Week of 1/22/24
It wasn’t as chaotic as last week, but craziness still broke out. Some teams have lost their momentum, while others keep on pushing through. With about 2 months left until March Madness starts, some teams need to shape up, otherwise they’ll miss the tourney.
Retaining their Number 1 spot is UConn, who blew out Creighton and barely beat Villanova this week. Against Creighton, UConn had 48 rebounds to Creighton’s 32. UConn also capitalized on turnovers, forcing 14 and scoring 15 points off them. Tristen Newton led the way with 16 points, but the defense for the team got them the 62-48 win. It was much harder for UConn against Villanova, as 2 made free throws from Tristen Newton late gave them the win. Newton had 25 points and 6 rebounds, and is now averaging 15.4 points per game, 6.5 rebounds, and 6 assists. He’s doing a lot of UConn, and has them in a very good place for a repeat title. UConn and Villanova played very similar games, but the Huskies did a better job when it came to fast break points. They had 21, while Villanova had 8. UConn has just 1 game next week, taking on Xavier next Sunday. Following UConn is Purdue, who blew past Indiana and Iowa. Zach Edey notched a double-double in both games, and now has 3 straight games with 30 points and 10 rebounds. In 2 of these games, he has more than 15 rebounds. Edey is now averaging 23 points per game and 11.5 rebounds, second and fourth in the country, respectfully. Edey does a very good job at pulling fouls, as he’s shot 12 or more free throws in 3 straight games. Edey has been a monster in Purdue’s three game winning streak, and so has Braden Smith. Smith is averaging 12 points per game, 5.4 rebounds, and 7 assists. The assists are fourth in the country, and has had 9 assists in 2 straight games. Against Penn State, he had 11. Lance Jones and Fletcher Loyer have also helped Purdue reach the number 2 ranking, but all eyes are on Zach Edey, as he has a very good chance to repeat as player of the year. Purdue takes on Michigan and Rutgers this week. Knowing Purdue, they could easily drop a game to one of these teams, especially Rutgers, as that game is on the road. After Purdue comes North Carolina, Houston, and Kansas. I’ll start with UNC, who took care of business against Louisville and Boston College. Against Louisville, UNC destroyed them in the paint, as they had 10 more points there and 12 more rebounds. Louisville also never led, and the Tar Heels had 9 fast break points to the Cardinals’ 0. Everyone got in on the action against Boston College, as only 4 of the 11 players that played had less than 6 points. Out of those 4, 2 of them played just 2 minutes in garbage time. RJ Davis led the way with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Armando Bacot had 10 points and 9 rebounds, while Harrison Ingram had 11 points and 13 rebounds. BC played them a little closer than Louisville, but UNC prevailed, and are now third in the country. One of the reasons why UNC is third is because Kansas lost this week to West Virginia. They fall from second to fifth because of the 91-85 loss. Kansas arguably played a better game, but they could not stop West Virginia’s RaeQuan Battle and Patrick Suemnick, who combined for 43 points. Kansas did beat Oklahoma State earlier in the week, which stopes them from falling out of the top 5. After 2 straight losses, Houston rebounded with wins over Texas Tech and UCF. Their defense shined bright in both games, allowing 54 to TTU and 42 to UCF. Jamal Shead scored a career-high 29 points in the win over Texas Tech, while LJ Cryer broke out of his slump against UCF, scoring 16 points after 3 straight games with under 10 points, which only happened twice of Cryer before the slump. Houston takes on BYU and Kansas State this week, while Kansas plays Cincinnati (happened on Monday. Kansas won, but it doesn’t contribute to the ranking) and Iowa State.
