It’s Friday, so there’s no longer any point in beating around the bush: this week has been miserable. No games between top 25 teams, only one game featuring a pair of teams I would describe as “well above average,” and no one saying anything crazy enough for us to discuss ad nauseum for four days.
Missouri, Wisconsin And Murray State Handle Business As Finals Week Nears Merciful End
A trio of top 25 teams had no problem handling their overmatched visitors on another slow night of college basketball during finals week.
Thankfully, the kids stop learning today.
SCORES
Top 25
No. 10 Missouri 104, Kennessaw St. 65
No. 14 Wisconsin 66, Savannah St. 33
No. 24 Murray St. 89, Lipscomb 65
GAME OF THE NIGHT: Bradley 67, George Washington 66.
This was one of only five games on Thursday that was decided by less than ten points.
Walt Lemon Jr. hit a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left to snap a tie and Bradley held on for a 67-66 win over the Colonials, who dropped their fifth straight. Lemon led all scorers with 22 points.
You know what I did last night? I watched Cowboys and Aliens. You feel good about that, basketball gods? You feel good about what you’ve done?
PLAYER OF THE NIGHT: Wisconsin defense
If the atrociously one-sided contests weren’t enough, there were also very few notable individual performances to speak off. That being the case, we’re giving this morning’s award to the entire Badger defense, which forced 11 turnovers in the first half and held visiting Savannah St. to 33 points on Thursday.
HONOR ROLL:
Andre Jones, Winthrop - Scored nearly half of his team’s 59 points by dropping 26 in a 14-point triumph over Jacksonville.
Kelsey Howard, Jackson St. - Scored 27 points and made five 3-pointers to lead Jackson State to a 59-58 victory against SMU in the Dallas Classic.
Zeke Marshall, Akron - Scored 21 points to help the Zips snap a three-game losing streak by beating Arkansas-Pine Bluff 87-64.
Justin Hamilton, LSU - Registered his first double-double of the season (14 and 11) as LSU defeated UC Irvine 66-59.
John Shurna, Northwestern - Dropped 20 in a 30-point romp of Texas Southern.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: “We just focus on the next game. It doesn’t matter if it’s Kansas or Christopher Newport, a D-III out of Virginia, we just go out there and play our style, and just come out with a win.” --Missouri forward Ricardo Ratliffe after the Tigers moved to 10-0 by beating Savannah St. 104-67.
IMAGE OF THE NIGHT:
If I ever look at this and don’t at least chuckle, just go ahead and take me out back and get it over with, because I’ll already be dead inside. Sorry, Delbert Love.
FIVE TO END:
1. Dismissed and disgraced former UCLA star Reeves Nelson is headed to Lithuania.
2. Weber State’s Damian Lillard is the nation’s leading scorer AND college basketball’s most efficient offensive player.
3. Jelan Kendrick appears to be up to his old tricks at Ole Miss.
4. The ACC will follow the Big East’s lead and move to an 18 game league schedule next season.
5. Michael Avery, the 8th grader who committed to Kentucky and wacky head coach Billy Gillispie back in 2007, is now a senior in high school and just committed to Sonoma State.
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