Vermont (8-8, 1-0) at UMass-Lowell (12-4, 1-0) – 6:00 PM ET (ESPN+)
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day heads to Lowell, Massachusetts for a potential preview of the America East Championship as the Vermont Catamounts pay a visit to the UMass-Lowell River Hawks. Lowell is riding a 7-game winning streak overall, but more importantly picked up a road win against Albany by a 73-69 score to open conference play. Both Quinton Mincey and Max Brooks led the River Hawks with 16 points apiece in the win against UAlbany.
Vermont has had a sluggish start to the season, but the Catamouts have won three of their last four games. They include wins against Miami University at home, a non-D1 win at home and a 20-point win at New Hampshire to open conference play. TJ Hurley led Vermont with 17 points in their win at New Hampshire.
-Villanova is on a roll! They held on for what was perhaps a season defining win as they beat UConn 68-66. After a bit of a sluggish start they’ve now won eight of their last nine and have beaten both Cincinnati and Villanova in that stretch. They still have work to do, but they are definitely trending in the right direction.
-Texas A&M got a huge road win at Oklahoma 80-78, which is one of their better wins of the season so far. Oklahoma has now dropped two straight and while they’re still in good shape overall, they are in a bit of a tailspin after the 13-0 start.
-Ole Miss got a really nice road win at Arkansas 76-66. It was just the second true road win of the season for the Rebels and it came against a team that’s typically very tough to beat at home.
-After getting absolutely dump-trucked over the weekend by Kansas, UCF bounced back with a big 75-74 win over Colorado. Colorado has exceeded all expectations, but they still don’t have quite as strong of a profile as they need to start thinking of them as a solid tournament team. But, they’ll certainly have those chances between now and the end.
-George Washington followed up their big blowout win against Dayton with an impressive 75-67 road win at Rhode Island last night. This has sort of come out of nowhere. GW is now suddenly looking like the strongest team in the Atlantic 10.
-Dayton is NOT looking like the strongest team in the Atlantic 10. They lost at UMass 76-72 last night, and are starting to look like a team that doesn’t belong in the NCAA Tournament at all. At the end of November we were singing their praises and saying we thought they could end up as a protected seed. Now it’s looking like they may be headed to the NIT. Playing in the Atlantic 10 means that if they hit the skids and lose several games in a row their profile takes a major hit because they don’t have the opportunities to offset those losses with big time wins late in the year.
-Drake, who had dropped two straight, rebounded in a big way with a 64-57 road win at Bradley. The road to landing inside the bubble is still very narrow for Drake, but last night’s win was one they should get a lot of credit for considering how good Bradley is and that it was a road game.
-Saint Bonaventure, whose bloated record had gotten our attention, fell 73-68 at Saint Louis last night. The Atlantic 10 seems set on eating itself and becoming a one-bid league this year.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-OREGON AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Ohio State has been a little inconsistent this year, but when they’ve looked good, they’ve looked REALLY good. Oregon is having a great year, but in their last two games they were blown out by Illinois and barely got by Maryland. Both those games were at home, and this will be a very tough road test tonight.
-PURDUE AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). Purdue is having a great year, but to date they only have one true road win, so this would strengthen their resume a little bit if they’re able to pull this off. Rutgers has lost three of their last four and is in a bit of a tailspin.
-WASHINGTON AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). The Spartans have been looking really strong and should be able to hold serve in this one.
-VMI AT SAMFORD (SoCon). A win for Samford gets tthem to a very impressive 13-3 on the year.
-PACIFIC AT WASHINGTON STATE (West Coast). I really like this Wazzu team and they can get to 14-3 on the year with a win tonight.
-UC IRVINE AT CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE (Big West). This will be a tough road game for UC Irvine, but they have had a great season, they have a path toward landing inside the bubble, and this is the kind of game they need to be able to win in order for that to happen.
-OREGON STATE AT SANTA CLARA (West Coast). This is a bit of a challenge for Oregon State on the road. If they can pull off the win it will get them to 13-4 on the year.
Tonight’s feature conference is the Patriot League. While it looks as though the conference champion will be on their way to Dayton for the First Four in the NCAA Tournament, there is a ton of parity in the league, and a lot of the games have been really exciting so far. Another oddity is that every team has played three games, and the home team has won every time.
