Saturday was a full day of action on the hardwood, with good games from start to finish. The sheer number of games on tap certainly meant there was ample opportunity, but so many games were quality ones, making for one of the best days of the season. There was plenty of significance to many results as well.
Notably, it’s been quite a few days for the Big East, getting a number of good wins, and the Big Ten continues to score quality wins as well, including on Saturday. The Mountain West also scored two more good wins by its best teams on Saturday.
With that, here are notes from many of the day’s games.
Villanova 56, Kansas 55: Another team atop the polls falls, and this game lived up to its billing. The Wildcats really needed this one for a significant win, as their best win to date was over Mississippi State and they had not fared well against the best teams they had played (getting blasted at Ohio State and losing to Baylor in the championship of the Myrtle Beach Invitational).
Gonzaga 112, Eastern Washington 77: The Bulldogs are the likely new top team in the polls come Monday morning, and why not? They’ve been playing as well as anyone, and being atop the polls doesn’t mean anything this year.
Saint Mary’s 68, Nevada 63: The Gaels pull one out to go to 12-2 as Jordan Ford and Malik Fitts come up big in the second half in San Francisco.
Ohio State 71, Kentucky 65: Two straight losses by the Wildcats to quality competition tells you that if this team will repeat the trend under John Calipari of hitting their stride as the season goes along, it’s going to happen a little later this year. They were just okay offensively and were out-rebounded 33-25 while allowing the Buckeyes to shoot 50 percent from the field.
North Carolina 74, UCLA 64: The Tar Heels break a four-game losing streak behind 15 points and 12 rebounds from Armando Bacot, as well as getting to the free throw line often and forcing 22 UCLA turnovers.
Butler 70, Purdue 61: The Bulldogs cap off the Crossroads Classic by holding the Boilermakers to 33.3 percent shooting, although they were 9-20 from deep to keep it a ballgame. The Bulldogs have the best non-conference resume in the Big East.
Indiana 62, Notre Dame 60: The first game in the Crossroads Classic was a major league back-and-forth game, as the Hoosiers built a 17-point lead, but the Fighting Irish stormed back to take a 59-54 lead with under four to play. Indiana needed a late three-pointer to pull it out and go to 11-1 and continue to play well save for getting handled at Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago.
Minnesota 86, Oklahoma State 66: This was a surprise, coming in Tulsa, but Gabe Kalscheur (34 points) had a big game to lead the Golden Gophers to their second straight big win after knocking off Ohio State last Sunday.
Tennessee 75, Jacksonville State 53: The Vols broke this one open in the second half against a Gamecocks team that had won two straight and finally appeared to be coming alive after losing four straight and six of seven.
Auburn 74, Lehigh 51: Auburn remains undefeated and continues to carry the flag for the SEC.
USC 70, LSU 68: A great battle out west that could have gone either way, but Nick Rackocevic was Mr. Clutch again in the waning moments with a big tip-in as USC continues to win the kind of games they had lost in recent years.
Providence 70, Texas 48: Not a good trip for Texas, but Providence was due for a much better game. They got hot from deep to help open the lead, then hammered the Longhorns on the glass 52-39 and held them below 32 percent shooting, including just 3-21 from long range, to get back above .500.
Oklahoma 53, UCF 52: This might not go down as a signature win for the Sooners, but UCF is quietly now 9-3 thus far. The Sooners needed this one as much to get back on track as anything else.
Saint Louis 66, Kansas State 63: The Wildcats have had some tough luck in falling to 6-5, while this goes down as another nice win for the Atlantic 10 (and they needed it).
Florida State 66, South Florida 60: It took a 19-3 run to close the game for the Seminoles to pull this out, but Leonard Hamilton’s team finally came alive to do it. They finished this comeback after not doing so previously at Indiana, and they finished the game forcing 24 South Florida turnovers.
Utah State 65, Florida 62: A nice win in what was basically a road game for Utah State, as they made every big play down the stretch to pull it out. Ted Sarandis covered this game and was especially impressed by the Aggies and Sam Merrill (21 points, nine rebounds).
San Diego State 80, Utah 52: The Aztecs remain undefeated with a big blowout of the Utes, who were fresh off a big win over Kentucky. They built up a ten-point halftime lead and then ran away in the second half.
Colorado 78, Dayton 76 (OT): This was every bit the game we thought it could be in the United Center, and it took a buzzer-beating three-pointer in the extra session to settle it. The Buffs now have wins over Arizona State, Clemson and the Flyers as their best ones, although the one over Clemson has certainly lost some value since it happened.
Iowa 77, Cincinnati 70: Life without Jordan Bohannon will get interesting for Iowa, but holding off the Bearcats in Chicago is a good start.
Stanford 62, San Diego 59: This was an example of finding a way to win, something the Cardinal are doing more now as they improve to 11-1.
