St. Peter’s at Siena, 7:00 PM, ESPNU
The Under the Radar Game of the Day turns its focus to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tonight for a huge battle between the visiting St. Peter’s Peacocks (6-5 overall, 3-3 in conference) and the undefeated host Siena Saints (6-0 overall and in conference). The Peacocks are looking to bounce back from a disappointing road sweep loss at Canisius that preceded almost three full weeks of no action due to COVID, while the Saints are looking to remain undefeated in what may end up being a season that only sees them play conference games.
St. Peter’s is led by Fousseyni Drame, the team’s top rebounder (7.4 per game) and third leading scorer behind KC Nedfo and Daryl Banks III. Given that it has been 20 days since their last game, the Peacocks may have some rust tonight. St. Peter’s needs to prove that they are game-ready if they want to defeat the current league favorites on the road tonight.
The Siena Saints have been a force ever since getting out of COVID protocols and onto the court. The team has five players averaging double figures in points, including top scorer Jalen Pickett (17.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game) and Manny Camper (averaging a double-double at 12.7 points and 10.2 rebounds, along with 4.5 assists per game). With the NCAA Tournament having been cancelled last season, the Saints actually enter tonight’s game on an overall 16-game winning streak, third longest overall in the country behind Winthrop and Gonzaga. To continue that streak through this week will require back-to-back wins tonight and tomorrow over the Peacocks.
OTHER NEWS AND NOTES
-The big result from last night’s game was Indiana’s huge road win at Iowa. Indiana actually trailed for about the first 30 minutes or so, and it looked as though Iowa was going to cruise, then it looked like they’d have to sweat a little but that they’d hold them off, and then it looked like Iowa just couldn’t do anything. Indiana held them to basically no offensive production at all for the last 10 minutes and ended up with an 81-69 win.
-UCLA had to sweat, but they avoided a bad loss to Cal with a 61-57 win on the road.
-Rutgers fell at Penn State 75-67 and needed a valiant effort just to make the final score not look like a blowout. For all the potential Rutgers had this season (and I guess still has) they have had a very disappointing couple of weeks.
-Wichita State, who I thought was inching closer and closer to being inside the bubble, had their doors blown off by Memphis last night 72-52. So much for my praise of the Shockers.
-Santa Clara, who had an impressive record and who I had been talking up for a lot of the season, had their doors blown off at home by San Francisco last night 73-50. So much for my praise of the Broncos
-Colorado State bounced back after a blowout loss to Utah State to get the win on the road last night 84-76 and to keep themselves within reach of the bubble.
-MICHIGAN AT PURDUE (Big Ten). Michigan has looked like a top ten team all season, but Purdue has looked pretty close to a top ten team in the past week or so. That makes for a very interesting game tonight.
-FRESNO STATE AT BOISE STATE (Mountain West). I like this Boise State team and think they will end up safely inside the bubble. Of course that means being able to hold serve in games like this.
-SAN DIEGO STATE AT AIR FORCE (Mountain West). San Diego State has taken a bit of a backward slide lately and they can’t afford to lose to anyone that is clearly not in the NCAA Tournament picture.