Under The Radar Game of the Day: Sunday, December 22nd

Posted on December 22, 2019 by John Stalica

UTEP (8-2, 5-2 D1) at Hawai’i (7-3, 6-3 D1) – approx. 11:30 PM EST (ESPN2)

The last of the major exempt tournaments get underway tonight – the finale of the Diamond Head Classic involves the hometown Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors and the UTEP Miners. Hawai’i has gotten off to a decent start at home with their most notable win coming against San Francisco. Their only losses were against South Dakota in the Rainbow Classic (in November) along with road losses at Illinois and at Oregon. Eddie Stansberry averages close to 20 points a game for Hawai’i.

While UTEP did dabble a bit in the pastry cart back in November, they did get some notable wins at home against both New Mexico and New Mexico State back in November. They also won the Sun Bowl Invitational at home with wins against North Carolina A&T and UC-Irvine, although they did lose at Houston in a nonbracketed game in their most recent outing. Bryson Williams averages 19.6 points a game and 7 rebounds a game for the Miners.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Saturday, December 21st

Posted on December 21, 2019 by John Stalica

For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE

Wright State (9-3, 7-3 D1) at Toledo (8-3, 7-3 D1) – 2:00 PM EST (ESPN+)

Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes place in the Glass City where the hometown Toledo Rockets will host the Wright State Raiders. The Raiders will be playing their second true road game of the year – their first was a win at Tennessee Tech. In addition to a third-place finish at the Gulf Coast Showcase, they also beat Western Kentucky at home earlier this month. The Raiders are without Loudon Love until at least New Year’s because of a fractured elbow, but Bill Wampler (14.5 PPG) has taken over as the team’s leader in his absence.

Toledo comes into today’s game with a bit of a surprising loss against Kansas City, although there is a familiar head coach for the Roos this year (former Wright State head coach Billy Donlon). While the Rockets have won consistently in the noncon portion of their schedule, their biggest missed opportunity came at Notre Dame where they blew a lead at the end of regulation and lost by 2 points in overtime. Toledo does have a very experienced starting lineup led by Marreon Jackson (16.9 PPG) and Luke Knapke (16.8 PPG/8.5 RPG).

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Dec 21st

Posted on December 21, 2019 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-Georgia held on to beat SMU in a double overtime thriller.  It was just SMU’s second loss of the season, and Georgia is now looking a lot better than they were back in November.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-OHIO STATE VS KENTUCKY (CBS Sports Classic) (***Spotlight Game***).  Kentucky is coming off a somewhat surprising loss to Utah and is looking to bounce back.  Ohio State recently suffered their first loss of the season, but both are high in the rankings, both are likely to continue to improve as the season goes on, and if both are gunning for the #1 line then this is the kind of win that can really help get them there.  It should be a fun one.

-KANSAS AT VILLANOVA.  Kansas has won nine straight since losing their season opener, and has another tough test today.  Nova has held serve this season, but other than Mississippi State they really don’t have any notable wins.  That can change today if they can knock off Kansas.

-FLORIDA STATE  VS SOUTH FLORIDA (Orange Bowl Classic).  Florida State already has an impressive resume, and this is a very winnable neutral site game for them.

INDIANA VS NOTRE DAME (Crossroads Classic).  Indiana is 10-1, but the vast majority of their games have been buy games.  Notre Dame is a respectable 8-3, but really doesn’t have much in the way of quality wins either.  Both teams need to build up their resumes, and winning this would be a step in the right direction.

-VCU AT WICHITA STATE.  Both teams are good, both teams will probably end up in the rankings at some point, and a win today would be big for whoever manages to pull it off.

-WEST VIRGINIA AT YOUNGSTOWN STATE.  Kind of an odd road game for WVU, but it’s also a very winnable one.

-RIDER AT TEMPLE.  It’s a buy game, but Rider is a very respectable 7-2 and a signature win like this would put them on the radar, so Temple better not overlook them.

