College Basketball Teams of the Week – Week 4 (December 14-20, 2020)
Another week has been recorded in the 2020-21 College Basketball journal. Week 4 gave us plenty of surprises, realizations about programs, and emerging stars. Some quick observations include the back-to-back game format adopted by several conferences has been going on now in certain leagues for the past few weeks. The losing team in game one, has almost always come back hungrier in game two. We are seeing splits more often than not, and I think that will keep several conference races tight. The teams who do earn sweeps (like Milwaukee and others this past week) will likely get recognition from us here each week, quite frankly it is hard to win back-to-backs. Another observation is, this season continues to be like no other with teams coming and going on pause. The committee has an impossible task on how to weigh all of those factors, plus the diminshing meaning of home-court advantage this season is a unique challenge as well.
Without further ado - lets get to the Team Awards:
UCF’s Brandon Mahan was locked in against Florida State.
UCF - HC Johnny Dawkins and the UCF staff did something unique when the scheduling turmoil hit full climax. They deciding on playing just four non-conference games, but against big-time competition. Those four were Auburn, Michigan, Florida State, and Oklahoma. The Oklahoma game was ultimately canceled. That left the Knights hosting Auburn during the early part of the year and beating an Auburn team suffering from some early season unrest. A trip to Ann Arbor, where UCF was beaten pretty badly by Michigan, 80-58. 13 days later, the Knights were finally tasked with a game at Florida State. Nationally, many had overlooked the Knights in this game. After all, we didn’t know enough about UCF, but we did know that Florida State had wins over Indiana and Florida, plus has an ACC title to defend this season. So the expectations were non-existent for UCF coming into gameday. Then the game started, we witnessed a first half full of crazy runs. First, FSU went on a 13-0 run to go up 21-13. Then, UCF had their own 13-0 run to claim a 32-29 lead. Not to be outdone by FSU’s 13-2 run that led to a 5-point Seminole halftime lead and stretched into part of the second half. Coach Dawkins may have said some wise words at Halftime because the Knights really came ready once the second half had some rhythm to it. Texas A&M transfer Brandon Mahan, who played at UCF last year and averaged 7.5 PPG, went off in the second half - scoring 26 of his 32 in the half. Mahan appears to have made a major leap from last season. Isaiah Adams is a true freshman from Jacksonville, played tremendously well and added 22 (including 9 free throws). Sophomore Darin Green put up 20 of his own points. Between the trio of Mahan, Green, and Adams - they combined for 74 of UCF’s 86 points. All of this led to a stunning 86-74 win at Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee going away. UCF is now 2-1 heading into AAC play, it remains to be seen if they will find more non-conference games or not. In any event, the Knights are quickly a team to watch in the AAC race.
BYU - Not many programs have had the luxury to play nine games this year, but the Cougars have been fortunate. Their schedule resembles mixed results as close to a normal season as you can find. HC Mark Pope believes in playing the toughest possible schedule, as he should. Pope is quite aggressive about it. BYU shifted and turned several times during the offseason to ensure they would play quality teams. They ended up in Connecticut for two games where they split two games against St. John’s and USC. BYU also have had to go over a roster makeover this season. Out are the all-star guards Jake Toolson and Tyler Haws, in are massive front line players highlighted by Purdue transfer Matt Haarms. The strategy this season is mostly transformational, but Pope doesn’t mind - he embraces it. That leads us to another big test in San Diego against from MWC rivals San Diego State. The Aztecs have been featured here in past weeks, been an outstanding team early on with wins at Arizona State, over UCLA, and an unblemished record. From my perspective, this was a matchup nightmare for San Diego State. Not many teams out-physical the Aztecs, however this Cougar front-line is built to disrupt and wreak havoc on opposing front-lines. BYU ended up with a 40-26 rebounding edge in Viejas, which just really jumps off the page. BYU played a near perfect first half and at one point led by 17. In the second half, the Aztecs behind Matt Mitchell, made a tremendous rally to cut to a one-point game. Then it was Brandon Averette’s opportunity to shine, hitting an ice cold triple to distance BYU from the Aztecs for good. Highlights below.
