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Late Night Snacks: Arizona State, Harvard earn double overtime victories

By Kevin DoyleFeb 15, 2014, 12:32 AM EDT
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GAME OF THE NIGHT: Arizona State 69, No. 2 Arizona 66 (2OT)

A Jermaine Marshall layup with 14 seconds remaining in double over time gave Arizona State a lead it would not relinquish, with the Sun Devils adding a quality win to its NCAA tournament resume. Marshall finished the game with 29 points and Jahii Carson added 17 on a night that saw both teams struggle offensively.

Arizona shot 36% from the field and Arizona State wasn’t much better, making just 40% of its shots. But the Sun Devils made one more play than the Wildcats in the end, with a Jordan Bachynski blocked shot preserving the lead. Prior to Friday night Arizona State had never defeated a team ranked either first or second in the national polls.

IMPORTANT OUTCOMES

1) No. 23 SMU 77, Rutgers 65

SMU followed up their home win over Cincinnati last weekend by earning a road victory against Rutgers tonight; the Mustangs have firmly supplanted themsleves as a Top 25 team. This is the first win for SMU as a ranked team in 29 years. Nic Moore led all scorers with 21 points.

2) No. 13 Louisville 82, Temple 58

Louisville jumped out to a 19-6 lead after the first eight minutes, and never allowed Temple to get within single digits the rest of the game. Montrezl Harrell dropped in 22 points, and was one of ten Cardinals to score. The next two games figure to be easy for Louisville as they play Rutgers and South Florida, but end the regular season with four of their last five games coming against Cincinnati, Memphis, SMU, and Connecticut.

3) Harvard 88, Columbia 84 (2OT)

In one of the crazier games at Levien Gym in recent history, Harvard eked out a double overtime win against Columbia, moving to 6-1 in the Ivy League. Siyani Chambers and Steve Moundou-Missi combined to score 44 of the 88 points for the Crimson. With both Brown and Penn losing tonight — each now has three league losses — the Ivy League has become a two team race between Harvard and Yale.

STARRED

1) Alex Rosenberg (Columbia)

Rosenberg netted a career-high 34 points on 10-17 shooting from the field and 4-6 3PT.

2) Travis Bader (Oakland)

Travis Bader is draining threes — the sky is also blue and the grass is green. In an 83-82 overtime win against Detroit, the senior sharpshooter drilled eight three-pointers and was a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe, en route to a 30 point performance.

3) A.J. English (Iona)

English had 21 points in an 89-70 win over Monmouth, but what was most impressive were his 13 assists to just one turnover. Those are Scott Machado kind of numbers.

STRUGGLED

1) Temple

Fran Dunphy hasn’t experience a season like this in quite some time. The Owls, who now sit at 6-17 and 1-10 in the AAC, have lost 12 of their last 13 games.

2) Lipscomb

Casey Alexander has done a solid job in his first season at Lipscomb. The Bisons are 11-14 and 6-8 in the Atlantic Sun, but tonight they were thumped by conference leader Mercer. Lipscomb shot a mere 24.6% from the field, and trailed 43-16 at the half.

3) Keith McDougald (Jacksonville)

Jacksonville had a chance to move back to the middle of the pack in the Atlantic Sun, but senior guard Keith McDougald had one of his toughest shooting nights of the season going 2-14 and 1-7 3PT. The Dolphins lost to North Florida, 79-47.

NOTABLES

  • Cornell won their first game against a Division 1 opponent this season, beating Dartmouth, 70-67. It was the Big Red’s first Division 1 win since February 16, 2013 when they won at Brown.
  • Yale moved to 6-1 in the Ivy League and kept pace with Harvard as they beat Pennsylvania.
  • Oakland beat Detroit in overtime on a Duke Mondy jumper with 11 seconds remaining.
  • Chattanooga moved to 10-2 in the Southern Conference with an 83-73 win over Western Carolina. Gee McGhee had 16 points and 15 rebounds in the win.
  • Mercer stays atop the Atlantic Sun standings with a dominating win over Lipscomb, 79-48.
  • Jay Bowie hit a three-pointer with three seconds remaining to propel Marist to a 65-64 victory over Siena.

