No. 5 Duke 79, No. 21 UNC 73: We got three posts on the Duke-UNC game from last night for you -- here, here, and here.
No. 11 Georgetown 64, NO. 13 Syracuse 56: See here.
One last note on this game -- Georgetown is slowly but surely reconvincing me that they are an elite basketball team this season. Its tough to give my full trust to a team that has betrayed that trust so many time the past two seasons, but with each impressive road win, I’m closer to becoming a believer. Again.
As for Syracuse? Well, this team appears to be flawed. They are not the same team on the defensive end of the floor that they were last year. The Hoyas may have only scored 64 points last night, but they were impressively effective against the Orange zone. They shot 45.3% from the floor and 9-21 from three. They grabbed 10 offensive rebounds. Most impressive? They had 20 assists on 24 field goals. The Hoyas did all of that with Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, and Jason Clark combining to go 12-34 from the field.
Does that sound like great defense to you?
Rutgers 77, No. 10 Villanova 76: Possibly the best finish you will see all season long. As far as Villanova goes, this loss drops them a game behind Notre Dame for second place in the Big East standings.
Idaho 64, No. 17 Utah State 56: See here.
Notre Dame 89, Louisville 79 OT: Don’t let the final fool you, this was a terrific, exciting, high-scoring basketball game. In the first half, it was the Kyle Kuric show, as he scored 18 of his 28 points, two of which came on this vicious throw down over Scott Martin to end the half. Ben Hansbrough and Tim Abromaitis combined to score 48 points, but Louisville was still the team with the chance at the end of regulation to win it. They missed twice, and it cost them. In overtime, Carleton Scott, who had been struggling, scored nine of his 16 points and Notre Dame opened with a 14-0 run to put the game away.
Tough loss for the Cards, but road losses in conference to top ten teams are no where near as disastrous as they are disappointing. The Irish, however, are putting together an impressive resume. They are now in sole possession of second place in the Big East standings, two games behind Pitt, who they own the tiebreaker with. They play for of their last six on the road, including trips to West Virginia and UConn, so we shall see where they end up, but right now this team has a legitimate argument for a spot on the No. 1 seed line.
No. 14 Wisconsin 62, Iowa 59 OT: The Badgers, like so many teams this season, are not the same on the road as they are at home. Maybe Saturday’s date with Ohio State was on their mind, but the Badgers struggled in the first half (6-33 shooting!) and needed all of Jon Leuer’s 19 points and 15 boards and Jordan Taylor’s 16 points and eight assists to pull this out.
No. 22 Texas A&M 73, Colorado 70 OT: The Aggies needed a 25 footer from BJ Holmes with 1.9 seconds left just to get this thing to overtime, but once they were in the extra frame, the Aggies scored the first six points to grab control. This was an enormous bounce back win for A&M, and the loss may have cost Colorado any chance at the NCAA Tournament.
No. 19 Florida 79, South Carolina 60: Chandler Parsons scored 14 points and added 12 boards and eight assists while Erving Walker went for 25 as the Gators shot 55% from the floor and cruised to a win on the road. Florida is now a full two games in front of the rest of the SEC East pack.
No. 3 Texas 68, Oklahoma 52: Just another 20 points and nine boards for Jordan Hamilton as the Longhorns cruised to their first 9-0 start in conference play since 1978.
No. 8 BYU 90, Air Force 52: Air Force got physical with Fredette, even banged up his knee a bit, but he still had 25 points while Brandon Davies finished with 13 points, eight boards, and six assists.
VCU 84, Delaware 74 2OT: The Rams got 32 points and 11 boards from Jamie Skeen as they were able to hang on in double overtime to knock off the Blue Hens. With the win, VCU moves into first place in the CAA standings.
Marquette 59, South Florida 58: This was a hideous game. USF blew a 40-24 second half lead, but couldn’t capitalize on seven straight missed free throws by Marquette to finish the game.
Baylor 74, Nebraska 70: The Bears look they are starting to find a rhythm. Lace Dunn had 24 points to lead the way tonight, but the Bears need to notch another big win or two if they want to end up dancing.
Richmond 69, GW 65: Justin Harper scored 20 points, including the go ahead bucket with 43.5 seconds left, as the Spiders remained a game behind Xavier and Duquesne in the loss column.
Memphis 63, UCF 62: The Tigers avoid a disastrous loss at UCF thanks to this three from Antonio Barton:
The Golden Knights have now lost eight straight games after winning their first 14 of the season.
UNLV 94, TCU 79: Yup, that gym was packed. Good thing TCU is joining the Big East next season!
Rhode Island 67, Dayton 53: At one point, Dayton was up 27-17 late in the first half.
Michigan 75, Northwestern 66: Can Michigan be a spoiler late in the Big Ten race? They’ve own four out of five, tonight thanks to 27 points from Jordan Morgan.
Bucknell 66, American 60: Mike Muscala scored 21 points and grabbed 10 boards as the Bison built a two game cushion in the Patriot League standings.
Indiana State 56, Illinois State 46: With 9:36 left in the game, Illinois State was up 45-37. They scored one point the rest of the way.
Other Notable Games:
- Maryland 106, Longwood 52
- New Mexico 68, Wyoming 57
- Temple 77, Fordham 66
- Miami 74, Wake Forest 73
- UAB 74, Marshall 48
- James Madison 68, Drexel 54
- Hofstra 79, Georgia State 68
- Old Dominion 69, William & Mary 53
- Long Island 87, St. Francis 76
- Vermont 80, UMBC 67
- Charleston 85, Elon 67
- Davidson 67, Wofford 58
- Missouri State 77, Bradley 69
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.