GAME OF THE NIGHT: No. 18 West Virginia 86, TCU 85 OT
The end of this game was absolutely bonkers. Combining overtime and regulation, it totaled four either game-tying or go-ahead shots, two horrid no-calls, one game-deciding foul and two game-winning foul shots, all in the last ten seconds.
All the requisite videos can be seen here.
THE OTHER GAME OF THE NIGHT: Georgetown 95, Marquette 85 OT
Josh Smith finished with 18 points and 15 boards and Isaac Copeland continued his terrific play of late -- adding 17 points, six boards, four assists and two steals off the bench -- as the Hoyas went into Milwaukee and knocked off a feisty Marquette team. Matt Carlino and Duane Wilson combined for 52 points -- hitting 11-for-16 from three -- as the Golden Eagles came within an inch -- literally -- of winning this in regulation.
Down 81-79 in the waning seconds, Carlino hit a pull-up jumper with his left toe on the three-point line. Instead of winning the game, it forced overtime. And in the extra frame, the Hoyas were just too much.
Oh, and Derrick Wilson did this:
IMPORTANT OUTCOMES
1. No. 11 Kansas 75, No. 17 Texas 62
Many doubted Kansas to win the Big 12, myself included, but the Jayhawks once again look like the conference’s favorite after a huge road win at Texas. Cliff Alexander had a nice outing with 15 points and nine rebounds and Perry Ellis did a nice job handling the length of Texas to score 14 points. Brannen Greene also stepped up with four 3-pointers and 14 points to give a big lift from the perimeter. The Jayhawk offense only turned the ball over three times and their defense held Texas to 3-for-18 shooting from 3-point range. Outside of Isaiah Taylor (23 points) and Johnathan Holmes (14 points), the Longhorns couldn’t find much additional offense.
2. Texas Tech 78, No. 9 Iowa State 73
For the second time this season, the Cyclones laid an egg against an overmatched opponent. ISU was down by as much as 19 in the first half, and while they valiantly fought back -- Monte’ Morris missed a three with 10 seconds left that could have tied the game -- the hole was just too big.
3. Purdue 67, No. 25 Iowa 63
A bad week for Iowa became even worse with a road loss at Purdue. Senior forward Aaron White missed much of the game with a “stinger” and Purdue had a big game from junior guard Rapheal Davis. Davis finished with 24 points and sophomore forward Basil Smotherman stepped up and had 13 points and six rebounds after only scoring one point in six previous Big Ten games this season. Junior guard Mike Gesell (18 points) did everything he could to keep Iowa in the game in the second half but the Hawkeyes didn’t have another double-figure scorer.
4. No. 21 Baylor 69, No. 19 Oklahoma 58
Scott Drew’s Bears picked up an important win in Waco, using a 10-0 run late in the second half to take care of Oklahoma. Lester Medford led four Bears in double figures with 17 points while also dishing out five assists, and forwards Rico Gathers (eight) and Taurean Waller-Prince (seven) combined to grab 15 of Baylor’s 35 rebounds. Buddy Hield and Jordan Woodard scored 12 apiece for Oklahoma, but Hield shot 6-for-17 from the field (0-for-7 3PT) and as a team the Sooners shot 6-for-24 from beyond the arc.
5. Wyoming 63, New Mexico 62 OT
A couple of big mistakes by New Mexico’s star, Hugh Greenwood, hurt the Lobos on the road. First, he fouled Josh Adams while he was shooting a three with 10 seconds left up by three at the end of regulation. And then, up by one in overtime, he did this:
Credit Larry Nance Jr., who had the steal and the game-winning layup, for bouncing back from missing a would-be game-tying free throw.
STARRED
1. Georgia’s J.J. Frazier
How about this for a stat line: 37 points, seven boards and three assists while shooting 12-for-14 from the floor and 7-for-7 from three. Oh, and Georgia won their fourth straight.
2. Kansas State’s Nino Williams
The senior continued a recent stretch of great play as he had 20 points and seven rebounds in a Wildcat win over Oklahoma State. Over his last three games, Williams is averaging 20 points and 7.3 rebounds per game as Kansas State is now 5-2 in Big 12 play.
3. Xavier’s Myles Davis
The 3-pointers weren’t falling for the sophomore guard, but Davis got it done in other ways as he scored 25 points and added eight rebounds in a big second-half comeback win for Xavier over DePaul.
