by Jordan Beckley
1. Checking on the SEC after an eventful Saturday
The SEC was supposed to have a big Saturday Slate this weekend with Auburn hosting ranked Ole Miss, a better-than-we-thought Georgia team going to Lexington, and the spotlight game of undefeated (in conference play) Alabama at betting favorite Tennessee.
The showcase Saturday was more of a snoozer as all three home teams (Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee) cruised to victory.
Auburn was up double digits for 30 minutes including being up 19 at half and at one point 35 points (75-40) before settling in for an 82-59 victory. The Tigers have now won 11 straight games by 11+ points and is the only remaining undefeated team in SEC play.
Kentucky blew past what was a 3-1 Georgia Bulldogs team being up 10-20 points for 30 minutes of this game before Georgia made it a 9 point game by the final buzzer. More on the big debut in this game and Kentucky later, but Big Blue Nation is 4-1 with one overtime loss at Texas A&M.
Now those two games followed what probably was expected to happen. Tennessee Alabama was the big surprise of the day. Alabama isn’t ranked, but is beloved by the statistical platforms like KenPom and, despite their 5 losses, was actually ranked higher than Tennessee before Saturday.
The Vols lead from opening jump to final buzzer and had a 27 point lead at one point in their 91-71 statement win. The telltale stats in the loss for the Crimson Tide were the 22 turnovers and going 4-21 from three. Dalton Knecht further solidified his case as a First-Team All American while the Top Tier of the SEC has emerged.
Kentucky, Tennessee and Auburn seem to be in their own class. Now, Tennessee and Kentucky will each play each other twice (get ready for Saturday February 3rd in Rupp) and play Bama twice. Auburn meanwhile plays UT and UK just once (home for Kentucky and away for Tennessee) but will play Alabama twice including in Tuscaloosa this Wednesday. Keep that schedule imbalance and one-game lead in mind when placing your futures.
2. 55 minutes and multiple collapses later Creighton survives at Seton Hall
Creighton and Seton Hall had an epic triple overtime contest this weekend at the Prudential Center in New Jersey.
It was a back and forth contest all game with the tied-for-first place Pirates holding a late lead when Steven Ashworth hit a huge swooping layup to tie in the closing seconds of regulation.
However, that was only when things started to get wonky.
The BlueJays took a 75-71 lead after Trey Alexander’s made jumper with 33 seconds left in Overtime #1 before collapsing the first time and letting Seton Hall tie it to force Double OT at 75 all. Then Creighton was up 83-79 with 24 seconds when the 2nd collapse happened.
The first mistake was when Trey Alexander fouled Al-Amir Dawes on a three pointer up four with 16 seconds left. After Dawes hit three free throws making it a one point game, Kadary Richmond stole the ball shortly after the inbounds pass and after a questionable foul call went to the line to shoot two free throws. Richmond, who had a triple double with 21 points and 11 rebounds/assists on 8-32 shooting in 51 minutes, missed the second free throw and we went to 2nd overtime.
In the third overtime, Creighton fell behind but battled back and big baskets from Trey Alexander and clutch free throws from Steven Ashworth and Baylor Scheierman mercifully sealed the game.
So what did we learn? Well, both these teams are fighters. These teams will be a hard out in March (if Creighton doesn’t do too much self sabotage). Seton Hall is tracking as a 7 seed and boy I would not want to be a 2 seed playing them in the Round of 32. Creighton meanwhile will be a sleeping giant as a 4 seed.
Just another day in Big East Basketball, I guess.
3. Everything you might have missed from the best CBB weekend so far
Triple overtime in Newark and ranked blowouts weren’t the only Madness from College Basketball this weekend either. It was a Saturday full of buzzer beaters, upsets, blowouts, and special moments that only College Basketball can provide.
So the third thing of this week’s big 3 will just be me attempting to catch you up on all the Madness you may have missed.
Let’s start in Lexington where 7’2″ Croatian Freshman Zvonimir Ivisic finally was granted eligibility by the NCAA. Big Z played immediately and starred right away with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals, and 3-4 from three in just 16 minutes.
