KEY Men’s Basketball Games 12/22 – 12/23
Illinois at Missouri
This should be a good one in Columbia. Illinois may have taken some college basketball fans by surprise by starting out at 11-1 on the year up to this point. Their only loss is to a ranked UNLV team that took out North Carolina. Bruce Weber has a solid, consistent team he hasn’t had since he took the Illini to the title game in 2005. D.J. Richardson has been the star and leader for this squad, but an important addition has been Sam Maniscalco, a transfer from Bradley. Maniscalco is a 3-point sharp shooter and is second on the team in assists. He adds a veteran presence when they need it most.
Missouri under Frank Haith has been great this year. They’ve won all 11 of their games so far. The closest margin of victory has been 10 points against Villanova. They are second in the country in scoring at nearly 88 points per game and second in field goal percentage at 52 percent. Despite all of the Miami (FL) allegations surrounding Haith, this team has built off of a good 23-11 season last year. They are now primed to take charge of the Big 12. Seniors Marcus Denmon and Kim English lead the way for the Tigers, scoring nearly 36 points per game between the two of them. This should be a great battle. The winner will have solidified themselves as a true contender in their respective conferences.
Floirda State at Florida
Florida-Florida State always has a great rivalry whether in football or any sport. This year, both basketball teams are vying for good positioning in their conferences. With the ACC having another down year, Florida State began the year ranked. The Seminoles have as good of a chance as any other team to place at least third in the ACC behind North Carolina and Duke. They have since slipped to 8-3 after three consecutive losses at the end of November. Since then they have won three straight and are back on track. If the team starts clicking for conference play, Leonard Hamilton’s squad could find themselves in the mix for the ACC crown, and they would most certainly be primed for a good seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Seminoles face a tough test against an athletic and scrappy Gator team. Florida’s only two losses this year have been to top-5 teams Syracuse and Ohio State. Billy Donovan has reloaded his squad with great talent to challenge Kentucky for the SEC title. Junior Kenny Boynton is the lifeblood of this team and their leading scorer (18.7 pts/game). Senior guard Erving Walker leads the team in assists (5.0 per game) and is also averaging double digits in scoring. Donovan and his squad are looking to get back to the top of the college hoops world like they did in 2006 and 2007. The Seminoles have a tough test. They would prove themselves to the nation and to the ACC if they could win this game.
Memphis at Georgetown
This is an interesting game because it is a rematch of an early season tournament game back around Thanksgiving. Memphis had been highly regarded at the outset of the 2011-2012 season. They currently hold a record of 6-4. At the Maui Invitational, they took Georgetown the distance, losing 91-88 in overtime. Coach Josh Pastner is really trying to rebuild the basketball culture John Calipari brought to Memphis during his tenure at the school. The roster has some talent with stud guard Will Barton averaging over 20 points per game. Fellow sophomore Joe Jackson is also a vital cog in the Memphis machine. It’s a young squad that has a bright future that just needs to learn how to pull out close games against good teams. Three of their four losses have been to ranked opponents.
Georgetown, meanwhile, has outperformed their preseason projection. The Hoyas are also a young team many thought would need a year or two to jell. As it turns out, this team is well-coached and is playing great team basketball. Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson are the veteran leaders that are carrying Georgetown. Nate Lubick, the big body in the middle, adds size down low to their outstanding guard play. Georgetown could be a surprise team in the Big East. Improving their free throw shooting is a must (74.5 percent). Can Memphis exact revenge? Will Georgetown let them?
Cal at UNLV
UNLV might be the surprise team of the early season. The 12-2 Rebels have already defeated North Carolina and Illinois. Their dynamic duo of Chace Stanback and Mike Moser do everything. Stanback is a 45 percent 3-point shooter that shoots 49 percent from the field overall. Moser is a beast on the inside. The 6’8” forward averages a double-double per game and shoots 80 percent from the foul line. The Rebels have been undervalued this season but seem to be garnering some attention after their two huge victories.
California is a team that started strong themselves. They are 10-2, with losses only to San Diego State and a really good Missouri team. This is a year where Cal is primed to take over the Pac-12. Arizona is still rebuilding under Sean Miller and UCLA has a so-so record up to this point. Senior Jorge Gutierrez returns as the rock for the Golden Bears (13.9 points/game). He settles the offense down and is almost automatic from the foul line (89.5 percent). Allen Crabbe is the team’s scoring leader at over 16 points per game and Justin Cobbs shoots a blistering 63.6 percent from beyond the arc. This team has scoring talent. They have the ability to take a solid lead in their conference. It will be these non-conference games that will be vital to their postseason prospects.
