Eastern Washington visited Bloomington, Indiana, on Monday night as a program that had never defeated a Big Ten team. It was playing in Assembly Hall, a building where the Indiana Hoosiers had not lost to a non-conference opponent in their last 43 games. Every ticket purchased at IU made an Eagles win even more improbable: Eastern Washington had only played 20 games in program history in front of a crowd larger than 10,000 people, and it had lost all 20.
College basketball scores: Indiana lost to Eastern Washington, the No. 151 team in America
Eastern Washington’s shocking upset of the Hoosiers highlighted a busy Monday slate.
Joe Robbins/Getty Images
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
That is, as they say, why you play the game. Eastern Washington battled back from a double-digit second-half deficit to defeat Indiana, 88-86, in front of a stunned home crowd. It’s a loss that will put heat on Hoosiers coach Tom Crean once again after a 4-0 start had momentarily concealed a dizzying offseason packed with off-court controversy.
Senior guard Parker Kelly hit a dagger three-pointer with 35 seconds left to give Eastern Washington a lead it would never relinquish:
It's a terrible loss for Crean and the Hoosiers. Indiana had been riding high after defeating No. 22 SMU (without star forward Markus Kennedy, but still) last week. The play of freshman guard James Blackmon Jr., who entered the night averaging better than 22 points per game, was another encouraging sign. At least for the night, Eastern Washington was able to reduce all of those positive signs to an afterthought with a 53-point second-half outburst.
Three Eagles players scored at least 20 points, led by guard Drew Brandon. Brandon finished the night with 27 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists on 10-of-16 shooting. Guard Tyler Harvey chipped in 25 points while forward Venky Jois added 20 points and 14 rebounds in the win.
Eastern Washington shot over 51 percent from the field in the victory and won the rebounding battle, 37-32. Star guard Yogi Ferrell led the Hoosies with 27 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Eagles on a charmed night.
A few Eastern Washington fans were lucky enough to watch it happen:
Yes, it’s a long season and Indiana is hardly buried by this loss. A home game against Louisville on Dec. 9 will give the Hoosiers an opportunity to get this defeat out of their system. Still, after such a contentious offseason, dropping a home game to a Big Sky team that’s been under .500 the last seven seasons isn’t a good look for Crean.
There’s only one way to end this section:
— SB Nation CBB (@SBNationCBB) November 4, 2014 Maui Invitational
Kansas State 88, Purdue 79
Arizona 72, Missouri 53
Pittsburgh 81, Chaminade 68
San Diego State 92, BYU 87, 2OT
Kansas State needed Marcus Foster on Monday and the sophomore did not disappoint. After shooting 1-for-13 in a disheartening loss to Long Beach State on Friday, Foster once again looked like one of the best guards in the country against the Boilermakers. He finished with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. Purdue had no answer for him:
Kansas State will play Arizona on Tuesday after Sean Miller's team used a big run late in the second half to turn its game against Mizzou into a blowout. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored a game-high 15 points while freshman Stanley Johnson added 14 points in the win.
Pitt got 27 points and 15 rebounds from sophomore forward Michael Young to hold off tournament hosts Chaminade. The Panthers will play San Diego State after a wild double-overtime contest against BYU that finished after 2 a.m. ET.
The Aztecs led by eight at the half but BYU battled back to send the game to overtime behind big nights from Tyler Haws and Kyle Collinsworth. The Cougars led by five with 1:30 left in overtime, but San Diego State would send the game to a second extra session on a late three by Aqeel Quinn.
Quinn scored five in the second overtime and SDSU put enough free throws to seal the win. Which means ...
Yes, that streak is wizardry. Steve Fisher’s team has won 124 STRAIGHT GAMES when it has the lead at the 5-min mark of the second half.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) November 25, 2014 Insane.
Did San Diego State get away with some stuff? Well yeah, probably.
Legends Classic
Villanova 77, VCU 53
Michigan 70, Oregon 63
No. 12 Villanova vs. No. 14 VCU was ostensibly the game of the night, but the Wildcats quickly turned it into a laugher in the second half. Villanova outscored Shaka Smart’s team 45-23 in the final 20 minutes with ball movement, rebounding and shot-making. Villanova finished with 20 assists to just four for VCU, while out-rebounding the Rams by seven and shooting 50 percent from the field.
Four Villanova players hit double figures in scoring, led by 15 points and seven rebounds from JayVaughn Pinkston.
Villanova will face Michigan on Tuesday after the Wolverines held off Oregon. Wolverines guard Caris LeVert shot only 3-of-13 from the field, but still finished with 18 points because he was able to get to the line and convert once he was there (11-of-13). LeVert also hit one of the biggest shots of the game with just over two minutes left:
Zak Irvin scored 19 points for Michigan in the win. Joseph Young had 20 for Oregon in the loss.
Louisville lays on the hurt
The Cardinals beat Savannah State, 87-26, but it was how they did it that made it even more ugly. As Rodger Sherman detailed, Louisville held the Tigers scoreless for the first 16 minutes of the game. By the time the Tigers finally scored, Louisville was up 29-0.
These numbers aren’t pretty.
After the game, coach Rick Pitino ... tried to lighten the mood:
Uh, WUT? https://t.co/T11tfvDdBg
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) November 25, 2014 Monday’s stars
Holy cow, Sterling Gibbs!
Sterling Gibbs with 40 points on 10-14 shooting, 7-9 3pt, 13-13 ft. Unreal performance tonight, he was locked in. #shbb
— Chris McManus (@CerasolisGhost) November 25, 2014 Iowa State outlasted Alabama behind 28 points and six rebounds from Georges Niang. Eastern Washington’s Drew Brandon, Tyler Harvey and Venky Jois deserve some shine, too.
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