From there we run through the other 21 UTR leagues and once again discuss the strength of the Big West and how both UC Irvine and UC San Diego have paths to get inside the bubble. Conference USA had a crazy week with Louisiana Tech starting off 0-2 and UTEP and New Mexico State picking up big wins. McNeese is finally starting to right themselves and has been dominating the Southland since conference play started. Lipscomb is starting to establish themselves in the Atlantic Sun and could be a dangerous team come March. We discuss all that, and more! And, as we do every week, we close with this week’s UTR Top Ten.
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
Northern Kentucky (9-7, 4-1) at Youngstown State (10-6, 5-1) – 6:30 PM ET (ESPN+)
Tonight features a twin bill of a pair of Horizon League matchups that will help to clear up the logjam at the top of the league standings. NKU is currently on a 2-game winning streak that includes a double-digit OT comeback at home against Purdue-Fort Wayne. Youngstown State won their first five games in conference play and were threatening to turn the conference race into a runaway, but a 90-81 loss at Purdue-Fort Wayne has left the Penguins only a half-game ahead of the Norse and Cleveland State in the Horizon League standings.
Milwaukee (11-5, 4-1) at Purdue-Fort Wayne (11-6, 4-2) – 7:00 PM ET (ESPN+)
Fort Wayne is in the midst of a 3-game homestand that began with a win against Youngstown State; after tonight’s game the Mastodons will close out their homestand with a game against Detroit-Mercy. Milwaukee will wrap up a 3-game roadtrip tonight after gaining a split against the Michigan schools (W against Detroit-Mercy, L against Oakland). The Panthers will soon have a 3-game homestand that includes a matchup against Youngstown State.
-Tennessee could not get their motor started against Florida last night, and were just 12-of-56 from the floor for the game. They suffered their first loss of the season and did not mess around doing it as the Gators won 73-43. Obviously this is a big win for Florida after their close loss at Kentucky over the weekend.
-Auburn will likely be the new #1 team as they held on to win at Texas 87-82. They led by as much as 21 in the second half, but the Longhorns came back and got as close as 3 in the final minute, but couldn’t complete the comeback. It’s another road win for Auburn, and another good win on what is an amazing resume.
-Kentucky couldn’t get it done at Georgia as the Dawgs won 82-69. Kentucky has a really strong resume, but they still don’t have a true road win on the season. They’ve lost to both Georgia and Clemson on the road this year.
-Georgetown played a fantastic game at Marquette, led for much of it, and were in it until the final minutes before Marquette held on 74-66. This was perhaps Georgetown’s toughest remaining game, and for them to play that well should be encouraging as they face the rest of the Big East schedule. If they can play like that the rest of the way they’ll string together the wins they need to make the NCAA Tournament.
-Arizona won big at West Virginia 75-56. This was a tough road game to win, and they won it pretty handily, so Arizona’s early season struggles may be coming to an end.
-Mississippi State picked up a nice 76-64 win at Vanderbilt, which was the first home loss of the season for Vandy, and just the second overall.
-Michigan jumped out to a commanding lead at UCLA, but the Bruins came back. Once that happened, Michigan jumped out again to an even more commanding lead and won 94-75, which is a very nice and impressive road win for the Wolverines.
-Saint John’s picked up a nice 82-72 road win at Xavier, and when you look at the Johnnies and see that they’re 13-3 on the year with the losses being to Baylor in OT at the last second, to Georgia by just 3, and to Creighton by just 1, you realize this team is very good and appears to be getting better.
-Louisville, despite dealing with more injuries than a MASH unit, keeps winning games. They held off a pretty good Clemson team last night 74-64 and continue to stay inside the bubble. Clemson, on the other hand, has just one road win this season and it came at Miami FL, so a win last night would have helped.
-Baylor clobbered Cincinnati 68-48. It’s very tough to win at Baylor, but the vast majority of Cincinnati’s remaining games are tough. They’ve now lost three straight and are certainly trending in the wrong direction. At this point I don’t think they look like an NCAA Tournament team.
-Texas Tech picked up a really nice 72-67 win at BYU. BYU is on the outside looking in right now, but they are still very tough to beat at home, so Texas Tech should get a fair amount of credit for this win.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-UCONN AT VILLANOVA (Big East). Villanova has won seven of their last eight, and after we had written them off back in December they are now starting to show signs of life. They can show a lot more life tonight if they’re able to pull off the win against UConn. If that happens I think we need to start thinking of Nova as a possible tournament team.