Northwestern - Unexpectedly, we welcome Northwestern to their first ever Team of the Week award. This Wildcat program has been through a lot of losing in a loaded Big Ten. 2020-21 brings a clean slate, and it also brought a Top team in the league and perennial Big Ten power, Michigan State. After all, Northwestern hadn’t beat a top-five team since 1979. But these Cats didn’t care, they came equiped for a battle. Boo Buie, Northwestern’s formerly streaky scorer, has been much more steady early on this season. Buie, had a career-high 30, hit five of six from distance in the game. Buie is also averaging 5.6 Assists per game. Northwestern did a tremendous job with ball movement, assisting 19 of their 26 made field goals, en route to a 79-65 upset over Michigan State. The Wildcats took advantage of a somewhat lethargic Spartan defense. Despite an earlier home loss to Pitt, a win like this puts Northwestern back on the map for potential at-large teams. The Big Ten will be rugged, no doubt, but this is a moment that many folks associateed with Northwestern Basketball won’t forget. Well done, ‘cats.
Chattanooga - The Mocs’ could be for real. Before we deep dive on yet another promising SoCon program, let’s rewind to last season. The SoCon was loaded with quality teams a year ago, headlined by ETSU, UNCG, and Furman. However, this Chattanooga program quietly battled their way to a 10-8 league record and knocked off UNC-Greensboro in their finale. They then faced UNCG again in the Conference Quarterfinals and beat the Spartans again! That got the Mocs into a surprise semifinal against Wofford, where they fell by two in a tough loss. That lead to the long offseason and a team who returned a few key players, but also dealt with the loss of Ramon Vila (opted to return to Spain), two departing seniors, Maurice Commander (transferred to UIC), Rod Johnson (transferred to WIU). That meant the only returning starter from the SoCon tourney run was David Jean-Baptiste, a 6-1 experienced guard. But Jean-Baptiste himself, is now in the Transfer Portal as of December 12th.. So this Mocs team is a mash up of mostly newcomers and the job Lamont Paris has done has been outstanding through all of it. Since the Jean-Baptiste departure, redshirt Freshman Jamaal Walker has taken on a much larger role, and Walker is making it pay off by leading the SoCon in 3-point FG percentage. This all leads us to this past week. Another patchwork job by Coach Paris got the Mocs past UNC-Asheville in a mid-week game, 69-66, and setup an undefeated showdown with UAB in Birmingham. Both teams entered 7-0, with very different paths to get there. The Mocs had already played and won in each of their three previous road tests. UAB had only left Birmingham once and had not hosted a team in the Top 280 in KenPom prior to the showdown with the Mocs. So what happened? Chattanooga banded together and fought, especially on the defensive end of the floor. They held UAB to just 3-for-16 shooting from deep. This allowed the Mocs to be in it all the way through. They trailed by a possession with around a minute to go, and held UAB scoreless on three straight trips to end it. On the offensive end, a great ball movement possession landed in Jamaal Walker’s hands, who hit the eventual game winner with 19.9 seconds to go. Malachi Smith stretched the lead to three in the closing seconds with a free throw. Mocs held on for amazingly their second 69-66 victory of the week (yes, the UNCA win had the same score). Chattanooga is 8-0 and leads the nation in D1 wins, despite the rollercoaster roster changes.
Rutgers - Steve Pikiell’s legend continues to grow in Piscataway before our very eyes. If you are reading this, you likely know about the major breakthroughs from last season that led to some raised expectations in 2020-21. Ron Harper, Jr. is back in the fold and in a big way. Jacob Young has been outstanding. And the Scarlet Knights offense is fundamentally sound, ranking 7th in the country in Non-Steal TO% (essentially a lack of unforced errors). This week introduced Big Ten play, beginning with a road game at Maryland. Last year, road games were the achilles heel for Rutgers, going 2-8 away from the RAC (including a loss at Maryland last February). This year’s visit to the Xfinity Center in College Park was much different. After a back and forth first half, left RU trailing by 1 at Halftime, the Scarlet Knights bursted out for a 13-2 run and built up a 12-point lead with 10 minutes to go. The Scarlet Knights would not look back, proceeding to a 74-60 victory. That set the stage for a nationally hyped showdown with Illinois at the RAC. This contest was a treat to view, as Rutgers just flat out outhustled and outplayed a very talented Illinois team. Ron Harper, Jr. had 28 points and 9 rebounds. He would later say, "We have a dog mentality, a pack mentality and we're going to attack you every time we get between those lines." Such is a way of life in today’s Rutgers Basketball world. A late 16-3 run helped push Rutgers past Illinois, 91-88 on Sunday. The Scarlet Knights are slowly bringing back Geo Baker now as well, which really helps their outlook as we move ahead. Congrats to RU on a tremendous start, now its time to focus on Ohio State this Wednesday in Columbus.
