Rise and Shine: Saturday, January 11 Recap

By Jonathan Lidskin

Wesley Hale-Imagn Images

Another wild Saturday in college hoops has come and gone, and as always, we have tons of notable results. Let’s jump into some of the games and results that caught my eye yesterday.

Kentucky 95, Miss State 90

Mark Pope’s team bounces back in a big way on the road. The Cats go 16-32 from three and score an upset win. Jaxson Robinson chose a great night to have his best game of the season as he poured in 27 points as both teams got to 2-1 in conference play with this result. Both of these teams also have four quad-one wins this season as well as no super damaging losses (yet). I expect both of these teams to be protected seeds in the tournament.

Iowa State 85, Texas Tech 84 OT

It’s pretty undeniable at this point that Iowa State is at worst one of the four best teams in college basketball. The Cyclones trailed for the majority of the game against a Texas Tech team that had been playing well but battled back from multiple sizeable deficits. Curtis Jones had 26 points, but I thought Joshua Jefferson was the biggest story. The Saint Mary’s transfer continued to prove why he was one of the best portal fits in the country as he made winning play after winning play.

Utah State, New Mexico stay unbeaten

We have quite the race on our hands in the Mountain West. Utah State came back late at home, eventually winning on a ridiculous four-point play by Ian Martinez. New Mexico, on the other hand, took care of business against San Diego State at The Pit. Not to count anyone else in the Mountain West out, but both USU and UNM are 6-0 in the league. The two teams will meet twice during the regular season. Feb. 1 at Spectrum and Feb. 16 at The Pit.

Louisville 82, Pitt 78

You’ll notice that I am covering a lot of road wins here. Winning on the road is tough in college basketball and this game for Louisville was even more important considering the lack of quad-one opportunities in the ACC. Reyne Smith hit seven threes as part of a 25-point outburst in the win. Pat Kelsey has figured out his team without Kasean Pryor and as it turns out, the Cards are just fine.

Other key results:

Kansas 54, Cincinnati 40

Alabama 94, Texas A&M 88

Florida 71, Arkansas 63

La Salle 83, St. Bonaventure 82

UC Irvine 60, UC San Diego 52

Auburn 66, South Carolina 63 (Johni Broome left the game with an injury)

Duke 86, Notre Dame 78 (42 points for Cooper Flagg)