by Commissioner » Sun Feb 23, 2020 9:35 am
Saturday, February 22
A bloody day for the nation's top-ranked teams, with three of the top 4 losing, ending 19, 23, and 28 game winning streaks.
Horizon
Northern Kentucky 61, Youngstown State 59. YSU (16-13, 9-7) came up just short in its attempt to sweep league leaders Wright State and NKU. The Norse (21-8, 13-4) led by 9 with just over two minutes left, but the Penguins went on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to two on a pair of Garrett Covington free throws with 37 seconds left. NKU turned it over on its possession, but Dairus Quisenberry missed a three point attempt with 1 second remaining.
Wright State 81, Cleveland State 74 (OT). After trailing for over 32 minutes, CSU (10-19, 6-10) forced OT with a late rally culminating in a game-tying three with 4 seconds left in regulation. To no avail, as WSU (24-6, 14-3) pulled away in OT. Wright State and Northern Kentucky will meet for the regular season Horizon title next Saturday.
UIC 77, IUPUI 72. Marcus Burk had 28 points but IUPUI (6-23, 2-14) lost again. UIC is 14-15, 9-7).
Other Titan Opponents
Ball State 64, Eastern Michigan 55.
Toledo 68, Western Michigan 59.
Bowling Green 62, Ohio 61. Detroiter Justin Turner hit a jumper with 2 seconds left, completing a BGSU rally from 16 down.
#23 BYU 91, #2 Gonzaga 78. An impressive game for BYU, which held off every Gonzaga rally in the second half. Yoeli Childs led the Cougars with 28 points and 10 rebounds. BYU is 23-7 overall, but 15-2 when Childs has played, with a 1 point loss at San Francisco and an overtime loss at Utah. As the season has gone on, Gonzaga's non-conference schedule, while solid, doesn't look nearly as tough as it did at the time. Wins over Washington and UNC have lost their lustre, while the 18 point loss to Michigan, though certainly no black mark, looks considerably worse than it did in December. Gonzaga (27-2) is still a likely #1 seed.
#8 Florida State 67, North Carolina State 61.
Clemson 82, Boston College 64. The Wolfpack of NC State (17-10) and Clemson (14-12) both remain on the fringe of the at-large discussion, with the Tigers having no margin for error.
UC-Irvine 87, Cal-State Northridge 64. Irvine (19-10 overall) leads the Big West by 3.5 games. If they win the conference tournament, the Titans will at least be able to claim one win over an NCAA team this year--and if NKU wins the Horizon, maybe two.
Northeastern 77, Drexel 68. High scoring Jordan Roland had 25 for Northeastern (14-14).
Wyoming 78, Air Force 72.
Murray State 59, SI-Edwardsville 58.
Louisiana Monroe 83, Louisiana 77. This is a big rivalry in Cajunland.
Other Scores
Michigan 71, Purdue 63. Franz Wagner had 22 for UM (18-9).
Northern Illinois 82, Central Michigan 81 (OT).
#3 Kansas 64, #1 Baylor 61. After trailing almost the entire game, Baylor (24-2) rallied from a double digit deficit to within a point with 18 seconds left. But Isaiah Moss hit a pair of free throws to clinch the win for Kansas (24-3). Udoka Azubuike led the Jayhawks with 23 points and 19 rebounds. The loss snaps Baylor's 23 game winning streak.
UNLV 66, #4 San Diego State 63. The Aztecs (28-1) were so close to an unbeaten regular season, but the Rebels (15-14) took it to 'em in their own gym. The Rebels never trailed after Michigander Amauri Hardy nailed a trey about 90 seconds into the game, and led by double digits for much of the game. The Aztecs tried, cutting the lead to one point with 17 seconds left on a three pointer by Malachi Flynn. After the Rebels made free throws, SD State got a final chance to force OT, but Flynn's three was off the mark. A Rebel rebound was followed by a turnover with 2 seconds left, but the Aztecs were unable to get off a final shot.
#5 Dayton 80, Duquesne 70.
#6 Duke 88, Virginia Tech 64.
#10 Kentucky 65, Florida 59.
#11 Louisville 72, North Carolina 55.
#12 Villanova 64, Xavier 55.
#13 Auburn 73, Tennessee 66.
#14 Oregon 73, #24 Arizona 72 (OT). Musta been a good game to watch, but I didn't watch it.
UCLA 70, #18 Colorado 63. UCLA (17-11) rallied in the final minutes to win its 5th in a row. That's their longest winning streak in 3 years.
TCU 67, #17 West Virginia 60.
Providence 84, #19 Marquette 72. Providence (16-12) may yet sneak into the NCAAs. A win next Saturday over Villanova may clinch it.
Memphis 60, #22 Houston 59. Memphis (19-10) kept its NCAA hopes alive when Precious Achiuwa made one of two free throws with 28 seconds left, and Houston's Caleb Mills missed on the game's last possession. It's amazing, when you think of it, how thin is the difference between successful and unsuccessful seasons.
Mid-Major Win of the Day. Army 86, Navy 75 (OT). Do UNLV and BYU qualify as mid-majors? If not, we'll go with this game. It lacks the cachet of a football matchup between the academies, but it's still quite a rivalry. Army is 14-13, 9-7 in the Patriot; Navy is 13-14, 7-9 in the Patriot.
Titan All Americans Calihan Swanson Sparrow Ebben DeBusschere Murray Haywood Long Tyler Duerod Phillips Green McCallum