Wright State (9-8, 4-2) at Youngstown State (12-5, 4-2) – 9:00 PM ET (ESPN2)
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes place in Youngstown as the hometown Penguins host the Wright State Raiders in a Horizon League matchup. Both teams are currently a half-game behind Oakland and Green Bay in the standings. The Penguins had a brief 2-game losing streak against Oakland and Northern Kentucky, but they have since rebounded with back-to-back wins against IUPUI and Purdue-Fort Wayne at home. Brett Thompson had 24 points for the Penguins in their 93-85 win against PFW.
Wright State also had a 2-game losing streak a couple weeks ago, but their losses came on the Wisconsin road trip with losses at Milwaukee and Green Bay. They are in the midst of a stretch where they are playing 5 of 6 league games on the road, and are coming off of back-to-back wins against PFW and Robert Morris. Tanner Holden had 29 points in the Raiders’ 101-76 victory at Robert Morris.
OTHER NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE PUPPET:
-Gonzaga needed to blow through the West Coast Conference to stay in the rankings and stay on the right side of the bubble. Last night, they fell in a thriller at Santa Clara 77-76. I still think the Zags will win a lot of games this year, but one of them will probably need to be that last WCC Tournament game.
-Florida Atlantic BARELY escaped Tulane 85-84 in a game that saw a couple of lead changes in the final minute of play. A great effort by the Green Wave, and a big bullet-dodge for FAU
-UCLA lost 90-44 at Utah. I did not look to see if Mick Cronin, in an attempt to be courteous to the media and not keep them waiting, opted again to send an assistant coach to the press conference instead of show up himself again.
-MINNESOTA AT INDIANA (Big Ten). This is a winnable road game for the Gophers, who we still have outside the bubble, but who can absolutely still reach it.
-DAYTON AT DUQUESNE (Atlantic 10). This could be a bit of a tough road test for the Flyers, but they are clearly the best team in the A10 and will be wearing white in the Round of 64 if they can continue to hold serve.
-DEPAUL AT VILLANOVA (Big East). It’s a conference game, but for all intents and purposes it is a home buy game.
-NEBRASKA AT IOWA (Big Ten). The Huskers are now inside our bubble, and Iowa is a team that has not performed up to their abilities yet, but still has the potential to be good and could make quite a bit of noise between now and the end.
-BOISE STATE AT NEVADA (Mountain West). Some of us were saying that if there is a 5th team from the MWC that can land inside the bubble, it’s Boise State. Well, here is a chance (albeit a tough one) to pick up a HUUUGE win!