Rutgers Knocks Off Providence

Rutgers 85, Providence 72
Providence has been rapidly improving under Keno Davis, but it's a very young team. Davis has had two full recruiting classes, and those freshmen and sophomores make up all but one spot in their rotation (Marshon Brooks is the only older player in the regular rotation). But despite their improvement they are still young, and this is an example of a game where their youth showed. By all accounts, Providence was the better team on the floor. They earned eight more shots from the field and eight more at the line, winning the rebounding and turnover battles and actually committing fewer fouls despite being on the road. But Rutgers smartly shoved the ball into the paint, allowing their big players to go to work. Their frontcourt players took 44 shots, hitting 25 of them (57%), while their backcourt was 6-for-13 (46%) with 12 assists. Providence, on the other hand, fell in love with the jump shot. Their starting backcourt of Vincent Council and Gerard Coleman combined to shoot 6-for-27 with only 4 assists to 6 turnovers. But this year is a learning experience for Providence, and they learned a lesson here. They are now 0-4 in the Big East, although their first three losses were by a combined 13 points, so they're better than their record. They next play at West Virginia on Thursday night. As for Rutgers, this win pushes their Sagarin ELO_CHESS up to 101st, and their Pomeroy rating is all the way up to 92nd. They aren't going to be on the bubble in March, of course, but this is still the best Rutgers team in about five years, which is an impressive achievement for first year coach Mike Rice. Their next game is Tuesday night at UConn.

Marshall 95, Southern Miss 65
Southern Miss had been playing well lately, getting themselves onto the bubble, but it will take a while for them to wipe this demolition from the minds of Selection Committee members. Southern Miss shot 34% from the field, including 1-for-16 behind the arc, and had all of four assists in the entire game. Southern Miss is now 12-3 and while none of their losses are quality losses, they're still at least in the RPI Top 100 (Colorado State, Mississippi and Marshall). Their best win was over California. They're going to have to go at least 11-5 in Conference USA play to make the Tournament and they're 1-1 right now. Next they'll play Rice on the road, but then have UCF and Memphis at home - great opportunities for quality wins. Marshall moves to 11-4, but this is their best win and they've got losses to Chattanooga and James Madison. After a cupcake game against Savannah State they head to Memphis for a chance to collect what would be their biggest win of the season.

Nebraska 63, Iowa State 62
Nebraska seemed to have this game under control, getting the lead as high as 12, but Iowa State came back and grabbed the lead with under five minutes to go before Lance Jeter won the game on free throws earned in the final second of regulation. Nebraska has had a cupcake schedule so far, but they're 13-2 with a win over USC and only one bad loss (Davidson). Their schedule gets much tougher very quickly, however, with road games at Missouri and Kansas up next. I don't see Nebraska making a serious run at an at-large bid, but we'll have to at least discuss them if they can pull the upset in one of those two games. Iowa State's resume is pretty similar, with wins over Virginia and Iowa and one mediocre loss (Northern Iowa). They also have a tough schedule coming up, with Kansas and Baylor at home followed by road games at Oklahoma State and Missouri. Like Nebraska their cupcake schedule makes them something of a question mark, but they're only one or two big wins away from the bubble.