Creighton did not get off to the best of starts Tuesday night, trailing by as many as 20 points with Butler making eight of its first 12 three-pointers.
Junior guard Khyri Thomas did his best to provide a spark, driving the lane and then dunking on two Butler defenders.
Thomas’ dunk sparked a 12-4 run to end the half, trimming the Bluejays’ deficit to a slightly more manageable 12 points.
Having won its last five games entering Tuesday’s matchup with Maryland, Nebraska is looking to continue its run of good results and ultimately play itself into the NCAA tournament.
One of the standouts for the Huskers this season has been junior guard James Palmer Jr., and during the first half Tuesday night Nebraska’s leading scorer threw down a poster-worthy dunk.
Give Maryland’s Kevin Huerter credit for attempting to block the dunk attempt, but his missed swipe led to his being on the receiving end of an emphatic one-handed finish.
Coming off of a sophomore season in which he earned second team All-Southland Conference honors, Stephen F. Austin forward TJ Holyfield has been even better as a junior. Entering Tuesday’s game at Missouri, Holyfield was averaging 15.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game, shooting 57.9 percent from the field.
Holyfield’s athleticism was on display during the second half of Tuesday’s game, as he threw down a powerful one-handed dunk on a late to rotate Terrence Phillips.
Give Phillips credit for making an attempt to block Holyfield’s dunk, but given the difference in height anything less than a foul was not going to suffice.
Playing without leading scorer Andrew Jones, who’s out of the lineup after suffering a fractured wrist, Texas got off to a slow start in the first half of its game against Michigan Tuesday night.
Freshman forward Jericho Sims did his best to provide a spark, as the 6-foot-9 Minnesota native rose above Michigan’s Duncan Robinson to throw down a vicious alley-oop dunk.
Sims has a couple inches on Robinson in the height department, and the running start Sims managed to get rolling to the basket didn’t help Robinson’s chances of stopping the dunk either.
The Big Ten/ACC Challenge hasn’t been all that close, with the ACC holding a 9-1 lead going into the late games on Wednesday’s schedule. No. 10 Miami looked to extend the ACC’s lead with a win at No. 12 Minnesota, but the two ranked teams would play the first half to a tie.
Two highlight-worthy plays ended the half, the first being Miami’s Dewan Huell throwing down a powerful dunk on Minnesota big man Reggie Lynch.
Minnesota would strike back on the other end of the floor, with Amir Coffey pulling a Blake Hoffarber and making a basket while seated on the Williams Arena court. The teams would go into the half tied at 36.
Listed at 7-feet, 280 pounds, Kansas redshirt freshman Udoka Azubuike is an imposing figure on the basketball court. If he gets his defender pinned underneath the basket, there’s a good chance that Azubuike is going to finish things off with a powerful dunk.
That’s exactly what happened in the first half of Kansas’ home game against Texas Southern, with 7-foot-2 center Trayvon Reed being on the receiving end of a vicious poster-worthy dunk. Had this been on a fast break maybe Reed has the opportunity to make a “business decision.” No such luck in a half-court set, however.
