ESPN Ruins Gillispie-Edwards Part III. If you read our post on this today, you know that we sorta saw this coming. As much as ESPN tried to officially act that the blogosphere doesn’t exist, they undoubtedly knew that the biggest attraction of tonight’s games was the potential for another icy conversation between Jeannine Edwards and Billy Gillispie. So short of a major blowup by Gillispie, the game producers weren’t about to let that happen. Instead they gave us the amiable Vandy coach, Kevin Stallings, who wasn’t about to berate Jeannine Edwards for her questions. Thanks, WWL.
Update: The Nashville Tennessean reported today that Edwards made the decision to “cut her losses” by interviewing Stallings instead of Gillispie. Avoidance – the classic, tried-and-true female strategy.
Vanderbilt 77, Kentucky 64. As for this game, Kentucky is now in serious trouble of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991. With Patrick Patterson on the shelf because of a sore ankle, UK only had one offensive weapon, and Jodie Meeks’ 26 wasn’t enough as UK dropped to 18-8 and 7-4 in the SEC. In a normal year for the SEC, they’d be in good shape, but this league is shaping up as a 3- or 4-bid conference, and UK’s RPI is hovering in the 60s with games still looming at South Carolina and Florida. We figure UK needs to go 4-1 the rest of the way to remain squarely in the conversation. Anything less and it’s SEC Tournament run or bust.
Purdue 72, Michigan St. 54. Purdue got Robbie Hummel back for this game, and Purdue is a much better team when he is on the floor. The Boilermakers held MSU to 33% shooting from the field, and it was clear early in the second half that Tom Izzo’s squad wasn’t going to make a comeback in this one. MSU is really capable of laying gigantic eggs on occasion, even now that they have all their pieces back, and we’re not sure what that means for the Spartans come March, but it’s probably not a good thing.
Some Other Games on a Quiet Tuesday Night.
- Clemson 93, Maryland 64. Clemson dropped 59 on the Terps in the second half behind Trevor Booker’s 11/14, including at least one jaw-dropping follow slam. The Tigers moved into a five-way tie for second in the ACC (all with 4 losses).
- Marquette 79, Seton Hall 67. Wesley Matthews had 24/4/4 assts in a game where Marquette only woke up in the mid-second half to put Seton Hall away.
- Creighton 89, Evansville 84. Creighton has gotten itself in position to become the second MVC team into the Tourney (the bracket matrix has CU on the brink) with their seventh straight win.
- BYU 73, New Mexico 62. Jonathan Tavernari had 22/7 as BYU kept the pace with San Diego St. at 8-3 in the Mountain West.
On Tap Wednesday (all times EST).
- Miami (FL) @ Florida St. (ESPNU) – 7pm. Key bubble game in the ACC race.
- Alabama @ Florida – 7pm. Must-win for the Gators at home.
- Georgetown @ South Florida (ESPN360) – 7pm. Speaking of must-wins, Georgetown can’t afford a Marquette showing here.
- Notre Dame @ West Virginia (ESPN360) – 7pm. Who wants to make the NCAA Tournament, third edition.
- Penn St. @ Illinois – 7pm. PSU’s dwindling NCAA chances could really use an upset here.
- Citadel @ Davidson – 7pm. If Curry doesn’t play, Citadel could give DC a game here.
- Drexel @ George Mason – 7pm. A key game in the CAA for two teams trying to catch VCU and Northeastern (one game ahead).
- Providence @ Louisville (ESPN2) – 7:30pm. Despite being 8-5 in the Big East, PC’s RPI is not impressive (#69), so they need this game desperately.
- Georgia Tech @ Wake Forest – 7:30pm. Can Georgia Tech win its second game of the ACC season against the only team it’s beaten so far?
- Tennessee @ Ole Miss (ESPN360) – 8pm. UT can’t afford another bad loss.
- NC State @ UNC (ESPN360) – 8pm. NC State is playing better, but don’t expect an upset here.
- Virginia Tech @ Virginia (ESPN360) – 8pm. Can UVa pull another upset at home?
- South Carolina @ Mississippi St. – 8pm. Key bubble game in the SEC between two surprise teams.
- LSU @ Arkansas – 8pm. Can the Hawgs pull another home upset against a ranked team?
- Ohio St. @ Northwestern – 9pm. NW has proven tough at home, OSU had better bring its best game.
- Oklahoma St. @ Texas Tech (ESPN2) – 9pm. What a terrible nationally-televised game.