College basketball Saturday: Michigan’s back

• Marcus Smart, Jabari Parker headline Wooden Award candidates

• Big 12 has been much deeper than expected

In another instant classic between Michigan State and Michigan, the Wolverines outlasted the Spartans, 80-75.

Equally impressive was Michigan State’s Gary Harris, torching Michigan for a career-high 27 points. The sophomore guard hit four three-pointers in six attempts, his third straight game with at least a pair of triples.

Pitt held off Maryland thanks to 28 points from senior Lamar Patterson. The Panthers out-muscled Maryland in the end, grabbing 11 offensive rebounds and finishing with a plus-12 rebounding advantage overall. Both teams shot well, but Pittsburgh was more efficient; the Panthers shot 51 percent from the field, while the Terrapins hit only four of 17 three-point attempts.

• Marcus Smart, Jabari Parker headline Wooden Award candidates

You might notice that coaches around college basketball are wearing sneakers today as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer initiative. Big Ten schools are having fans play along by encouraging students to show up in suits and sneakers as well. However, Purdue is taking the event to the max:

Unfortunately, the players weren’t the only people getting in on the action

The free throws made it 10 points for Mayo in the final 35 seconds of regulation. On the following possession, there was controversy as Nova’s Tony Chennault was called for a charge when it appeared Marquette’s defender had a foot in the restricted area:

No matter, Villanova pulled away in the extra period to improve to 6-1 in Big East play this season. Next up for the Wildcats is a road game against Georgetown on Monday night.

Looks an awful lot like the Marquette defender was in the restricted zone, but this wasn’t a cut-and-dry call.

Overtime was pretty much all Villanova, though, with the Wildcats scoring the first five points of the period before eventually expanding the lead to seven. As we saw at the end of regulation, a seven-point lead isn’t exactly safe in this matchup, but Marquette couldn’t muster another rally against their nationally-ranked opponents.

Oklahoma State had their hands full with West Virginia on Saturday afternoon, but Le’Bryan Nash and the Cowboys proved to be too much down the stretch as they pulled away for a 81-75 win.

• Marcus Smart, Jabari Parker headline Wooden Award candidates