I was out covering the Cancun Challenge last night, so I missed watching the big games of the Coaches vs. Cancer tourney. We'll try to muddle through somehow.
Syracuse 95 - Cal 73
Little known fact: eating your own words is a key part of any healthy breakfast. When I previewed this game in Hoop Night, I said outright that I thought Syracuse would struggle with Cal's hyper-effective outside shooting. Emphatically not so, it would seem. Cal's Patrick Christopher was 0-7 from behind the arc, and the Bears as a team shot just 30%. Syracuse got 22 points out of Scoop Jardine, 17/11 from Wesley Johnson (he's catching on, eh?), and a nice little 12 points from Arinze Onuaku to fill out the stat sheet. And Jim Boeheim got to act miserable about winning a big game in the press room, so it was a good night for the Orange all the way around.
UNC 77 - Ohio State 73
Let's start with a look at Evan Turner's stat line: 23 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals (he let Dallas Lauderdale beat him out for the team lead with 3 blocks, so he clearly hasn't found his ceiling yet). And yet Marcus Ginyard is being praised for his defense on Turner in this game. Seems he clamped down when it became absolutely necessary, but not before "folksy" ol' Roy tore him a new one.
"I chewed his rear end out probably the hardest I've ever got on him," Williams told the AP. "If I'm going to chew him out, it scares the dickens out of the rest of the team. He's one of my pets."
The Heels led comfortably throughout most of the game, but had to get on their horses to stave off a late rally by the Buckeyes. Something tells me this experience will actually serve both teams well in the postseason.
Dayton 63 - Georgia Tech 59
Here was a fantastic battle of ranked teams that was witnessed by almost no-one. The game was played in an empty arena in Puerto Rico while most of the mainland was having lunch or just starting our workdays. Out of all of Tech's highly-regarded starters, only rook Derrick Favors eked into double figures, scoring 10. The Flyers started a taller lineup to counter the Yellowjackets, bringing Chris Johnson off the bench to score 19. In fact, the Dayton bench handily outscored the starters, with Paul Williams providing the go-ahead three on his only deep make of the day.
Villanova 69 - George Mason 68
This one had upset written all over it. Villanova shot poorly from the field (36%) and the line (59%) and lost four players, including Corey Stokes, to the ref's whistle. That left 'Nova freshman Isaiah Armwood to make the best debut outside of John Wall in this early part of the season. The first made basket of his college career was a three-pointer that moved the Wildcats ahead of a tough Mason squad with 13 seconds left. This Puerto Rico Tip-Off has been great, despite having all the atmosphere of a Patriot League quarterfinal.
Other Scores
Kentucky 102 - Sam Houston State 92
Kansas 94 - Central Arkansas 44
UNC-Wilmington 80 - Penn State 69
Ole Miss 89 - Indiana 71
South Carolina 78 - LaSalle 68
Stat Hounds
Klay Thompson (Washington State): 37 points, 3 assists vs. IP-Ft. Wayne
Norris Cole (Cleveland State): 38 points vs. Florida A&M
Corey Allmond (Sam Houston State): 37 points @ Kentucky
Categorical Undeniability
Points: 38 Norris Cole (Cleveland State) vs. Florida A&M
Rebounds: 18 shared by DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky) vs. Sam Houston St. and Eugene Phelps (Long Beach State) @ Notre Dame
Assists: 8 shared by Steven Shepp (Fresno State), Damon Heuir (Southern Utah), Elijah Muhammad (Tennessee Tech), Larry Drew II (UNC), Ashton Mitchell (Sam Houston State), and Kevin Burwell (Mississippi Valley State.
Blocks: 8 Jarvis Varnado (Mississippi State) vs. Southeastern Louisiana
Steals: 6 shared by Al Nolen (Minnesota) and Lance Pevehouse (Sam Houston State)
I appreciate you filling in the picture. I was out watching UVA and Rider play listless basketball at JPJ, so I missed the chance to watch UNC/OSU in person.
You should have mentioned Turner's second triple-double of the season when you include his 10 turnovers, and at one point he had 8 points and 9 turnovers before UNC let off the gas a little too much.
UNC also had some interesting lineups in late in the game during OSU's comeback. Davis didn't play much due to foul trouble, and the Wears played a lot while Zeller and Henson were on the bench. Either Williams really trust the Wears right now, or he may have been trying to rest some of his better players for the second game in two nights. Fourth game of the year and only two UNC players have played 30 minutes in a game - Thompson twice and Ginyard once (both did against OSU).