-ILLINOIS VS MISSOURI (Game in Saint Louis).  It’s the Braggin’ Rights Game!!  Some years this game is much more nationally relevant than others.  This year, Illinois has put together some nice wins, whereas Mizzou still looks like they’re trying to get it together, but sometimes a strong showing or a win in a game like this can give one (or both) of these teams a lot of momentum.

-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT RHODE ISLAND.  WKU still has a talented team, but they’ve suffered some injuries that have really set them back.  Rhody has played well enough to where I think they can get on the committee’s radar if they can string together some wins.

-UCF AT OKLAHOMA.  Both teams have bloated records, but both are also heavy on the cupcakes and light on the meat when it comes to quality wins up to this point.  The Sooners do have some decent wins against the likes of Minnesota and Oregon State, but they’ve also lost two straight and are looking to bounce back from that.

-TEXAS AT PROVIDENCE.  Texas hasn’t always looked great, but they have at times, and they’ve been good enough to put together an 9-1 overall record.  This is another winnable road game for the Longhorns against a Providence team that continues to struggle on the season.

-WRIGHT STATE AT TOLEDO.  Both teams are kind of a longshot at landing inside the bubble, but both also have really good records and are looking like they’ll both do well in their conferences, so it should be a fun UTR match-up.

-PURDUE VS BUTLER (Crossroads Classic).  Purdue has been a little inconsistent this year, but having said that there have been times where they’ve looked REALLY good.  Butler has just one loss, and it was by just one point against a very good Baylor team, so Purdue will need to be at the top of their game to pull this one out.  Both teams have looked like NCAA Tournament teams so far, so this is a resume building opportunity.

-UTAH STATE VS FLORIDA (Orange Bowl Classic).  This is a resume building opportunity between two good teams that, while good, probably could have and should have played better up to this point.

-DUQUESNE VS AUSTIN PEAY (St. Pete Shootout).  A win for Duquesne keeps them unbeaten on the season.

-WYOMING AT DENVER (Front Range).  Both of these teams are terrible, but we at Hoops HD Love the Front Range!!!

-STANFORD VS SAN DIEGO (Hall of Fame Al Attles Classic).  Stanford is off to a very surprising and very impressive 10-1 start.  They’ve got another winnable game away form home today against San Diego.

-UCLA VS NORTH CAROLINA (CBS Sports Classic).  “Classic” just doesn’t seem like the right word for this game this year.  UCLA is in complete rebuilding mode, and North Carolina is dealing with injuries and at just 6-5 has struggled for most of the season.

-BELMONT VS ALABAMA (Rocket City Classic).  In order for Belmont to get anywhere close to the bubble they pretty much need to win out.  Alabama is a very modest 5-5, but they’ve won three of their last four with the only loss being a very close game to Penn State, so Nate Oates has this team playing a lot better.

-STEPHEN F AUSTIN AT MCNEESE (Southland).  The story for SFA is pretty straightforward.  If they win out, I think they will be inside the bubble.

-MINNESOTA AT OKLAHOMA STATE.  Minney has improved as the season has gone on, but they still have a ways to go.  You also get the sense that Oklahoma State really hasn’t played up to their potential either.  Both teams could really use a win in a game like this right about now.

-DAYTON VS COLORADO (Chicago Legends).  This is an interestingly named event.  Neither team is really from Chicago, and neither program is all that legendary.  Having said that, Dayton’s team has looked amazing this year, and this is a chance for them to add to their resume by knocking off a likely tournament caliber team away from home.  Colorado is good, but their biggest win is still the neutral floor win over Arizona State (which is kind of funny since they are both in the same conference), and a win like this could really boost their resume as well.

-SAN DIEGO STATE VS UTAH (Hall of Fame Classic).  Discounting what Utah did in Myrtle Beach earlier this year, they’ve actually looked pretty good and are coming off a really good win against Kentucky.  San Diego State is one of the few remaining unbeatens, so this one should be a really good match-up.  It’s two teams that have looked good, but who could also improve their resumes with a win today.