Bob Knight a fan of St. Louis, Jim Crews

By Kevin DoyleFeb 14, 2014, 6:30 PM EDT
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Bob Knight is a brash and brazen kind of guy — he was as a coach and is as a color commentator. Love him or hate him, that’s just who he is as a person. As a color guy, he is fantastic in this regard. There is no holding back and he tells everything just like it is, which is what one hopes for in a color commentator.

For the aforementioned reasons, Knight’s praise of Jim Crews and the St. Louis basketball program holds serious merit.

St. Louis is 22-2 and is undefeated in Atlantic 10. They are on track for what may be the best season in program history. For the success the Billikens are experiencing, they are doing so without playing the most aesthetically pleasing brand of basketball. In fact, it is almost remarkable that St. Louis currently stands at 22-2, considering they rank 156th in offensive efficiency, according to kenpom.com.

They don’t win the game on the offensive end, but rather the defensive. Senior guard Jordair Jett is a menace on that end — actually, he resembles a bull with his style of play.

Bob Knight told Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “They have offense with movement. They don’t rely on the 3-point shot. They do a lot of screening. They just don’t come down and take a shot. Look at the number of free throws they shoot (534) compared to the other team (450). They’re not an easy team to play. They understand the value of defense.”

Knight is no stranger to Crews. Crews played for The General at Indiana and then was an assistant under him for eight seasons. As a player, he was a member of the 1975-76 team that went 32-0.

The two also have ties to West Point. Knight coached there from 1965-71, and Crews was at Army from 2002-09, prior to his current job at St. Louis.

Suffice to say, the two know each other well.

“Jimmy’s a very good coach. He understands the game very well,” Knight said. “Coaches are coaches but not all coaches are teachers of basketball. He is…His appreciation for what his responsibilities were was excellent,” Knight recalled. “There wasn’t anything about Jim Crews as a player that hasn’t translated into an asset as a coach.”

Crews and St. Louis face their most challenging test in the Atlantic 10 thus far as they play host to Virginia Commonwealth tomorrow — a game Knight will be providing the color for on ESPN.

Syracuse encourages fans to ‘Get your Tyler Ennis Jersey’

By Kevin DoyleFeb 14, 2014, 5:47 PM EDT
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Tyler Ennis is the hottest name in college basketball at the moment, after hitting a 35-foot buzzer beater against Pittsburgh to keep the Orange undefeated. Syracuse is, no doubt, looking to capitalize and sell some Tyler Ennis jerseys in the process.

The only problem is they cannot market and sell the jersey as Tyler Ennis’ — it’s a number on a Syracuse jersey and nothing more. Advertising it as Ennis’ jersey is against NCAA rules.

Realizing their err, the Syracuse twitter account has since deleted the tweet, but Mark Ennis screen captured an image of it:

Of course, everyone knows it’s Ennis’ jersey — just like those who purchase a No. 23 North Carolina jersey know it’s Michael Jordan — but Syracuse cannot explicitly market it as such.

 

Recommended Reading: College Basketball rivalries in the NBA

By Kevin DoyleFeb 14, 2014, 5:40 PM EDT
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The Duke vs. North Carolina basketball rivalry is not just the biggest one in college hoops, but it’s one of the biggest in sports — both college and professional, alike — period.

Come basketball season, the students and players at each respective school don’t like each other a whole lot — not so surprisingly, the students actually share a mutual “hatred” for each other, rather than the players. Said North Carolina’s Antawn Jamison: “As players, we got along with the Dukies. It was some kind of respect, but the students, they’re going around egging the university.”

