Wednesday’s College Basketball left us with some incredible College Basketball games, with the day being tipped off with a buzzer-beating lob play, and essentially being capped off by a Tyree Appleby buzzer-beater with the onions call from Raft. In terms of days in College Basketball, it will not get much better than this, so let’s break down some of the notable games.
Florida wins Fort Myers Tip-Off on buzzer-beater
Ohio State-Florida was the perfect final game of the Fort Myers tip-off, as it was an instant classic that ended in a fitting way. Ohio State beat Seton Hall on a buzzer-beater on Monday, but in this game were the victims of a buzzer-beater tonight as Tyree Appleby hit a game-winning running three to give Florida the Fort Myers Tip-Off Championship. For Florida, this team is not Mike White’s most talented team by any means, but it may be their best team. This Florida team held a high-scoring Ohio State team in check, fought hard when trailing the entire second half, and ended up coming out on top.
Wisconsin takes the Maui title
St. Mary’s gave Wisconsin a great game, the Gaels led pretty much throughout the game and were challenging the Badgers on the defensive end. That said, when the game was on the line, Johnny Davis and Tyler Wahl stepped up and helped lift this Badgers team to a win against St. Mary’s. Davis scored 9 straight Badgers points with under eight minutes left and helped them move in front, while Tyler Wahl hit the sealing jumper. Sure this Badgers team isn’t fantastic on paper, but with a legit NBA player in Johnny Davis, mixed with some good role players like Wahl, Davison, and younger players like Chucky Hepburn, this Badgers team has a chance to be a legitimate Top-25 team this season.
UConn beats Auburn in instant classic
UConn and Auburn were maybe one of the greatest games of this young season, as UConn held off Auburn to win in double overtime. UConn led by double-digits for most of the game but let Auburn come back and take the lead, although Tyler Polley’s three helped get the game to overtime. UConn seemingly had the game won again, but a costly turnover by Jordan Hawkins helped Auburn get it to double-overtime. In the end, UConn outlasted the Tigers and won 115-109 in double overtime. Adama Sanogo had a career-high 30 points to carry the Huskies to a win, and while this UConn team struggled offensively much of last season, this team has been better than I had thought and is a legitimate Top-25 team, looks like I was in the wrong for second-guessing this team.
Lob play for the win
Loyola-Chicago and Michigan State was one of the top games of this season, it was fairly well-played, well officiated and both teams had their moments of greatness, it was a shame one of these teams had to lose. The game seemed to come down to which team had the final possession and in that final possession, Tyson Walker threw a dime to Marcus Bingham, who dunked down the game-winning dunk. Both these teams should be NCAA Tournament teams, Michigan State seems to have figured out its best starting-5, while Loyola-Chicago is a great basketball team as well.
Houston, Oregon has a problem
Houston was the favorite to win this game, so Oregon losing should have surprised absolutely no one, but it’s the way they lost that has this team looking bad. Eric Williams Jr had a solid game with 13 points but that’s basically it when it comes to this team. De’Vion Harmon and Quincy Gurrier had a combined 5 points, both of which were expected to be double-figure scorers, Jacob Young had 8 points but did so having to come off the bench. Will Richardson was stuck with an unlucky number two, as he had 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 0-2 free-throw shooting. This team turned it over 19 times, which is terrible for a team that has three-point guards. Sure Houston is a good team, but Oregon getting blown out of the gym for the third time in a week has this team as a leading contender in the fraud list.
Memphis gets a gritty win
Memphis had their first real challenge of this season, as they played Virginia Tech in what was their first real test of the season and so far they passed the test. The team shot 39% from the floor and went 5-19 from three, but this team still gritted out a victory because of their defensive tenacity and toughness. De’Andre Williams was the only Tiger to score in double-figures, as he had 16 points and 10 rebounds, but the rest of the team contributed in big ways, as they were excellent on the defensive end and forced a good offensive team in Virginia Tech to score only 61 points.