College basketball notes: A wild start to the 2020-21 season
It would be impossible to go over everything that has happened since the college basketball season finally tipped off last Wednesday, but let’s give it a try.
College basketball notes:
▪ If we didn’t already know it, Gonzaga proved it will be really good. The Zags beat Kansas 102-90 on Thanksgiving Day, then buried Auburn 90-67 on Friday. Drew Timme scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the win over Auburn. Corey Kispert added 25 points.
▪ Gonzaga was to play Tennessee on Wednesday night in the Jimmy V Classic in Indianapolis. When Tennessee was forced to cancel because of COVID-19, West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins saw the news on a crawl at the bottom of his TV screen. He immediately called ESPN and now his West Virginia Mountaineers will play Gonzaga on Wednesday.
▪ West Virginia won the Crossover Classic in South Dakota by beating South Dakota State 79-71, VCU 78-66 and Western Kentucky 70-64. Derek Culver scored 15 points in the win over WKU.
▪ Western Kentucky made an excellent showing in South Dakota, beating Northern Iowa 93-87 and Memphis 75-69 before the loss to the Mountaineers. After missing last season with a knee injury, Hilltoppers star Charles Bassey scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the win over Memphis. He had 15 points and eight rebounds against WVU.
▪ Western Kentucky plays Louisville at the Yum Center at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Louisville is off to a 3-0 start with wins over Evansville, Seton Hall and Prairie View A&M. The Cards survived Seton Hall when the Pirates missed a free throw at the end of regulation. Jae’Lyn Withers had 20 points and nine rebounds in the win over Prairie View.
▪ The Rick Pitino era at Iona starts Monday at 9 p.m. on Fox Sports 1 when the Gaels play at Seton Hall. Iona’s start was delayed by COVID and when St. Joseph was forced to cancel its game with Seton Hall, Pirates Coach Kevin Willard called Pitino, his former boss at Louisville.
▪ It was a big day for the Atlantic 10 on Sunday. Not only did Richmond knock off Kentucky in Rupp Arena, Travis Ford and Saint Louis held off LSU 85-81 to win the Billiken Classic. Javonte Perkins, a former juco star, scored 32 points, 26 the second half, for SLU. Saint Louis was playing without starting forward Hasahn French, out with a concussion.
▪ Ford has his best team at Saint Louis after going 12-21, 17-16, 23-13 and 23-8 his first four seasons at the school following his run at Oklahoma State. The Billikens reached the NCAA Tournament in 2019.
▪ No. 3 Villanova lost 81-74 in overtime to Virginia Tech late Saturday night. The game featured a controversial ending in overtime when Tech fell for a trick in-bounds play when Villanova sat up a player for a charge under the basket.
▪ The two teams agreed to the game when Villanova’s Jay Wright and Virginia Tech’s Mike Young gave their stamp of approval after 1 a.m. on Friday morning while both teams were at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.
“What if my kids wake up on Friday morning and social media or whatever those guys are looking at all the time says Virginia Tech had an opportunity to play Villanova and Mike Young said no,” Young said.
▪ Keve Aluma, who sat out last year after transferring from Wofford, Young’s former school, scored 23 points in the win over Villanova.
▪ Virginia Tech was supposed to play Temple until the Owls were forced into a 14-day quarantine.
▪ The Hokies followed the Villanova win with a 76-58 victory over South Florida on Sunday.
▪ By the way, Virginia Tech beat then No. 3 Michigan State last year in Maui.
▪ A similar scenario preceded San Francisco’s 61-60 upset of Virginia. San Francisco agreed to the game while on a layover in Salina, Kansas.
▪ Georgia Tech, who plays Kentucky on Sunday, is off to an 0-2 start. The Jackets lost in four overtimes to Georgia State 123-120 last Wednesday, then dropped an 83-73 decision to Mercer on Friday.
▪ Notre Dame, who plays at UK on Dec. 12, lost its opener 80-70 to Michigan State. It wasn’t that close. The Irish trailed by 28 points two minutes into the second half. Point guard Prentiss Hubb led Notre Dame with 23 points.
