5-3) holding Virginia to 40 points, or Purdue scoring 69 points against Virginia (7-1). This was a super coaching job by Matt Painter, who really had his team ready to play and a plan to shut UVa down.

#6 Ohio State 74, #7 North Carolina 49. Ohio State is really playing well. A good night for the B10, with the Buckeyes and Boilermakers really spanking two of the best ACC teams, and OSU doing it on the road.

#20 Colorado 76, Loyola Marymount 64. The Buffs (7-0) outscored Loyola (3-4) 15-1 over the final 3 minutes before Loyola hit a meaningless three at the buzzer.
#21 Tennessee 72, Florida A&M 43.
#22 Washington 90, Eastern Washington 80.
#23 Villanova 80, Penn 69.
#25 Utah State , San Jose State .

Georgia Tech 73, Nebraska 56.
Penn State 76, Wake Forest 54. The Big 10 wins the B10/ACC challenge 8-6.

DePaul 65, Texas Tech 60 (OT). I think it's time to realize that the Blue Demons (9-0) are for real. They've got wins over Iowa, Minnesota, and Boston College, three mediocre P5 teams but P5 teams nonetheless. Tech is another story--Tech is an NCAA tournament team, and a team that can make a run. DePaul showed some guts, too, rallying in the final minutes to force overtime on a 3 pointer with 8 seconds left, and again coming from behind in the OT.

Georgetown 81, Oklahoma State 74. After kicking two starters off the team, G'town knocked the Okies (7-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten tonight. Mac McClung had a big game with 33 points for the Hoyas (5-3).

Marquette 75, Jacksonville 56. On this date in 1674, Pere Jacques Marquette founded what would become the city of Chicago.
Connecticut 80, Iona 62. Iona (2-3) was within one point at halftime.
Duquesne 71, VMI 58. Keith Dambrot is another coach rejecting the Davis philosophy for rebuilding a team in favor of scheduling wins. The Dukes won't have a true road game until they're into conference play in January. But they parlayed a 9-4 non-conference mark against weak competition last year into a 19-13 season, and they're 7-0 this year. Attendance is up, recruiting is up.

Utah 102, BYU 95 (OT). Lots of wives in attendance.
San Diego State 79, Colorado State 57. SD State stays unbeaten (9-0).

[Commissioner]

Thursday, December 5
College hoops begins a relatively quiet stretch as schools head into final exams. Student-Athletes.

A Games of Note
#14 Auburn 81, Furman 78 (OT). A bad week for Furman (7-3), which was hoping to gain some national attention but lost earlier in the week to South Florida and today let one slip away against Auburn. Furman opened a double-digit lead with a 16-1 run that straddled the half, but Auburn (8-0) slowly came back and tied it with a minute to go in regulation. Isaac Okoro had 6 points in the OT, including a pair of free throws with 1 second left to ice it.

Mid-Major Win of the Day: Louisiana Tech 74, Mississippi State 67. A 10-0 run late in the second half propelled Tech (6-2) to the win over Mississippi State (6-2).

Oklahoma 82, North Texas 80. Oklahoma is 7-1.

Howard 94, Hampton 91. Howard (1-9) breaks into the win column against Hampton (3-6), which has 3 wins over non-D1 teams, but is winless against D1 competition. Hampton was without Jermaine Morrow, who is tied with Antoine Davis as the nation's #3 scorer. Morrow broke his thumb earlier in the week and is out 3-4 weeks.

[Commissioner]

Friday, December 6
Another slow day during finals week, but with a couple of marquee games.

Games of Some Interest:
#4 Michigan 103, Iowa 91. Michigan bounces back from the Louisville loss.

#1 Louisville 64, Pittsburgh 46. Louisville bounces back from the Michigan win.
#10 Duke, 77, Virginia Tech 63.

Alabama 78, Stephen F. Austin 68. With this defeat, SFA's hopes for an at-large bid probably go down the drain, despite conquering Duke. Alabama (4-4) is likely the last top 100 team SFA (7-2) will see this year.

Central Michigan 84, UT-Martin 75.
Rhode Island 75, Providence 61.
USC 80, TCU 78. Two of the original "initial schools." The Horned Frogs were down by 18 in the second half, and still now 9 with 1:20 to play, but tied it with 8 seconds left to play. When USC missed, it looked like OT, but Nick Rakocevic got the put back with 2 seconds left to give USC (8-2) the win.

[Commissioner]

Saturday, December 7

Horizon
As always, a bad day for the Horizon. I'm just going to put that phrase on my shortcuts list.

Eastern Michigan 55, Detroit 51. Well, it was close, anyway.

Western Michigan 66, Youngstown State 64. Brandon Johnson hit a layup as the buzzer to give Western (5-5) the win over 5-5 YSU.

Bowling Green 68, Oakland 65. Daequan Plowden led BGSU (7-2) with 23 points and 10 rebounds. For Oakland (5-5), Xavier Hill-Mais had 22 points and 12 rebounds.

Indiana State 84, Wright State 77 (OT). WSU (7-3) rallied late to force the overtime, but that just delayed defeat. Cooper Neese and Jordan Barnes combined for 47 points for the Sycamores (5-4). Freshman Treyvon Calvin led the Raiders, who are still without Loudon Love, with 15 points.

