Today saw a slew of games, with finals over for the most part. The majority of teams played this weekend, so there's a lot to report on.
-Blowout wins were recorded by Syracuse, Kentucky, UNC, Marquette, Florida, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Michigan, Michigan State, and Creighton. Louisville had to hold off a late run and 28 strong points from Will Barton to escape against slumping Memphis, while Ohio State had to play the majority of the game without Jared Sullinger, yet again. Sullinger suffered a bone bruise in his foot, and is day-to-day. OSU scrapped out a 74-66 win over South Carolina, led by Deshaun Thomas's 30, a career-high. Baylor's Perry Jones III, recently back from a suspension, also had a scary moment when he collided knees. To the relief of Bear fans, he came back in and had a clutch tip-in with 20 ticks left to seal a 86-83 win at the Marriott Center against BYU. Mississippi State, off to a hot 11-1 start, almost were knocked off by the Horizon League's Detroit Titans, but scored the final 5 to notch a 80-75 win. In Indianapolis, the Hoosiers rode the Cody Zeller train to defeat Notre Dame, 69-58. After 3 treys from Alex Dragicevich in the opening 5, Notre Dame immediately went ice-cold, at one point going an astounding SIXTEEN minutes without a field goal. F Jack Cooley, fresh off a pair of 22 point games, didn't score until the second half and only had 12. Alabama ran into a train of a team in Kansas St., and was handily defeated 71-58. The bulk of their production came off the bench from two obscure players in Jordan Henriquez and Angel Rodriguez. Both had career days; Henriquez, 17 and Rodriguez, 13. After a 7-0 start, 'Bama has lost 3 of 4. UNLV reminded us why they deserve to be a top 25 team with a thumping at Illinois, 64-48, handing the Fighting Illini their first loss. UCLA transfer Mike Moser had a gritty double-double, putting up 17 points and 11 boards. The Illini shot a woeful 25.4% from the field. Indiana State showed why Vanderbilt should never have been ranked after their last loss in the first place with a marquee road win, 61-55. WITH 6:18 remaining, the Commodores were up 53-47. They would not score another field goal until there was 53.2 seconds remaining, down 57-53. The SEC's top scorer in John Jenkins accrued a season-low 11.
-Texas had a second-half surge to take down Temple, 77-65. In an in-state battle in the Orange State, it took 2 OT's for Miami to put away the pesky Owls of FAU, 93-90. A slumping Butler team revived itself in the second portion to stun Purdue yet again, 67-65. Andrew Smith had the game-winning tip with a single second left to clinch it for the Bulldogs, who are still under .500 for the season at 5-6. Northern Illinois, one of the six winless teams remaining, fell again in the Battle of Illinois, 62-49, to Southern Ill. Another one of those 6, Chicago State, went down as well, losing to Loyola (IL), 64-49. The final 6 winless teams are Northern Illinois, Chicago State, Hartford, Towson, Binghamton, and Grambling State. Murray State remained perfect, taking down Arkansas State at home, 66-53. The Racers have the best record in the NCAA at 12-0.
-It's tough to be a team from the SWAC (SouthWestern Athletic Conference). Not one of the 10 teams is anywhere near .500, with Southern University as the only school to have 3 wins thus far. The conference is a combined 16-72. That's a winning percentage of .18, far-and-away the worst record in the nation. Of the 16 wins, only 6 are against D1 schools. In fact, Grambling State is probably the worst team in the nation. Their leading scorer averages 8 a game. They're dead last in the NCAA in scoring (40.2), FG% (27.3), and 3rd to last in APG (8.2) They haven't scored more than 45 points. They lost to a team from the Great West, Utah Valley, by 30. The Great West doesn't even get a bid to the NCAA! No one from this conference deserves an NCAA bid.
-Teen phenom Lexi Thompson won her second professional event, the Dubai Ladies Masters, shooting -15 to win by 4 shots. No one can tell what kind of career she'll have; she seems to be the real deal, unlike Michelle Wie.
-Tony Romo and Co. used a 28-0 halftime lead to coast to a 31-15 win against the quickly-fading Tampa Bay Bucs. Romo threw a TD each to Miles Austin, Dez Bryant, and his new favorite receiver, Laurent Robinson, while accounting for the fourth on his own with a 1 yard run. Robinson has 9 TD's this season, all coming in the last 8 weeks. Only once was he denied a trip to the endzone (Week 10 in the stunning los to Arizona).
-In a season in which Penn State has had the hammer thrown down on them, it has surfaced that QB Matt McGloin got in a fight with one of his receivers, Curits Drake, after a practice, and then was immediately hospitalized after suffering a seizure. No word on what McGloin's condition is for the bowl game against a dethroned and angry Houston team in the TicketCity Bowl in Dallas on January 2.
-The Reds may have obtained their top-of-the-rotation pitcher in Mat Latos, acquired from the Padres in exchange for Yonder Alonso, who was marooned behind Votto at 1B, catcher Yasmani Grandal, frustrating SP Edinson Volquez, and RP Brad Boxberger. Latos had a 3.47 ERA last season, indicative of a high-position for him in the rotation.
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