Grantland’s Patricia Lee did some digging to see whether the intense rivalries at the college level have carried over to the professional ranks, specifically in the NBA.

In Los Angeles, the Lakers and Clippers both feature players who attended Duke and North Carolina in college: the Lakers’ Kendall Marshall (UNC), Ryan Kelly (Duke), Nick Young (USC), and Jordan Farmar (UCLA); and the Clippers’ Antawn Jamison (UNC), Reggie Bullock (UNC), and J.J. Redick (Duke).

As one would expect, the rivalry between Duke and Carolina has transformed into good-natured needling and story-telling, Jamison explained:

Carolina guys stand by Carolina, Duke guys stand by Duke. They have Coach K, I had Coach Smith, it’s Roy Williams now, you know, it’s a friendly debate that goes on. The best coach, the Duke guys have been pretty good about it. I think the Carolina guys, the old-school guys, because we were so dominant, we really laid it on thick. But sometimes we just say stuff like, “J.J. acting like a Dukie over there.” We always tell our stories, things of that nature.

Later in her article, Lee touches on the rivalry between USC and UCLA.

Nick Young, who went 1-5 against UCLA during his time at USC, has to hear about it from current teammate Jordan Farmar:

We were looking up old stats on the games, see who had the most points, talking trash. They won more games than us, they got us, but they never really blew us out, so it was always a close game. He’s always trying to get me to wear his UCLA stuff, a jersey or a small little money bet, that’s pretty much all. Whoever wins talks trash.

It’s a fun, enjoyable, and easy read.  Check it out here.

Late Night Snacks: Jay Wright wins 400th, Doug McDermott passes J.J. Redick on all-time scoring list

By Kevin DoyleFeb 8, 2014, 12:13 AM EDT
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GAME OF THE NIGHT: Columbia 53, Princeton 52

Columbia accomplished something tonight that they haven’t done since 1993: beat Princeton at Jadwin Gymnasium. For some of the players on Columbia, they weren’t even born the last time this occurred. As another point of reference, Pete Carril was coaching Princeton the last time Columbia won at Jadwin. More than just breaking this curse, the Lions remain alive in the chase for an Ivy League championship. With Harvard sitting at 5-0, it’s beginning to look like three losses will all but eliminate a team from winning the Ancient Eight. Meiko Lyles hit a three-pointer with 28 seconds remaining to propel Columbia to the one point victory.

IMPORTANT OUTCOMES 

1) Villanova 70, Seton Hall 53

Jay Wright won the 400th game of his coaching career as Villanova routed Seton Hall to move to 21-2 on the season, and 9-2 in the Big East. Four of Villanova’s starters scored in double-figures and did so in an extremely efficient fashion. JayVaughn Pinkston, Daniel Ochefu, James Bell, and Darrun Hilliard II combined to shoot 24-34 FG for 59 points. Seton Hall hung around for much of the first half, but a Pinkson layup early in the second half extended the Wildcats’ lead to 38-28, and the Pirates never got within single-digits the rest of the way.

2) Creighton 78, DePaul 66

Creighton wasn’t at their best tonight, but Doug McDermott was his usual good self. The Bluejays led DePaul for the entire game, but the Blue Demons made a run in the second half to get within a point with less than eight minutes remaining. McDermott then took over the game, scoring 11 of Creighton’s next 14 points to ensure the victory. Creighton is now 10-1 in the Big East.

3) Manhattan 84, Canisius 73

Losers of three of their last five games, Manhattan was beginning to fall out of contention for the MAAC regular season title. Tonight in Buffalo against Canisius, however, George Beamon out-dueled Billy Baron as the Jaspers picked up a much needed win.

STARRED

1) Tony Hicks (Pennsylvania) — The sophomore guard dropped in 27 points and dished out seven assists as the Quakers got back to .500 in the Ivy League.