Eastern Illinois 93, Green Bay 80. Green Bay (3-6) gave up 56 first half points and trailed by 24 at the break. To Friggin' Eastern Illinois (5-4). JayQuan McCloud had 17 for the Phoenix.

Kent State 81, Cleveland State 59. The Vikings (4-6) played 'em closer than we did. Al Eichelberger had 14 points and 8 rebounds in the loss.

Ball State 102, IUPUI 54. Not satisfied with a 16 point lead at the break, Ball State (5-4) exploded for 62 points in the second half.

UIC 62, Purdue Fort Wayne 49. UIC saved the Horizon from a complete wipe out on the day. Michael Diggins had a career high 25 points and UIC (4-6) held Fort Wayne (6-6) to 14 first half points.

Titan Non-Conference Opponents
It wasn't a very good day for the Titans' non-conference opponents, either.

Boston College 73, Notre Dame 72. A home loss drops the Irish (6-3) to 0-2 in the ACC. Notre Dame trailed the whole game but had a chance to tie it with TJ Gibbs at the foul line for 2 with two seconds left. But Gibbs hit must one of the two. BC (5-5) is 2-0 in conference.

NC State 91, Wake Forest 82. Brandon Childress had 30 points for Wake Forest, but NC State (7-2) still got the win.

Davidson 70, Northeastern 63. Jon Axel Gudmondson (28 points) outdueled the nation's #2 scorer, Jordan Roland (24 points) as Davidson (4-5) won in Boston.

New Mexico 79, Wyoming 65. Hunter Maldonado's 27 points were in vain for the Cowboys (3-7). New Mexico is 9-2.

Cal Baptist 68, UC-Irvine 60. That Titan win over UC-Irvine (5-5) is looking less and less impressive.

Arizona State 77, Louisiana 65. ASU (6-2) never trailed and led by double digits the entire second half. Louisiana falls to 5-4.

Other Games That Caught My Eye
#2 Kansas 72, #20 Colorado 58.
#3 Maryland 59, Illinois 58. Anthony Cowan Jr. hit a tying 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds and a go-ahead free throw with 2 seconds left as Maryland (10-0) rallied from a 15-point deficit for a 59-58 victory over the Illini (6-3).

#6 Ohio State 106, Penn State 74. Even more than DePaul or Michigan, Ohio State (9-0) has surprised me with how well they've played this year. Penn State is 7-2.
#8 Kentucky 83, Farleigh Dickinson 52.

#13 Oregon 89, Hawaii 65.
#15 Memphis 65, UAB 57. Memphis (8-1) came back from a 14 point halftime deficit.
#18 Baylor 63, #12 Arizona 58. After leading by double digits for most of the game, Baylor (7-1) held off a late Arizona (9-1) rally that cut the lead to 1 in the final two minutes.

#23 Villanova 78, St. Joe's 66.
#24 Butler 76, Florida 62.
#25 Utah State 77, Fresno State 70 (OT). Fresno (2-6) sent it into overtime with a three pointer at the buzzer in regulation, but it was for naught as Utah State (9-1) dominated the extra period. Sam Merrill had 24 for the Utes.

Mid-Major Win of the Day: Western Kentucky 86, Arkansas 79. Western Kentucky (7-3) scored the final 5 points in regulation to force an OT, and went on to hand Arkansas (8-1) it's first loss of the season.

Marquette 73, Kansas State 56. Pontiac native Jamal Cain had 17 points and 9 rebounds as Marquette (7-2) picked up a good win.
Xavier 73, Cincinnati 66.
St. John's 70, West Virginia 68.

Long Island 85, Army 72. Jermaine Jackson, Jr. had 29 points for LIU (3-6), and set a school record for three pointers in one game with 9.
Wisconsin 84, Indiana 64. Indiana (8-1) takes its first loss.
George Washington 66, Delaware 56. Delaware (9-1) also falls from the unbeaten ranks.

[Commissioner]

Sunday, December 8

Horizon
Northern Kentucky 76, Eastern Kentucky 57. Northern (7-3) slowly pulled away over the final 12 minutes. Dantez Walton only had 18 points, down from 30, 33, and 32 in his last 3 games against D1 teams. He added 9 rebounds. Early leader for HL Player of the Year?

Titan Non-Conference Opponents
#9 Gonzaga 83, #22 Washington 76. The starters accounted for 79 of Gonzaga's 83 points, and 73 of Washington's 76.

Toledo 82, Marshall 72. Luke Knapke had 33 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets (7-2). He's going to be a handful when Toledo comes to Calihan next weekend, but nothing a couple Egyptian big men can't solve.

Ohio 81, Tennessee Tech 54. Jason Preston had 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists as Ohio (7-3) won its 4th in a row.

Florida State 73, Clemson 52. You wouldn't know it from the final score, but Clemson actually led by 6 at halftime. But the Seminoles scored the first 10 points of the second half and never looked back. FSU (8-2, 1-1) outshot Clemson (5-4, 0-2) 61% to 26% in the second half.

Other Games That May Have Been Played Today
#11 Michigan State 77, Rutgers 65. A tougher battle than it should have been for Sparty. Cassius with 23 points and 7 assists.
Valparaiso 77, Central Michigan 55.

