NEWS AND NOTES:
-A couple of teams sweated more in home buy games than what you would expect. Kentucky actually trailed Colgate in the 2nd half before finally pulling away, and San Diego State had a tough time with Cal Baptist, but both ended up winning those games.
-Louisville was sweating bullets against UTEP, but managed to barely escape 77-74. Two things that I think became clear in this game is that Louisville is not the same team without Kasean Pryor, and UTEP is solid and will be a tough team in Conference USA.
-Nevada pulled away from South Dakota State for a nice 77-63 win. South Dakota State still looks to be the best team in the Summit League, but it’s looking more and more like one of their wins will have to be that Summit League Championship game. They’re now 0-2 in true road games.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-IOWA STATE AT IOWA. There are different ways to measure a rivalry. Duke v UNC and Ohio State v Michigan (at least in football) are probably the biggest showcases and often have national implications, but in terms of only looking at how much the two sides hate each other, this rivalry is amongst the biggest. It really is. Iowa State comes in ranked 3rd in the nation, but this is their first true road game, and BOY are they stepping into a hostile environment! Iowa is a perfect 6-0 at home and they’re coming off an incredibly impressive showing where they just barely lost at Michigan, so they’ve shown they can play, but they could still use a big-time resume boosting win. This one should be fun! It usually is!
-UT Arlington @ Arkansas State – Arkansas State needs to build on their big win against Memphis
-New Mexico State @ Texas – New Mexico State is coming off the huge road win at New Mexico
-Saint Ambrose (nonD1) @ Drake