St. John’s 70, Arizona 67: For a while, the Red Storm had answers the whole time to keep a safe distance, then they had to hold off the Wildcats at the end for the biggest win in Mike Anderson’s young tenure. The Red Storm are now 11-2 and one of the pleasant surprises in college basketball, and they have helped the Big East have a nice few days.
Creighton 67, Arizona State 60: The Bluejays get a nice win in handing the Sun Devils their first home loss of the season, holding them to a season-low 35.4 percent from the field. The Sun Devils are 8-4 and have used six starting lineups, so putting that record together including wins over St. John’s and Georgia is a sign that this team has a lot of room to still grow.
Georgetown 99, Samford 71: Omer Yurtseven has played like an All-American ever since the Hoyas lost the first two players to transfer at the beginning of the month. In five games, all wins, he has averaged 22.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, including 32 and 17 on Saturday.
DePaul 83, Northwestern 78: The Blue Demons just keep on winning, this one a well-played rivalry game that saw Charlie Moore score 25 points to lead the way.
Wichita State 73, VCU 63: A solid win for the Shockers, who continue to fly under a lot of radars but must now be considered favorites, or at least co-favorites, in the American Athletic Conference. VCU, meanwhile, has a perfectly okay resume but right now doesn’t feel like a clear favorite in the Atlantic 10 like they did before the season. You could argue that Dayton and Saint Louis are better at least right now, though the Rams are very capable of changing that perception quickly (and they don’t have a bad loss, either, having gone down to Purdue and Tennessee before this one).
George Mason 69, UMBC 53: The Patriots are in that discussion in the Atlantic 10 as well as they go to 11-1. They’re probably fourth or fifth in the pecking order right now (Richmond is in that mix as well), but no one is far and away the best team there. Conference play will be fun to watch there.
Arkansas 72, Valparaiso 68: The Razorbacks found a way to win this one in North Little Rock, as they trailed by eight in the second half after opening up an early 13-point lead. They had three more turnovers than Valpo and were out-rebounded, but pulled it out to go to 10-1.
Texas A&M 64, Oregon State 49: The second loss of the season for the Beavers was not a good one, even if it was in College Station, as the Aggies are rebuilding.
Missouri 63, Illinois 56: The Tigers win the Braggin’ Rights game, which doesn’t help the Illini as it means they will need to win a little more in Big Ten play. In this crazy season, though, that just might happen.
Alabama 92, Belmont 72: Nate Oats’ tenure hasn’t exactly gotten off to a flying start, but this win over a good Belmont team might be just what they need to get them going.
Vanderbilt 88, UNCW 73: The Commodores get back on track behind 34 points from Aaron Nesmith to break a two-game losing streak as part of three losses in four outings.
Temple 78, Rider 66: A true tale of two halves, with Rider dominating the first half and going into the locker room up 12 before Temple came alive with 21 unanswered points, getting hot from deep.
Liberty 80, Akron 67: Liberty goes to 14-0 with only a trip to LSU remaining before Atlantic Sun play. It was a pretty good day for the school, as the football team won the Cure Bowl over Georgia Southern.
Colorado State 111, Tulsa 104 (3 OT): This was labeled an under-the-radar matchup in our Morning Dish, and it lived up to that in needing three extra sessions before the Rams came away with the win behind a big game from Isaiah Stevens (26 points, 12 assists).
Duquesne 86, Austin Peay 77: The Dukes remain undefeated along with the other two teams to do so on the day.
UNC Greensboro 67, Northern Kentucky 50: A solid win for the Spartans against another good mid-major program despite 33 points for the Norse’s Tyler Sharpe. The Southern Conference is another one that should give us a good race for the title between a few good teams at the top.
Georgia Southern 77, UT Arlington 74: The Eagles start Sun Belt play 2-0, knocking off the team picked second in the preseason poll in this one and sending them home with an 0-2 start.
Georgia State 81, Texas State 69: The Peach State went 2-for-2 against the Lone Star State, as Ron Hunter may not be walking through that door but the Panthers are not going to fade in the Sun Belt. They are also 2-0 and send Texas State home 0-2.
Harvard 88, George Washington 75: The Crimson trailed by a pair at the break, but came alive in the second half en route to shooting over 55 percent for the game. It was another slow start, but this time they had enough to win their second straight since Orlando.
Oral Roberts 82, Missouri State 72: The Bears have five players score in double figures, but were out-rebounded 41-28 allowed four Golden Eagles to reach double figures. They are 6-7, but have tested themselves in non-conference play. Now we’ll see how that translates for the preseason favorites since Missouri Valley play takes over from here.
Wright State 79, Toledo 72: Quietly, the Raiders are 10-3 as Horizon League play beckons, and while they don’t have the resume wins or avoidance of bad losses to be an at-large team, they certainly look like they’ll be among the favorites to win there as expected before the season. They got 27 points and 17 rebounds from Tanner Holden in this one.
