ESPN
Games 282-283: Sun Belt doubleheader
283 - Louisiana at Georgia State
282 - Louisiana women at Georgia State
February 4 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
That's seven consecutive wins for the Georgia State men, who nearly blew a 20-point lead, but hung on to sweep the season series.
Louisiana got to within 83-82 on a strong baseline drive and lay-up by Johnathan Stove (his only points of the day) with 55 seconds left. That capped a 22-7 run, and after a bad GSU possession, the Ragin Cajuns had a chance to go ahead, but Bryce Washington missed a contested lay-up with eight seconds to go.
D'Marcus Simonds, who had another nice game - 19 points and eight rebounds - drained a pair of free throws and Isaiah Dennis knocked the ball away from Jay Wright in the final seconds to help GSU survive.
Wright was excellent in the second half and finished with 20 points, seven assists and no turnovers.
The Panthers were able to out-score the Sun Belt's top offensive team thanks to big games from Malik Benlevi (17 points) and Jeremy Hollowell (16). They needed every one of those points because the GSU defense had very few answers for Frank Bartley, who doubled his scoring average with a career-high 31 points on 7-of-15 shooting from three-point range.
The hosts led 43-23 on a Willie Clayton three-point play with about five minutes to play in the opening half.
282 - Louisiana women at Georgia State
February 4 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
That's seven consecutive wins for the Georgia State men, who nearly blew a 20-point lead, but hung on to sweep the season series.
Louisiana got to within 83-82 on a strong baseline drive and lay-up by Johnathan Stove (his only points of the day) with 55 seconds left. That capped a 22-7 run, and after a bad GSU possession, the Ragin Cajuns had a chance to go ahead, but Bryce Washington missed a contested lay-up with eight seconds to go.
D'Marcus Simonds, who had another nice game - 19 points and eight rebounds - drained a pair of free throws and Isaiah Dennis knocked the ball away from Jay Wright in the final seconds to help GSU survive.
Wright was excellent in the second half and finished with 20 points, seven assists and no turnovers.
The Panthers were able to out-score the Sun Belt's top offensive team thanks to big games from Malik Benlevi (17 points) and Jeremy Hollowell (16). They needed every one of those points because the GSU defense had very few answers for Frank Bartley, who doubled his scoring average with a career-high 31 points on 7-of-15 shooting from three-point range.
The hosts led 43-23 on a Willie Clayton three-point play with about five minutes to play in the opening half.
Game 280 - Belmont at Murray State
February 2 at CFSB Center in Murray, KY
ESPN
Time for a "basketball" count with commenators Jerry Punch and Mo Cassara!
First half: said 12 times
Second half: 19
Total: 31
And a photo by Bobby Feathers
ESPN
Time for a "basketball" count with commenators Jerry Punch and Mo Cassara!
First half: said 12 times
Second half: 19
Total: 31
And a photo by Bobby Feathers
Game 279 - Louisiana-Monroe women at Georgia State
February 2 at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, GA
I haven't watched the GSU women play nearly as much as the men over the last decade and a half, but despite that, I still feel comfortable in saying this was their most impressive victory during that time frame.
[UPDATE: It's the largest margin of victory for the program since 2002 - georgiastatesports.com]
Just a thoroughly dominant performance by the Panthers, who won their third straight, 87-35.
Monroe led briefly, at 13-12 on a corner three from Gabriella Cortez with about two minutes to play in the opening quarter, but that was it for the visitors. It was a 19-15 game very early in the second before GSU went on a 45-3 run (I felt silly just typing those numbers), and led 64-18 with 52 seconds left in the third. During that long run, Monroe went nearly 13 minutes without a field goal.
reporter: "student" (1998-2000, portions of 2001 & 2002, 2003-2004)
GSU's defense was outstanding, forcing 25 turnovers (on 18 steals), holding Monroe to 26 percent shooting and out-rebounding its Sun Belt rival 45-24. Its offense wasn't too shabby either, shooting 51% and 10 different players handed out at least one assist.
Reserve Makeba Ponder led all scorers with 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three.
I haven't watched the GSU women play nearly as much as the men over the last decade and a half, but despite that, I still feel comfortable in saying this was their most impressive victory during that time frame.
[UPDATE: It's the largest margin of victory for the program since 2002 - georgiastatesports.com]
Just a thoroughly dominant performance by the Panthers, who won their third straight, 87-35.
Monroe led briefly, at 13-12 on a corner three from Gabriella Cortez with about two minutes to play in the opening quarter, but that was it for the visitors. It was a 19-15 game very early in the second before GSU went on a 45-3 run (I felt silly just typing those numbers), and led 64-18 with 52 seconds left in the third. During that long run, Monroe went nearly 13 minutes without a field goal.
reporter: "student" (1998-2000, portions of 2001 & 2002, 2003-2004)
GSU's defense was outstanding, forcing 25 turnovers (on 18 steals), holding Monroe to 26 percent shooting and out-rebounding its Sun Belt rival 45-24. Its offense wasn't too shabby either, shooting 51% and 10 different players handed out at least one assist.