▪ UCLA, who plays Kentucky on Dec. 19 in Cleveland as part of the CBS Sports Classic, is 2-0, but the Bruins needed three overtimes to beat Pepperdine 107-98 on Friday. UCLA is scheduled to play host to Long Beach State on Monday night.
▪ The Maui Invitational starts Monday. Only its being played in Asheville, North Carolina. Texas, Davidson, Indiana, Providence, North Carolina, UNLV, Stanford and Alabama round out the field. All of Monday’s games are on ESPN2, starting at noon.
▪ North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said, “I’ll probably wear a coaching shirt and probably a Hawaiian shirt as well, to make me think of the good times we had in Maui.”
▪ No. 17 Houston knocked off No. 14 Texas Tech 64-53 on Sunday. Marcus Sasser led the way with 17 points. Quentin Grimes, a transfer from Kansas, added 15 for the Cougars, who shot 35.1 percent but still won in typical Kelvin Sampson fashion.
▪ Baylor is off to a 2-0 start with wins over Louisiana-Lafayette (112-82) and Washington (86-52) in Las Vegas. With Scott Drew home in Waco with COVID-19, the Bears are being coached by assistant Jerome Tang. Drew is expected back Saturday when Baylor plays Gonzaga.
▪ Former UK guard Quade Green was held to just 1-for-5 shooting from the field for Washington in the loss to Baylor.
▪ Duke knocked off Coppin State 81-71 in the Blue Devils’ delayed opener on Saturday. Duke was scheduled to open with Gardner-Webb last Wednesday until its opponent came down with COVID-19. Coach K’s team won despite 22 turnovers. DJ Steward led the way with 24 points. Jalen Johnson scored 19 points and grabbed 19 rebounds.
▪ Illinois is off to a 3-0 start but the third victory was a close one, 77-75 over Ohio University on Friday. Star guard Ayo Dosunmu scored 27 points for the Illini in the win. The 6-5 junior is averaging 25.7 points per game so far in 2020-21.
▪ Illinois is scheduled to play Baylor on Wednesday as the second game in the Jimmy V Classic in Indy.
▪ No. 23 Ohio State was tied 33-33 at the half with UMass Lowell on Sunday before winning 74-64. The Buckeyes made just four of 18 three-point shots.
▪ Last season’s National Player of the Year, Luka Garza, scored 41 points in Iowa’s win over Southern on Friday.
▪ Oakland lost by 52 points to Xavier, by 27 points to Toledo and by 14 points to Bradley before taking Michigan to overtime before losing 81-71 in Ann Arbor on Sunday.
▪ Around the SEC, South Carolina evened its record at 1-1 with a 69-58 win over Tulsa on Sunday. South Carolina had lost to Liberty 78-62 in its opener. The Gamecocks face Houston on Saturday.
▪ Liberty also spoiled Mississippi State’s opener with an 84-73 win last Thursday. MSU shot 57.4 percent and still lost.
▪ Georgia beat Florid A&M 85-75 on Sunday. A grad transfer from Stony Brook, Andrew Garcia led the way with 22 points for Tom Crean’s team.
▪ Texas A&M won its opener, beating New Orleans 82-53 on Sunday. The Aggies went 12 of 27 from three-point range. Quenton Jackson scored 28 points in the win.
▪ Arkansas is 2-0 after a 69-54 win over North Texas on Saturday. That followed the Razorbacks’ ridiculous 142-62 trashing of Mississippi Valley State last Wednesday.
▪ Vanderbilt won its opener, beating Valparaiso 77-71 on Friday. Scottie Pippen Jr. scored 25 points and dished four assists for the Commodores.
▪ Florida is expected to finally get its season underway on Wednesday against Army, then Friday against Boston College at Mohegan Sun. The Gators were forced to cancel their Dec. 2 matchup with Oklahoma, who found another playing partner.
▪ Ole Miss is not expected to begin play until Dec. 7.
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 10:24 AM.
