NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Some of the top UTR teams yesterday that had shots at big time opponents ended up getting big time beaten. Austin Peay was never in the game at Tennessee and lost 103-68. Tennessee is really good, and while I didn’t think the Govs would win, I didn’t think they’d get blown out as badly as they did.
-Troy was also blown off the floor by Oregon 82-61. This one did surprise me. It would have been a tough game for Troy to win, but I was surprised they were beaten so handily. Just the other night Troy had hung in pretty tough with Arkansas. The Razorbacks really didn’t pull away until the end of the game. So, maybe we need to keep an eye on the Ducks.
-Saint John’s picked up a nice 85-71 home win against a New Mexico team that came into the game looking pretty good. It’s probably one of the more impressive wins we’ve seen out of the Johnnies in a while.
-Saint Mary’s barely held off Nebraska in their 77-74 win out at the Pentagon. Saint Mary’s remains unbeaten and still may be finding themselves a little bit, and Nebraska may be better than what many of us were giving them credit for.
-Boise State pulled away from Clemson in the 2nd half for an 84-71 win. It was a nice win for the Broncos despite them being at home, and it was one that they kind of needed since all they had prior to this was home buy wins.
-Mississippi State, who is one of many SEC teams we are big on this year, held off Utah 78-73 for what is probably their nicest win of the season so far. The Bulldogs trailed by double-digits at the half, but had a great second half for the comeback win.
-Liberty blew Charleston off of Charleston’s own floor 68-47. This was the last game of an event that had simply been awesome to watch. Well, all the games were awesome until this one, I guess.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-NORTH TEXAS AT MCNEESE. McNeese is basically out of strikes if they want to land inside the bubble. Their next D1 win will be their first, and while North Texas is a tough opponent who comes in unbeaten and has already won a road game, it’s the kind of game McNeese should be able to win at home if they believe themselves to be a legit top 40 team.
-NORTHERN COLORADO AT WASHINGTON STATE. This is a pretty good Northern Colorado team who’s only loss so far was a very close game against Colorado. Wazzu comes in at 3-1 and will need to be on a bit of an upset alert tonight.
-GONZAGA AT SAN DIEGO STATE. This will be a very tough road test for Gonzaga, and they’ll be playing in front of what I think is one of the most rabid and most awesome student sections in the country. But the Zags are REALLY good, and they are up for a tough road test. San Diego State comes in at 2-0, but this is hands down their biggest test of the season so far, and may be one of their biggest tests of the season all year.
-Miami OH @ Michigan – Michigan had a nice win against TCU their last time out and should blow through this one
-Colgate @ NC State
-American @ High Point – High Point can improve to 4-0
-NJIT @ George Washington – GW can get to 4-0
-VMI @ Pittsburgh
-Mississippi College (nonD1) @ Lousiana Tech – LA Tech is unbeten
-Monmouth @ Wichita State
-IU Indy @ Iowa State
-Pacific @ Arkansas
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Texas Tech
-UTRGV @ Wisconsin
-Prairie View @ SMU
-North Alabama @ Auburn
-Montana @ Utah State
