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Saturday’s Things To Know: Zion’s acrobatics, Markus Howard goes bonkers, Kansas State to win the Big 12

Duke v Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - FEBRUARY 09: Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils shoots over De’Andre Hunter #12 of the Virginia Cavaliers in the first half during a game at John Paul Jones Arena on February 9, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)

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PLAYER OF THE DAY: Markus Howard, Marquette

Howard finished with 38 points on Saturday afternoon, shooting 13-for-24 from the floor and 5-for-11 from three, as the Golden Eagles knocked off Villanova, 66-65, to remain within a game of first place in the Big East regular season title race. This was the third time in the last four games that Howard has reached 30 points, and the fifth time this season he’s scored at least 37 points in a game.

TEAM OF THE DAY: TCU Horned Frogs

There was no bigger winner on the bubble on Saturday than TCU, who went into Ames and landed themselves a top 15 road win by knocking off Iowa State. The game wasn’t all that close, either. A 22-2 first half run put TCU in front, and the Cyclones never really threatened in the second half. Entering the weekend, TCU was slotted in a play-in game in the latest NBC Sports bracket. This is the kind of win that can bump them up a full seed line.

ONIONS OF THE DAY: Parker Van Dyke, Utah

UCLA somehow managed to find a way to blow a 22-point second half lead to Utah, and they did it in the most dramatic way possible:

EXTRA ONIONS: Luke Maye, North Carolina

Coby White led the way with 33 points and six assists, but it was Luke Maye’s jumper at the end of regulation that allowed the Tar Heels to avoid an embarrassing home loss to what may be the worst team in the ACC this season, Miami:

SATURDAY’S BIGGEST WINNERS

KANSAS STATE, BIG 12 FAVORITE: Kansas State rolled into Baylor in a battle for first place in the Big 12, and thanks in part to some injuries to Makai Mason and King McClure, they left with a 70-63 win. With Iowa State taking a home loss to TCU a couple of hours earlier, it means that the Wildcats are now two games against of Texas Tech, Iowa State and Kansas in the loss column. Who saw that coming?

NEVADA’S REVENGE: The last time we saw Nevada and New Mexico play, the Wolf Pack suffered their only loss of the season ... an 85-58 humiliation at the hands of the Lobos. On Saturday, Eric Musselman’s team hosted New Mexico and made a statement of their own, getting revenge and winning the season series by two thanks to a 91-62 smackdown.

CLEMSON AND TCU: TCU was the biggest winner of the day on the bubble, but Clemson landed a monster win of their won. The Tigers entered the day on the bubble despite the fact that they had not yet earned a Q1 win, and then they turned around and picked off a Virginia Tech team that is sitting in the top ten in the NET.

JON TESKE: After Ethan Happ tore up Michigan in the first five minutes of Wisconsin’s visit to Ann Arbor, Teske did a terrific job slowing him down. Happ had just four points on 2-for-9 shooting in the second half as the Wolverines knocked off Wisconsin, 61-52.

THE HYPE FOR KENTUCKY’S UPCOMING WEEK: The Wildcats held of a scrappy Mississippi State team, 71-67, thanks to 23 points from P.J. Washington and some timely buckets from Tyler Herro. This sets the table for a week that might determine the SEC regular season champion: Kentucky hosts both LSU and Tennessee. The Vols hold a one game lead in the standings over both teams.

SATURDAY’S BIGGEST LOSERS

ALL OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Duke made 13 threes.

13!

The result was a resounding win in Charlottesville over the Wahoos, a performance that made a very, very good Virginia team look rather pedestrian. If Duke is going to shoot anywhere close to this well the rest of the season, then we might as well give them the national title now and find something else to do for the next two months.

DE’ANDRE HUNTER’S THREE-BALL: That thing vanished:

PHIL BOOTH’S DECISION MAKING: I don’t think that the Villanova star has made the wrong decision at any point this season ... until he had a chance to ice the Big East regular season title. Markus Howard left the ball, Booth had a lane and he dribbled into trouble, ending the game:

Look at this screenshot:

Dy_opSNV4AAeB1m.jpg

Booth has to be able to score that. He’ll regret this in film tomorrow.

IOWA STATE: The Cyclones had a chance to remain just a game off the pace in the Big 12 regular season standings, and what did they do?

They lost at home to TCU in a game that they never really threatened. That just can’t happen if you want to have any chance to win the Big 12.

LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals blew a 10 point and eventually lost on the road to Florida State in overtime.

FINAL THOUGHT

I know that the big talking point with Gonzaga right now is that Killian Tillie is out and that they cannot win the title now.

I think that’s stupid.

Gonzaga did not have Tillie when they beat Duke in Maui. They have cruised through a better-than-it-looks WCC with Tillie playing very limited minutes to date. They did not have Tillie when they beat Saint Mary’s, the second-best team in the league, by 48 freakin’ points on Saturday night.

Depth matters when it comes to injuries, foul trouble and getting 5-on-5 reps in practice. Depth does not matter all that much come March, especially when the position that Tillie plays is currently occupied by two of the ten best big men college basketball has to offer in Rui Hachimura and Brandon Clarke.

Hell, I would go as far as to say that Gonzaga’s depth is on full display because they are still very much in the national title hunt despite the fact that Tillie -- who is very, very good -- has basically had a lost season.