With another week of upsets and buzzer beaters is in the books, we are now six weeks away from Selection Sunday. The Big 12 won the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge, which provided fans with some great games and exciting finishes. Here’s what happened around the country this week in college hoops:
January 21-27
Game of the Week: #25 LSU’s Comeback vs. Missouri
Not many fans around the country were watching this game. It’s too bad, because the final two minutes of this game were ridiculous.
Missouri had been in control the entire game, holding a 14-point lead with just over two minutes left. To put that into perspective, the Tigers of Mizzou had a 99.7% win probability at this point. Turnovers and missed free throws opened the door for LSU to tie the game, ultimately pulling away in overtime. Skylar Mays finished with a team-high 24 points in the comeback win.
LSU now sits atop the SEC standings with a 5-0 record. Missouri, desperately in need of a conference win, fell to 1-5 and travel to Auburn on Wednesday.
Upset of the Week: #14 Buffalo Falls at Northern Illinois
Any hope of the Bulls finishing MAC play unblemished was gone after last week’s loss at NIU. Huskies’ guard Dante Thorpe tallied 23 points while only missing one shot in the upset win. Bulls’ star CJ Massenburg also put up 23 points, but it was Noah McCarty’s buzzer-beating layup that gave Buffalo it’s first conference loss.
They have great wins in San Francisco and at Syracuse, but a couple conference losses could damage Buffalo’s seeding in March.
Player of the Week: Grant Williams (Tennessee)
Williams’ stat line vs. Vanderbilt is just absurd: 43 points, 8 rebounds and 23/23 from the free throw line. The Volunteers needed every point, too, as they squeaked out a win at in-state rival Vanderbilt. A sign of a great player is one who can take over a game they have no business in winning. Vanderbilt made 10 three’s and seemingly made every shot that they put up.
But Williams was not going to allow his squad to lose, especially days after earning their first #1 ranking since 2008. On Saturday against West Virginia, Williams’ has a pedestrian 19 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
Team of the Week: Purdue Boilermakers
After getting off to a slow start at 9-6, Purdue has won five in a row and is one of the hotter teams in the country. This past week, the Boilermakers picked up two key wins at Ohio State and at home against Michigan State. The Spartans and Wolverines biggest threat is not Wisconsin, Ohio State or Indiana like many thought, but actually its Purdue.
Carsen Edwards, who had 27 points at the Buckeyes, is one of the most unguardable players in the nation. He also has a strong nucleus around him, though, in Haarms, Eastern and Cline. That was evident as the Boilermakers took down Izzo’s Spartans by ten, while only getting 14 points from Edwards. Next up for Purdue is a road game at Penn State before hosting Minnesota this weekend.
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