4. Minnesota’s Andre Hollins
Hollins had 28 points and five assists as the Gophers picked up their second Big Ten win, knocking off Illinois 79-71.
5. Nebraska’s Terran Petteway
Petteway finished with 32 points, and Shavon Shields added 21, as the Huskers picked up a big win over Michigan State at home on #AveryStrong night.
STRUGGLED
1. South Carolina’s offense
In a home loss to No. 1 Kentucky, the Gamecock offense couldn’t do much of anything as they shot 22 percent (12-for-53) from the field and 30 percent (3-for-10) from 3-point range.
2. Iowa’s Jarrod Uthoff and Gabe Olaseni
With Aaron White injured, Iowa’s two best players ... combined to go 4-for-24 from the floor. That’s not going to get it done on the road in the Big Ten.
3. Harvard
The Crimson allowed Dartmouth to go on a 26-2 run in the second half to turn a 43-29 deficit into a 55-45 lead as the Big Green picked up a huge win in the Ivy race, beating Harvard at Harvard.
4. Missouri’s Wes Clark
Clark missed a pair of free throws with 3.3 seconds left that allowed Arkansas to escape a trip to Missouri with a win.
THE REST OF THE TOP 25
- Marcus Paige had 19 points and Brice Johnson added 18 points and 14 boards as No. 15 North Carolina overcame a 35-point performance from Xavier Rathan-Mayes in beating Florida State, 78-74.
- No. 6 Wisconsin managed to avoid the upset in Ann Arbor, beating Michigan 69-64 in overtime with Frank Kaminsky finishing with 22 points and nine rebounds. Derrick Walton Jr., who finished with 17 to lead Michigan, hit a three-pointer with 1.3 seconds remaining to force overtime.
- No. 3 Gonzaga rolled to a 91-60 win over Pacific, and Mark Few’s team was incredibly good on offense. The Bulldogs shot 60 percent from the field, and seven players scored between nine and 13 points. Przemek Karnowski and Gary Bell Jr. scored 13 apiece.
- Stanley Johnson finished with 18 points and Dusan Ristic added 12 points off the bench as No. 7 Arizona grinded out a 23 point win over Cal.
NOTABLES
- Angel Rodriguez was just 2-for-11 from the floor, but he finished with 12 points, eight assists and four steals as Miami went into the Carrier Dome and knocked off Syracuse.
- Johnny Dee had 18 points as San Diego handed BYU a crushing loss to their NCAA tournament hopes, 77-74.
- The hottest team in the SEC outside of Kentucky is Texas A&M. The Aggies have won four straight with a road win at Tennessee as Jalen Jones had 18 points.
- Oregon shot 62.6 percent from the floor as they blew out UCLA at home, 82-64.
- Josh Smith’s tip-in with .5 seconds remaining lifted Clemson over Wake Forest for a home ACC win.
- Not to be outdone by Smith, Ohio senior Maurice Ndour had a two-handed dunk off of a full-court inbound pass to give Ohio a home win over Buffalo.
- Penn State senior guard D.J. Newbill had 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting as the Nittany Lions finally notched a Big Ten win in a victory over Rutgers.
- Tulsa trailed East Carolina at the half, but rallied to win and improve to 7-0 in the American. James Woodard led the Golden Hurricane with 17 points.
- Drexel prevailed in a close win over College of Charleston as Damion Lee had 21 points for the Dragons.
- UTEP dropped to 4-3 in Conference USA as Marshall won their first game in league play.
- A Jordan Parks put-back with 11 seconds remaining gave North Carolina Central a 79-77 win over Coppin State, moving the Eagles to 7-0 in the MEAC.
- LSU avoided a loss that would not have helped their NCAA tournament resume, winning 79-75 in overtime at Vanderbilt.
- Also in the SEC, Florida dropped its third straight game as Jarvis Summers hit a pair of free throws to give Ole Miss the 72-71 win in Oxford.
- J.J. Avila scored 29 points to lead Colorado State to a 79-73 win over San Diego State. If there’s a silver lining for the Aztecs it’t the play of freshman Malik Pope, who accounted for 22 points and seven rebounds. If Pope can use this game as a springboard, that would be huge for SDSU moving forward.