-SAINT LOUIS VS KANSAS STATE (Wildcat Classic).  Saint Louis’s record is pretty solid at 9-2, but they still need some big wins on their resume if they want the committee to notice them.  K State has been somewhat of a disappointment this year and needs to string together some wins to get back on track.

-ARKANSAS VS VALPARAISO (game in Little Rock, AR).  Arkansas can improve to 10-1 on the year.  They haven’t really beaten any solid tournament caliber teams yet, but they are off to a pretty good start.

-OREGON STATE AT TEXAS A&M.  This is a winnable road game for a 9-1 Oregon State team that hasn’t really been challenged yet, but could still turn out to be a dark horse in the Pac Twelve.

-CREIGHTON AT ARIZONA STATE.  Both teams have decent records, but both still need to build up their resumes.  This is a big game for both teams because it’s important on paper, but it’s also two teams that could really benefit from building up some momentum as well.

-NORTHWESTERN AT DEPAUL.  DePaul can improve to a very strong 12-1 with a win, not to mention earn some bragging rights against their crosstown foe.

-CINCINNATI VS IOWA (Chicago Legends).  Cincinnati is coming off their biggest win of the year against Tennessee, which was also by far the best game they’ve played this year.  Iowa is playing well after some early season struggles as well, so this should be a really interesting game.

-LSU VS USC (Hall of Fame Classic).  Both teams have good records, but both are also lacking when it comes to quality wins, so this is a resume building opportunity for two teams that, quite frankly, need to build up their resumes.

-SAINT JOHN’S VS ARIZONA (Hall of Fame Attles Classic).  Saint John’s has a good record at 10-2, but they don’t have any wins that are anywhere close to as good as this one would be.  Arizona is also 10-2 and in the rankings, and is just looking to hold serve.

-NEVADA VS SAINT MARY’S (Hall of Fame Al Attles Classic).  Nevada still doesn’t look quite like a tournament team, but they have improved as the season has progressed.  Saint Mary’s is coming off a huge blowout win against Arizona State, so they should have a ton of momentum built up coming into this one.

 

BUY GAMES (and equivalencies)

-Presbyterian @ Michigan
-Samford @ Georgetown
-Jackson State @ Memphis
-Jacksonville State @ Tennessee
-UTRGV @ Texas Tech
-Coppin State @ Miami FL
-SELA @ Ole Miss
-VMI @ Virginia Tech
-Cleveland State @ East Tennessee State
-UMBC @ George Mason
-Eastern Washington @ Gonzaga – EWU is a likely Big Sky frontrunner, but they’re way overmatched today.
-UC Davis @ San Francisco
-Southern New Orleans (nondiv1) @ Louisiana Tech
-Lehigh @ Auburn
-Eastern Michigan @ Michigan State
-Northern Kentucky @ UNC Greensboro – to be fair, this is potentially a really good UTR game
-Hampton @ Kent State
-Weber State @ BYU
-Texas Southern @ Oregon

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Still Hanging with the Hoyas: Part 4

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Jon Teitel

HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with a very special reward coming in March. You can find Parts 1-3 at:

https://hoopshd.com/2019/11/09/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-1
https://hoopshd.com/2019/11/20/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-2
https://hoopshd.com/2019/12/15/still-hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-3

He continues his series with Part 4 featuring the Hoyas’ matchup last Tuesday against UMBC:

I began the afternoon with a solid pregame meal of make-your-own tacos, then happily found myself back on the baseline now that Syracuse is no longer in DC. To the woman in the front row drinking Natural Light Seltzer: good luck with that. Almost as disappointing was the fact that that the Hoyas’ national championship men’s soccer team would not be bringing their trophy to the game tonight because ½ of them are busy with final exams and the other ½ have already left for winter break. Let’s tip things off:

Ordinarily a 3 by KJ Jackson 7 minutes into the game would not be worth mentioning…but when it is your team’s 1st PTS of the game because UMBC gave up 14 straight PTS to start the day then it is kind of a big deal. LJ Owens was kind enough to show up with 10 PTS in the 1st half on 4-7 FG, but his teammates combined to shoot 4-21 from the field so it did not appear to be their afternoon:

