Three Key Takeaways.

1. Davidson Failed to Capitalize. With about 11 minutes to go in the First Half, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino gambled by bringing his center, Gorgui Dieng, already with a couple of nasty blocks but also two fouls, back into the game. Within 30 seconds, Dieng had picked up his third foul and was headed back to the bench for the remainder. At the time, Davidson was within one point (16-15). Yet, even with Dieng’s defensive presence on the bench the remainder of the half, Louisville outscored the Wildcats 17-10 the rest of the way. This was a major missed opportunity for Bob McKillop’s team.
   
2. Davidson Wasn’t Just Cold As Much As the Shots Weren’t There. Davidson came into this game not as an elite three-point shooting team, but the Wildcats were somewhat remarkable in that every starter had hit 34% or better from deep this season. None of the seven players who attempted a trey for the team surpassed that mark today. The team collectively shot 22% from beyond the arc, and it was clear very early on that Louisville’s game plan was to force dribble drives at the three-point line and dominate the paint with Dieng and Behanan inside. The strategy was successful.
3. Louisville’s Lack of Offense Is Clearly Their Fatal Flaw. No secret here, but it’s even more apparent when you see the Cardinals live. They just don’t have consistent scoring options but today there was a general feeling that they’ll just find a way to scrape enough points together to get the win. Louisville hit for only 40% from the field and a ridiculous 1-5 from three-point range. This won’t be a winning formula against more talented teams, perhaps as soon as the next round. And if Rick Pitino’s team comes up against a team that gets a big early lead, we have to believe that it’ll be lights out for the Cards.

Star of the Game. Chane Behanan, Louisville. Peyton Siva was good (17/6 assts), but it was Behanan who saved the day in the first half when Dieng was attached to the bench. In the last 10 minutes of the half, Behanan provided four points, a couple of offensive boards, an assist and a block while acting as a human wrecking ball inside the paint. He ended the game with a very nice dub-dub of 14/11 with six offensive boards and a lot of man-sized defense underneath.

Quotable. Rick Pitino, on an interviewer beginning a question about New Mexico, a possible opponent in the next round. “I know nothing about New Mexico.”

Sights & Sounds. The 10:40 AM PDT local start was not the best way to start a hyped pod of tournament basketball, but this mid-sized city of Portland represented well with a fairly full complement of people by the start of the second half. The early timing kept fans waiting for something on the court to excite them, but this wasn’t necessarily the game to make that happen.

What’s Next? Louisville advances to face the winner of #5 New Mexico and #12 Long Beach State in the next round, and either team would provide an interesting contrast with Davidson in that they are much more athletic and capable of putting points on the board to challenge the stout Cardinal defense.

Three Key Takeaways.

1. Kansas State wins with experience. Kansas State has been here before, and it showed. They didn’t panic when they let Southern Miss back in the game twice. After Jordan Henriquez went to the bench with his fourth foul with more than six minutes left, they slowed it down, got the ball inside, and either scored on close shots or got to the line several possessions in a row. They shot 26-34 from the line, blocked 7 shots, and forced bad shots for Southern Miss at the end.
2. Batman and Robin came up big. Rodney McGruder had 30 points on 69% from the field as well as 4 steals. Jordan Henriquez came up with 15 points, 9 boards, and 6 blocks to completely stuff the stat sheet today. With him in the game, Southern Miss didn’t have a chance to get the ball inside.
3. Southern Miss’ bench kept them in the game. It is not often where you can say that your bench outscored your starters, but that was the case today for Southern Miss. Not only did Southern Miss outscore Kansas State’s bench 35-9, but they outscored their own starters 35-29. In the end it wasn’t enough to beat Kansas State, but without their depth, the game would have been a blow out.

Star of the Game. Rodney McGruder, Kansas State. McGruder not only led all scorers today with 30, but he carried Kansas State on his back from start to finish. It is safe to say that he had gotten in foul trouble, or struggled to make shots, that Southern Miss would be advancing, and not Kansas State. It was so obvious how dominant he was, that even the Southern Miss band was calling him the one man show every time he shot  free throws. If the stat line of 11-16 from the field, 2-5 from 3-point, and 6-8 from the line doesn’t read efficiently dominant, I am not sure what does.

Sights and Sounds. Even though the Consol Energy Center is where the Pittsburgh Penguins play hockey, you couldn’t have figured that out today. The Southern Miss band proved to me that not only can college kids play great music, but they can talk trash with the best of them although they may have crossed the line with some of their chants (like the one at Angel Rodriguez, which if true definitely did). The Southern Miss band started doing that during warmups if you can believe it.

What’s Next? Kansas State will take on the winner of Syracuse/UNC Asheville on Saturday. Frank Martin will need to give his guys some kind of pep talk because I wasn’t that impressed with Kansas State today. If someone figures out a way to shut down McGruder, they are in for a world of hurt. Kansas State needs more guys to step up, and they will need to do a more consistent job of playing lock down defense throughout the game, whoever they play.

Three Key Takeaways.

1. Racers Win With Defense. From about the 10 minute mark of the first half, head coach Steve Prohm urged his players to crank up their intensity on defense. They obeyed. It changed the game. It’s often said that defense leads to offense, and even though (likely 1st-team All-American) Isaiah Canaan didn’t get his first bucket until almost 10 minutes into the first half, as the Racer defense clamped down, buckets became easier to come by. This continued into the second half, as the Rams were forced into turnover after turnover and Murray State capitalized.
2. The Best Laid Plans… Things really got bad for CSU when they made an increased effort to drive-and-dish in the second half. It worked the first time they tried it. It failed the next four, and the Racers scored off each turnover. It was in the Rams’ head at that point. Even open shots weren’t falling for them and the anxiety was obvious…which led to more missed shots, and more miscues.
3. Land of Canaan, Hornung of Plenty. Isaiah Canaan was the man with the most eyes on him to start this one, but the buzz in the place was largely about CSU junior Pierce Hornung as his rebound totals just kept climbing throughout the game. Looking forward to seeing more of him next year.

Star of the Game. I have to equivocate, here. Isaiah Canaan was excellent as expected (15/8), but we can’t just forget Pierce Hornung for Colorado State with a workmanlike 12/17 on 6-7 shooting. He got the biggest ovation of the night after fouling out.

Sights & Sounds. Murray State’s home gym, the CFSB Center, holds 8,600 people. The KFC Yum! Center holds 22,000. Colorado State filled a section, but between Murray State backers and Kentucky fans who had already taken their seats ahead of their game in the evening session, this was BETTER than a home game for Murray State.

What’s Next?  Murray State will get the winner of Marquette/BYU, but if you’re already talking up Murray State as the next Butler/George Mason/VCU, slow down. They were terrible from three-point range (5-17), only hit 50% of their free throws (13-26), were outrebounded (38-32), and only shot 39.2% (20-51). They only committed eight fouls the WHOLE GAME even though the defensive effort was commendable, and they only turned the ball over eight times, but they’ll have to clean things up considerably by Saturday if they want to move forward.