Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES:

For our latest UNDER THE RADAR VIDEO PODCAST – CLICK HERE

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which today is a special one – CLICK HERE

-Penn State beat Purdue 81-70 and at no point in that game were really having to sweat. The margin was actually a lot more than that for most of the second half. Purdue has now lost both of their true road games on the season so far, and they weren’t even remotely competitive in either game.

-Drake had to make some plays late in the game, but they managed the 66-60 win at Valpo in their conference opener, which keeps them undbeaten on the year.

-TCU bounced back from a stretch where they had lost 3 out of 4 and knocked off Xavier at home 76-72. TCU led for most of the game, but it was close all throughout and actually tied with less than a minute to go before TCU pulled it out. Xavier falls to 7-2 and is still in search of a marquee win.

-San Francisco absolutely dominated Saint Louis last night, especially in the second half. The final score was 78-61, but there were times the lead was much more than that. Coming into the year we were big on both of these teams. San Francisco has lived up to it, and Saint Louis clearly has not. SLU has barely looked like an NIT team so far.

-An Under the Radar note, a really nice win for UC San Diego who went into UC Santa Barbara and beat the Gouchos on the road 82-66. That improves UCSD to 7-2 on the year, and one of those losses came in the final seconds against San Diego State, so they are a team to keep an eye one.

-UC Irvine, who is also in the Big West, remains unbeaten after pulling away from Cal State Bakersfield late and securing an 82-66 win. UC Irvine strikes me as a solid top 40ish level team. If you’ve been watching Under the Radar, which is linked above, you already knew that.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-GEORGETOWN AT WEST VIRGINIA. Georgetown is off to a 7-1 start, which is much better than what they’ve been in recent years, but this is their first real test of the season. West Virginia has looked much stronger than expected at 5-2 and has a really nice win against Gonzaga on their resume.

-NORTH TEXAS AT HIGH POINT. High Point is a strong UTR team and isn’t going to be easy to beat at home. North Texas is coming off a hard fought loss to Utah State and really needs this win on their resume. I think they’re good enough to build the kind of resume they need in March to be selected for the NCAA Tournament, but they need this road win on there to do it.

-ILLINOIS AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). Northwestern is coming off a tough road loss to Iowa where they lost after a 3pt buzzer beating shot. They have a good team, but they don’t have any real wins of note yet. Beating Illinois, even thought it is a home game, would qualify as a big win. It’s also a rivalry game. As for the Illini, they’re coming off a nice win against Arkansas, but this is their first true road test.

-Miami OH @ Indiana – Miami OH is off to a decent start and IU has been somewhat disappointing, but the Hoosiers still appear to have the upper hand

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-It’s not easy to win on the road. And last night, the top two ranked teams, both of whom deserved those rankings and I would argue still do, both lost road games.

-Creighton was a red-hot 41% from beyond the arc against Kansas last night and basically led them from tip to buzzer in their 76-63 win. Creighton had been struggling, so this goes a long way toward turning them around. It gives them a big win on their resume, but also serves to build up their confidence.

-Auburn played a really good and tough game at Duke, but just wasn’t quite strong enough to beat Duke at Duke and fell 84-78. Auburn could very possibly be the best and most battle-tested team of the year come March considering how strong their schedule is and how well they’ve done against it. This loss, while it was a missed opportunity at a massive win, doesn’t even qualify as a setback.

-Marquette, who is another highly ranked team that had won big games and earned the ranking, couldn’t quite get it done at Iowa State last night and fell 81-70. Similar to Auburn, this game hardly even qualifies as a setback. Failing to beat a top ten team in a true road game isn’t going to bother the committee, nor should it.

-Alabama DID pick up a massive road win as they held off North Carolina 94-79 and were basically in control for the entire game. This drops the Tarheels to 4-4 and extends their losing streak to three. While none of those losses are bad, they do need to bounce back. Fortunately for them their next two games appear to be very winnable.

-Oregon remains unbeaten as they picked up a 68-60 win at USC in their conference opener. This is now a Big Ten game and not a Pac 12 game, which still feels strange to say.

-UConn, who was still reeling and being hit with criticism after such a poor showing in Maui, had a nice win over Baylor last night 76-72. They needed this for their confidence and just for the satisfaction of getting the critics off their backs as much as they needed it for the quality win on their resume.

-Pittsburgh had looked fantastic on the year so far! And, last night….they did not look fantastic at all. They got absolutely boat-raced at Mississippi State, who we knew was good, but not so good that we thought they’d blow Pitt’s doors off 90-57.

-Columbia’s perfect season came ton and end last night, and the game wasn’t even competitive. Albany won 88-73, but for much of the game the lead was even bigger than that.

-DePaul’s perfect season also came to an end. They were actually competitive for a good portion of the game at Texas Tech, but ended up losing 76-62.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-PURDUE AT PENN STATE (Big Ten). Both teams come in 7-1. Purdue’s profile is better, and they are coming off a real nice win against Ole Miss, the gap between the two teams may not be as big as the polls indicate. Purdue is also on the road, so it will be a bit of a test. It would be the first true road win of the season for the Boilers if they’re able to pick up the win.

-DRAKE AT VALPARAISO (Missouri Valley). Drake looks to remain unbeaten and inch closer to the rankings.

-XAVIER AT TCU. Xavier is coming off two back-to-back unimpressive performances where they were blown out by Michigan and barely beat South Carolina State. It’s their first road game of the year, but TCU hasn’t exactly set the world on fire either. They come into this one with back-to-back losses and are looking to bounce back from that.

-SAINT LOUIS AT SAN FRANCISCO. Saint Louis has gotten off to a slower start than what we were expecting, but this is a very tough road game against a San Francisco team that may be near the bubble themselves come March, so a win today would go a long way toward jumpstarting SLU’s season.

-CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD AT UC IRVINE (Big West). UC Irvine can improve to 9-0 on the season.