St. John’s 61, No. 13 Georgetown 58: See here and here.
Auburn 65, Florida State 60: See here.
No. 19 Michigan State 65, Northwestern 62: This is a good Northwestern team. They proved that tonight, competing with -- and nearly completing a 13 point comeback in the final 3:51 -- a far more athletic and talented Michigan State team despite shooting just 31.6% from the floor and getting 11 points (and just one field goal) from Big Ten leading scorer John Shurna, who is battling an ankle injury.
The Wildcats had a furious rally sparked by Juice Thompson late in the game, but a missed box out (Draymond Green put back a missed free throw with 12 seconds left) and a poorly designed in bounds play (the Wildcats ended up shooting a two at the buzzer down three) cost them late. It was a moral victory for the Wildcats, but for a program trying to erase a history of moral victories with their first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament, nothing less than a win on the scoreboard will do. Northwestern, who is now 0-2 in the league, has to turn around and head to Illinois on Thursday.
Milwaukee 76, Butler 52: So much for Butler being back. Kaylon Williams had 10 points, 10 boards, and 10 assists as the Panthers lit up the Bulldogs. Shelvin Mack had three points and shot just 1-7 from the floor as the Bulldogs allowed Milwaukee to hit 11 threes and shoot 55.3% from the floor.
No. 11 Kentucky 86, Penn 62: Tyler Bernardini was hot early, scoring 16 points in the first 16 minutes as the Quakers opened up a 31-19 lead in the first half. For the final 24 minutes, Kentucky, well, played like Kentucky is supposed against an Ivy League team. Brandon Knight had 22 points while Josh Harrellson added 12 points and 11 boards.
No. 16 Texas A&M 66, Nicholls State 55: The win wasn’t as impressive as the defensive job the Aggies did on Anatoly Bose, who had just six points on 1-12 shooting.
No. 17 Kansas State 92, Savannah State 61: Jacob Pullen had 24 points and 5 assists, including a 7-8 shooting performance in the first half (three threes), as the Wildcats rolled. Wally Judge continued his hot play, finishing with 13 points and 14 boards.
Florida 84, Rhode Island 59: For the second straight game, the Gators put together an impressive performance as they rolled over the Rams just four days after they went into Xavier and knocked off the Musketeers. Can I get any consistency out of the SEC this season? Please?
Iowa State 72, Northern Illinois 63: The Cyclones won again, this time doing so with a six man rotation as Scott Christopherson and Jordan Railey were both out of action.
CAA play starts: Old Dominion picked up their first league win of the season with a 51-47 win over Towson and George Mason improved to 2-0 with a win over Delaware, but favorites Drexel (a 75-69 loss to Hofstra) and VCU (a 76-66 loss at Georgia State) had disappointing nights.
Other Notable Games:
- Central Connecticut 92, UMass 63
- Siena 73, Iona 67
- Oklahoma State 79, Texas-San Antonio 63
- Nebraska 77, North Dakota 46
- Oklahoma 73, UMES 49
- Alabama 83, Toledo 41
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.