Today we have an assortment of games for you to sit in front of your TV/computer screen and grow roots so find out who else is playing in this very, very, very busy basketball day right here ...
Marquee Match Up
1:00pm St. Bonaventure @ Fordham
It's possible that Andrew Nicholson is finally hitting the wall and this, along with the next few games, will test his character. Since his four straight 20 points games to end 2010, he’s only scored more than 13 points once and he’s been getting into early foul trouble more lately. Conversely, freshman Matthew Wright has been picking up his production since his career high 18 points against George Washington last Saturday. Hopefully this will, along with the play of teammates Demetrius Conger, Michael Davenport and Ogo Adegboya, will help buoy Nicholson and bring out the monster from earlier this season against the winless Fordham Rams this afternoon.
3:00pm Syracuse @ Marquette
Syracuse is on a three game losing streak and they need to stop the bleeding today or they may see themselves out of the next Top 25 list. Kris Joseph has been playing well in his two games back from a concussion averaging 20 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals and a block in 33 minutes but this hasn’t been enough to get wins. Marquette is in a similar situation with a two game losing streak but they are not saddled by the pressure of being a Top 25 team, yet anyway. Junior Cadougan has been making the most of his playing time of late but has been inconsistent. The Golden Eagles did take Notre Dame to the wire last week, a team that the Orange crushed on New Year’s Day. This game has all the makings of a great contest so you should drop what you’re doing and see which team will come out on top.
5:30pm McNeese State @ Central Arkansas
Here we have a matchup of what I would call the underexposed and underappreciated. McNeese State’s Diego Kapelan and Central Arkansas’ Imad Qahwash have been playing great ball all season but have hardly been registering a blip anywhere outside 50 km from their campuses. Both players’ teams sit on opposite ends of their Southland Conference division with McNeese on top at 4-2 and Central Arkansas at the bottom at 1-5 but these two guys have been essential to their teams. Kapelan, after going through a scoring funk in December, is averaging 15 points, 4 rebounds and an assist this month. Qahwash on the other hand is averaging 13.5 points, 2 rebounds and an assist. Though this should be a McNeese win, expect a dogfight to the finish and these two Canadians to battle each other every way possible.
8:00pm Boise State @ Louisiana Tech
After three straight single digit scoring games, Olu Ashaolu came out and had two monster games against Nevada and Idaho recently. In these two games, a loss to and a win, Olu is averaging 25 points and 17.5 rebounds to go with 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 35 minutes. Yikes! After two performances like these, the last of which helped to snap an eight game slide, you have to wonder what Ashaolu will do against Boise State.
9:00pm Missouri @ Texas
And we continue the Cory and Tristan Watch today with Texas facing one of the Top 25 teams in their conference, Missouri. Now we’ve seen how these two studs played against Kansas last week, another one of those ranked conference teams, and they looked like poised vets against a very, very good team in the ROAD win. They then came back four days later to blowout Oklahoma State on their home floor too. Missouri will be looking to knock off the Longhorns today on their home floor for a needed win to boost their RPI for Tournament time. The Tigers run a very small but fast lineup and it looks like this will be a big test for not only Cory and Tristan but the entire team.
And here is where everyone else is playing today …
12:00pm Xavier @ Richmond
1:00pm Georgia State @ Northeastern
1:00pm Minnesota @ Purdue
2:00pm Saint Louis @ George Washington
2:00pm Charleston @ Davidson
2:00pm Long Island @ Monmouth
2:30pm St. Francis (PA) @ Quinnipiac
3:05pm Indiana State @ Creighton
3:30pm UCLA @ Arizona State
3:30pm Wagner @ Central Connecticut State – Could we really have expected Tyler Murray to score 20 points a game for the remainder of the season? OK maybe not every game but we were all hoping he would. As it stands now, he’s averaged 12.3 points in the last three games but he is also averaging 5.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals in about 35 minutes. Against Central Connecticut State today, expect a big game with the possibility of moving into sole possession of second place or even tying for first in the Northeast Conference in the balance.
3:30pm Robert Morris @ Sacred Heart
4:00pm Lafayette @ American University
4:00pm Bucknell @ Army
4:00pm Drexel @ Hofstra
4:00pm Cleveland State @ Loyola (IL)
4:30pm North Carolina A&T @ Coppin State
6:00pm Cornell @ Harvard – In his game last night, Laurent Rivard only played 12 minutes. That should be a signal about something being up. This game today may be one to keep an eye on to see if this be a recurring situation in the stat line.
6:00pm Elon @ Chattanooga
6:00pm Arkansas @ Vanderbilt
7:00pm Columbia @ Dartmouth
7:00pm St. Francis (NY) @ Fairliegh Dickinson
7:00pm Tennessee State @ Eastern Kentucky
7:00pm Kansas State @ Kansas
7:00pm Western Carolina @ Wofford
7:00pm Saint Mary’s @ Portland
7:00pm Oral Roberts @ IPFW
7:30pm Maine @ Binghamton
7:30pm Tennessee Tech @ Southeast Missouri State
7:30pm Arkansas-Pine Bluff @ Grambling State
8:00pm Arkansas State @ Arkansas-Little Rock
8:00pm San Diego @ Gonzaga – The Zags are on their second three game losing skid this season but this time there are no Top 25 teams to blame them on. In the last four games Rob Sacre has been the rock in the middle posting 16.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, a steal and 2.5 blocks. He is undoubtedly the player to watch in this game and the one that will need to play huge for the win.
8:00pm Santa Clara @ Loyola Marymount – Three straight wins by Santa Clara has them sitting third in the West Coast Conference at the moment and Marc Trasolini has been playing a lot better of late. In the last four games, Traz is averaging 15.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and is shooting 19-of-40 from the field and ha only missed 2 of his 15 free throws.
8:00pm Greenville @ SIU-Edwardsville
8:45pm Tennessee-Martin @ Murray State
9:00pm Oklahoma @ Iowa State – Iowa State is sitting at the bottom of the Big 12 Conference standings right now and this is a must win game for them. They have a better overall record than Oklahoma and a win here would even them in the conference. After a three game stretch of scoring at least 19 points, Jamie Vanderbeken has cooled off but he still is capable of lighting it up. Melvin Ejim on the other hand has been cold having not hit double digits in scoring in the last five games though he continues to work the glass and D. These two will likely need to come out strong for the Cyclones to have a good shot at winning this game against the Cowboys who have won two straight.
9:30pm Idaho @ New Mexico State – New Mexico State snapped their two game losing streak two nights ago against Boise State in overtime at home. Hernst Laroche had a career high 24 points, including going 14-of-15 from the line, along with 4 rebounds and 5 assists in 40 mins. Tyrone Watson also had a big game netting 17 points and grabbing 10 off the glass for his second double-double of the season. Now can they turn the same trick against Idaho on the road?
10:00 Oregon State @ Stanford
10:00pm UC Irvine @ UC Davis
10:00pm Cal Poly @ Cal Bakersfield – After a six game losing skid that say Alex Johnson score only 2 points in the sixth one, he came out and dropped a 20 point game against Cal State Fullerton four games ago. Did that start another streak for him and the Road Runners?