Game 796 - UT Arlington at Georgia State

December 19 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
espn3.com

Nice way to start Sun Belt Conference play as the Panthers had four in double figures in an 83-77 win.

Damon Wilson, the team's lone senior, led the way with a career-high 22 points, while adding his usual complimentary statistics as well (six rebounds and two assists, two blocks and two steals). The GSU backcourt, which is the clear strength of the team, was excellent tonight with Kane Williams adding 17 points and five assists and Justin Roberts chipping in with 15 points, six assists and five steals.

Another guard and the Panthers' leading scorer, Corey Allen, had a brutal fall on his back in the first half and only played 11 minutes. It'd be tough to lose Allen for any amount of time, though again, if any area of the team can afford an injury, it's the backcourt.

Jalen Thomas, a freshman who is part of young frontcourt (along with fellow freshman Joe Jones) that could help in a big way this season, had 11 points and five blocked shots.

That's six straight wins for GSU, which hasn't lost since falling at Georgetown on November 17.

Game 795 - DePaul at Cleveland State

December 18 at Wolstein Center in Cleveland, OH
espn3.com

Color commentator Pat Vuyancih, midway through the first half:

"Moore right now is like a shark seeing blood in the water...he's feasting off his prey. [couple seconds pass]….and the Vikes are flopping around in the water right now!"

Game 793 - Boise State at Tulsa

December 11 at Reynolds Center in Tulsa, OK
espn3.com

Color commentator Bryndon Manzer with a comment of the year nominee in this 69-56 Tulsa win:

"he was slow to be decisive."


!!


* Boise's Roderick Williams: 19 points, 7-of-9 from the field, rest of team: 37 points, 12-of-41
* Bench points: Tulsa 34-10

Game 792 - Marshall at Toledo

December 8 at Savage Arena in Toledo, OH
ESPN+

This was our first time watching Luke Knapke play and the Toledo senior was impressive.

Knapke scored a career-high 33 points on 12-of-16 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Rockets' 82-72 win.

Knapke, a 6-11 center, can score from anywhere and he added four threes.

Point guard Marreon Jackson had four threes as well and added 24 points and five assists for Toledo, which defeated the Thundering Herd for the second time in a month (96-70 back on November 10) and since losing by two in overtime at Notre Dame November 21 have won four straight.

Nonsense
Mason Lowry (pxp) & Rhett Boyd (cc)

"guys who play above the rim....this dude can play in the rafters!"
"ball security"
"that junkyard dog mentality"
"paralysis by analysis"
"great step through"
"turning defense into offense"
"early energy"
"dribble drive" (!) - Boyd, 17:59 left in first half

Dribble drives

Games 790-791: Saturday pair

791 - Bethune-Cookman at Jacksonville
December 7 at Swisher Gymnasium in Jacksonville, FL
espn3.com

The hosts led by 17 at the break and thanks to the trio of David Bell (22 and 15, 8-of-11 from the field), DeAnthony McCallum (13 and 11) and Destin Barnes (19 points on 5-of-8 three-point shooting) had no trouble against their in-state rivals.

In an 82-60 loss, Bethune-Cookman got more scoring from its bench than it did its starters (33-27), which is almost never a good thing.

790 - Georgia State at Mercer
December 7 at Hawkins Arena in Macon, GA
ESPN+

Game 789 - Georgia State women at Furman

December 5 at Timmons Arena in Greenville, SC
espn3.com

It's hard to win when you shoot 10% (2-of-20) from three-point range and 32% (24-of-73) overall as the Panthers never led in a 62-55 loss on Thursday.

GSU actually cut a 20-point deficit to 58-55 with 19 seconds left, but couldn't get any closer.

Tierra Hodges, who I watched play a couple times at Alcovy High School in Covington, GA, led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, while Milicia Manojlovic added 19 points.

Clemson transfer Taylor Hosendove had a huge game on the glass - 18 rebounds, including 14(!) on the offensive end (GSU had 23 as a team, but that had a lot to do with its struggles shooting the ball) - and poured in a team-high 20 points.

Games 787-788: Wednesday doubleheader

788 - Utah State at San Jose State
December 4 at Event Center in San Jose, CA
ESPN2

Welcome back, Richie Schueler, we've missed you:

"you have to be able to rebound the basketball to win basketball games"
"in Mountain West circles"


IN MOUNTAIN WEST CIRCLES


"a terrific basketball background"
"they determined it was a basketball play"

!

"the sneaky athleticism tool"
"skill set"
"all energy, all the time"
"a high IQ basketball play"

787 - Nebraska at Georgia Tech
December 4 at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, GA
ESPNU

Game 786 - Luther College at Northern Iowa

December 2 at McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, IA
espn3.com

Quite a performance from Northern Iowa, which went 19-of-38 from three-point range and shot 60% overall in setting a program record for points scored at home in a 110-51 victory over the Division III Norse.

A.J. Green had an impressive night shooting the ball from deep, hitting 5-of-10 from three for 19 points, while Noah Carter was great from two (6-of-8) and three (4-of-8) for a game-high 25 points. Four others were in double figures for the Panthers, who according to the broadcast were playing their in-state rivals for the first time since the 1981-82 season, though I couldn't find a record of the game at sports-reference.com/cbb.

Speaking of the broadcast team, color commentator Kevin Lehman came up with a clutch "dribble drives" at the 1:24 mark of the first half.

Here's the full list of dribble drivers.