Games 683-684: From Tennessee to Texas

684 - Temple at Houston
January 31 at Fertitta Center in Houston, TX
ESPN

Color commentator Mark Wise:

"from bonus land" (3)
"rim protectors"
"smash mouth hoops"
"defense doesn't happen by accident, it happens because of your culture"
"effort plays" (2)
"Temple just trying to be the hang-around team"
"the help the helper defense...it's not necessarily the helper, but who is helping the helper"
"blow by"
"that was a basketball play"
"he comes at you with all these arms and legs, he's like Inspector Gadget!"
"degree of difficulty...10!"
"we talk about resume builder, this was a resume protector for Houston"

683 - Western Carolina women at Chattanooga
January 31 at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, TN
ESPN +

Games 420-421: Holiday tournament week begins

421 - VCU vs. Marquette
November 20 at Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, HI
[Maui Invitational quarterfinals]
ESPN2

A couple gems from the excellent Jay Bilas:

"your eyes make lay ups"
"he's played a really nice floor game"

420 - Clemson vs. Temple
November 19 at TD Arena in Charleston, SC
[Charleston Classic championship]
ESPN2

Game 276 - Connecticut women at Temple

February 1 at Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA
SNY

Wednesday's 97-69 win was the 96th consecutive for the Huskies, who got 25 points on 12-of-14 shooting from Napheesa Collier and 24 points from Katie Lou Samuelson.

Some other numbers, both historical -

35 - the number of consecutive games Connecticut has won on the road, which is a ridiculous achievement. That broke the program's own record of 34, set from 2001-2004.

11/17/2014 - the last time Connecticut lost, an 88-86, overtime setback at Stanford.


and from Wednesday's game -

34 - the amount of consecutive possessions during the second and third quarters that the Huskies went without turning the ball over.

77% - Connecticut's field goal percentage during the opening half. The Huskies missed just six of their 26 shot attempts and led 52-18 at the break.

19% - Temple's first-half field goal percentage. For the game, the Owls' leading scorer, Feyonda Fitzgerald, was held to seven points on 3-of-16 shooting.

Game 222 - New Hampshire at Temple

November 14 at Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA
ESPN

We've got a handful of things to get to from this 57-52 New Hampshire win.

1. The Wildcats have been playing basketball for a long time, but didn't have a 20-win season until last year and have never been to the NCAA Tournament. So Monday's victory had to have been one of the biggest in school history. NH trailed 52-51 with just under two minutes to play, but Jaleen Smith followed with a jumper in the paint and the visitors never trailed again.

New Hampshire, which lost in the semis of the America East tournament in March, then won a game in the CIT, should once again be a factor in the league race.

2. Temple junior Obi Enechionyia led everyone with 20 points on 8-of-17 shooting, and his baseline post game, which included a number of pretty jump shots, looked especially good. Keep polishing that jumper & add some more bulk and Enechionyia could be a late-first round draft pick if he decides to come out after this year.

3. The Scoochie Smith All Stars added a pair of new members in Temple sophomore guard Shizz Alston Jr., and our first referee, Doug Shows.

4. A couple other "firsts" for the new season:

* First "glue guy" came at the 9:42 mark of the first half
* First "pick and pop" at 7:07 of first half

5. Also said: "he's a long offensive product."

Game 61 - Houston at Temple

January 2 at Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA
ESPN

That may have been the best team performance we've seen so far at 200 Game Season. From about midway through the first half the Cougars were impressive and won 77-50.

That's two road games to start AAC play (South Florida was the other) and Houston won both.

Rob Gray Jr. was at the center of everything Houston did on Saturday, getting into the lane and finishing with 5-6 foot shots and knocking down perimeter jumpers (3-of-6 from three), to lead the way with 23 points. Gray also handed out six assists and committed just one turnover.

Houston was 54 percent (31-of-57) from the floor.

Meanwhile, Temple went the opposite way, missing 23 of 26 three-point attempts and never really got anything going.

Houston's 20-3 run towards the end of the half effectively put an end to any hope for a Temple win.

Game 25 - Temple vs. Butler

November 20 at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, PR
ESPN

I just have one, simple question: what is a floor game?!

I've heard a number of basketball announcers say things like "he's got an excellent floor game", or "I've been impressed with her floor game."

Are there basketball games I'm not aware of that are being played on something besides a floor?

Why do people have to invent so many different ways of saying this player is good?