It was all smiles for the new fan favorite of Big Blue Nation as the Cats roll by Georgia.
Rodney Terry made headlines for yelling at UCF players who were doing the horns down gesture after the Longhorns loss to the Golden Knights this week. Well, it was Terry’s turn to celebrate with this Tyrese Hunter game winner over no. 9 Baylor.
Seriously, rewatch that clip and enjoy how Rodney Terry just jumps up and down after Hunter’s shot. Terry might still have to learn some things about Head Coach decorum, but nobody should try and make him feel bad for getting excited for his team.
The win raises Texas to 2-3 in the conference tied for 8th with 6 other teams. The 2nd road loss of less than 5 points this week drops formerly 1st place Baylor down to 3rd place tied with again 6 other teams. The Big 12 will be a bloodbath all year long.
The Archie Miller Revenge Game didn’t go as planned this weekend in Dayton. Coach Miller took his nearly .500 Rhode Island Rams to his former school to play in UD Arena. It didn’t go well for Archie and if anything it was a revenge game against Archie. The Flyers beat their former coach 96-62 and were up 20+ points for essentially 26 of the 40 minutes. It got so bad that the Dayton fan-favorite walk-on was hitting step back threes on Rhode Island.
The human victory cigar celebration of the local legend walk-on scoring is always great but seemed cruel to pull that against Archie.
There were plenty of upsets this weekend but I don’t think any were as surprising as the Mountaineers of West Virginia beating no. 3 Kansas. Perhaps no team has had a rough of a go of it as West Virginia, but those loyal fans in Morgantown finally had something to celebrate.
WVU hit 12 threes at 57.1%, RaeQuan Battle scored 23 and Kerr Kriisa added 15 points as Kevin McCullar and Hunter Dickinson couldn’t do enough for the Jayhawks to win on the road.
Nebraska and Northwestern were in a real tight contest on Saturday with the road team down one possession with 30 seconds to play needing one stop. That’s when Keisei Tominaga hit this dagger three to seal it for the Huskers.
Tominaga is often compared to Steph Curry because of his millisecond long release, his seemingly unending range, his diminutive stature and well because he has so much fun out there.
Keisei Tominaga might be one of the few players who is having more fun than all the thousands of fans he brings such thrills too. It is so fun watching a guy with his lightning-in-a-bottle, strike from anywhere playstyle, but that play is elevated by the celebration of his own skills.
Red Autry’s debut season for Syracuse hasn’t been awesome, but this weekend the Orange had something to jump up and down for:
Syracuse is still on the fringes of being on the Bubble let alone in the tournament. Maybe this win over Miami can help push them for some more wins in the ACC. Or maybe it will just be a nice moment in a forgettable first year. Either way buzzer beaters are pretty cool.
Saturday night was capped off by something that hadn’t happened in 45 years: Pittsburgh upset no. 7 Duke in Durham. Now, the upset sounds more scarce than it is because Pitt has only played the Blue Devils 24 times and only had 6 opportunities in the past two decades to win at Duke. Still, it is always awesome when Duke loses at home and Blake Hinson seized the moment:
The senior wing Hinson scored 24 points in his first win over the College Basketball Blue Blood and got to celebrate with the Cameron Crazies. Here is an angle from the Crazies themselves.
Two freshmen had big performances down the stretch in Jaaland Lowe and Carlton Carrington to help the Panthers pull it out. Of course Jeff Capel certainly enjoys winning in Cameron Indoor over Scheyer too.
Here is one final shot of the Hinson Mount. Go ahead and waste some time zooming in on each disappointed or infuriated face of the losing student section.
Now I recapped all of that and I didn’t even get into UCLA dropping a 19 point lead and losing to rival Arizona, no.1 UConn surviving a messy game vs Villanova, the chaos of Marquette and St. Johns, the guest locker room at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and so much more!
College Basketball always delivers folks! YoutubeTV’s multiview is a must during conference play, but if you miss anything just make sure you’re following the Floor Slap to catch up on all the Madness.