Men’s Basketball Games of the Weekend 2/11 – 2/12
It isn’t quite March Madness, but big Saturday contests should get viewers’ appetites whetted for tournament time. The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 and Big Ten dominate the Saturday action, as the day starts with a big East Coast game and gets better from there. Showdown Saturday also features a big Mountain West Conference battle and other high-major contests, before one Sunday game that features a mid-major conference battling for a possible regular-season title.
No. 14 VIRGINIA at No. 5 NORTH CAROLINA (1 p.m. Saturday at Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
For all the Dick Vitale-fed talk about Duke being the class of the Atlantic Coast Conference, this is actually one of the deepest league races in quite some time. Six teams are at or within one game of the ACC lead, so this conference is anyone’s for the taking. Virginia (19-4, 6-3) is tied with Miami for fifth in the ACC yet is only a half-game back of North Carolina State and one game back from Duke, Florida State and North Carolina. Side note: Miami and Florida State also play Saturday, so the Hurricanes could jockey for some league position. Virginia has been a weaker scoring and rebounding squad despite Mike Scott’s 17 points per game. The Cavaliers lost 58-55 to Florida State last week but followed up with a 68-44 win over Wake Forest. Matchups with North Carolina and Florida State are among Virginia’s six remaining games, so this is going to be a fun race to the end. One potential pitfall for Virginia: North Carolina (20-4, 7-2) is one steaming mad team following Andrew Rivers’ last second 3-pointer in an 85-84 loss to Duke.
ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK at MIDDLE TENNESSEE (1 p.m. Saturday at Murphy Athletic Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee)
This game is a showdown between the two leaders of the Sun Belt Conference. Arkansas-Little Rock (12-13, 9-2) has a record below .500 but leads the Sun Belt West thanks to Denver’s late collapse. The Trojans have a four-game winning streak that includes a 72-70 win over Louisiana-Lafayette, the West’s runner-up team. D’Andre Williams had 24 points and five assists in the contest. Arkansas-Little Rock has done well despite having one of the lower field-goal percentages in the country and one of the lower assist totals. Middle Tennessee (22-4, 11-1) is the undisputed East leader, by four and a half games over Florida Atlantic, and the Blue Raiders have lost to Belmont, UAB, Vanderbilt and Denver. The Vanderbilt loss was just seven points, so staying tough with a Southeastern Conference team could pay off at tournament time.
No. 6 BAYLOR at No. 4 MISSOURI (1:30 p.m. Saturday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri)
This is a game that will either build some distance between the top teams in the Big 12 Conference or create a further mess that will take weeks to untangle. Baylor (21-3, 8-3) is one game behind Missouri and Kansas in the Big 12 race, with Iowa State two games off the lead in fourth place. The Bears just lost 68-54 to Kansas, and a loss to Missouri would be potentially devastating with Iowa State up next. Pierre Jackson’s 16 points and four assists were key in the 68-54 loss to Kansas. Missouri (22-2, 9-2) still has one more trip to Kansas among its remaining games, but the Tigers are on a four-game roll following a late-January upset loss to Oklahoma State. By the way, that same Oklahoma State team is playing Kansas on Saturday. If the Jayhawks lose, there could be a three-way tie atop the Big 12. Ouch.
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH at OLD DOMINION (2 p.m. Saturday at Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Virginia)
While three teams share the Colonial Athletic Association lead, one team is right behind the trio. Virginia Commonwealth (21-5, 12-2) is tied with Drexel and George Mason for the CAA lead, and since losing back-to-back games to Georgia State and Drexel the Rams have won 10 in a row. VCU beat Old Dominion 61-48 in the previous showdown, so the Rams have already proven they can win at home. This game is in Norfolk, however, and Old Dominion (16-10, 11-3) is on fire following a 6-7 start to the season. Old Dominion has a 17th-best 39.3 rebounds per game, and the Monarchs have gone 10-3 since the calendar turned to January. Nick Wright’s 14 points and eight rebounds were big in Old Dominion’s last victory.