Mid-Major Win of the Day: Buffalo 74, DePaul 69. DePaul's season-opening winning streak ends at 9. In Chicago, Buffalo (6-3) built a 19 point lead in the second half, and held off a late DePaul rally by going 8-8 from the foul line in the final minute. In the last week, we have gone from more than 30 to just 8 unbeaten teams. They are: Auburn, Butler, Duquesne, Liberty, Louisville, Maryland, Ohio State , and San Diego State.

#5 Virginia 56, #7 North Carolina 47. Defense!
Iowa State 76, #16 Seton Hall 66.
#19 Dayton 78, St. Mary's 68. The kind of game you used to see in the early years of BracketBusters. Good neutral court win for Dayton (9-1). For St. Mary's (7-2) it's hardly the end of at-large hopes--they've already got wins over Wisconsin and Utah State and still have a couple PAC 12 teams on the schedule before WCC play.

Wichita State 80, Oklahoma State 61. The Shockers are 8-1; the Cowboys 7-2.
St. Louis 86, Tulane 62. The Billikens are 8-1; the Green Wave 7-2.
Houston 76, South Carolina 56.

[Commissioner]

Monday, December 9
Only 4 D-1 games across the country.

Iowa 72, Minnesota 52.

Duquesne 90, Columbia 54. The Dukes are 8-0, their best start in 48 years.

[Commissioner]

Tuesday, December 10

Horizon:
Things don't get better for the Horizon.

Notre Dame 110, Detroit 71. That was ugly. But what else is new? The offense isn't working, the zone isn't working, the forays into man-to-man may be worse. Antoine scored his 1000th career point, fastest Titan to do so. On the other side, Notre Dame (7-3) tied a school record for three pointer in a game.

#2 Kansas 95, Milwaukee 68. Milwaukee (5-5) kept it close for the first 1:11, but it was 15-1 by the first TV timeout. Assuming they beat UMKC on Saturday, Kansas presumably takes over the spot in next week's AP poll, the 5th #1 of the season. The record for different schools at #1 in a season is just 7.

Central Florida 79, Green Bay 66. Green Bay's bright spot was freshman Amari Davis, who made 12 of 14 from the field for 25 points. UCF is 7-2.

IUPUI 80, Indiana-South Bend 60. Maybe we shoulda played the other South Bend team? Elijah Goss had 17 points and 21 rebounds as IUPUI (3-8) beat up the NAIA team.

Other Games Without Political Ramifications
Texas Tech 70, #1 Louisville 57. We're in the 6th week of the season, and four #1s have already lost. Tech re-establishes itself as a top 25 team.
Penn State , #4 Maryland . Big upset in Big 10. Penn State used a 13-2 run early in the game to open a double-digit lead, and led the rest of the way.

#11 Baylor 53, #16 Butler 52. Baylor's Mark Vital blocked a Butler shot with 4 seconds left to preserve the win. Vital also scored what proved to be the winning basket, with 3:44 left in the game, to put Baylor up 53-49. The Bears didn't score again. The Louisville, Maryland, and Butler losses cut the ranks of unbeaten teams to five.

Mid-Major Win of the Day. Northern Iowa 79, #24 Colorado 76. The Panthers are 9-1, and also own a win over South Carolina.

Indiana 57, Connecticut 54.
UMass-Boston 69, Holy Cross 66. You think we've got it bad? Another once-proud program, Holy Cross, lost today to a D-III team.

[Commissioner]

Wednesday, December 11
Not much going on tonight.

Some Scores
Illinois 71, #5 Michigan 62. Uh-oh. Don't tell me Michigan (8-2) peaked the last week in November. Kofi Cockburn had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Illini (7-3).

#15 Arizona 99, Omaha 49.

Mid-Major Win of the Day: Yale 83, Massachusetts 80 (OT). The Eli (8-3) rallied from 7 down with under three minutes to play in regulation, and never trailed in OT.

Rutgers 72, Wisconsin 65.
North Carolina Central 109, Christendom 28. Wouldn't you feel just a little guilty being on the winning side in this game? The worst defeat for Christendom since Hattin.

[Commissioner]

Thursday, December 12
Only 6 games in all of college hoops tonight.

Horizon
Wright State 85, Southern 62. When it comes to the status of the Horizon, thank goodness for Wright State and Northern Kentucky. The Raiders (8-3) wore down Southern (3-7), with freshman Grant Basile, starting in place of the injured Loudon Love, leading the way with 23 points and 7 rebounds. Billy Wampler also sat out tonight.

Other Non-Political Games
Iowa 84, Iowa State 68. So the Hawkeyes (8-3) take this year's Corn Series. That's actually what they call it--it's formal name.

West Virginia 84, Austin Peay 53. My old employer goes to 8-1.

Northern Iowa 82, Grand Canyon 58. A couple years ago GCU looked like they may become the next hot thing, but Dan Majerle's team been in steady decline-- 27-7 to 22-9 to 22-12 to 20-14 to a 4-7 start this year. I attribute the decline to the switch over to non-profit status.

[Commissioner]

Friday the 13th!

Very Few Games Tonight

#24 Colorado 56, Colorado State 48.
Indiana 96, Nebraska 90 (OT). The Hoosiers are 10-1.

[Commissioner]

Saturday, December 14

The schedule starts to pick up again as schools finish up finals.

Horizon
Another 1-5 night for the Horizon.