-ALABAMA AT SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC). Alabama is very good, and while winning at South Carolina isn’t easy to do, Alabama has shown they can win games that aren’t easy to win, and this is one I think they’ll end up getting.
-OLE MISS AT ARKANSAS (SEC). Arkansas is coming off a blowout loss to Tennessee, and despite still looking pretty good overall they will want to wash that bad taste out of their mouths. They’ll be challenged tonight by an Ole Miss team that’s good, and in the rankings, that’s looking for their second notable road win of the season.
-COLORADO AT UCF (Big 12). UCF was having a good year, but they were blown to smithereens by Kansas in their last game and they need to bounce back from that. Colorado has had some good wins as well, but has lost their last two and really needs a win like this to help boost their resume. This game has a bit of bubblicious feel to it. Both teams need this to help improve their resumes.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT RHODE ISLAND (Atlantic 10). Both teams have good records, but have both played such weak schedules that it was hard to get too excited about either one of them. Having said that, after GW blew Dayton out this past weekend, it was hard to not sit up and take notice. If they can go on the road and win this one, they’ll have our attention.
-FORDHAM AT VCU (Atlantic 10). VCU has such a small margin for error that they pretty much need to win out or come close to it to have any sort of shot at getting selected.
-DAYTON AT UMASS (Atlantic 10). Dayton still has a good profile, but the loss to GW this past weekend was a big setback. If they can’t win this one then they’ll REALLY be in trouble.
-DRAKE AT BRADLEY (Missouri Valley). These are two of the best teams in the MVC, and it’s a big game for Drake who has lost two straight after starting off 12-0 and may be in a position to where they really can’t afford to lose any more. Bradley also only has two losses on the season. If either of these teams are going to make a run at the bubble, they pretty much need to dominate the rest of the way, and that includes winning this one tonight.
-USC AT INDIANA (Big Ten). After beating up on Indiana for a lot of the season, I’m starting to come around to them. They’re a very respectable 12-3 overall and they’ve won eight of their last nine. This is another winnable game tonight.
-FURMAN AT THE CITADEL (SoCon). Furman is coming off a bad loss to UNC Greensboro, and may be out of strikes. They should be able to win this one on the road, and they may need to win them all the rest of the way if they want any shot at getting inside the bubble.
-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT SAINT LOUIS (Atlantic 10). The Bonnies are 14-1, which is impressive even though they haven’t played a very strong schedule. What is impressive is that they have five true road wins, and can make it six tonight if they’re able to pull it off.
-TEXAS A&M AT OKLAHOMA. TAMU is coming off a big win against rival Texas, whereas Oklahoma is looking to bounce back from a blowout loss to Alabama, which was their first of the year. Both are safely inside the bubble for now, but with every team in the SEC being really tough, every game has a sense of urgency to it because you know how hard it is going to be to finish .500 in the conference.
-ARIZONA STATE AT KANSAS (Big 12). Arizona State is having a very solid year, and while they’re sort of shooting at the moon tonight, a win would greatly increase the value of their resume. Kansas is still looking like a solid protected seed and just blew UCF off the planet over the weekend.
-PENN STATE AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten). Penn State is a solid team with a very good chance of making the NCAA Tournament. Illinois got a massive win against Oregon their last time out and is looking like they’re good enough to end up as a protected seed.
-AIR FORCE AT SAN DIEGO STATE (Mountain West). San Diego State should be able to hold serve and win this one without too much trouble.
Miami University (9-4, 1-0) at Ball State (7-6, 1-0) – 7:00 PM ET (ESPN+)
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day heads to Muncie, Indiana for a matchup between the Miami RedHawks and the Ball State Cardinals. Mother Miami won their MAC opener at home against Buffalo 93-79; they were led by former Xavier guard Kam Craft. Craft led the Redhawks with 20 points in that game; overall Craft averages 15.7 points a game and 3.4 rebounds a game for Miami.
While Ball State has been a traditional MAC power, they did get a bit of a surprising start to conference play with a 75-67 win on the road against Kent State. Jemahri Hill led the Cardinals with 18 points in the victory; Ball State has now won 4 straight games overall and will be a tough out at Worthen Arena tonight.
