When the PK80 Invitational came to fruition, there was much to be excited about. The field was tremendous, carrying with it the promise of a number of great matchups and being in all the kind of event college basketball needs. With the event now in the books, it’s fair to say it delivered and then some, especially at the very end.
There were blowouts, to be sure, but Sunday had two great matchups for championships and the second one – the last game of the event – was at least as good as any of the first 23 games. It was well worth staying up for if you were on the east coast. And the result was a familiar one.
The first game of the night was a lot less competitive than expected, as Michigan State shut down North Carolina in a 63-45 win to take home the championship in the Victory Bracket. The game was never competitive in the second half, and for a lot of the first half as North Carolina never got going. The Tar Heels shot below 25 percent for the first time in program history, a remarkable statistic, and that included going 1-18 from behind the arc.
Michigan State turned the ball over 24 times, so the Spartans didn’t exactly put on an offensive clinic of their own. They shot 40 percent from the field, not a great number by any means. But they were so good defensively, it didn’t matter. They looked very much like the team many have expected them to be, with Joshua Langford having a career night with a game-high 23 points on 8-11 shooting, including 5-7 from behind the arc.
Tom Izzo tried to deflect credit away from his team at the defensive end, and while North Carolina certainly didn’t help themselves, the Spartans put forth one heck of a defensive effort.
The last game of the night, the Motion Bracket championship, saw Duke and Florida trade runs in an epic battle. Florida had the first run, Duke had the next, then Florida had another before Duke had one more run in them. As they have all season long, Duke has looked vulnerable, but as they have all along thus far, they pulled this one out late behind Marvin Bagley III, taking home the title with an 87-84 win.
Bagley had 30 points and 15 rebounds, doing a lot of damage late as they rallied. He’s the first player in program history to have at least 30 points and 15 rebounds in consecutive games. He carried this team to the championship, quite simply.
Florida certainly impressed from a few angles here. Virginia Tech transfer Jalen Hudson (24 points, 10 rebounds after scoring 35 on Friday against Gonzaga) and KeVaughn Allen form a fine perimeter unit along with senior Chris Chiozza, who exudes toughness, and Egor Koulechov is an intriguing player up front. This game was there for the taking and then some, but they couldn’t finish.
It’s unlikely we will see this event in a modified form in the future, or at least very soon. Phil Knight only turns 80 once, so the same name wouldn’t make sense, but these teams will all be in other events since they can’t be in the same one twice in four years. It was basically a one-shot deal. At the end of the day, we can be happy that the event lived up to the potential we felt it would have.
Side Dishes
In other action at the PK80 Invitational, first in the Motion Bracket: the surprise of the day was Portland State outscoring Stanford 52-34 in the second half to take home an 87-78 win to take seventh place, Butler edged Ohio State and former coach Chris Holtmann to take fifth place 67-66 in overtime, and Texas rallied to force overtime but fell short to Gonzaga 76-71 in the third place game. In the Victory Bracket, DePaul took seventh place with an 82-69 win over Portland behind 19 points and 13 rebounds from Marin Maric, while the fifth-place game had the performance of the day as Trae Young had 43 points and seven assists to lead Oklahoma over Oregon 90-80, and Arkansas annihilated UConn 102-67, shooting 60 percent from the field including 11-19 from long range.
Is it possible that we have not seen the last of Michael Porter Jr.? The Missouri freshman underwent microdisectomy surgery less than a week ago, but on Sunday he made an Instagram post that got the attention of some people. He posted a photo of a living room area with a caption that reads “Just letting y’all know whoever said it was gonna take 3-4 months to recover lied” with a pair of smileys after it. This could be interpreted multiple ways, but you can bet that the Mizzou faithful hope it means he plans to return before the season is over.
The AdvoCare Invitational had a great finish to its championship game. Missouri looked to be on its way to a big win, as perception of the Tigers is certainly not what it had been after the aforementioned injury to Michael Porter Jr. But West Virginia had other ideas, forcing 20 turnovers and taking over in the final minutes, as they ended the game on a 24-6 run to take home the title with an 83-79 win behind a career-high 29 points from Jevon Carter. Earlier, St. John’s took third place with a 46-43 win over UCF in a defensive struggle, Nebraska took fifth place by holding off Long Beach State 85-80 in a game where they once led by 22, and Oregon State salvaged seventh place and kept Marist winless in knocking off the Red Foxes 65-46.
Likewise, the championship game in the Wooden Legacy was decided with a late run. Washington State trailed by nine in the second half, and San Diego State appeared to be in good shape by not letting the Cougars get much momentum. The Cougars finally changed that, though, as the Aztecs may have run out of gas without injured forward Malik Pope. Washington State went on an 11-2 run to tie the game, and would extend it to a 25-9 run to take the lead for good en route to a 93-86 win, led by 24 points from Malachi Flynn and 22 from Robert Franks. The Cougars improve to 6-0 on the season. Before that, Georgia took third place with an 83-81 overtime win over Saint Mary’s despite 33 points and 12 rebounds by Jock Landale, Cal State Fullerton beat Harvard 70-61 to take fifth place, and Saint Joseph’s took seventh place with a 74-69 win over Sacramento State.
Texas A&M had their moment in the tournament sun at the Legends Classic last week, but the Aggies are still on a roll. They headed to USC and knocked off the Trojans 75-59, holding USC to 28 percent shooting on the night and getting double-digit scorers.
By now, most know that Alabama had to finish Saturday night’s championship game in the Barclays Center Classic against Minnesota with just three players. Star freshman John Petty, who went down when they were already down to four players, had an MRI on his ankle that was “clear” according to a report, and he will be a game-time decision for their next game. Alabama plays Louisiana Tech on Wednesday night, and Petty has played very well thus far, so he won’t be a small loss if he’s unable to go.
Tonight’s Menu
The tournaments have come and gone, for now, and at this point Mondays start to become light days, but we do get the Big Ten/ACC Challenge going.
- Starting that event off is Maryland visiting Syracuse (7 p.m.), then Virginia hosts Wisconsin (9 p.m.)
- Cincinnati hosts Alabama State (7 p.m.)
- Frank Martin goes back to where he spent his formative years as South Carolina plays at Florida International (7 p.m.)
- A rivalry game on the docket is Lipscomb visiting Belmont at 7:30 p.m.