Toledo 80, Detroit 72. Are the Titans a better team without AD? Good effort today, and it's a shame our guys didn't get the W. A couple of questionable calls late didn't help. The Titans had 15 assists on 22 baskets, and Brad Calipari had 20 points; LeGrande 7 assists; Brandon 4 blocks and 9 rebounds.

#16 Michigan State 72, Oakland 49. Some day OU is going to beat State, but not this year. State (7-3) held the Grizzlies (5-6) without a field goal for over 11 minutes in the first half to open up a 19 point lead, and OU never got close again. No Spartan scored more than 10.

DePaul 86, UIC 65. Some day UIC is going to beat DePal, but not this year. There was good news for the Flames (4-7): sophomore center Braelin Bridges had 14 points and 14 rebounds, and Marcus Ottey made his first appearance of the year, scoring 12 points on 5-9 shooting. But Tarkus Ferguson's struggles continued (1-8 from the floor, 6 turnovers), and DePaul (10-1) didn't have too much trouble in securing the win.

IUPUI 74, Fort Wayne 65. IUPUI (4-8) led start to finish without ever really getting a comfortable lead. Marcus Burk had 22 points.

Evansville 72, Green Bay 62. Evansville (8-3) led by 17 midway through the first half, and held off a late second half rally. Earlier this week Green Bay (3-8) announced that forward Tank Hemhill, their top returning rebounder and #2 returning scorer from last year, is out for the season. He hasn't played since opening night.

Eastern Illinois 75, Milwaukee 68. Oh, how the Horizon has fallen. Eastern Illinois (6-4) dominated more than the score suggest. Darius Roy had 24 for Milwaukee (5-6), which has lost 4 straight.

Titan Non-Conference Opponents:
#6 Gonzaga 84, #15 Arizona 80. Trailing by 15 in Tucson with just 2:12 left, Arizona went on a 15-2 run to the margin to two, but ran out of time. The Zags' Ryan Woolridge, a 54% free throw shooter, sank a pair with 2 seconds left to finish off the Wildcats (10-2). Gonzaga is 11-1.

Notre Dame 75, UCLA 61. Notre Dame (8-3) may not be so bad after all. 14 points and 15 rebounds for John Mooney.

Northern Colorado 74, Wyoming 53. Wyoming beat us by 27, right?

Louisiana Tech 77, Louisiana 59. Louisiana drops to 5-5.

Cal-Irvine 120, Pacific Union 63. We should play Pacific Union. Detroit Mercy v. Pacific Union. Sounds like a lawsuit over unpaid medical charges.

Other Games
#10 Oregon 71, #5 Michigan 70 (OT). In Ann Arbor, Oregon built an early 16 point lead, but a long, slow comeback put Michigan up with about 8 minutes left. The two then swapped the lead several times in the remainder of regulation. A long three to win by Oregon's Anthony Mathis was waved off as coming after the buzzer. In the OT, Michigan (8-3) missed on three tries to take the lead in the final seconds, the last a put back attempt by Brandon Johns with 1 second remaining. Payton Pritchard scored 23 for Oregon (8-2), 19 after halftime.

Western Michigan 59, Manhattan 58. Western is 6-5, Manhattan 4-4.
Texas 87, Central Michigan 76. Central led by 6 at halftime. After their second half collapse against DePaul last weekend, they're going to get a reputation.

#1 Louisville 99, Eastern Kentucky 67. Louisville enjoys its final game atop the polls. The Redbirds will be replaced on Monday by...
#2 Kansas 98, UMKC 57. That was easy enough.
#8 Kentucky 67, Georgia Tech 53.

#12 Auburn 67, St. Louis 61. Auburn is 9-0, St. Louis 8-2.
#14 Dayton 78, Drake 47. Dayton demolished an 8-2 Drake team that has wins over Nebraska and Murray State.
#13 Memphis 51, #19 Tennessee 47. Sounds like the score of a Virginia game.
#18 Butler 66, Southern 41.

#20 Villanova 78, Delaware 70. After a 9-0 start against weak competition, Delaware has lost two straight to tougher competition. Still, they gave "Nova a tussle behind 29 points from Nate Darling.

Rutgers 68, #22 Seton Hall 44. Rutgers totally dismantled Seton Hall today. The Hall didn't score for the game's first 6 minutes, and 26-5 late in the first half.

Wake Forest 80, #23 Xavier 78. The Demon Deacons (6-5) closed out the first half with a 14-4 run to take the lead, and never lost it, although Xavier (9-2) closed to within a point on several occasions.

Mid-Major Win of the Day Colgate 67, Cincinnati 66. Nice win for Patriot Conference favorite Colgate (8-4).
Georgetown 89, Syracuse 79. Whaddya mean this isn't a Big East game?
Wichita State 80, Oklahoma 75. Both teams came in with just 1 loss.
BYU 68, Utah State 64.

Duquesne 71, Radford 49. Duquesne stays unbeaten, one of 5 such teams left.
Liberty 61, Vanderbilt 56. Liberty beats a P5 team (albeit a mediocre one) on the road to go to 12-0. The Flames play at LSU on December 29. If they win that, they have no other games against teams with NET rankings better than 190 except for Lipscomb. Could they go undefeated?

