College Basketball Teams of the Week – Week 8 (January 11-17, 2021)
We are less than eight weeks away from Selection Sunday? Seriously? Possibly more difficult to believe than any other year. Just think, we just saw American and Loyola-Maryland get on the court for the first time this past week, plus programs like New Mexico State and UC Davis who cannot buy a break to get games in during this unprecedented pandemic season of 2020-21. For the rest of the country, we are seeing some crucial teams getting back on the court soon - such as Drake, Saint Louis and hopefully Villanova. That’s enough about the future, let’s review which teams made the biggest impact in Week 8.
AWARD WINNERS!
Virginia - Frustrating and disappointing could definitely describe Virginia Basketball in the early going. A highly anticipated season with lofty expectations, including a preseason number one seed from me, quickly went south. An opening week stunning loss against San Francisco, threw the journey off course in the second game of the year. Then another scare against Kent State, which the Hoos needed an overtime period just to escape in a game against an overmatched opponent on their home floor. Shortly after, a positive Covid-19 test caused the program to take an 18-day hiatus. Then came the blowout loss to Gonzaga, where UVA was hardly competitive. It left the Cavs in the dust with national pundits. It mean a taller task for the rest of the season for Head Coach Tony Bennett’s staff. They knew they had to roll up their sleeves prior to ACC play. Four victories against the bottom tier of the ACC (Notre Dame twice, Wake Forest and Boston College), provided Virginia vital building blocks necessary prior to returning to elite level competition. In hindsight, the early league schedule really benefited UVA in getting this vaunted pack-line defense organized and allow key newcomers to gel. Those newcomers primarily include verterans Sam Hauser and Trey Murphy and Freshman Reece Beekman. All of this backstory, leads us to a stiff road test at Clemson. This isn’t your typical Clemson team, they came in #1 in the country at Defensive Efficiency and they had a 9-1 record with wins over FSU, Alabama, Purdue, Maryland, and others. Prior to this game the Tigers looked perhaps like the team to beat in the ACC this year. Virginia made sure to change that narrative on Saturday. The Hoos busted out to an 18-2 early lead with sharpshooting from the perimeter. During the opening half, UVA had a 15-0 run and a separate 9-0 run. The game was essentially sealed when a third big run of 10-0 occured early in the second half, making the score an insurmountable 76-37. Virginia would end up shooting an amazing 60.7% and 55.6% from three in this clinic. The team hit 15 triples on the way to a 85-50 bashing at Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum. Earlier last week was the second of two Notre Dame vs. UVA contests. Virginia nailed 12 threes in that one, en route to a 80-68 win. Suddenly, Virginia looks tough again and will unquestionably recieve national attention. Most importantly, the Cavs are 5-0 and firmly on top of the ACC standings.
Trey Murphy and Virginia steamrolled Clemson in the premier ACC game last week.
