Baylor: Previously, South Dakota (63-57 W). Wichita State (63-71 L).
Baylor continues to stumble out of the gates as they needed a 12-0 run to finish off South Dakota. King McClure led all scores for the Bears as his efficient 6-11 shooting and 6 rebounds was just enough for the Bears to finish off the Summit squad. The Wichita State game was the tale of two halves and getting in such a big hole, they couldn’t climb out of it. Baylor scores 15 points in the first half and was down 33 at one point. Baylor would go on a massive 40-15 run to cut the deficit to just 5 and stun the entire crowd in Wichita. But Samajae Haynes-Jones and Markis McDuffie were cluctch down the stretch and were able to pick up the win for the Shockers. Mario Kegler and Tristan Clark each picked up 12 points as Clark had 8 rebounds and was the most efficient shooter on the team that day (5-8).
Upcoming Slate: None.
Baylor gets the entire week off before traveling to Tucson to face Arizona on December, 15th.
Iowa State: Previously, Omaha (82-55 W).
Iowa State’s consistent scoring continues as 5 more players finish In double figures including an 18 point performance from Marial Shayok and a double-double from Michael Jacobson. Terrance Lewis finished up with 15 points off the bench as Iowa State had control of this game throughout. Iowa State was swarming to the ball on defense having 14 of Omaha’s 20 turnovers come on steals and was able to get to the free throw line 20 times. Although this week was relatively slow in the amount of games, next week should make up for it.
Upcoming Slate: Monday vs. North Dakota State. Thursday at. #14 Iowa. Sunday vs. Southern.
After a pretty slow week, things pick up very quickly with 3 games, including a road game against rival and 14th ranked Iowa. NDSU lost by 42 to Gonzaga and has only won 2 games. Iowa State rolls in that game. Iowa is led by Junior Forward Tyler Cook (15.4 PPG) and Forward Luke Garza (14 PPG). Iowa has beaten #13 Oregon and lone loss is to Wisconsin in a very early conference game. Iowa is in the top 50 in scoring and is all in all average on defense. Due to the road environment and Iowa’s talented offense, they scrape by with the win. Southern has lost by 50 to Louisville and 27 to Baylor. Iowa State should steamroll Southern.
Kansas: Previously, Stanford (90-84 W).
Legerald Vick continued to play like a man possessed with a 27 point performance against Stanford that took KU to OT, but was able to escape with a win. Dedric Lawson didn’t shoot great from the field (7-16) but was 10-11 from the free throw line and collected 15 rebounds and finished with 24 points. If you look at it from a statistics standpoint, it doesn’t seem like Kansas should’ve struggled, but due to the inability to score in the first half, Stanford would hang around and eventually send them to OT.
Upcoming Slate: Tuesday vs. Wofford. Saturday vs. New Mexico State.
Wofford might present some challenges to Kansas. They rank very highly in offense, defense, and creating turnovers, being in the top 70 in all 3 catagories. Their lone losses are to #8 North Carolina (by 11) and Oklahoma (by 11 as well). Wofford also has a very good win on the road against South Carolina where they blew them out. Wofford is my pick to win the Southern Conference and will give KU some trouble, but KU will win. New Mexico State is a upperclassmen heavy group with all of their 8 starters and role players being juniors or seniors. New Mexico State hasn’t played anyone significant yet, but does have a 6-1 Record and a win against Washington State. They don’t do anything great, kind of just solid in every area. To be Kansas, you need to be really good and have a little bit of magic. KU by 20.
Kansas State: Previously, Marquette (71-83 L).
Kansas State struggled to shoot all night long as they finished with 41-27-61 as well as 29 total fouls in a loss on the road to a solid Marquette squad. Markus Howard is looking more and more like the best player in the Big East so far as he had a magical night with 45 points on 11-17 shooting and an incredible 19-21 from the free throw line. Xavier Sneed and Makol Mawien led the scores for K-State with 12 piece on 8-11 shooting. Outside of those two, no one else shot over 43% from the field.
Upcoming Slate: Saturday vs. Tulsa.
Tulsa will probably be a middle-upper tier AAC team. Nothing too special and so far have won the games their suppose to win and lose the games they were suppose to lose. Kansas State comes out and takes care of business.
Oklahoma: Previously, North Texas (73-57 W).
After struggling in the first half to shooting under 35% from the field and leading by just 2 at half, Oklahoma took control of the game and ended up with the win. Jamuni McNeace lead all scores for the starters with 16 points and could’ve had more had he not shot 6-13 from the charity stripe. Instead it was Miles Reynolds coming off the bench with starter like minutes with 31. 6-11 shooting and 17 points. OU never gave UNT a chance to create a scoring run as they were handicapped to just 27/25/76/. I don’t care who you’ve played, if you limit an 8-0 team to that bad of shooting, you have to give the credit to where it is due.
Upcoming Slate: Tuesday vs. Notre Dame (New York, NY). Saturday vs. Wichita State.
Outside of an upset by Radford (which Texas just lost too), Notre Dame has been moving along, but are not quite tested yet. Notre Dame has a tough 3 game stretch with a neutral site game against Oklahoma, a road game against UCLA and another neutral site game against #19 ranked and Carsen Edwards led Purdue. I think if Christian James can play up to the #1 role he has become and they get some more 3 point help from Brady Manek, I think the Sooners can pull this one out and I think they end up winning this game. Wichita State just came off of a 8 point win against the Bears after being up by nearly 35 points against Baylor.
