Observations from the World of Sports: Feb. 16

There were a lot of marquee teams playing last night, but most of them were taking on weaker teams from their conference. So a lot of easy wins, but a couple of upsets as well. Let's get to it.

-Texas, Pittsburgh, and Duke all had easy wins over sub .500 teams in conference to extend their respective conference leads. Pittsburgh let South Florida stay in the game for the first half, before putting it away later on.

-San Diego State matched a record 26th win in school history with a close victory over New Mexico at home, 68-62. The game came down to free throws, yet again, but Kawhi Leonard and D.J. Gay sealed the game from the line. SDSU is going to definitely be a force this postseason, and they have one game before the showdown against BYU.

-Kemba Walker and Connecticut stormed back into the Big East conversation with a win against Georgetown, 78-70, that snapped Georgetown's 8 game Big East win streak. Kemba was back to his superhuman self, scoring 31 in pacing the Huskies. Kemba went 13-23 from the field, but was only 1-5 from downtown, and his free-throw shooting struggles continue, going 4-8 from the line to further lower his FT%. Jamal Coombs-McDaniel came off his career-high 25 against Providence with another career game, this time notching 23 in going 8-11, 2-4, and 5-6 in FG, 3-PT, and FT, respectively. Chris Wright led the Hoyas with 19.

-Wisconsin couldn't use their stunning upset of Ohio State to take down Purdue in West Lafeyette, falling by a score of 70-62. The unknown and blossoming third star of the Boilermakers, Lewis Jackson, scored 18 points and dished 5 assists. The two well-known players, JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore, paced Purdue yet again with 20 and 10 boards, and 19 points, respectively. It was a big win, as Purdue vaunted themselves into sole possession of second place in the Big 10. Jon Leuer had 23, and Jordan Taylor, who was thrust into the spotlight in his breakout performance against OSU, only had 15.

-Cincinnati finally got the marquee win they needed with an upset over Louisville at home, 63-54. UC won with their trademark grinding, athletic defense that confounded the Musketeers during this year's Crosstown Shootout. Cashmere Wright more than doubled his PPG with a 20 point effort to pace scorers, and Sean Kilpatrick came off the bench to add 18 points in only 23 quality minutes. Louisville's ususally assist-happy squad was shut down, and only had 11 on the game. Terrence Jennings was the only Cardinal in double figured with 14, as Kyle Kuric, Preston Knowles, and Peyton Siva were all but stopped. Siva also eventually fouled out. Yancy Gates got his first big minutes since his suspension, adding 8 points and 6 boards in 30 minutes. This was a game Mick Cronin was undoubtedly revved for, as his previous job was assistant under Rick Pitino.

-Texas A&M unnecessarily had a close game against cellar-dwelling Iowa State, but held them off, 71-66. Both teams had four players in double figures, but Iowa State only had 7 scholarship players available. The win gets A&M into the vaunted 20 win club yet again.

-Vanderbilt almost found away to slide off my Power Rankings as soon as getting on them, but made up a 14 point deficit in defeating the Georgia Bulldogs on the road, 64-56. John Jenkins had 21 points, all of them in the last 14 minutes of the game. Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie, Georgia's two main threats, struggled from the field, going a combined 4-19. Thompkins ended up with 8, and Leslie with 9. Vanderbilt also only was 32.3% from the field.

-Saint Mary's had their West Coast Conference run deflated with a stunning loss to the worst team in the conference, San Diego, 74-66. The Toreros notched an amazing 66.6% from the field in the second half to knock off the Gaels, who were 10-1 in conference. San Diego state stays in a tie for last with Loyola Mariemont at 2-10. Loyola also had an upset win against middling Pepperdine.

-Utah State's Tai Wesley literally brought the place down with a pair of shattered backboards in their blowout win of NAIA school Montana-Western, 100-66. Only one was actually shattered by Wesley, as the second was broken by a bunch of morons who tried to replace the backboard Wesley demolished. If anyone finds video of this, please send me a comment with the URL.

-A young Memphis team continues to grow, and now is the sole leader of Conference USA with a clutch win over UAB, 62-58. Will Barton had 17.

-Xavier easily dispatched Saint Joseph's with a 20 point blowout in Philadelphia, 74-54. Tu Holloway was weak from the field again, going only 2-10, but had 9-9 free throws in notching 14 points. Mark Lyons made up for all the time he missed against Duquesne, leading all scorers with 24, and Kenny Frease had yet another double-double with 17 and 10. Dante is back to his cold shooting form, scoring only 2 points and going 0-3 from beyond the arc. He was 1-1 inside it though. All of X's reserves got into the game, and freshmen Jordan Latham and Jay Canty both scored, Canty's pair of free throws being the first points he's scored since fracturing his foot against Albany Dec. 28. Four technicals were assessed: two to each team.

-And finally, in the Ohio Valley Conference, leader Murray State, who was ranked in the first edition of ESPN's Power Rankings by some experts, inexplicably fell to Southeast Missouri State, 64-57. Isaiah Canaan, Murray State's leading scorer at 12.3 PPG, only had 5.