GAME OF THE NIGHT: No. 11 Virginia 72, Wake Forest 71
What a finish in this one! For the first 39:45, Virginia was 2-for-14 from beyond the arc. In the last 15 seconds, the Cavaliers his three threes to erase a seven-point lead. All the videos you need can be seen right here. It was nuts.
IMPORTANT OUTCOMES
Wisconsin 82, No. 19 Indiana 79 OT: Indiana’s winning streak was snapped at 12 games and their run atop the Big Ten was ended after a 7-0 start as the Hoosiers fell in overtime at the Kohl Center. There’s a lot to get into here regarding just how good the Hoosiers are, and my colleague Scott Phillips discussed all of that in an earlier column.
No. 7 Xavier 75, No. 10 Providence 68: It’s time to take Xavier seriously as a Final Four and national title contender (they are) even if we don’t think they’re the best team in the Big East (they aren’t). I explained how both of those things could be true at the same time here.
Georgetown 74, Creighton 73: I think Georgetown, at their peak, is a top 20 basketball team. They’ve got a long way to go to get there, however, and while they didn’t play like it in Tuesday night, a furious rally down the stretch earned them a win and kept them in a good position to be able to make a run at an NCAA tournament bid late in the season.
STARRED
Ethan Happ and Nigel Hayes, Wisconsin: Happ had 25 points, eight boards, four steals and two blocks and Hayes chipped in with 31 points as the Badgers knocked off Indiana.
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma: Ho-Hum, just another 30-point outing on 12 field goal attempts for the favorite for National Player of the Year. Oh, and the Sooners blew out Texas Tech.
Michael Carrera, South Carolina: Carrera had a cool 34 points and 15 boards as the Gamecocks bounced back with a win over Mississippi State.
Shaq Goodwin, Memphis: Goodwin went for 35 points, nine boards and six assists as Memphis rebounded from a loss to East Carolina by winning at Central Florida.
STRUGGLED
Providence Supporting Cast: Friars not named Kris Dunn or Ben Bentil went 8-for-37 from the floor in Tuesday night’s loss to Xavier at home.
NOTABLES
- No. 9 West Virginia stormed past Kansas State, winning by 15 points in Morgantown.
- Vanderbilt won for the fourth time in their last five games, hanging on to beat Florida despite blowing an 11-point halftime lead. Damian Jones had 20 points and 12 boards.
- Ben Simmons had 22 points and 14 boards as LSU avoided blowing a huge lead in the final two minutes to Georgia.
- Apparently Prince Ibeh thinks that he is Dwight Howard. He had 17 points, 10 boards and five blocks as the Longhorns knocked off TCU.