For Jon Teitel’s inaugural Bracketology column this season forecasting the Selection Committee – CLICK HERE
For Chad Sherwood’s turn at the Hoops HD Staff Bracket – CLICK HERE
Georgia Southern (9-6, 3-1) at Little Rock (10-5, 4-0) – 7:30 PM EST (ESPN+)
Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Little Rock, Arkansas where the Trojans will host the Eagles of Georgia Southern in a matchup of two of the top teams in the Sun Belt conference. Little Rock began conference play with a road sweep at Louisiana and Louisiana-Monroe prior to Christmas Break and then began the new year with wins at home against UT-Arlington and Texas State. All 4 wins have come by a combined total of 11 points. Markquis Nowell leads Little Rock with a 19.6 points per game average.
The Eagles of Georgia Southern have also had all four of their league games decided by a total of 11 points thus far. They already posted a road sweep of UT-Arlington and Texas State prior to Christmas, but managed only a split of their season-opening road trip in the Carolinas. They won at Coastal Carolina last Thursday, but a potential game-winning shot was missed on Saturday en route to a two-point loss at Appalachian State. Ike Smith leads Georgia Southern with 15.5 points a game and 6.1 rebounds a game.
OTHER NEWS, NOTES, AND GAMES
-Michigan went into Michigan State yesterday with an impressive resume, but was also still searching for their first true road win. The game is over, and Michigan is still searching for their first true road win. Michigan State pretty much kept them at arms length the whole time, and is now starting to look more and more like that top 5 caliber team that we thought they were at the beginning of the season.
-Xavier fell behind early to Saint John’s, but quickly got control of the game and basically kept control of it. It was a home win, and X certainly has some more work to do, but they have played better in their last two games than they did pretty much all throughout OOC play.
-Coming into yesterday, Oregon State looked like a team with a bloated record against a weak schedule. But after the upset win at Colorado, you have to start liking them a lot more.
-Purdue has looked good at times. Yesterday was not one of those times. Illinois just ran them over, and Purdue played in such a way that it makes you wonder if they’ll even be inside the bubble come March.
-Washington bounced back from a shocking loss to what looks like a soft UCLA team with a blowout win over what looks like a pretty good USC team.
-WEST VIRGINIA AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12). West Virginia is coming off a loss at Kansas, but they are still playing really well and appear to be on a path (albeit an early one) to end up as a protected seed. That being said, they should really be tested tonight by an Oklahoma State team that could really use this win.