Under the Radar Game of the Day: Yale at Sacred Heart (and Other News, Notes and Highlighted Games: Thurs, Dec 8)

Yale at Sacred Heart, 8:00 PM Eastern, necfrontrow.com

With finals upon us, the basketball slate tonight is rather sparse (only 11 games total on the entire schedule), and the UTR Game of the Day has found its way to Fairfield, Connecticut where the Sacred Heart Pioneers will be hosting intrastate foe Yale.  Sacred Heart enters tonight’s game at 4-5 overall.  Although they have suffered losses to Hartford, Northern Colorado and Santa Clara, the Pioneers have also picked up a few nice wins, most notably a road victory at Fordham.  Quincy McKnight was especially impressive in their last game out (a win over Umass-Lowell), scoring 34 points, grabbing 9 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists.  McKnight has now topped the 20 point mark six times this season.  However, he was held to only 2 points in the Fordham win, and it was Joseph Lopez, with 19 points and 10 rebounds, who led the way in that victory.

Yale enters play tonight at 3-4 overall, including their notable season-opening win at Washington.  Three of the Bulldogs’ four losses have been at Virginia, at Pittsburgh and at Vermont, none of which are anything to hang one’s head in shame over.  They finally broke their four game losing streak last time out with a solid home win over Albany.  Anthony Dallier and Alex Copeland tied for the team lead with 15 points each in that game.  Also keep an eye on Miye Oni, a double-double threat every time he takes the floor.  A road win tonight will help Yale gain some momentum as they head into a stretch where four of their last five non-conference games will be at home.

LAST NIGHT’S GAMES

– It was a mixed bag for the Big East conference last night – both Seton Hall and Creighton won notable games away from home against Cal (at Pearl Harbor) and Nebraska, respectively. While neither Cal nor Nebraska are world-beaters, both were noteworthy wins, especially for Seton Hall who desperately needed that game. Butler and Xavier were not able to escape against Indiana State and Colorado – both games went down to the final seconds. Neither loss was critically damaging, although Xavier still has yet to win a road game despite 3 neutral-court wins at the Tire Pros Invitational.

– George Mason is slowly starting to look like a team to watch under Dave Paulsen; they now have wins against Northern Iowa and Penn State on the road to add to what is currently a 6-game winning streak. They stumbled early in the year at home against Towson and Mount St. Mary’s, so they’ve still got work to do if they want to get to the NCAAs in March. They have a good shot at being a noisemaker in a reloading year for the Atlantic 10.

– As for other Top 25 action, Davidson did give North Carolina a scare in the DeanDome but was unable to snag an upset. Gonzaga rolled over Washington in Spokane.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-IOWA STATE AT IOWA.  We love this rivalry!  To give you an idea of the intensity, last year Iowa State was ranked #2 in the country, and after beating an unranked Iowa team at home, the fans stormed the court.  So, this one is a huge deal both on and off paper.  Iowa State clearly looks to be the better team and could really use a true road win on their profile, but don’t forget the rivalry factor.  It won’t be an easy game for them to win.

-VANDERBILT AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE.  There aren’t too many UTR teams that seem to have a strong path to land inside the bubble, but Middle Tennessee is one of the few.  With that being said, they really need to win this one at home.

-FORDHAM AT ST. JOHN’S. This was a game that Fordham won last year that got chippy toward the end of the game. The Johnnies will be looking for revenge in this one.

-PACIFIC AT UMASS.  Buy game

-NICHOLLS AT FLORIDA STATE.  Buy game

-TEXAS ARLINGTON AT SAINT MARY’S.  This is a buy game, but we think UTA will be a Sun Belt frontrunner and may be able to compete with SMC.