I was excited to see 2-time defending Big East Player of the Week Mac McClung, while also a little nervous to see whether Georgetown can win games when he has an off-night because the spotlight on him is white-hot:

After watching him shoot 3-10 in the 1st 20 minutes it fell to his teammates to get the job done, which they did in grand fashion. The leader, as always, was Omer Yurtseven: he made several put-backs, a couple of hook shots in the lane, and what is becoming his signature shot (a nifty baseline jumper) to finish with a double-double before halftime (12 PTS/10 REB/6-8 FG) and help stake his team to a 42-24 lead:

I ran into fellow Penn alum Scott Graham during halftime as he was taking a break from calling the game with Len Elmore for FS1: super-nice guy.  If there is 1 thing we have learned from the Retrievers over the past couple of years it is this: you should never ever underestimate them when they are playing against a higher-ranked team. Jackson/Owens kept making shots as each ended up in double-figures but there would be no history-making upset today due to their size disadvantage (UMBC only had 31 REB compared to the Hoyas’ 45). Georgetown’s guards showed off their athleticism in the 2nd half as both McClung/Jagan Mosely had baseline drives that resulted in high-flying dunks:

Jamorko Pickett finished with 12 PTS but limped out of the game with 12 minutes left due to a lower leg injury: he sat on the bench the rest of the afternoon but did not appear to be in a great deal of pain so I assume that it was simply a minor sprain/cramp:

1 thing that Coach Patrick Ewing cannot afford it is the loss of any more players after seeing 4 guys depart his roster over the past few weeks for a variety of reasons:

Fortunately, he got some powerful production from the inside/outside bench combo of Qudus Wahab/Jahvon Blair, who combined for 25 PTS/16 REB/3 AST/3 BLK/0 TO. Yurtseven kept his foot on the gas in the 2nd stanza with a series of turnaround jumpers/dunks/layups en route to a hyper-efficient 22 PTS/13 REB/3 BLK in less than 20 minutes of action. Georgetown won its 4th straight game by a score of 81-55 and if they can finish off the month by chowing down on a couple more cupcakes then they will enter Big East play with a 10-3 record and an outside chance for some postseason play.

At the postgame press conference I asked UMBC coach Ryan Odom how Georgetown’s double-double machine compared to the other top players he has seen this season. He answered that Yurtseven is the best interior big man he has faced all year because he can do a little of everything: make mid-range jump shots, turn and shoot right over his opponents, etc. He said they tried to get the big man away from the rim as much as possible: try try again.

My question for Coach Ewing was about what it feels like to win a national title with his alma mater, as he won the inaugural 1 back in 1984 and the soccer team won the most recent 1 only 48 hours earlier. After ensuring that I remembered him winning it all 35 years ago, he took his hat off to the soccer squad because he is very proud of the entire Hoya family. He concluded by hoping that soccer will not be the only Georgetown athletic team to bring a title back to campus this year:

That’s all for now, check back in the weeks ahead for Part 5.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Friday, December 20 (and other News, Notes, and Games)

Posted on December 20, 2019 by John Stalica

Towson (5-5, 4-5 D1) vs. Liberty (12-0, 10-0 D1) – approx. 5:00 PM EST (FloHoops)

Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington DC in the inaugural DC Holiday Hoops Fest. The inaugural game is Akron/Tulane; this will be part of a 4-team, 2-day nonexempt bracketed event. Liberty comes into the season having already won the Island of the Bahamas Showcase thanks to wins against Morgan State, Rice and Kansas City. Scottie James has led Liberty with 9.8 points a game and 7.8 rebounds a game through the Flames’ first 12 games.

Towson finished 7th in their official exempt tournament down in Charleston with losses against Xavier and Buffalo, but they did salvage a win against Saint Joseph’s. With a road win at Morgan State and a home win against UMBC, the Tigers at least get to claim the status as kings of Baltimore (County) this season. Brian Fobbs has led Towson with 16.2 points a game through the Tigers’ first 10 games this season.