Ohio State - There is no time to breathe in the rugged Big Ten Conference. Look no further than this Ohio State Basketball journey. The day after Christmas and coming on the heels of an important non-conference win over UCLA, the Buckeyes had a trip to Evanston on tap to face Northwestern. It looked on paper to be one of the rare occasions that Ohio State could get a victory without needing their best performance. Well, that rationale would’ve been sadly incorrect. They caught Northwestern during their surge and lost a tight 71-70 battle that day. The loss also gave the Buckeyes a disappointing 1-2 record in conference at the time. The lesson? Don’t take anyone for granted, including Northwestern. Allow us to fast forward now to last Wednesday when Northwestern made the return trip to Ohio State. A game that potentially was circled by Duane Washington. Washington played poorly in their first meeting (1-9 shooting, 7 points), but had really turned it on the three games in between. As it turned out, it was indeed Washington who was ready for Nortwestern. The Buckeyes would get their revenge 81-71, and Washington led the way with 23 points and six assists and put up a very respectable 119 ORtg for the game. This set the stage for a road showdown with Illinois. The Buckeyes had already suffered three road losses. The Buckeyes started turning the tides a week prior with a road win at Rutgers. Illinois has been regarded as a top tier Big Ten squad all season. Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell was ready for the challenge. Liddell posted a career-high 26 points for Ohio State. The Buckeyes built a large 18-point lead early in the second half, a truly impressive display. Illinois came back intensely down the stretch, cutting the lead to five with 1:30 left. Clutch free throw shooting (10-for-12 in the final 90 seconds) allowed the Buckeyes to ultimately close out the victory. The fantastic 2-0 week puts the Buckeyes in prime position to be a top 4 seed in our next bracket and alive in the Big 10 title chase. In case you missed the game, here it is consolidated into 10 minutes:
Utah State - If you stopped paying attention after the home loss to BYU on December 5th it could be understood. After all, the Aggies were searching for answers following a narrow defeat and staring at a 1-3 start to the season. Fortunately, the Aggies had the rest of December and early January to fine tune their craft against inferior competition. The Aggies would rip off eight wins in a row, which included a 6-0 start in the Mountain West Conference’s new back to back schedule format (designed to reduce travel). That led us to a showdown series against San Diego State. Who could forget one of the final great moments of the 2019-2020 season when Sam Merrill hit the game-winning three to sink mighty San Diego State in the MWC Title Game? It earned Utah State an automatic bid, and left SDSU on the ropes for a number one seed. So now in 2020-21, the two teams meet again…twice. The opening game was all about defense for the Aggies. They made life extremely difficult on the Aztec offense. Star players Neemias Queta and Brock Miller handled the scoring load on the other end. Surprisingly to me, a final run never came from the Aztecs. USU won it in slugfest fashion, 57-45. The momentum was with Utah State pretty clearly heading into Saturday’s rematch. In the Mountain West, they allow a day off in between the back-to-back game format. Conventional wisdom was that the Aztecs would have the needed time to establish adjustments and tweak the offensive attack. It became evident during a late first half surge and SDSU took a 10-point advantage into Halftime. Utah State would charge back and eventually get the lead late in the game. Late clutch free throws helped Utah State get a gigantic two-game sweep. Head Coach Craig Smith could not stop raving about SDSU’s physicality and toughness, he was clearly proud of his guys for meeting the test twice. Quite an exciting week it was in Logan, Utah.
Texas State - Here is the surprise team this week, the Texas State Bobcats. Considering that they had the saga with embattled Head Coach Danny Kaspar, that eventually led to his dismissal. Terrence “TJ” Johnson was left to take the keys to the car and keep the guys bonded. For the most part, TJ Johnson has done a nice job in San Marcos. The Bobcats non-conference slate included losses at Mississippi State and at Texas, nothing wrong there. But an embarassing loss to non-D1 Our Lady of the Lake, left people searching for answers. The Bobcats finished non-conference with a 6-3 record and opened up Sun Belt play with a road split at Louisiana. After a full week off due to cancellations, the third week of conference play was a stiff challenge at defending regular season champs Little Rock for a two-game series. The Bobcats came ready an prepared. An early jump start led to a 25-8 early lead. Bobcats had that lead maintained for almost the duration of the game. Then the final two minutes, things got pretty crazy - despite Texas State eventually pulling out a great 63-59 road win. TX State’s Marlin Davis and Little Rock’s star player, Markquis Nowell got into a scuffle which resulted in a double-ejection.