Things get a bit more chaotic outside the top 5, but nothing too crazy. Tennessee comes in at 6, and Kentucky, Arizona, Duke, and Auburn follow. Tennessee took down both Florida and Alabama by 19 and 20 points respectively. Dalton Knecht led Tennessee against both teams, scoring 39 against Florida and 25 against Alabama. He also had 8 rebounds against Florida and 4 against Bama. Knecht now has had 4 straight games with 25 or more points and 4 or more rebounds. Knecht is averaging 19 points per game and 4.4 rebounds. Knecht is leading Tennessee in most areas, and has them sitting at sixth in the country and having a good chance to win the SEC. Tennessee plays just 1 game this week, taking on Vandy. Kentucky is tied with Tennessee in the SEC standings at second, and for good reason. They destroyed Mississippi State and Georgia last week. Kentucky took down Mississippi State 90-77, which was John Calipari’s 400th win with Kentucky. Antonio Reeves led the way with 27 points, while Rob Dillingham continues to wow the country with 16 points of the bench. Reed Sheppard had 9 points with 6 assists. Kentucky takes on South Carolina and Arkansas this week. Both are winnable games, but on the road. Kentucky has a lot of stars on this team, but I still think Tennessee has the best chance to win the conference, an even better chance than Auburn, who’s first in the conference. They’re undefeated at 5-0 and have won 11 straight games. They got their first ranked win of the season against Ole Miss on Saturday, 82-59. Auburn shot 58% from the field and 44% from deep. Auburn’s largest lead was 35, while Ole Miss’ largest lead was 2 points, which happened in the first 3 baskets of the game. Auburn dominated on offense in the paint, as they had 42 points to the Rebels 28. No one had an insanely good game, as Johni Broome led the team with 13 points and 5 rebounds. Auburn does a good job at playing team basketball, which has won them 16 games. They take on their rival, Alabama, and Mississippi State this week. Both are on the road, but Auburn has a lot of momentum, so they can easily win these games. Arizona and Duke are sandwiched in between Kentucky and Auburn, sitting at 8 and 9. Arizona destroyed USC and came back from down 19 to beat UCLA this week. Against UCLA, Pelle Larsson scored 22 in their comeback, while Oumar Ballo had a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds. Arizona shot just 23% from deep, with Caleb Love shooting 2-8, Larsson going 2-7, and Kylan Boswell shooting 1-6. That could hinder Arizona’s offense later this season, but they overcame their 3-point struggles and won. They take on the two Oregon teams this week, both being on the road. As for Duke, they lost their only game last week, that being an 80-76 loss to Pitt. Jared McCain had 20 points, while Kyle Filipowski had 19, along with 5 rebounds. Duke didn’t play bad, Pitt just outplayed them. Duke was riding high with an 8-game winning streak, but their whole momentum has shut down in their loss. Duke now takes on Louisville and Clemson this week, but those two and a game against Virginia Tech are all warmups for when they take on UNC on February 3rd.
The real chaos starts to happen after the top 10 however, starting with Marquette. After 2 straight losses, Marquette beat Villanova and Saint John’s this week. Against Villanova, Marquette turned the ball over just 3 times, while Villanova had 12. This led to Marquette getting 15 of their 87 points of turnovers. They were also destroying Villanova down low, as they had 60 points in the paint to Villanova’s 18. Their dominance in the paint would continue into the Saint John’s game. Marquette had 52 points in the paint, while Saint John’s had 38. Marquette fought back from a 10-point first half deficit to get up big late. Saint John’s fought their way back, but a missed buzzer beater gave Marquette the close win. Oso Ighodaro had 11 of his 17 points in the second half, while Tyler Kolek played nearly the whole game, going for 15 points, 11 assists, and 6 rebounds. Marquette barely escaped against Saint John’s and they now take on DePaul and Seton Hall this week. DePaul is the worst team in the Big East, while Seton Hall upset Marquette earlier this season. Marquette is trying to avoid the upset when they play Seton Hall, but it’ll be easier this time around, as its at home. Following Marquette is Illinois, who had a chaotic week of their own. They reinstated Terrance Shannon Jr., their leading scorer who had been out since his suspension in December. In