No. 15 Georgetown 70, Memphis 59: See here.
No. 8 Missouri 78, No. 24 Illinois 74: Missouri blew a 13 point lead with just 13 minutes left in the game, allowing the Illini to come all the way back and take the lead, but the Tigers had just enough left in the tank to pull out the victory late. Illinois led 70-68 after DJ Richardson hit two free throws at the two minute mark, but the Tigers responded with seven straight points to take control of the game.
Phil Pressey, who wasn’t named a Cousy Award finalist, had 18 points and five assists for Mizzou. Joseph Bertrand came off the bench to score 19 points for the Illini — on 9-9 shooting no less — and Meyers Leonard added 14 points, 13 boards and five assists. Illinois deserves a ton of credit for the comeback that they made on the road, and while the loss will no doubt sting, they have no reason to hang their head after this one.
Long Beach State 68, No. 15 Xavier 58: Xavier had Tu Holloway back in the lineup, but the Musketeers still lost their second straight game following the Crosstown Punchout. Holloway had 17 points and four assists, but without Mark Lyons and Dez Wells in the lineup, a balanced LBSU attack was simply too much. Mike Caffey led five players in double figures with 14 points as the 49ers advanced to the semifinals of the Diamondhead Classic.
This is a good win for LBSU even without Xavier at full-strength, but for this tournament to be considered a success, the 49ers need to, at the very least, make the finals. Losing to Auburn will make much more noise than beating them tomorrow night, and with a potential date with Kansas State in the final, LBSU has a chance to notch two more wins over power conference opponents.
No. 12 Florida 82, Florida State 64: The Gators got 21 points out of Bradley Beal and 15 points out of Patric Young — whose most impressive play was a highlight reel block — as they put together their most dominating offensive performance of the season. All five starters reached double figures, the Gators hit 10 threes and shot 48.3% from the field against a very good defensive team in the Seminoles.
No. 9 UConn 79, Fairfield 71: UConn got up 20 at the break, and then they got lazy. Fairfield was able to claw their way all the way back to within three points before the Huskies finally sealed the game on a Ryan Boatright three-pointer in the final minutes. Shabazz Napier finished with 24 points, six boards and five assists. UConn will be playing their next three games without Jim Calhoun, who will be serving the suspension for his program’s recruitment of Nate Miles.
No. 21 Creighton 87, Northwestern 79: The Bluejays overcame an early lead from Northwestern — and first half foul trouble for Doug McDermott — as they knocked off the Wildcats in an entertaining game in Omaha. McDermott scored 18 of his 27 points in the second half while Grant Gibbs added 12 assists and eight boards. Drew Crawford had 34 points to lead the way for Northwestern, who missed out on a big-time opportunity to notch a quality non-conference win.
No. 7 Baylor 72, St. Mary’s 59: After a horrific start to their non-conference schedule, Baylor has notched their second straight quality win after knocking off St. Mary’s. Quincy Miller led four Bears in double figures with 15 points while Perry Jones added 14 points, nine boards and four blocks. Baylor looks better and better and the season progresses. Things to worry about: Baylor had seven assists on 26 field goals and turned the ball over 15 times. At least they rebounded better in this one.
College of Charleston 77, Coastal Carolina 70: Charleston opened up a 16 points lead early in the second half, and while the Chanticleers had a run in them — they cut the lead to 61-58 — a late 10-0 spurt by the Cougars put the finishing touches on this one. Andrew Lawrence led the way for CofC with 18 points.
Rice 65, Texas A&M 58: Rice got 13 points from Tamir Jackson and used a late first half run to take a lead they didn’t relinquish in the second half. In fact, the Aggies never even challenged in the final 20 minutes. It was Rice’s first Division I win since 11/30. Making matters worse is that A&M lost Kourtney Roberson for 4-6 weeks with a fractured ankle.
Butler 71, Stanford 66: If Stanford was really a contender for the Pac-12 title, they would win games at home against a rebuilding Butler team that can’t score.
The rest of the top 25:
No. 1 Syracuse80, Tulane 61: The Orange used a big first-half run that was keyed by five consecutive three-pointers to open up a commanding lead on Tulane. The Green Wave would never recover.
No. 2 Ohio State 69, Miami OH 40: The final score really isn’t all that impressive, but the Redhawks were never in this. OSU scored the first 11 points of the game and never looked back. Sullinger had 11.
No. 3 Kentucky 87, Loyola MD 63: Kyle Wiltjer, starting in the place of Terrence Jones, had 24 points and helped key a 17-2 second half run that broke open a game that was closer than just about anyone expected.
No. 10 Marquette 64, Milwaukee 50: Junior Cadougan was the offensive catalyst for the Golden Eagles, scoring 15 points and grabbing seven boards as Marquette knocked off their crosstown rivals.
No. 11 Kansas 63, USC 47: The Jayhawks got 14 points from Elijah Johnson and 13 points from Connor Teahan as they slowed their game down to matchup with the more deliberate Trojans. Kansas only gave up 13 first half points.
No. 18 Mississippi State 82, Northwestern State 67/: Not surprisingly, Arnett Moultrie was simply too much inside. He finished with 24 points, 14 boards (11 offensive) and four assists.
No. 18 Indiana 89, UMBC 47: The Hoosiers were banged up, but they still managed to hang 89 points on UMBC. Matt Roth came off the bench to score 14 points while Christian Watford went for 22 points and 10 boards.
No. 19 Michigan 77, Bradley 66: Evan Smotrycz had 20 points and 10 boards as the Wolverines overcame a slow start to knock off Bradley, who count John Beilein’s son as a member of their staff.
No. 20 Michigan State 90, Lehigh 81: Michigan State overcame a slow start — caused, in part, by Draymond Green getting benched to start the game after showing up seven minutes late for a team meeting — to knock off a gritty Lehigh team.
No. 25 Harvard 63, Florida Atlantic 51: Keith Wright had 12 points and 11 boards as the Crimson knocked off a talented FAU team.
Other notable scores:
– Kansas State 83, SIU 58
– Mercer 65, Georgia Tech 59
– UMass 73, Davidson 65
– Miami FL 76, Charlotte 61
– LSU 67, North Texas 58
– West Virginia 70, Missouri State 68 OT
– Southern Miss 53, South Florida 51
– Iowa 81, Boise State 72
– BYU 89, UC-Santa Barbara 75
– Utah State 81, Kent State 62