Santa Clara 60, Sacramento State 58. Santa Clara won on a layup with 3 seconds left. They're 10-2. Sacramento is 6-2.

[Commissioner]

Sunday, December 15

Northern Kentucky 79, Illinois State 64. Northern Kentucky (8-3) scored one of the better non-conference wins for the Horizon, using a 13-0 run early in the second half to pull away from Illinois State (4-6). Tyler Sharpe scored 30.

Youngstown State 65, SE Missouri State 50. Naz Bohannon had 14 points and 9 rebounds in YSU's win. The Penguins are 6-5.

Bowling Green 72, Cleveland State 58. Cleveland State (4-7) was doomed by 22 turnovers and 9-20 foul shooting. Bowling Green, a MAC favorite, is 8-2.

Titan Non-Conference Opponents:
North Carolina State 80, UNC-Greensboro 77. Markell Johnson had 19 points and NC State (8-2) held off a late Greensboro rally. Greensboro (8-3) has a win at Georgetown, so their spunk in today's game was no fluke.

South Carolina 67, Clemson 54. South Carolina (7-4) played its best game of the year, handling Clemson (5-5) in Clemson.

Northwestern 72, SIU-Edwardsville 54. SIU-Edwardsville's best player is junior Zeke Moore, who had 18 points and 7 rebounds in today's defeat. The Cougars are 2-8.

Other Games
Mid-Major Win of the Day: Wofford 68, North Carolina 64. Mike Young built Wofford into a really good low-major program, with 5 NCAA appearances in the past 10 years, culminating with last year's 30-5 record, #7 seed, and first round win over Seton Hall. Titan fans may wish to note that Young didn't post a winning record at Wofford until his 7th season. Anyway, new Wofford head coach Jay McCauley looks to keep the tradition rolling, with a big win today in Chapel Hill. The Terriers (7-4) turned the game around with a 16-0 run in the second half. It was Wofford's second win in Chapel HIll in three years, suggesting they will never get to play UNC again. Their losses this year are to The Tarheels (6-4) were without starters Cole Anthony and Leaky Black.

Minnesota 84, #3 Ohio State 71. Just about the time everyone starts to note that Ohio State is playing the best ball in the nation, down go the Bucks. Duquesne, Liberty, Auburn, and San Diego State are the remaining unbeatens.

Virginia Tech 73, Gardner Webb 46. Former Wofford Coach Mike Young's new team got an easy win today. The Hokies are 8-3.

Nebraska 70, Purdue 56.
Oklahoma State 61, Houston 55.

[Commissioner]

Monday, December 16

Titan Non-Conference Opponents:
UC-Irvine 74, Kent State 68. In a tournament out in the West Texas town of El Paso, in the Don Haskins Center (one of two arenas in the country named for a former Titan coach), UC-Irvine jumped out to a 16-2 lead and led by as many as 20. Kent State (8-2) scored the game's final 9 points to make it look closer than it was. A good win for Irvine, which has been disappointing this year. Let's see, we beat Irvine by 12, lost to Kent by 35, and Irvine blows out Kent tonight.

Some Other Games
#24 Texas Tech 71, Southern Mississippi 65.

Charlotte 67, Valparaiso 57.
Jacksonville State 85, Evansville 59. After losing badly to 3-7 Jax State, the Aces can take solace in knowing that they will always have Kentucky.

[Commissioner]

Tuesday, December 17

Horizon
Wright State 92, Mississippi Valley State 50. Poor Lindsay Hunter. HIs team remains winless at 0-10, one of 4 winless teams left in D-1, although there are another 11 teams that have yet to beat a fellow D-1 team. They've allowed nearly 100 points per game--Wright State's 92 lowered their average. Meanwhile, Loudon Love's replacement, freshman Grant Basile, had 14 rebounds and freshman Tanner Holden had 19 points. The Raiders are 9-3.

Titan Non-Conference Opponents
Eastern Michigan 60, Northeastern 55. EMU is 9-1 after knocking off the Titans next opponent, Northeastern (5-6), in Ypsi. Eastern held Northeastern's Jordan Roland to 12 points, half his season average. Assuming Antoine is fit to go on Thursday, we'll have the nation's #3 and #4 scorers on the court in AD and Roland.

UMKC 72, Toledo 57. What happened to Toledo (8-3) tonight? After the first eight minutes, they never got within sniffing distance of a very average (6-7) UMKC team. Willie Jackson had 14 points and 15 rebounds in defeat.

Purdue 69, Ohio 51. I don't know why Purdue scheduled a game in Athens, but kudos to them. They didn't have much trouble, leading by 20 at the half.

Kent State 85, North Carolina A&T 71. Kent State (9-2) had to rally just to get to OT, but once their they dominated the 3-9 Aggies 17-3.

UTEP 67, UC-Irvine 61. UTEP (8-1) scored the game's final 6 points to win a nailbiter in El Paso.Eyassu Worku had 19 for the Anteaters (7-6).

Winthrop 93, SIU-Edwardsville 73. Winthrop (5-7) scored the game's first 11 points and was never threatened. Zeke Moore led SIU-E (2-9) with 15 points.

Other Crucially Important Results
Robert Morris 83, Central Michigan 79. An bad loss for CMU (7-5).
#5 Ohio State 80, SE Missouri State 48.
#13 Dayton 71, North Texas 58.
#19 Florida State 98, North Florida 81.

