Tuesday night’s college hoops action had some ranked teams playing while the Big Ten continued its early conference games. But perhaps the most important outcome of the night involved Kansas losing big man Udoka Azubuike to an ankle injury.
1. Kansas wins as Udoka Azubuike goes down with potentially serious ankle injury
Kansas took down Wofford with a 72-47 home win on Tuesday night. A close game at halftime, the Jayhawks blew a three-point halftime lead wide open in the second half as Dedric Lawson finished with 20 points and eight rebounds.
But more importantly than the Kansas win was the injury to Jayhawk junior big man Udoka Azubuike. Going down in the first half with a potential ankle injury, Azubuike could miss a significant amount of time if it’s a high ankle sprain (or worse).
While the Jayhawks should be okay in the short term without Azubuike, they’ll need him if they want to remain in the driver’s seat in the Big 12.
2. No. 5 Michigan, Indiana both earn two-point Big Ten road wins
Big Ten conference play continued on Tuesday as a couple of close (and fun) games went down. Earlier in the night, Indiana knocked off Penn State with a two-point road victory. Juwan Morgan played through injury and freshman Romeo Langford dropped 17 points as the Hoosiers escaped with the win.
The nightcap featured a great back-and-forth final stretch from No. 5 Michigan as they took everything they could handle from hosting Northwestern. The Wolverines eventually outlasted the Wildcats for a two-point win as Northwestern guard Ryan Taylor missed a heavily-contested and banked three-pointer as time expired.
Michigan handled its first true road test of the season admirably as they played well down the stretch when Northwestern continued to knock down shots. Iggy Brazdeikis led the Wolverines with 23 points as Charles Matthews had an off-night with three points on 1-for-7 shooting.
3. Oklahoma and Florida win during Jimmy V Classic
The annual Jimmy V Classic tipped at Madison Square Garden with a doubleheader on Tuesday night.
The first game saw Oklahoma take down Notre Dame in an uptempo clash. The Sooners prevailed with an 85-80 win as Christian James continued a solid stretch with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Oklahoma moves to 6-1 on the season as they continue a strong start to the season.
Florida took down West Virginia in the second contest in an ugly game that never seemed to end. The Gators got the 66-56 win as KeVaughn Allen had a notable night with 19 points as he was one of two players in the entire game to score in double-figures. Florida probably earned its best win of the season, however, as they’ll look to build on this solid defensive effort going forward.