his first game back, which was against Rutgers, he played 28 minutes coming off of the bench, scoring 16. Illinois’ leading scorer was Justin Harmon, who also came off the bench. He scored 18 points and had 8 rebounds in 29 minutes. With Shannon coming back, Illinois should be back to full force, as Illinois went 3-2 without him. Even if with him I doubt they would beat Purdue, but things could’ve gone very differently against Maryland if Shannon was playing. Illinois also beat Michigan last week. Illinois takes on Northwestern and Indiana this week. Those games should be tough for the Fighting Illini, but they have a good chance to prevail in those games. Following Illinois is some teams that had a quieter week, those being Wisconsin and Oklahoma. Wisconsin played 2 games last week, beating Indiana after losing to Penn State. Once again, Wisconsin didn’t play worse than Penn State, they just couldn’t get the lead. As for Oklahoma, they rebounded nicely from 2 straight losses to beat West Virginia and Cincinnati last week. Although they were somewhat close, OU still finished out the games. They take on Texas and Texas Tech this week. Following OU is another Big 12team, Baylor. Baylor was upset twice last week, losing at both Kansas State and Texas. Against K-State, Baylor shot just 18% from deep, a stark contrast of their 41% 3-point shooting this year. Against Texas, it close throughout, and its very hard to win when you don’t make a single field goal from 9:09 left in the second half to 5 seconds left in the game. They conceded a Tyrese Hunter layup with a second left to lose. Both games were on the road, so that’s why I’m not dropping Baylor too much. However, if one of these were at home, Baylor would be outside the top 15. The Bears play just 1 game this week, taking on TCU at home.
The top 20 concludes with Memphis, Utah State, Dayton, FAU, and Colorado State. Memphis stumbled again, losing to both USF and Tulane, by 1 and 2 points, respectively. Memphis held the lead for most of the game against USF, but shooting 21% from deep led to USF coming back and beating them. David Jones dropped 32 points and 11 rebounds against Tulane, but that wasn’t enough. Hopefully Memphis isn’t upset this week when they take on UAB. Utah State suffered their second loss of the season to New Mexico, but beat Fresno State later on Saturday. Their loss to New Mexico was just their second on the year, and the Aggies are still first in the Mountain West. They take on Boise State this week. Dayton had a pretty quiet week, taking down Saint Louis and Rhode Island. FAU had a very crazy week, starting with a solid win over Wichita State. However, that wasn’t the craziest part. They had a tight game that went into overtime against UTSA. Johnell Davis had 34 points in 36 minutes, while Alijah Martin had 26 points in 38 minutes. Once it got to overtime, FAU handled the game well, outscoring UTSA 21-12. Colorado State re enters the poll at 20, beating Air Force and UNLV. They beat UNLV by just 3 points, with UNLV out playing them in most stats. CSU takes on Nevada and Wyoming this week, both on the road. CSU might drop one of these games, as their latest 2 losses were also both on the road.
The teams at the end of the top 25 are Texas Tech, Creighton, Iowa State, BYU, and New Mexico. The trio of big 12 teams all had a crazy week, starting with Texas Tech. TTU got blown out by Houston on the 17th, 77-54. However, they rebounded against BYU, beating them 85-78. BYU, however, had already beaten Iowa State that week, 87-72. Iowa State bounced back from that loss to beat TCU by 1 point. ISU takes on Kansas State and Kansas this week, while Texas Tech plays Oklahoma. BYU takes on Houston and Texas this week, both at home. Creighton fell to UConn 62-48, getting destroyed in the paint. UConn had 48 rebounds and 36 points in the paint, while Creighton had 32 rebounds and 20 points in the paint. Creighton then had a close game with Seton Hall that went into triple overtime. Creighton had the chance to end the game in the first 2 overtimes before finally doing so in the third. Creighton takes on Xavier and DePaul, the later of which just fired their head coach. With both games also being at home, Creighton should have 2 more wins at the end of the week. New Mexico enters the poll for the first time this year after their upset of Utah State. They also upset SDSU back on the 13th, helping their case even more. They also took down Air Force last week. They’re taking on San Jose State and Nevada this week.