Creighton 83, Oklahoma 73.
Miami 78, Temple 77. Miami (7-3) won it on a pair of free throws by Chris Lykes with 4 seconds remaining. Lykes led the Hurricanes with 17 points. Temple is 7-3.

[Commissioner]

Wednesday, December 18
It was a typical Horizon night, going 1-3 against D-1 competition.

Syracuse 74, Oakland 62. Oakland scored the game's first 2 points and, to their credit, never let the game get out of hand. The final score came on a late 3 by the Orange, and marked the only time the led by more than 10. Brad Brechting led OU (5-7) with 20.

DePaul 73, Cleveland State 65. This is the only game this year in which a Horizon team is hosting a P6 conference team on its regular home court. CSU (4-8) acquitted itself reasonably well. After falling behind 9-0 and then by as many as 16 in the first half, the Vikings battled back to tie it three times midway through the second half. DePaul (11-1) then opened an 8 point lead, and CSU made a final rally, cutting the gap to a point in the closing minutes. It was a spunky performance by an outmanned team. When you consider the situation he inherited, Coach Dennis Gates is doing an admirable job in Cleveland.

Illinois State 67, UIC 66. Illinois State isn't very good this year, but any time a Horizon team can beat an MVC team on the road it's a good win for the conference. UIC had the Redbirds (5-6) on the ropes, leading by 10 with three and a half minutes to play. Then, in what has been their pattern for the last 3 years, they allowed Illinois State to close out the game with 11 straight points, the last on a Zach Copeland trey with 8 seconds left. If there was good news for UIC (4-8), it was that Tarkus Ferguson found his shot, scoring 22 points on 7-13 from the field, 5-7 from three, and Jordan Blount made his season debut with 6 points and 6 rebounds in 12 minutes.

Youngstown State 73, Binghamton 55. Naz Bohannon had 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists as YSU boosted it's record to 7-5. The Penguins close out their non-conference schedule on Saturday with a home game against West Virginia, at the Covelli Center rather than the Beeghly.

Green Bay 126, Concordia (Ill.) 64. Now when the HL meets an NAIA team, it's another story. Green Bay (4-8) had 72--enough to win this won easy--by halftime.

Titan Non-Conference Opponents
#2 Gonzaga 94, North Carolina 81. I wonder when UNC last started 6-5. Corey Kispert led the Zags (12-1) with 26.

Utah Valley 69, Wyoming 67. Utah Valley had lost 5 in a row coming in. Hunter Maldonado had 23 points to lead Wyoming (3-9).

Arkansas State 79, Louisiana 68. Louisiana (5-6) loses its third straight.

Other Games
#15 Michigan State 77, Northwestern 72. Nothing is coming easy for MSU (8-3) this year. Tonight Cassius Winston had 21 points, and Xavier Tillman had 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Western Michigan 84, Aquinas 61.

#3 Louisville 70, Miami (Oh) 46.
Utah 69, #6 Kentucky 66. I don't think many people would have predicted MSU, UNC, and Kentucky to have a total of 11 losses a week before Christmas. The Wildcats (8-3) had rallied from a 17 point deficit to it with about a minute and a half left, but the Utes (9-2) stayed cool.

#8 Oregon 81, Montana 48.
#9 Virginia 56, Stony Brook 44.
#10 Baylor 91, Tennessee-Martin 63.
#20 San Diego State 92, San Diego Christian 48.
Cincinnati 78, #21 Tennessee 66. UC needed this after losing to crosstown rival Xavier and tiny Colgate last week.

Mid-Major Win of the Day:East Tennessee State 74, LSU 63. ETSU took control late in the first half and led by as many as 23 in the second before a too little/too late LSU rally. The Bucs are 10-2. LSU drops to 7-2.

Ball State 65, Georgia Tech 47.Tech isn't good, but it's still a road win over the ACC for the MAC.
St. Mary's 96, Arizona State 56. A real stompin by St. Mary's.

Pacific 74, UNLV 66. Not an upset this year.
UNC Greensboro 54, Vermont 53. These have been two of the better mid-majors in recent years. Greensboro goes to 9-3.
Utah State 76, South Florida 74 (OT). A game that could loom large if either of these low-High majors (or are they High Mid-Majors) is on the bubble in March.
Loyola 78, Vanderbilt 70.
Buffalo 82, Canisius 73.

[Commissioner]

Thursday, December 19

Horizon
Northeastern 74, Detroit 61. When we lose to Northeastern by double digits at home, it's hard to see the Titans winning more than maybe 4 games in conference play, if that. Right now I would have to project us for last place, behind Cleveland State and IUPUI. This is a very bad team, with less talent than a year ago. Bonus disappointment--we didn't even get a Davis/Roland shootout.

Titan Non-Conference Opponents
#12 Auburn 79, North Carolina State 73. The Tigers stay unbeaten. Samir Doughtey scored 11 of his 24 points in the final 4 minutes as the Tigers (10-0) held off NC State (8-3). CJ Bryce had 21 points and 11 rebounds for NC State.

Other Games You Didn't Know Were Being Played
#4 Duke 86, Wofford 57.
Seton Hall 52, #7 Maryland 48. Absent their top two scorers, out with injuries, Seton Hall still beat Maryland. The Hall rolled to a big early lead and then held on--barley--against a long, slow, Maryland comeback. The Terps (10-2) cut it to two in the final seconds, but the Pirates (7-4) hit free throws to clinch the win.

