The Year of the Upset Continues
The 2010-2011 college basketball season has been full of upsets all season long. This week has not been any different. The latest Top 25 teams to fall short include The UConn Huskies, The Villanova Wildcats, The BYU Cougars, The Syracuse Orange, The Wisconson Badgers, The Vanderbilt Commodores, The Florida Gators and last but not least The Saint Mary's Gaels. Other top 25 teams just held on to avoid an upset this past Saturday.
#19 ranked Louisville took UConn to double OT and prevailed over the Huskies. The Cardinals were lead behind Peyton Siva's 19 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. The next team to go down was the 7th ranked Villanova Wildcats. Villanova lost to the 19th ranked Georgetown Hoyas. Big East play always provides many exciting games for the fans as well as many upsets. Georgetown's Austin Freeman dropped 30 to hold off Villanova.
After BYU showed they were for real beating conference foes, San Diego State, Jimmer Fredette and the Cougars had a lousy 2nd half and lost to New Mexico. Fredette scored 32 but it wasn't enough to counteract The Lobos strong play of Drew Gordon and Dairese Gray. In the battle of two Big-12 teams, Nebraska took charge and sent Texas A&M back home. The Aggies only scored 17 second half points and were defeated by a balanced scoring performance by the Cornhuskers.
After starting the season 18-0, Syracuse has lost 4 straight games including their last lost to Big East Rivals Marquette. Syracuse could not overcome their dreadful first half play. Jae Crowder led the Golden Eagles to victory pouring in 25 points and 7 rebounds. A SEC conference matchup between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Vanderbilt Commodores ended with the Commodores getting dominated by Rotnei Clarke and his 36 points. Vanderbilt was handed their 5th loss of the season and their 3rd loss in SEC play.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs and Dee Bost's 24 points were too much for the Florida Gators to Handle. The Gator's Erving Walker scored 18 points but didn't have much help as Florida went home disappointed. #24 ranked Saint Mary's lost their first conference game in the WCC. The Portland Pilots and Tim Douglas sent the Gael's home with the probability of dropping out of the top 25. Mickey McConnel knocked down five 3-pointers tallying 32 points but his team let up 52 points in the 2nd half alone. In the Big Ten contest of night, Penn State handed the #15 team in the country, another upset. Penn State pounced on the badgers in the 2nd half behind senior Talor battle and his 22 points.
The top team in the country, The Ohio State Buckeyes survived with a point victory over Northwestern. Jared Sullinger led the Buckeyes to victory netting 21 points while grabbing 8 rebounds. Another close game this Saturday included #2 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers vs. the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Pitt and Ashton Gibbs held off Rutgers to leave New Jersey with the victory. It took the 25th ranked Utah State two overtimes two hold off Hawaii. The young Kentucky Wildcats survived a late scare by the Georgia Bulldogs to win their SEC Battle.
On Sunday afternoon, the Saint John's Red Storm trounced #3 ranked Blue Devils 93-78. Nolan Smith Scored 32 but was not even close to a comeback victory as Dwight Hardy and Justin Bwronlee carried Saint John's to victory.
By Steven Spector - 1-30-11