Reserve Makeba Ponder led all scorers with 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three.
Game 278 - East Carolina at SMU
February 1 at Moody Coliseum in Dallas, TX
ESPNNEWS
SMU keeps on rolling along.
The Mustangs' defense, third nationally in points allowed, was outstanding yet again, holding the overmatched visitors from Greenville to 30% shooting in an 86-46 win.
SMU has won 15 of 16, with the only loss during the stretch coming to AAC leader Cincinnati by two points. The teams meet again in Dallas on February 12.
* Other than the host Mustangs, the broadcast team of Alex Faust and Stephen Howard was the most impressive on Wednesday. Besides combining to say the word "basketball" 28 times, they also put together a fantastic collection of nonsense.
Howard was the star:
"The straw that stirs this team"
"Plug and play"
"He can give them energy minutes"
"Playing on all cylinders"
"This is a finely-tuned animal in SMU"
"That's a recipe for distance disaster for the opposing team"
"That's all SMU needed to get their rutters going"
But Faust was a contributor off the bench:
"Try and stem the bleeding"
"Obviously the scoreboard well out to pasture"
"Sean McDowell, fult tilt boogie"
ESPNNEWS
SMU keeps on rolling along.
The Mustangs' defense, third nationally in points allowed, was outstanding yet again, holding the overmatched visitors from Greenville to 30% shooting in an 86-46 win.
SMU has won 15 of 16, with the only loss during the stretch coming to AAC leader Cincinnati by two points. The teams meet again in Dallas on February 12.
* Other than the host Mustangs, the broadcast team of Alex Faust and Stephen Howard was the most impressive on Wednesday. Besides combining to say the word "basketball" 28 times, they also put together a fantastic collection of nonsense.
Howard was the star:
"The straw that stirs this team"
"Plug and play"
"He can give them energy minutes"
"Playing on all cylinders"
"This is a finely-tuned animal in SMU"
"That's a recipe for distance disaster for the opposing team"
"That's all SMU needed to get their rutters going"
But Faust was a contributor off the bench:
"Try and stem the bleeding"
"Obviously the scoreboard well out to pasture"
"Sean McDowell, fult tilt boogie"
Game 277 - Baylor at Kansas
February 1 at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, KS
ESPN2
Baylor just can not win in Lawrence.
Behind 15 second-half points (and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line) by Frank Mason, and excellent defense in the final 20 seconds, Kansas escaped, 73-68.
The loss dropped Baylor to 0-14 all-time at Allen Fieldhouse. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks have won 51 straight in the building.
Kansas (8-1 in Big 12), which moved ahead of the 7-2 Bears for sole possession of first place in the league standings, led 70-68, but turned the ball over with 25 seconds to go. Baylor's Ish Wainright - a 28% 3-point shooter, attempted a double-clutch three with a hand in his face that missed badly. It was a three-point game before an errant Baylor pass went out of bounds, effectively sealing the narrow Kansas victory.
Worse than the final two possessions was the fact that Johnathan Motley, a league player of the year candidate, attempted just one shot in the second half. Motley and point guard Manu Lecomte each finished with a team-high 16 points.
I didn't see much of a difference at all between the two teams. They both have great guard play, good shooters and impact wing/forwards (Motley and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. for Baylor, Landen Lucas and electric freshman Josh Jackson for Kansas) and are good defensively.
Baylor just needs to play the Jayhawks either at home (the rematch in Waco is set for February 18) or on a neutral site.
ESPN2
Baylor just can not win in Lawrence.
Behind 15 second-half points (and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line) by Frank Mason, and excellent defense in the final 20 seconds, Kansas escaped, 73-68.
The loss dropped Baylor to 0-14 all-time at Allen Fieldhouse. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks have won 51 straight in the building.
Kansas (8-1 in Big 12), which moved ahead of the 7-2 Bears for sole possession of first place in the league standings, led 70-68, but turned the ball over with 25 seconds to go. Baylor's Ish Wainright - a 28% 3-point shooter, attempted a double-clutch three with a hand in his face that missed badly. It was a three-point game before an errant Baylor pass went out of bounds, effectively sealing the narrow Kansas victory.
Worse than the final two possessions was the fact that Johnathan Motley, a league player of the year candidate, attempted just one shot in the second half. Motley and point guard Manu Lecomte each finished with a team-high 16 points.
I didn't see much of a difference at all between the two teams. They both have great guard play, good shooters and impact wing/forwards (Motley and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. for Baylor, Landen Lucas and electric freshman Josh Jackson for Kansas) and are good defensively.
Baylor just needs to play the Jayhawks either at home (the rematch in Waco is set for February 18) or on a neutral site.
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.
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.
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