Houston 77, UTEP 57. UTEP came in at 8-1, but got smoked like a cheap cigarette in Houston.

[Commissioner]

Friday, December 20

Horizon
UIC 76, UC-Irvine 67. It looked like a classic UIC foldo job when UC-Irvine (7-7) closed a 23 point second-half gap to 8 in the closing minutes, but this time the Flames (5-8) righted the ship and held on to win in Chicago. Marcus Ottey had 18 points for UIC.

Fresno State 95, IUPUI 64. The Jags end non-conference play at 4-9.

Other Titan Opponents
Clemson 68, Jacksonville 39. Has any school gotten less mileage out of a post-WWII Final Four appearance than Jax?

Other Games
#23 Penn State 87, Central Connecticut State 58. This was Penn State's first game as a ranked team in 24 years.

Marquette 82, North Dakota State 68. 32 for Markus Howard. Marquette is 9-2.
Akron 62, Tulane 61. Ray Sr. is an assistant now at Tulane. After tonight's loss, the Wave is still a surprising 8-3. Akron is 9-2.
Norfolk State 72, Bowling Green 67 (OT). Norfolk (4-9) upsets a MAC favorite, 8-3 Bowling Green, on the road.
Liberty 66, Towson 54. Liberty is 13-0 going into its next game at LSU.

[Commissioner]

Saturday, December 21

Horizon
Detroit 81, SIU-Edwardsville 55. Winning is a lot more fun than losing. Yes, it was inferior competition, but the Titans looked good today. In the second half they got lazy--for a time SIUE was sweeping up rebounds and getting lots of good looks against the zone. But just when one began to get a touch nervous--they can't blow this, can they?--the Titans went on a 12-0 run to wrap it up. Antoine made shots. The Titans got 17 assists on 26 baskets.

Will Coach Davis's scheduling philosophy pay off? The Titans seemed to appreciate the extra time to get a shot off (SIUE players aren't as quick as our past opponents), nailing 13 of 27 threes. Certainly nothing SIUE threw at the Titans could have fazed our kids. OTOH, I'm still skeptical that scheduling 9 of 10 on the road to open the season, against a combination of high majors and good mid-majors, is really the way to turn a program around--especially if you don't yet have the players you want. Most managers don't send the rookie up to face Justin Verlander for his first at-bat; we don't launch the new college graduate with 12 consecutive difficult projects in his first month or two on the job. I appreciate the notion that playing NAIA teams may be a waste of time. But I'm not at all convinced that when you've had 5 losing seasons in six years--interrupted only by one 16-15 record--and three straight 20-loss seasons, the way to rekindle fan interest, entice recruits, create team confidence and a winning, supportive atmosphere, work on new skills, and generally reboot your program, is to guarantee yourself a bunch of non-conference losses by playing an over-your-head schedule. The proof will be in the pudding starting next weekend. For now, note how nice it feels to win, even against SIUE. I personally wouldn't have minded a couple more like it.

Fairfield 61, Oakland 59 (OT). I think OU would be a very good team if Braden Norris had stuck around, but without a point guard they just haven't been able to use their bigs effectively.

Wright State 79, Toledo 72. WSU notched a good win by beating the Rockets in Toledo. Freshman Tanner Holden led the Raiders (10-3) with 27 points and 17 rebounds. Marreon Jackson had 21 for Toledo (8-4), which lost for the first time in six home games.

Green Bay 85, Northern Illinois 84. A couple brothers from Novi, Green Bay's Kameron Hankerson and NIU's Trendon Hankerson, squared off in DeKalb. Little brother Trendon easily won the battle of the brothers, scoring 18 points, including NIU's final 8 as the Huskies nearly overcame a 7 point deficit in the final 4:15. But Green Bay won the big battle, thanks largely to 32 points from JayQuan McCloud. One-time Titan commit Lacy James had 12 points and 8 rebounds for NIU. Northern (7-6) is hardly a great team, but they beat Oakland by 24 on this court earlier this fall, and this is a good win for Green Bay (5-8) to close out its non-conference season.

#25 West Virginia 75, Youngstown State 64. YSU led by three at the half, and held its last lead more than 6 minutes into the second half. They were still within three and in possession of the ball with under two minutes to play, but Darius Quisenberry missed a layup and WVU (10-1) scored the final 8 points to win in Youngstown. A coach is never happy with a loss, but I expect Coach Calhoun can at least live with today's effort by the Penguins (7-6).

East Tennessee State 80, Cleveland State 55. The Vikings got pounded by ETSU (11-2), but Al Eichelberger continues to emerge as a player. He had 23 points and 13 rebounds today for Cleveland (4-9).

Wisconsin 83, Milwaukee 64. After spotting the Badgers a 9-0 lead, Milwaukee rallied with 10 straight points and then hung with the Badgers for a half. There were 14 lead changes in the half, which ended with the Big Brother school up by two. The Panthers stayed close for about 8 minutes in the second half, before Wisconsin went on an 11-0 run to lead by 16. The Panthers (5-7) had no rally in them. Darius Roy had 25 for Milwaukee. Dmitric Trice put up 31 for Wisconsin (6-5).