SAINT LOUIS at LaSALLE (2 p.m. Saturday at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
The Atlantic-10 Conference has seven teams in the lead or within two games of the top spot, but five or six games remain for most opponents so opportunities are slipping away for some squads. These are not the teams losing chances to win. Saint Louis (19-5, 7-3) is tied with Massachusetts and Xavier for second place, a half-game behind Temple. LaSalle (17-8, 6-4) is alone in fifth place, only one and a half games off the lead. The Billikens have won six of seven, with a loss to Massachusetts in the middle between winning streaks. This is the only time Saint Louis faces LaSalle this year. The Explorers have back-to-back losses to Saint Joseph’s and Richmond, so the Explorers can’t afford a loss here or their regular-season title chances could be up in flames.
No. 17 SAN DIEGO STATE at No. 15 UNLV (4 p.m. Saturday at Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada)
With five teams at or near the top of the Mountain West Conference standings, this conference could take a while to sort out. Then again, conventional wisdom says whichever team wins this game will likely win the title. Both teams are headed to the big dance barring a spectacular collapse, but San Diego State (20-3, 6-1) is alone atop the league, one game ahead of UNLV and New Mexico and two games ahead of Wyoming and Colorado State. The Aztecs have lost to Baylor, Creighton and Colorado State, and their previous meeting with UNLV was a 69-67 victory. UNLV (21-4, 5-2) just saw its five-game winning streak end at the hands of Wyoming. This is further proof even the teams directly below the leaders can impact the Mountain West race.
WICHITA STATE at No. 20 CREIGHTON (5 p.m. Saturday at Century Link Center in Omaha, Nebraska)
The battle of the Missouri Valley Conference, the matchup everyone has been waiting for in this league, takes place on Saturday. There was a time when Wichita State (21-4, 12-2) was a force in college basketball, but it hasn’t won a Missouri Valley title since 1987 and hasn’t appeared in an NCAA tourney since 2006. That tournament-less streak will stop this year, but the 25-year league-title drought might continue if Creighton gets its way. The Shockers lost 68-61 to Creighton earlier in the season before embarking on an eight-game win streak that ended in a triple-overtime loss to Drake. Only four games remain after Creighton, including one with Drake at season’s end. Creighton (21-4, 11-3) has back-to-back losses against Northern Iowa and Evansville, in addition to losses against Saint Joseph’s and Missouri State. Doug McDermott, at 23.3 points and 8.4 boards per game, is Creighton’s dominant star.
No. 11 MICHIGAN STATE at No. 3 OHIO STATE (6 p.m. Saturday at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio)
The Big Ten Conference race isn’t over by a longshot. Not when four teams are at or within two games of the lead. Michigan State (19-5, 8-3) goes to Columbus with a chance to clinch a share of first place should the Spartans win. Michigan State gets one more shot at Ohio State on March 4, this one at East Lansing’s Breslin Center, so if Michigan State can’t get the job done in Ohio it will be that much harder for Ohio State to face the Izzone. The Spartans have beaten Michigan and Penn State since a heartbreaking one-point loss to Illinois. Ohio State (21-3, 9-2) has won six in a row since its own loss to Illinois, and this includes victories over Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. William Buford’s 29 points and seven rebounds were huge in MSU’s win over Purdue.
STONY BROOK at VERMONT (12 p.m. Sunday at Roy Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington, Vermont)
The America East Conference regular-season race may come to an end this weekend. Stony Brook (17-7, 12-1) has already beaten Vermont this year, 65-59, and just three games remain following this contest against Northeastern, Hartford and Maine. Meanwhile, Vermont (16-10, 10-2) is a game and a half behind in second place. Vermont is definitely on a roll with a seven-game winning streak that has helped the team climb above .500. The Catamounts have Albany, Niagara, Binghamton and Maryland-Baltimore County left after this game, so neither team has a particularly hard schedule left. Matt Glass scored 17 points in Vermont’s win over Maine.