Strongly Considered Teams with reasoning:
Honorable Mention:
UTEP - Miners stunned Arizona State on Wednesday, 76-63 in Tempe. Senior Bryson Williams came to play - 22 Pts./10 Rebs.
Purdue - Boilermakers came away with a great week. Picking up wins over Ohio State and Notre Dame. Goes a long way for the Boilers' tourney hopes.
Charlotte - 49ers turned things around this week by beating rivals Davidson at Belk Arena, 63-52. Charlotte also took care of business against NC A&T.
Cleveland State - Road sweep at Purdue Fort Wayne, to spoil the openers for the Horizon League newcomers. JUCO Transfer D'Moi Hodge had an unreal 46 points on 10 treys on Sunday.
Providence - Friars left the Prudential Center with a crucial OT win at Seton Hall. AJ Reeves hit the three in the corner to win it.
Montana - Griz won at Washington for the first time ever, 66-58. UW is down this year, but this was a major win for Montana, following a tough 0-4 start to the year.
Richmond - Built on their impressive resume by beating a tough Loyola-Chicago team in Indianapolis, and also dominated Vandy on the road.
Alabama A&M - 2OT win over South Alabama. Bulldogs only scheduled two non-conference games this season and won both against Sun Belt and SoCon schools.
South Florida - Bulls snapped a 13-game road losing streak at Cincinnati and got over the hump by beating the Bearcats, 74-71 on Wednesday.
UC Santa Barbara - Gauchos improved to 4-1 with an impressive road win at Pepperdine. JaQuori McLaughlin had a fantastic game - 23 Pts./8 Assists/4 Reb's.
Georgia - Bulldogs took down Cincinnati by 15 in an upset win. UGA played very well through GMU transfer Justin Kier (18 pts/3 assts) and Sahvir Wheeler (12 Pts/7 assts)
Kansas - Jayhawks squeaked by Texas Tech in Lubbock to move to 7-1. Important win as KU pursues yet another Big XII Championship.
Dayton - Flyers knocked off Ole Miss in a crucial out of conference home game. Dayton can now also boast - "Egg Bowl Champs", since they also beat Mississippi State.
Wisconsin - Impact week. Took care of Loyola-Chicago late for a 14-point win, then handed Louisville their worst loss since the 1950's.
Virginia Tech - Important win over Clemson to get on track and give the Tigers their first loss. Hokies also took down Coppin State over the weekend.
Georgia State - Avenged an earlier loss against Mercer. Ga. State played exceptionally better in the 88-81 win and handed Mercer their first loss.
Milwaukee - Panthers picked up the road sweep over rivals Green Bay. It's early, but in-conference sweeps have been rare in the league with B2B formats.
Stanford - Key win over Arizona in Santa Cruz, gets the Cardinal in position for a run in the Pac-12 race. Cardinal also beat CSUN on the road.
Marist - Red Foxes won twice at Manhattan, and are a surprising 5-1 now on the campaign. Frosh Ricardo Wright is making progress, scored 18 in the second game at Manhattan.
High Point - HPU went on the road and pounded CAA-member William & Mary by 22. Four Panthers finished in double-figures.
Xavier - XU had a tremendous Big East opener. Musketeers and Marquette played a great game, finished off by a Adam Kunkel buzzer-beater to win it!
Wichita State - Shockers got off on the right foot in AAC play by winning at rival Tulsa, 69-65.
Iona - Coach Pitino had his Gaels ready for a road series with Rider over the weekend. Gaels came away with a sweep, and are now in a tie for first in the MAAC.
Air Force - Split series in Reno against Nevada, for a program who has never won in Reno before deserves a mention. Congrats Falcons!
Florida A&M - Been traveling everywhere, got an upset win at Austin Peay on Tuesday.
Week 5 looks to be lighter with the Holidays approaching, but several schools who need games will hopefully be on the court, and the B1G setup a blockbuster quadruple header for Christmas Day. Happy Holidays, Hoop lovers.
~Rocco