With the Puppet appearing in court with Chad taking a day off from the daily writeup, John Stalica will be filling in for today’s UTR showcase of games.
-Last night may have featured one of the games of the year in the country, if not THE game of the year. Arkansas raced out to a 10-point halftime lead and threatened to run away with the game early in the 2nd half until Alabama had a stretch of 9 made shots that brought the game even. Two overtimes later, the Crimson Tide ended up with a 117-115 victory over the Hogs despite Darius Acuff’s game-high 49 points for Arkansas.
-Another surprise last night took place in Storrs, Connecticut where the schizophrenic Creighton Bluejays took control in the final 10 minutes of the game to get a huge road win. It’s too late for Creighton’s at-large hopes, but this game may end the Huskies’ hope of a #1 regional seed.
-In fact, if you count Villanova’s win at Xavier on Tuesday, all the road teams in the Big East came away with wins. This also meant DePaul getting a win at Seton Hall that now means the Pirates better win the Big East auto bid if they want to make the NCAA Tournament.
-Missouri jumped out to a 21-point lead at home against Vanderbilt before the Commodores made a frantic 2nd half comeback to make the final margin much closer. However, Vandy’s desperation half-court shot rolled around the rim and Mizzou survived with a much-needed win at home against Vandy.
-Texas A&M trailed for most of their game at home against a flailing Ole Miss team, but the Rebels had a Xavier-like meltdown in the final four minutes and the Aggies ended up winning 80-77 in a game they absolutely could not throw away.
-While Virginia was mauling Georgia Tech in ACC play, Clemson lost its 3rd straight game after a stumble at Wake Forest. The Tigers have gone from a team with an outside shot at winning the ACC regular season title to a team that may actually end up in the bottom half of the bracket.
-Arizona and Kansas won comfortably last night; Gonzaga and Illinois both secured road blowouts in their games as well. With Illinois putting a pasting on USC, this puts the Trojans in a real shaky spot after Ohio State’s win on Tuesday against Wisconsin (albeit a homecourt hero in the Buckeyes).
-Both Auburn and West Virginia weren’t so lucky. Auburn lost at Mississippi State to drop to 14-12 overall and West Virginia lost at home to a Utah team that was a possible Stallings Award candidate. West Virginia was already a longshot to make the field, but that shot just went out the window.
-Navy blew out Lehigh 72-49 to capture their first outright regular season conference championship since the 1996-97 season and fourth overall in program history. The Midshipmen are now assured of home court advantage for the entire Patriot League Tournament.
-Troy also played with fire against a Centenary candidate in Louisiana-Monroe, but the Trojans ended up winning by a point to remain in contention for the top seed in the Sun Belt conference tournament.
-UTSA’s loss last night made them the 5th regular season elimination. One more is possible tonight in the Big West. The loser of the Cal State-Bakersfield at UC-Riverside game will be eliminated *IF* Cal Poly wins at Hawai’i.
America East
–Vermont at UMBC (6:00 PM, ESPN+) This will be the first leg of a 2-game roadtrip that could either vault Vermont back to the top of the league or potentially relegate them to third place and a rare road trip in the America East semifinals when the conference tournament kicks off.
–Binghamton at Bryant (6:00 PM, ESPN+) Binghamton will be on the brink of elimination from qualifying for the America East tournament with a loss.
–Albany at NJIT (7:00 PM, ESPN+) The NJIT Highlanders currently have a half game lead over UMBC and a 1 game lead over Vermont in the conference standings, but cannot afford to look past Albany in tonight’s game.
American
–Memphis at South Florida (7:00 PM, ESPN2) Tulsa’s recent 3-game losing streak has now given South Florida a 2-game lead over Tulsa and Wichita State in the American standings; this will be the first of two meetings between the Bulls and the Memphis Tigers in the next 2 weeks.
Atlantic Sun
–Austin Peay at North Florida (7:00 PM, ESPN+) Austin Peay currently holds a 1-game lead over Central Arkansas in the A-Sun standings; this will be the first of 2 games that the Govs will play in the city of Jacksonville this weekend.
–Central Arkansas at Stetson (8:00 PM, ESPN+) Central Arkansas begins a 3-game road trip with a weekend swing at Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast; the final game of the road trip will be a critical test at Austin Peay next week.
Big Sky
–Idaho at Portland State (9:00 PM, ESPNU) Fresh off a victory in the battle for King Spud, Idaho travels to conference leader Portland State tonight. A win could potentially put the Vandals into the top 6 in the conference and out of the first round of the Big Sky Tournament.
Big South
–South Carolina Upstate at Winthrop (6:30 PM, ESPN+) Winthrop has won 11 straight games since opening conference play with a loss at Longwood in the Winwood Cup. They will be looking for consecutive win #12 going into a road game at High Point on Saturday.
–UNC Asheville at High Point (7:00 PM, ESPNU) High Point currently has the worst rated strength of schedule in the country, although it figures to improve slightly with a 2-game homestand against UNC-A and Winthrop this week.
Big West
–UC Irvine at Long Beach State (10:00 PM, ESPN+) With UC-Santa Barbara and Hawai’i also fighting for first place in the conference, UC Irvine highlights tonight’s conference action with the second leg of the Black and Blue Rivalry with The Beach. After tonight, the Anteaters finish Big West play with 4 of their final games at home (including the Gauch Eater Cup against UCSB).
Coastal
–Monmouth at UNC-Wilmington (7:00 PM, FloHoops) UNC-W will play three of their next four games at home, two of which will come against 3rd-place Monmouth and 2nd-place Charleston.
Conference USA
–Florida International at Liberty (6:00 PM, CBS Sports Network) With Saint Louis falling Tuesday at Rhody, Liberty and the Miami Redhawks are the only two remaining teams undefeated in conference play. A win and a SHSU loss gives Liberty no worse than a tie for first in the regular season standings.
Horizon League
–IU Indianapolis at Wright State (7:00 PM, ESPN+) I’d say that Wright State should win in a breeze, but parity has hit this league harder than others. Ask Oakland about their 20+ point loss at home against the Jags back in January.
NEC
–Le Moyne at Central Connecticut (7:00 PM, NEC Front Row) Both teams are tied for second place in the conference and are three games behind Long Island. The winner has an inside track for home court advantage in the semifinals of the conference tournament. That of course assumes no chaos that usually upends the bracket in this conference.
Ohio Valley
–Lindenwood at Tennessee State (8:30 PM, ESPN+) With UT-Martin losing a makeup game earlier this week, Tennessee State is back to within a game of the Skyhawks in the conference standings. Also keep an eye on Morehead State who is only a game back of UTM.
Sun Belt
–Marshall at Appalachian State (6:30 PM, ESPN+) App State starts their final homestand of the year tonight with a game against a Marshall team that is a half game back (along with South Alabama and Troy) of the Mountaineers. The top 2 seeds get a bye into the Sun Belt semifinals; the 3rd and 4th seeds enter the Stairway To Seven in the quarterfinal round.
WAC
–California Baptist at Utah Valley (8:00 PM) As of right now, there is no live stream of the game due to the WAC’s dispute with Utah Valley. A real shame here because this would have been my legacy UTR Game of the Day.