Game two figured to bring an angry Little Rock team. Both Davis and Nowell were suspended for the game due to their roles in the previous night’s altercation. So essentially both teams picked up where they left off at the end of game one. Passion on both sides was on full display from the opening tip. Despite physical play, the shooters started hot on both sides. A late 8-0 run to end the first half gave the Bobcats a 40-34 advantage. By the first media timeout, the lead grew to 11. Texas State was getting a scintilating performance from Caleb Asberry, who finished with 23 points on 9-for-11 (5-for-6 3-point) shooting. It was a great display from Caleb, the Bobcats would go on to build three different 11-point leads during the second half and ultimately were able to cool off the Trojans, holding Little Rock to 22 second half points. Bobcats finished off the road sweep, 67-56. It puts Little Rock down to the middle of the pack of the Sun Belt at 3-3 now. Many folks picked the Trojans to win the league. Texas State sits at 3-1 now and suddenly are in the mix to become a Sun Belt leader. The league schedule is separated by East and West, with the West teams playing two separate series (4 games total) against each other. Be sure to tune in when these two meet again on February 5th and 6th in San Marcos.
Baylor - By the time you read this, you will know that the Baylor beat Kansas fairly handily in the new Week 9. We will save that talk for next week. With today being a holiday, we didn’t have our usual Monday morning release. With all that covered, let’s take a look back to Saturday. A Saturday that saw a major College Basketball showdown take place in Lubbock, when Baylor visited Texas Tech. These Bears have been a locomotive to opponents this year, building off their incredible 2019-20 campaign. We did unfortunately miss out on a showdown to see how Baylor would stack up against Gonzaga, we can only hope for the future to see that blockbuster matchup. What we do know is Baylor had blitzed everyone on their schedule by at least 11-ponts or more during an 11-0 start. We also knew that Texas Tech came into this game riding high after a huge road win at Texas, thanks to a Mac McClung step-back jumper. The hype was big, I even named this our heavyweight game of the weekend to watch. Baylor came out swinging as usual. The Bears had an early 11-0 run to spark a controlled first half of action. Leading 26-18 at the intermission, Head Coach Scott Drew had to feel pretty good given this was a road game with some fans in attendance. What perhaps he didn’t realize, was what his reserve Sophomore guard Adam Flagler was going to bring. Flagler played his best game of the season, scoring 15 points off the bench. After Texas Tech hung around and made it a tight game for much of the second half, it was Flagler’s jumper with around seven minutes left in this game that would put Baylor ahead for good. The typically steady Jared Butler had a rough beginning, but hung in there and made two important threes down the stretch. Bears got out of Lubbock with a 68-60 win and a perfect 12-0 record.
STRONGLY CONSIDERED:
HONORABLE MENTION:
Alabama Tide rolled through Rupp Arena last Tuesday for an unusual victory and by 20 points as well. Then got a visit from Arkansas, and completely dismantled the Hogs by 31. Impressive.
Western Kentucky Home & Away sweep over Marshall was key for the Tops' CUSA title chances. They had to sweat both games out. WKU sits at 4-2 in conference with a much easier schedule ahead.
Northeastern The Northeastern train kept a rolling in Charleston, SC over the weekend. The Huskies pulled off a road sweep over the Cougars to improve to 6-0 in CAA play.
Pacific After 25-day team shutdown, came out and blew out Santa Clara. Followed that up with a 9-point win over Loyola Marymount.
New Hampshire UNH made a major statement by beating previously unbeaten Stony Brook on the road, not once, but twice. Wildcats are suddenly in the thick of the A-East title hunt.
Bradley Braves picked up three wins this week. At Northern Iowa and a sweep of Evansville. Braves are ready to contend in the Valley.
IUPUI Jaguars picked up a stunning sweep at Northern Kentucky over the weekend. These were the Jags first two Horizon League victories of the year.
Virginia Tech Passed the test when Duke visited Blacksburg last Tuesday. Then went on the road to beat Wake Forest yesterday.
UMass Minutemen played well enough to get past URI in Overtime. Followed that up by going to Fordham and achieving a blowout win over the Rams
Bellarmine Road sweep at Florida Gulf Coast. The first two road wins at the D1 level in school history. FGCU had a slim lead atop the ASUN standings prior to the series.
Purdue Boilers took care of business this week by beating Penn State this weekend, and of course the big road win at Indiana on Thursday.
Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners had a wonderful trip to the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Hawaii is usually a difficult place to win, but CSUB was able to control both game and got a big sweep. 5-1 now in the Big West.
Auburn Sharife Cooper has bursted on to the CBB scene and led Auburn to two big wins last week at Georgia and vs. Kentucky. Cooper had 28 & 12 assists and 11 & 8 assists respectively.
Lafayette The Leopards pulled off an important home and away sweep over Loyola (MD) this weekend. It was the opening games for Loyola, who was picked 3rd in the preseason poll.
Texas Tech Red Raiders had a season-changing win at Texas, thanks to a Mac McClung step-back jumper. Amazing shot. Raiders later lost a tight one with Baylor over the weekend.
Grambling Grinded out a tough road win at perennial SWAC contender, Texas Southern. Also had a home win over Alcorn State.
Army The Knights went into defending Patriot League Tournament Champion, Boston U.'s house and dominated a 2-game series. Two double-digit wins and Army looks like a Patriot League contender today.
Furman Paladins were the first team to knock off the Citadel in a mid-week game, then they gave ETSU their first conference loss over the weekend. Furman in control of the standings for now.
Indiana State A road sweep at Illinois State gets the Sycamores up to 3-5 in the Valley. They've been showing great improvement in the past two weeks.
Manhattan It's been a struggle for the Jaspers most of the season. But they found a way to sweep Niagara over the weekend and are now .500 for the campaign.
Florida State Back on the right track after two home wins against NC State and UNC. In the NC State game, the Noles shot the lights out (41-for-58 from the field and 12-18 from deep).
Loyola-Chicago Opened the week by getting revenge on Monday over Indiana State (they lost game one in the prior week). Over the ensuing weekend, Ramblers romped Northern Iowa twice which includes a 42-point win on Sunday.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles took a step forward in their program rebuild by sweeping Middle Tennessee. Coach Ladner is starting to gain momentum in Hattiesburg.
Morehead State Eagles continue to impress. Thursday was their largest win ever at Eastern Illinois (by 26) and a road win at SEMO on Saturday. Morehead State is a sneaky 6-2 in OVC play.
UNC-Greensboro Spartans played at a high level in both double-digit victories at Samford. Kent State Golden Flashes hit the road for two wins. First a win at CMU, then a win over favored Ohio (who had Jason Preston back). KSU is now 3-2 in the league.
Pittsburgh De ja vu, Pitt beat Syracuse again this past week. This one was more impressive, a 20-point comeback win fueled by the comeback of Justin Champagnie.
Purdue Fort Wayne Mastadons impressively picked up a road sweep at Milwaukee. PFW has now won 4 in a row to get to 5-5 in their first season of Horizon League play.
LSU Tigers picked up two home wins over Arkansas and South Carolina. Cam Thomas contunues his stellar Freshman campaign/NBA tune up season.
Prairie View A&M Took down SWAC rival Texas Southern. PVAMU was raked about 70 spots lower in KenPom coming in, but rose to the occasion behind Jawaun Daniels who had 21 points/6 rebounds.
Florida Atlantic Owls bounced back in a big way this week. Sweeping rivals FIU in a home & away series. Game two featured an FAU high octane attack that led to a 44-point win.
Wofford Always tough to get back-to-back road wins in the SoCon. Terriers pulled it off by winning at VMI and Chattanooga. Both are tough outs on the road.
Gonzaga Bulldogs got two subtle tests from Pepperdine and at Saint Mary's. But big second half efforts in each game helped quell the threats.
North Texas Mean Green got a dominant sweep over UTEP. North Texas is starting to hit their groove, dangerous team defensively.
Albany Home sweep over NJIT to get back to 3-3 in the America East. The Great Danes were considerably lower in the metrics prior to the series, great weekend at Albany.
Welcome to Week Nine! 55 days until Selection Sunday
~Rocco Miller