Indiana State Knocks Off Vanderbilt In Memorial Gym

For the final post of the night I'm going to recap four games, to wrap up posting about Saturday's slate:

Indiana State 61, #25 Vanderbilt 55
Vanderbilt has always had one of the best homecourt advantages in the nation. I've typically credited the bizarre setup of the court, which is unique among Division I arenas. The benches are in a weird spot, the crowd is in a weird spot... everything seems wrong. But this year? They're now 3-3 at home, with the best win coming over Oregon. And while Festus Ezeli clearly isn't all the way back physically, this was his second game back from injury and he did play decent basketball during 22 minutes on the floor.

The problems in this game have been the same all season. The biggest problem is on offense, where the team has zero patience. The lack of a true point guard is a problem, but not a critical one. Plenty of teams can have success without one. But Vanderbilt players act like they'll get benched if they let the shot clock get below 25 seconds. They take way too many shots after zero or one passes in a possession. They also take far too many long contested jumpers. It seemed like half of their shots were taken from between 15 and 20 feet. It's noble to try to bring back the mid-range jumper, but there's a reason why coaches discourage it. Either take open threes or get the ball into the paint.

Defense hasn't been wonderful for Vanderbilt either. Their perimeter defense is soft, and they have trouble dealing with switches off screens. Getting Ezeli back to 100% will help since he can be a mistake-eraser in the paint, but there's only so much he can do by himself. And Vanderbilt's resume is already showing cracks. They're 6-4 with decent-but-not-great wins over Oregon, NC State and Oregon State, and a potentially weak loss to Cleveland State. If the season ended now they'd be right on the Tournament bubble. Their next two games will be against cupcakes, and then they'll get a chance for a big win at Marquette on December 29th. They will open SEC play on January 7th against Auburn.

This is a big win for Indiana State, even though they're still an at-large long shot. This is by far their best win, and they have a potentially bad loss to Boise State. But even though they still need more big wins to get into the at-large discussion, I do think this win puts them into the Missouri Valley conversation. It had been thought that the conference title would be won by either Creighton, Wichita State or Northern Iowa. Missouri State has been on the periphery of that discussion, and I think Indiana State has to be a part of it now as well. They play a cupcake next, but then will open Missouri Valley play at Drake on December 28th. A road win at Drake won't be an easy get for any team in the conference, but if Indiana State wants to be taken seriously as a Missouri Valley contender they need to win a game like that, to prove this Vanderbilt game wasn't just a fluke.

St. Joseph's 74, Villanova 58
The final score belies how close this game was. Villanova actually earned more shots from the field and from the free throw line, which generally correlates with winning the game. But Nova was an ice cold 5-for-27 behind the arc (overall a 37.3 eFG%, Villanova's worst shooting performance of the season). St. Joe's, on the other hand, had a 56.6 eFG%. The star for the game was, without question, Langston Galloway. Not only did he have 20 points and 6 assists, but he was just involved in everything good St. Joe's did. At one point in the second half the announcers noted that if you added up +/-, Galloway was +19, and St. Joe's was -6 when he was off the floor.

Nobody really played well for Villanova, and they looked sloppy and lethargic overall. Their defensive switching was uncharacteristically poor, and it seemed like they lost every battle for a loose ball. Everybody that matters on this team will be back next season, and it almost feels like they've checked out of this season already. It's making me increasingly skeptical of the idea that Villanova will even make the NCAA Tournament, despite how wide open the middle of the Big East is.

St. Joe's is now 8-3 with wins over Creighton, Villanova and Georgia Tech, along with a bad loss to American. That actually looks like a bubble resume. With how bad the Pac-12 is, along with the fact that the ACC and Big East are down, it's not inconceivable that the Atlantic Ten could get a fourth team into the NCAA Tournament (Saint Louis, Temple and Xavier all look like Tournament teams right now). Their next game will be Wednesday against Coppin State. They will also play Harvard and Morgan State before opening A-10 regular season play at Duquesne on January 4th.

Kansas State 71, #21 Alabama 58
This was without question the best Kansas State has played this season. They managed to somehow correct, for one night at least, all of the issues that have plagued them the past few years. Turnovers? Only 14 in 70 possessions against a normally-ferocious Alabama defense. Passing? 16 assists on 23 made baskets. They even shot 67% from the free throw line, which is better than they've averaged the past few years.

From Alabama's perspective, I just don't understand what I saw in this game. Their defense has been so good the past couple of years, and it was downright mediocre here. And you'd think that a sloppy Kansas State team that has poor basketball fundamentals would be the type of offense that they'd eat alive. We are in an odd part of the year during finals, and I have to wonder if maybe that's in play here. Maybe this is just "one of those days" and Alabama will come back with a vengeance on Wednesday against Oklahoma State. The Tide will also play at Georgia Tech before beginning SEC play on January 7th at Georgia.

This win could be a turning point for Kansas State's season. The Wildcats had been off to a disappointing start to their season, with a narrow win over Virginia Tech being their only against any team even close to the RPI Top 100. But they haven't had any bad losses either, and this win over Alabama is a true quality win that they'll be able to brag about on Selection Sunday. With only a couple of cupcakes left in their non-conference slate, and with a strong Big 12 this season, a 9-9 Big 12 record and a win in the Big 12 tournament could potentially be enough to earn Kansas State an at-large bid. It's enough that I'm planning on moving Kansas State into my new bracket, which will come out later tonight (or later this morning, depending on which time zone you're in). They will open conference play on the road at Kansas on January 4th.

New Mexico 66, Oklahoma State 56
Travis Ford put together a brutal non-conference schedule for Oklahoma State, and you have to wonder if the players are just starting to wear out. They've already played Pittsburgh, Stanford, Missouri State, New Mexico and Virginia Tech, and lost four of five. And they only have three days off before playing Alabama. New Mexico just outplayed them here, collecting six more offensive boards and committing six fewer turnovers. Drew Gordon dominated the paint with 20 rebounds (7 on offense).

Oklahoma State is a solid team. They take care of the ball, play good defense, and have good athletes at every position. But other than Keiton Page they can't shoot the ball well, and that's a big reason why they're now 1-4 against quality opponents (the one win came over Missouri State). They will try to collect a quality win against Alabama on Wednesday. But without that they're going to have a hill to climb in Big 12 play just to get back to the NCAA Tournament. The strength of the Big 12 works in the favor, but they'll have to go at least 9-9 (and probably 10-8) to earn an at-large bid.

New Mexico got off to a slow start this season with losses to New Mexico State and Santa Clara (the latter, and perhaps both, will end up being "bad" losses on Selection Sunday). But since then they've won six straight, including victories over Missouri State, Oklahoma State, Washington State and USC. They have a couple of cupcakes up next, and then will try to get revenge at New Mexico State on December 28th, and then will play Saint Louis on the 31st.