2) A.J. English (Iona) — David Laury was actually the big story for Iona as he came off the bench to score 28 points, but it was English’s game-winning three-point bucket in the final seconds that propelled the Gaels to a win at Niagara. Iona sits alone atop the MAAC with an 11-2 conference record.

3) George Beamon (Manhattan) — Hindered by an injury to his shoulder that sidelined him for a few games, Beamon has struggled in his return from a scoring perspective. Tonight against Canisius, Beamon was in top-form as he scored 27 points, along with four rebounds and four assists.

STRUGGLED

1) Cornell — Big Red isn’t winless, but they are against Division 1 competition. In their loss to Pennsylvania, Cornell is now 1-18 overall and 0-5 in the Ivy League. Their lone win on the season has come against Oberlin.

2) Sean McGonagill — Brown was looking to move to 4-1 in the Ivy League, but their star guard struggled from the field, shooting just 2-11 for eight points. The Bears scored just 45 points in the loss (52-45).

3)  Fuquan Edwin — Seton Hall hung around with Villanova for a half, but Edwin shot just 3-10 from the floor and scored eight points as the Pirates were unable to keep pace.

NOTABLES

  • Yale went on the road and beat Dartmouth, 67-54. The Bulldogs are now 4-1 in the Ivy League, and will travel to Cambridge tomorrow evening for the “game of the year” in the Ancient Eight to date as Harvard and Yale currently sit at 1-2 in the league.
  • Mercer escaped Kennesaw State, winning 75-68. A loss here would have been the Bears’ second consecutive loss, and a real disastrous one as the Owls entered the game with a 4-20 record.
  • Jay Hook hit a free throw with a second remaining as Tulane defeated Charlotte, 64-63.
  • Southern Mississippi overcame an 11 point halftime deficient, and eked past Marshall at home, maintaining their position atop Conference USA.
  • Juwan Howard Jr. hit a three-pointer in the final seconds to propel Detroit to a road victory against Valparaiso, 59-57.

Creighton beats DePaul, McDermott continues to climb in the record books

By Kevin DoyleFeb 7, 2014, 11:32 PM EDT
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Creighton didn’t play their crispest game of the season. They shot just 46.4% from the field and 28% from three — two fairly decent percentages for most teams — and got hammered on the offensive and defensive glass all night. That Doug McDermott guy, though? He was in his usual form, leading Creighton to a 78-66 win over DePaul.

McDermott dropped in 32 points, eclipsing the 30 point mark for the eighth time this season. In the process, he surpassed former Duke guard J.J. Redick on the all-time scoring list, moving up to 17th. Next up on the list is former Tennessee sharpshooter Allan Houston.

As for the game itself, Creighton was playing without guard Devin Brooks tonight. It was reported Brooks wasn’t even in the arena due to an illness, and whether he will be ready to play at St. John’s this coming Sunday is unknown at this time.

For about 33 minutes tonight, Creighton looked like they were in a funk. Perhaps it was the extended time off in between their game before DePaul, St. John’s about a week and a half ago on January 28th. Not having Brooks in the lineup definitely hurt, especially from a rebounding perspective. Although a guard who stands at 6-foot-2, Brooks is a solid rebounder and does many things on the floor that don’t always go noticed for Creighton.

Of course, a home game against Big East cellar dweller on a Friday evening prior to flying out to New York to play St. John’s on Sunday, may have been viewed as the classic trap game. The Bluejays already smoked DePaul earlier this season, 81-62.

When the Blue Demons made it 59-58 with 7:36 remaining, McDermott scored 11 of Creighton’s next 14 points — nine of which came from the free throw line — to dispose any chance of a DePaul upset win.

In looking ahead to Sunday’s game at Madison Square Garden, Creighton figures to be greatly challenged by St. John’s. A few weeks ago, the Johnnies looked all but dead. They were 9-8 overall and 0-5 in the Big East, but they have won five of their past six games to vault to the middle of the Big East standings, and now have renewed hope of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.

The last time these two teams met, Doug McDermott did this.