Oklahoma State: Previously, Minnesota (76-83 L).
Oklahoma State’s shooting woes from the free throw line (12-24) and Waters and McGriff combining for 9-25 from the field has the Cowboys falling in a game the Cowboys could’ve won against a very solid Big 10 team. One encouraging sign from the Cowboys was the bench points coming from Guard Mike Cunningham (12 Points) and Michael Weathers (17 Points). Senior Forward Jordan Murphy had a monster game for the Golden Gophers as he led all scores with 24 points and 16 rebounds.
Upcoming Slate: Wednesday: vs. Tulsa. Saturday vs. Houston.
As I’ve noted earlier regarding Tulsa, they are a middle of the road AAC games. I think The Big 12 goes 2-0 against Tulsa. Now Houston is the preseason favorite to win that same conference. Houston plays all around stout defense and has blown out BYU on the road and just beat #18 ranked Oregon. In a rather surprising upset, I have the Cougars coming into Stillwater and beat the Cowboys.
TCU: Previously, Eastern Michigan (87-69 W). Central Michigan (89-62 W).
Kouat Noi made a name for himself as he exploded onto the scene against EMU as he finished with 11-15 from the field and 5-8 from 3. Jaylen Fisher continues to come along well as he shoot 4-8 from 3 and had 12 points. Yuat Alok hasn’t been the player Horned Frogs fans believed he would be, but Kevin Samuel came in and played well. The Freshman finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Noi would continue against CMU with 16 points as well as Desmond Bane with 24 points on 8-11 shooting. TCU did turn the ball over 16 times, but shut down CMU’s offense. Their shooting stats were 32-17-73 against an above average MAC team. That’s impressive.
Upcoming Slate: Wednesday at. SMU. Friday vs. USC (Los Angeles, CA).
SMU is usually near the top of the AAC. This year, that doesn’t look to be the case. SMU has 3 losses and all 3 are by double digits to teams SMU would beat most years. TCU should handle this SMU with their most notable win by 1 point to Wright State. TCU handles the other school in the Metroplex. USC has a tough non-conference schedule with Vandy, Tech, and Nevada so far. The problem is they’ve lost all 3 games. I believe if Noi continues to blossom and TCU plays at least half as good defense against USC, they will win.
Texas: Previously, Radford (59-62 L).
Radford has been playing red hot and has put big time programs on upset alert as they went into Austin and upset the #17 Longhorns. Jericho Sims led all scores for Texas with 16. But unfortunately for the ones in Burnt Orange, he was the only one in double figures. UT shot an abysmal 18% from 3 point range and shot a poor 50% from the charity stripe. Radford took advantage of shooting woes and did just enough in front of a tough crowd to grab the win.
Upcoming Slate: Wednesday vs. VCU. Sunday vs. #19 Purdue.
Shaka Smart’s old team rolls into Austin on Wednesday with a top 5 date with Virginia later that week. UT plays angry and takes care of VCU by 15+. Purdue has lost 3 of their last 4 games, but all 3 to top 15 teams as their daunting slate ends with Texas. Purdue has the toughest schedule in the Big 10 and that will prep them for conference play. One of the best guards in the country, Junior Carsen Edwards has been on a mission this year with 24.4 PPG. Kerwin Roach against Edwards will grab NBA Scouts attention as most NBA executives will be watching this game. Ryan Cline has also started this season pretty well wit 15 PPG. This is a tough game to really gauge as both teams are kind of going in the same direction. Edwards has a great game, but Roach catches fire and does enough to get UT back on board with a win.
Texas Tech: Previously, Memphis (78-67 W).
Tech got 20 more from Jarrett Culver and 13 from Tariq Owens as Tech beat a solid Memphis team (although the record doesn’t show it, they’ve played a challenging schedule). Tech was able to create some points off the bench with 31 and Memphis shot 34-20-63 on the day. Freshman G Tyler Harris led the way with 17 points on 6-14 shooting and 3-8 from 3.
Upcoming Slate: Wednesday vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Arkansas Pine-Bluff just lost to Cincinnati by 56. This one should not be close.
West Virginia: Previously, Rider (92-79 W). Youngstown State (106-72).
Lamonte West led the way for the Mountaineers against Rider with 20 points on 6-13 shooting as Rider got into foul trouble all night and was outrebounded by double digits against WVU. In game 2 against Youngstown State, WVU spreaded the rock around as 6 different players scored in double figures and shot 54% from the field.
Upcoming Slate: Tuesday vs. Florida.
This year’s Florida is not nearly as good as last as they lost 4of their 5 starters from a year ago and main scoring sources are from underclassmen. They did blowout Stanford on a neutral court (who just went toe to toe with Kansas). In a game where neither offense scores a ton, the home court advantage is too much, Eers’ by 5.
Image Credit: https://www.frogsowar.com/2018/2/10/16999406/tcu-beats-texas-mo-bamba-vladimir-brodziansky-desmond-bane-kouat-noi
