Towson (5-5, 4-5 D1) vs. Liberty (12-0, 10-0 D1) – approx. 5:00 PM EST (FloHoops)
Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington DC in the inaugural DC Holiday Hoops Fest. The inaugural game is Akron/Tulane; this will be part of a 4-team, 2-day nonexempt bracketed event. Liberty comes into the season having already won the Island of the Bahamas Showcase thanks to wins against Morgan State, Rice and Kansas City. Scottie James has led Liberty with 9.8 points a game and 7.8 rebounds a game through the Flames’ first 12 games.
Towson finished 7th in their official exempt tournament down in Charleston with losses against Xavier and Buffalo, but they did salvage a win against Saint Joseph’s. With a road win at Morgan State and a home win against UMBC, the Tigers at least get to claim the status as kings of Baltimore (County) this season. Brian Fobbs has led Towson with 16.2 points a game through the Tigers’ first 10 games this season.
OTHER NEWS, NOTES, AND GAMES
-Seton Hall picked up a really nice home win against Maryland in a low scoring affair. This was a nice bounce back game for the Hall after they were destroyed by Rutgers over the weekend. Maryland is now 0-2 in true road games.
-NC State came up short at Auburn, but they were in the game the entire way and I think there is more to be impressed about than concerned about. I think this is a much better NCST team than what they had a year ago.
-Houston finally passed the eye test last night with a 20pt win over a pretty solid UTEP team. It’s not a win that will turn out to be the signature win on their profile, but it is the first time Houston has looked dominant over any sort of a decent team.
-SMU AT GEORGIA. SMU has been one of the bigger surprises in college hoops, but despite being 8-1 overall they’re still kind of flying under the radar. Georgia s currently unbeaten at home, so this should be a solid road test for SMU.
-FURMAN AT MERCER (SoCon). This is a winnable conference road opener for a really good Furman team.
-Central Connecticut @ Penn State
-Bowling Green @ Norfolk State – A win for Bowling Green gets them to 9-2
-Binghamton @ Pittsburgh
-North Dakota State @ Marquette
-Mississippi Valley State @ Santa Clara