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College Basketball Weekly: Nova surges, Houston wins in 2OT, Mark Adams for COY

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber02/21/22
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Photo by John E. Moore III | Getty Images

Villanova finally knocks off Providence, Houston wins in double-overtime, and is Mark Adams a shoo-in for Coach of the Year? Lots to talk about from a loaded past couple of days across college hoops.

Results of the Week

  • (21) Michigan State 58 @ Penn State 62
  • (12) Villanova 89 @ (8) Providence 84
  • (3) Kentucky 63 @ (13) Tennessee 76
  • (19) Wyoming 66 @ New Mexico 75
  • (15) Illinois 59 @ (25) Rutgers 70
  • (5) Baylor 73 @ (11) Texas Tech 83
  • (15) Illinois 79 @ (21) Michigan State 74
  • (11) Texas Tech 61 @ (23) Texas 55
  • (2) Auburn 62 @ Florida 63
  • Iowa 75 @ (22) Ohio State 62
  • (13) Tennessee 48 @ (16) Arkansas 58
  • (25) Rutgers 72 @ (7) Purdue 84
  • (10) Houston 76 @ Wichita State 74

Villanova rounding into form

Villanova earned a win that no other team in the country has: a road victory at Providence. The Friars were 14-0 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center ahead of their matchup with the Wildcats but fell 89-84 in valiant fashion to one of the hottest teams in the country.

Villanova hit their fair share of speed bumps along the way. They mustered just 36 points in a blowout loss to Baylor in December and followed that performance up with a loss to Creighton before getting swept by Marquette in Big East play. However, Jay Wright’s club rides a five-game winning streak into a matchup at UConn on Tuesday night. That’s their only game of the week. A win in Stores sets up a rematch with Providence in the Pavilion most likely for the Big East crown.

This Nova team may not have the ceiling of the two title-winners, but it’s stocked with Wright’s type of players. Tough, toolsy at guard, fourth- and fifth-year experience up and down the roster and shooting at every position. His starting backcourt of Collin Gillespie and Justin Moore account for five made triples per game on their own. Plus, five of Nova’s six top scorers attempted 60 threes or more so far this season.

However, this group is fragile. Wright’s bench is rail-thin and the Wildcats never play more than six guys serious minutes unless they absolutely must. Their top-six is as good as anyone’s but an injury or (God forbid) two would be the one loose screw that tears down the whole machine.

Mark Adams circling Coach of the Year honors

I can’t imagine a better first year for a head coach of a non-blue blood program. Mark Adams took over an impossible job: replacing the guy who resurrected Texas Tech hoops from Big 12 afterthought to within inches of a National Championship and convoked an electric basketball fanbase out of nowhere.

Chris Beard spurned Tech’s program and fans to migrate to a less-successful rival. Adams stepped in after serving as a top assistant and has his first Tech team churning out top-25 wins on a weekly basis with an inside track at a high three-seed. Arguably, this Red Raiders club is better than the ones with Jarrett Culver and Keenan Evans — at least on paper in the regular season. Also, Adams could have missed the tournament with a 2022 roster that really isn’t all that talented, but still won the hearts of fans by beating Beard’s first Texas team at home. He did that, and then traveled to Austin and beat the Longhorns on their own court this past Saturday for good measure.

No praise is too much for Adams and his first year on the job in Lubbock. Just look at his roster. It’s a plethora of journeyman transfers and two junior wings, Kevin McCullar and Terrence Shannon, who oversaw the transfer of coaches. Aside from those two, Tech’s other five leading scorers are transfers in their fourth or fifth year of college ball that collectively share stops at NINE different schools, including three Junior Colleges and zero power-conference programs. A bunch of though old men that put in their time on smaller stages and came together to form a top-10 team in the country. Very cool story.

Sunday Craziness

Saturdays typically feature a massive college basketball slate and all of the top games. But I left the weekend with more thoughts on Sunday’s games than Saturday’s. Of course, Juwan Howard and Greg Gard kicked off the afternoon with some fireworks in the handshake line. I’m sure most of you saw Howard throw a “punch” at a Wisconsin assistant. Though I’d call it more of a “claw.”