 

OTHER NEWS, NOTES, AND GAMES

-Seton Hall picked up a really nice home win against Maryland in a low scoring affair.  This was a nice bounce back game for the Hall after they were destroyed by Rutgers over the weekend.  Maryland is now 0-2 in true road games.

-NC State came up short at Auburn, but they were in the game the entire way and I think there is more to be impressed about than concerned about.  I think this is a much better NCST team than what they had a year ago.

-Houston finally passed the eye test last night with a 20pt win over a pretty solid UTEP team.  It’s not a win that will turn out to be the signature win on their profile, but it is the first time Houston has looked dominant over any sort of a decent team.

-SMU AT GEORGIA.  SMU has been one of the bigger surprises in college hoops, but despite being 8-1 overall they’re still kind of flying under the radar.  Georgia s currently unbeaten at home, so this should be a solid road test for SMU.

-FURMAN AT MERCER (SoCon).  This is a winnable conference road opener for a really good Furman team.

-Central Connecticut @ Penn State
-Bowling Green @ Norfolk State – A win for Bowling Green gets them to 9-2
-Binghamton @ Pittsburgh
-North Dakota State @ Marquette
-Mississippi Valley State @ Santa Clara

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Dec 19th

Posted on December 19, 2019 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Appalachian State and South Alabama – CLICK HERE

-Utah, who hadn’t really looked good at all this season, looked really good last night.  They led Kentucky for pretty much the entire game, and even held on to a double digit lead for most of the second half, as they pulled off the 69-66 upset over the Wildcats.  It’s Kentucky’s second loss of the year, and outside of the win against Michigan State they really don’t have much in the way of quality wins, but most people forget that Kentucky never seems to really doesn’t fire up their engines until after Christmas anyway.  I still think that we are gonna see Kentucky high in the rankings and way up the seedlist by the end of the year.  As for Utah, this is the kind of game that finally adds some meat to their resume.

-As expected, Gonzaga had no trouble at home against an injured North Carolina team that has been struggling.  They won 94-81, but the game was probably more lopsided than what that score indicates.

-Cincinnati played their best game of the year and picked up a really nice home win against a Tennessee team that really struggled to hit shots.  The Bearcats actually looked like an NCAA Tournament team for the first time all season, so maybe they can start to turn things around.

-East Tennessee State totally blew LSU off of their home court.  They are a team that is good enough to be inside the bubble.  The problem for them is a very small margin for error due to not being able to play in more games like the one they played last night.  Still, I think they can land inside the bubble if they dominate the SoCon.

-Richmond had to sweat, but they did knock off their former Colonial rivals to pick up another road win and improve to 10-1 on the season.

-Saint Mary’s absolutely destroyed Arizona State.  It was 96-56.  It was 51-19 at the half.  It was…INSANE both how good they played and how much Arizona State struggled.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-WOFFORD AT DUKE.  Wofford just got a surprising win against North Carolina, but going eight miles down the road and surprising Duke would be on a whole other level.

-MARYLAND AT SETON HALL.  This would be Maryland’s biggest road win of the year.  The reason? Because it would be their FIRST road win of the year.  Seton Hall has had a few good moments, but their last game wasn’t one of them.  They were blown off of Planet Earth against Rutgers.  The Hall is also short handed, which will make things even tougher tonight.

-UETP AT HOUSTON.  This one should actually be kind of fun.  UTEP has just one loss on the year, but is still largely untested, especially on the road.  If they can pick up this win then it would certainly make their resume look a lot better.  Houston has struggled some this year and is looking to rebound from a loss to Oklahoma State.  I still think that the Cougars have potential, but they really haven’t shown it yet.

-NC STATE AT AUBURN.  NC State picked up a pretty nice road win against UNC Greensboro the other night, but have a much tougher test tonight against a very good Auburn team.  If NC State wins this, then I think it shows they are not just a tournament team, but a top 25 team.

-Prairie View A&M @ Colorado

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