The only meeting between two ranked teams on Thanksgiving happened to take place in a consolation bracket. That’s what happens when the Battle for Atlantis opened with ranked squads finishing the first round 1-3.
College basketball scores: North Carolina finds its groove vs. UCLA
Highlights and reaction from a busy college basketball slate on Thursday.
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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.
North Carolina looked like a fatally flawed team in its loss to unranked Butler on Wednesday, but the Tar Heels showed serious signs of improvement in a 78-56 win against No. 22 UCLA on Thursday. Mostly UNC played stifling perimeter defense, made a respectable percentage of their free throws and finally had someone other than Marcus Paige hit a few three-pointers.
Through the first four games, Paige had hit 10 of North Carolina's 16 threes on the season. Everyone else was shooting just 18 percent from deep. That changed against UCLA, at least a bit. Paige made four of his 10 attempts from three-point range, and the rest of the team added four other three-pointers. This included two makes in two tries for J.P. Tokoto, who was 0-for-6 from three heading into the game.
North Carolina was also only making 65.9 percent of its free throws going into Thursday, but made 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) foul shots against the Bruins. As for the previously mentioned perimeter defense: UNC held UCLA's starting backcourt of Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton to a combined 3-for-16 shooting. Norman Powell had 15 points and five steals for UCLA and freshman forward Kevon Looney added 11 points and six rebounds, but the Tar Heels did enough work defensively to turn the game into a blowout in the second half.
Paige's 21 points led the way for Roy Williams' team, while freshman Justin Jackson (12 points) and sophomore Isaiah Hicks (10 points) also helped pace the offense.
North Carolina now faces No. 18 Florida in the fifth place game at the tournament. Speaking of which ...
Florida is struggling right now
The Gators trailed UAB by two with 3:30 remaining. Having already lost to Georgetown on Wednesday and Miami earlier this month, Florida looked like it could be unraveling just five games into the season. Fortunately for Billy Donovan, the Gators closed the game on an 11-0 run to win 56-47 over the Blazers.
Yes, the Gators are playing without key scoring guard Eli Carter, and they're also trying to integrate four new starters on a team that entered the last NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed. Perhaps the start of this season was never going to be easy for Donovan even with a talented squad, but few expected Florida to struggle like this early, especially against a team that places No. 216 in the KenPom rankings in UAB.
The Gators shot just 34 percent from the field, but Michael Frazier II (14 points) and Chris Chiozza (13 points) added enough scoring to ultimately get the job done. Was it pretty? No, it wasn't pretty.
Maybe I should just leave at halftime and go to the Migos show?
— Alligator Army (@AlligatorArmy) November 28, 2014 Read Andy Hutchins’ recap at Alligator Army for more.
What’s up with Kelly Oubre?
Kansas beat a solid Rhode Island team 76-60 on Thursday, but the biggest subplot of the Jayhawks’ season reared its head once again. Freshman Kelly Oubre -- ranked the No. 5 player in the 2015 NBA Draft according to Draft Express -- only played four minutes. On the season, he’s 10th on Kansas in total minutes.
Read Gary Parrish on how both Oubre and Bill Self are keeping his early season struggles in perspective. It includes this key quote:
“Yeah, I’ve gotten that a lot lately ... because, you know, I’ve never been in a situation like this,” Oubre said. “I’ve always been at the top. But just keeping my confidence 100 is all I can do right now, and I’m just going to continue to do what coach needs me to do.”
Yes, that’s Kelly Oubre basically dropping the 100 emoji in casual conversation. You have to root for this kid.
Look out, Nigel Hayes!
We already went over Wisconsin’s victory over Georgetown in a fantastic back-and-forth game at the Battle for Atlantis. This is much more important:
It feels so good to have college basketball back in our lives.
What to watch for on Friday
(All times Eastern)
Oklahoma vs. Wisconsin at 4:30
North Carolina vs. Florida at 8
Kansas vs. Tennessee at noon
Virginia vs. La Salle at 9:30
Gonzaga vs. St. John’s at 7
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