Of course, pandemonium ensued and every sports fan with a Twitter login weighed in on how Howard ought to be punished. Some folks would like him shot into outer space while, others, mostly Michigan fans, were happy to see their coach stand up for the team! Just not a good scene all around when coaches and players brawl in a handshake line. Can’t wait for the rematch!

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Following that fracas, Wichita State hosted 14th-ranked Houston at home and took the Cougars to double-overtime. UH’s Josh Carlton and the Shockers’ Craig Porter Jr. (a seven-point-per-game scorer) took over for both teams in the extra periods. Carlton scored Houston’s final five points in the first OT then attempted and swished his only three-point attempt of the season to give the Cougars a three-point lead early in the second extra session.

Porter ran off five straight to give Wichita State the lead again before a three-point play by Carlton a few possessions later gave the Cougars a 74-71 advantage. Porter took matters into his own hands once again. He knocked down a beautiful step-back three to tie the game with under 10 seconds to play. But the Shockers didn’t get back on defense promptly enough as Houston raced down the court and found forward J’Wan Roberts for a dunk at the buzzer. Houston wins. WSU cries tears of immense sadness.

There’s even more from Sunday. In the nightcap, USC defeated Washington State with one of the more bizarre box scores I can remember. The other Cougars, those of Pullman, WA, pride themselves on a west-coast style offense revolving around threes and Warriors-like ball movement. WSU hit 15-31 threes and scored 45 of their 60 points from beyond the arc. But they made just five of their 32 shots from inside the arc and wound up losing by two to a ranked USC club.

15.6% from inside the three-point line and 48.3% from outside it. Brutal break for Kyle Smith’s program. His modern offensive philosophy and stringent defense won over the computers, which have Wazzu in the top-40 universally. They just can’t seem to finish off close games and are almost certainly out of the NCAA Tournament.

One more note from a packed Sunday…

Penny heads or tails?

Penny | U.S. Mint

Tails! After a solid few weeks of heads weeks, Penny and Memphis finally tripped up. They ran into a very good SMU team Sunday on the road and hung around for a half before Kendric Davis and company busted out to a 20-point lead midway through the second half and won comfortably, 73-57.

For the Tigers, the magnitude of the loss is worse than the opponent it came against. SMU is talented, well-coached and likely to make the NCAA Tournament. Losing on their home court is nothing to be ashamed of. However, that second half reeked of the type of behavior Memphis had distanced itself from. Players didn’t seem as engaged once down big and the shot selection and defensive intensity really took a hit.

Overall, Memphis really does have a chance to climb into the Tournament field and their month of February is very positive in the grand scheme. Games against Wichita State and Houston in the final weeks could make or break their postseason hopes.

Rankings

  1. Gonzaga
  2. Arizona
  3. Purdue
  4. Auburn
  5. Duke
  6. Kentucky
  7. Kansas
  8. Texas Tech
  9. Baylor
  10. Houston
  11. Wisconsin
  12. Villanova
  13. Providence
  14. Arkansas
  15. Tennessee
  16. Illinois
  17. USC
  18. UCLA
  19. Murray State
  20. UConn
  21. Texas
  22. Ohio State
  23. Alabama
  24. Rutgers
  25. Iowa

Games of the Week

  • Indiana @ (22) Ohio State (Mon./7 p.m./FS1)
  • Michigan State @ (25) Iowa (Tu./7 p.m./ESPN)
  • (12) Villanova @ (20) UCONN (Tu./8 p.m.)
  • (22) Ohio State @ (16) Illinois (Th./9 p.m.)
  • (3) Purdue @ Michigan State (Sat./Noon/ESPN)
  • (6) Kentucky @ (14) Arkansas (Sat./2 p.m./CBS)
  • (3)Auburn @ (15) Tennessee (Sat./4 p.m.)
  • (13) Wisconsin @ (24) Rutgers (Sat./6 p.m./BTN)
  • (7) Kansas @ (9) Baylor (Sat./8 p.m./ESPN)
  • (1) Gonzaga @ Saint Mary’s (Sat./10 p.m.)

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