By Jonathan Lidskin
December 14th was a day college basketball fans had circled on their calendars for a long time. This Saturday, the first without a major slate of college football, was the best slate to date for this college basketball season. We had great games across the board and as a great slate of games does, there were needle movers in both directions. Here are six teams that won the day and either made a statement or got a very important win.
1) Dayton
Dayton pulled off an extremely impressive 1-2 in Maui by getting a win over UConn and playing Iowa State and UNC tough. Now the Flyers, in a quest for another at-large bid, have another signature win. Dayton stormed back to take down Marquette 71-63 in what will surely end up as a quad-one victory. Dayton also got the win while going 4-19 from three. Javon Bennett and Zed Key scored 15 apiece to lead the way.
2) Memphis
One week ago, there was some concern about what Memphis’ resumé would end up looking like. The Tigers lost to Louisiana Tech and as it was pointed out by many on what was formerly known as the “bird app”, the conference schedule for Memphis included zero quad-one opportunities. Well, Memphis silenced the doubters early on Saturday with a road win against Clemson who has looked like one of the top teams in the ACC. Memphis gave themselves some margin for error which is important considering their tendency to play down to competition under Penny Hardaway, but the Tigers can breathe a little easier now.
3) Tennessee
I know everyone is obsessed with Auburn right now and rightfully so (I am too), but I think Tennessee made a pretty good case for #1 yesterday. The Vols didn’t just go into Champaign and beat Illinois. They did it with their senior point guard picking up his fourth foul very early in the second half. Illinois made Tennessee take so many tough shots, but in Rick Barnes (old) fashion, the Vols won a game in the muck and once again own the #1 defense in the country. Tennessee got 23 points and the game-winner at the buzzer from Jordan Gainey in what was a major road win and another big win for the SEC.
4) Texas A&M
Those of you who have watched college basketball over the last three years know how gross Texas A&M basketball can be. The Aggies have also not been very good in non-conference under Buzz Williams, but they might be flipping that narrative. A&M now has non-conference wins over Ohio State, Creighton, Rutgers, Wake Forest, Texas Tech and Purdue. What was so impressive about the Purdue performance on Saturday was how well Purdue usually does in Indianapolis. It wasn’t out of hand, but the Aggies were the more physical team in the second half. They still are elite at rebounding, they still can’t make shots, but now they defend.
5a) Boise State
It was a must-win situation for the Broncos in their home state today against Saint Mary’s. Falling to 6-4 with multiple losses below quad one was not an option if the Broncos wanted to compete for an at-large. It took overtime, but Leon Rice finally leaning more on Javan Buchanan paid off. The NAIA transfer scored 10 off the bench and had seven rebounds to propel Boise State to a win. The Mountain West will provide some opportunities, but Boise has some work to do as conference play approaches.
5b) UConn
We need to open an investigation into what happened in Maui. I wasn’t in full panic mode on UConn, but there was certainly some cause for concern. Well, after multiple big wins in recent weeks, the Huskies added another with a win at MSG over Gonzaga. Liam McNeely had a career night with 26 points, eight rebounds and four assists. We’ll see if this team continues to improve their defense, but this offense is very good.