College Hoops Thursday & Last Night’s Recap
Arizona State travels to Eugene, Oregon to take on the Ducks in a Pac 12 showdown.
Last night we went (3-2) just missing on the Rice Owls who blew a 16 point first half lead losing the game by 3. Let’s recap what went on last night then jump into some Pac 12 showdowns! We’ve gone (6-4) thus far so let’s try and keep that up.
Let’s start off with the most disappointing game last night between #3 Alabama and #20 Arkansas. I thought this would have been a better show but the Razorbacks could not keep up with the Crimson Tide. Alabama came out playing at a blazing pace even for the Razorbacks. They also seemed to hit every open shot. The Tide penalized Arkansas anytime they made a mistake by turning the ball over or taking a bad shot early in the play clock. Alabama finished the game going 9/20 45% from 3PT. Far better than Arkansas’ 2/10 20% from deep. Alabama even made it to the FT line 36 times! We highlighted freshman Brandon Miller but it was guard Mark Sears who put on a show dropping 26 points and was 10/10 from the charity stripe. Anytime the Razorbacks got the game within 2 or 3 points the Crimson Tide would go on another run leaving no doubt. Razorbacks have time to figure things out. We take the L with ‘em here.
The #16 Marquette Golden Eagles came up huge as home underdogs against the overrated and overvalued UCONN Huskies. The Huskies flexed its muscles in the paint winning the rebound battle 35 to 29 with 11 blocked shots. Yes, UCONN has great size but the smaller, faster and pesky Golden Eagles came up with the win. Marquette forced 16 turnovers and committed 11. Marquette went to the foul line four more times and made 4 more free throws than UCONN and that made the difference in the game. Imagine that. We get the outright victory with Shaka and the Golden Eagles.
We highlighted Keyonte George from Lewisville, TX and he lived up to the billing last night in Morgantown. George took the Mountaineers to school scoring 32 points, grabbing 7 rebounds. Baylor had control of this game for the most part but West Virginia kept it close. WVU shot 24/33 73% from the FT line and lost the game by 5 points. I bet coach Huggins was not pleased. The Mountaineers lost the game on the FT line but Baylor didn’t. We cash the Bears as underdogs.
There was another barn burner in the Big East between Creighton and the #12 Xavier Musketeers. This was a back and forth game, neck and neck up until the very end. As we talked about, Xavier used its toughness, speed and size to hold on to the win. It was a dead even game shooting wise but the difference was the big men for Xavier. The Musketeers out rebounded the Blue Jays 41 to 30 on the glass with 15 of those being offensive rebounds. Can’t forget to mention the man who sealed the deal for Xavier: Souley Boum. He had 26 points and had ice in his veins on the FT line to cover the -2.5.
As we pointed at above the Rice game was a tail of two halves. The Owls were up by 14 at halftime and MTSU came storming back by hitting shots behind the 3PT arc. The Blue Raiders hit 4 more 3PT than the Owls and took home the victory winning by three points. We get the L with the Owls.
We don’t have any Big 12, Big East or SEC basketball today so we’ll be jumping into some other conferences. Good luck to us and let’s get into tonight’s games:
Michigan Wolverines (+5.5) vs. Iowa Hawkeyes; total 154.5 6:00pm ct
The Wolverines will be on the road tonight but are getting too many points here. Michigan has had its struggles recently but so has Iowa. Michigan just had its two game winning streak snapped by Michigan State on the road and Iowa is currently on a two game win streak. They both have a common opponent in Penn State. Michigan beat the Nittany Lions by 10 and Iowa lost to them by 4. In what I think is an even matchup I’ll take the points here. The spread should be closer to 4 points here.
Arizona State Sun Devils (+5.5) vs. Oregon Ducks; total 137.5 8:00pm ct
The Sun Devils a top 30 defense in the country and will need it on the road against Oregon tonight. This is a pretty even matchup regarding each teams offense but the defense is what separates the two. 5.5 points is far too many with this Oregon team. Its only quality win in conference was its last game on the road defeating Utah. ASU has been putting together tough performances with the exception for its game against San Francisco last month. The Sun Devils played on the road against Arizona and the spread was 5.5 favoring the Wildcats. One of the best teams in the country. This number is wrong here so I’ll take the points with the Sun Devils from Tempe.
#6 Gonzaga Bulldogs (-6.5) vs. BYU Cougars; total 153.5 8:00pm ct
The Zags have three losses: Texas, Baylor and Purdue. Some of the best teams in the country. Gonzaga seems to have found its form since the beginning of the season. They struggled recently against San Francisco and Santa Clara. Two teams that like to run and can keep up. BYU is not build like those schools. The Cougars have had trouble with the Gonzaga Bulldogs and I like for that trend to continue. The Zags offense will be too much for BYU tonight. I’ll lay it with the Zags on the road.
Colorado Buffaloes (+3.5) vs. USC Trojans; total 140 8:00pm ct
Live from the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Californ-I-A the Buffaloes from Colorado face off with the Trojans. The Buffs had a terrible loss against the leagues worst team the Cal Bears losing 80-76. Other than that loss, Colorado has won 7 of its last 8. They have had recent success against USC so there is nothing to be afraid of for the Buffaloes. I’m backing Colorado and its superior defense to stifle the Trojans at home. It’ll be stinker of a Pac12 game but should be fun!
#8 Arizona Wildcats (-15.5) vs. Oregon State Beavers; total 143.5 10:00pm ct
Last Saturday the U of A Wildcats had a bad loss to Washington State. It has been 5 days since. Plenty of time for Tommy Lloyd to whip the ‘Cats back into shape. I expect Arizona to be laser focused and take advantage of their talent that is far superior to the Beavers currently. The Beavers have loss by 20 and 19 respectively in its last two games. Even though this game is in Corvallis, Oregon I expect Arizona to get back to winning in a big way tonight.
Well, we are going into the night trusting 5 road teams to get the job done. Not many games tonight but we have some West Coast hoops to look forward to! #5 UCLA also hosts Utah but I wasn’t comfortable laying that many points nor trusting the Utes on the road. Enjoy.