UNC-Greensboro 67, Northern Kentucky 50. There's no embarrassment in losing at Greensboro (10-3), which has a road win at Georgetown and played Kansas close on the road. Yet it's the kind of game a top Horizon team needs to win to get this conference back on its feet. Tyler Sharpe had 33 points, but the rest of the Norse squad shot 4 for 22.

Other Titan Opponents:
#15 Michigan State 101, Eastern Michigan 48. Eastern (9-2) shot 13-30 (43%) from the foul line. From the field, they were 24%; from three, they were 3 of 29. EMU entered at 8-2, but against a very soft schedule. So never mind what I wrote above after the Titan score.

#2 Gonzaga 112, Eastern Washington 77. The Zags (13-1) are likely to be ranked #1 when the Titans tip off in Spokane next Saturday. As was mentioned in today's broadcast, the last time the Titans faced a #1 team was in the Sweet 16 of the 1977 NCAA tournament--Michigan.

Indiana 62, Notre Dame 60. The Irish (8-4) came from 17 down to a 5 point lead with just over 3 minutes to play, but couldn't hold it. Freshman Arman Franklin hit a trey with 15 seconds left to put the Hoosiers (11-1) back in front, and John Mooney (15 points, 10 rebounds) missed on Notre Dame's last possession.

Wyoming 72, Denver 66 (OT). Wyoming (4-9) scored the first 9 points in overtime to win at Denver (4-10).

Kent State 103, Hampton 64. Detroiter Anthony Roberts led the rout with 19 points for Kent State (10-2).

Ohio 82, Morehead State 76. Ohio (8-4) got 24 points and 11 rebounds from Ben Vander Plas.

Little Rock 69, Louisiana 66. Louisiana (nee Southwest Louisiana, nee Louisiana-Lafayette) led most of the game but Little Rock (Nee Arkansas-Little Rock nee UALR) overtook the Ragin Cajuns (5-7) in the final minutes.

Other Games of Note
#14 Michigan 86, Presbyterian 44. After losing two straight and 3 of 4, Michigan (9-3) goes to church to reboot.

#18 Villanova 56, #1 Kansas 55. There's no particular reason why a one point road loss at Villanova with your starting point guard on the bench after an injury early in the first half should drop Kansas from the top spot in the polls. There was a time, long ago, would it not have that effect. But today there is a peculiar logic in the polls that says you must drop if you lose, no matter how, no matter where, no matter to whom. Which means Gonzaga will likely be #1 next week. Fourteen lead changes and 12 ties in a very close game.

#5 Ohio State 71, #6 Kentucky 65. I didn't think either club looked like a Final 4 team today, but it was a close, exciting game.
#8 Oregon 84, Texas Southern 78. Texas Southern (3-8) led with just over 4 minutes to play, but Oregon (10-2) closed it out strong.
#11 Memphis 77, Jackson State 49.
#12 Auburn 74, Lehigh 51.
Colorado 78, #13 Dayton 76 (OT). The Buffs (10-2) won it on a three pointer with 3 seconds left in OT.
St. John's 70, #16 Arizona 67. St. John's (10-2) built a 14 point lead at the half, then withstood a couple of Wildcat rallies. Arizona (10-2) briefly got the lead with 1:24 left, but didn't score again.
#17 Butler 70, Purdue 61. There was a time not that long ago that this would have been a shocking upset in Indiana.
#19 Florida State 66, South Florida 60.
#20 San Diego State 80, Utah 52. The Aztecs are 12-0 after demolishing Utah (9-3).
#21 Tennessee 75, Jacksonville State 53.
#24 Texas Tech 68, UT-Rio Grande Valley 58.

Liberty 80, Akron 67.
Duquesne 86, Austin Peay 77. Auburn, San Diego State, Liberty, and Duquesne are the remaining unbeaten teams in D-1.
Wichita State 73, VCU 63.
Utah State 65, Florida 62.
North Carolina 74, UCLA 64. And neither of these two blue bloods is ranked in the top 25.

Mid Major Win of the Day: North Dakota 75, Nebraska 74.

[ptctitan]

Some more details on three HL games on December 21st.

NKU played at UNC-Greensboro without Dantez Walton (3 times HL Player of the Week this non-con season) who may be out for "the forseeable future" with a chest injury. Also, Jalen Tate did not play due to his injury sustained early in the season. So, they've been hit very hard with injuries this year to key returning players.

Oakland was leading Fairfield 51-38 with 5:16 to play in regulation. In their last 10 possessions in regulation, the Grizzlies turned the ball over 7 times. Xavier Hill-Mais missed a 15-foot jump shot with 6 seconds left to win the game in regulation. That sloppy play is not characteristic of recent Kampe-coached teams.

Wright State's good win at Toledo also included the return of Loudon Love to action after about 4 weeks out with an elbow injury sustained vs LaSalle on November 26th during the Gulf Coast Showcase in Ft. Myers, FL. Love played 28 minutes and had 8 points, 7 rebounds and a block.

Clearly, in the non-conference season, Wright State has distanced itself from the rest of the HL teams with much improved play since its early season home loss to Kent State. They have posted good wins against Western KY and yesterday's road win at Toledo. The Raiders won't even miss Skylear Potter this year because Jaylon Hall is playing better defense.