Ten Questions to Consider: Rivalries, Rematches & Opportunities

Posted by Matthew Eisenberg on February 5th, 2021

From Monday through Wednesday, AP Top 25 teams had won just 10 of 19 games played during the week. Heading into the weekend, will chaos continue to rule the college basketball landscape? Rivalries, rematches and teams streaking in both directions lead the way of the 10 questions I have for games taking place over the next few days.

  1. Can Illinois get transition opportunities against Wisconsin? (Wisconsin @ Illinois, Saturday, 2:30 PM EST, Fox) Hoop-Math data shows that Illinois ranks among the top 20 in both percentage of shots that come in transition and transition field goal percentage. In Wisconsin’s five losses they have allowed an average of 13 fast break points to opposition. In Badgers’ victories, opponents are averaging just 6.6 fast break points.
  2. Can Cade Cunningham carry the Cowboys over the Longhorns? (Texas @ Oklahoma State, Saturday, 3 PM EST, ABC) After a pair of early fouls against TCU on Wednesday, Cunningham played just eight minutes in the first half without scoring a point. He finished the game with 15 points over the final 10 minutes, but an ill-advised shot attempt with the clock winding down in a tie game ultimately cost the Cowboys. Cunningham finished with a season-low two rebounds and two assists.
  3. Will UCLA be able to get post scoring from Cody Riley up against Evan Mobley? (UCLA @ USC, Saturday, 10 PM EST, Pac-12 Network) The Bruins picked up a win against Oregon State last week despite shooting just 32.7 percent from the field. Mick Cronin wants to use Cody Riley’s time on the court with the ball in the big man’s hands. Riley, a strong but undersized big, will be challenged by the talented Evan Mobley who is averaging over three blocks a game over his previous eight games.
  4. Which part of the first matchup will carry over into the Big Ten tilt between Iowa and Indiana? (Iowa @ Indiana, Sunday, Noon EST, Fox) In the first matchup between these teams, Iowa led and seemed to have control for the opening 28 minutes of action. Then Indiana went on its 27-6 run which flipped control of the game. The Hoosiers lived at the free-throw line with a free-throw rate of 66 percent, which led to 21 makes on 35 attempts.
  5. Can Maryland win back-to-back league games for the first time this season? (Maryland @ Penn State, Friday, 7 PM EST, Fox Sports 1) Maryland has followed up each of its three previous Big Ten wins by losing its next game. The Terps will be challenged by the Penn State duo of Izaiah Brockington and Myreon Jones, who are both averaging more than 18 points per game over their last four home games.
  6. Can Alabama make a run at a #1 Seed? (Alabama @ Missouri, Saturday, Noon EST, SEC Network) As of Thursday, the Crimson Tide have 10 wins across Quad 1 and Quad 2 teams, the most in the nation. Missouri is one of two remaining teams on Alabama’s regular-season schedule that would qualify as a Quad 1 opponent. These teams are polar opposites of one another from beyond the three-point line, with Alabama ranking first in offensive and defensive three-point percentage in SEC play, while Missouri ranks 12th in both categories.
  7. Will Villanova be focused at the tip following its loss at St. John’s? (Georgetown @ Villanova, Sunday, 2:30 PM EST, Fox) Villanova’s offensive efficiency against St. John’s was a season low by more than 15 points. In the first matchup with Georgetown, the Wildcats trailed at the half, 46-33, before coming back to win the game by 13. It truly was a tale of two halves with Georgetown shooting 58 percent in the first and just 27 percent in the final 20 minutes.
  8. Can Posh Alexander continue his hot play and further push the Johnnies into bubble contention? (St. John’s @ Providence, 2 PM EST, Fox Sports 1) The St. John’s freshman guard is averaging 16.8 points per game during the current five-game winning streak of the Red Storm. During this stretch, Alexander has found his stroke from three-point range having made 10-of-23 (43.5%). In the team’s first 14 games, Alexander was just 5-of-22 (22.7%) from beyond the arc.
  9. Can LSU end its recent funk and find its three-point shot? (Florida @ LSU, Saturday, 2 PM EST, ESPN) On the one hand, three of LSU’s four recent losses have come against top 15 ranked opponents. On the other hand, over their last five games, the Tigers are shooting just 27 percent from beyond the arc. One player the Tigers particularly need to improve from deep is Cam Thomas. Over LSU’s first seven games, Thomas was making 36.8 percent of his three-point attempts, but since the calendar hit 2021, Thomas is just 17-of-74 (23%) from deep.
  10. Can the Tar Heels avoid the trap that is a struggling Duke team? (North Carolina @ Duke, Saturday, 6 PM EST, ESPN) North Carolina heads to Durham without a Quad 1 win. While Duke sits at just 7-6, with a NET Ranking of 66th prior to action on Thursday, the Blue Devils would qualify as a Quad 1 opponent. The Tar Heels must be cognizant of their turnover woes, especially coming off committing 17 in the loss at Clemson.
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Pac-12 Non-Conference Reset (non-Arizona State Edition)

Posted by RJ Abeytia on December 28th, 2017

It may seem out of sync with the Holiday Spirit to practice exclusion, but we’ve spent SO much time on Arizona State already and quite honestly, their unblemished 12-0 record should be more than enough to keep Sun Devil fans happy. They have played great ball to date and, entering conference play, are sitting prettier than they have in quite some time. We’ve heard enough about the story of the year in the Pac-12, so let’s take some stock from the rest of the Conference of Champions with Pac-12 play ready to begin this week.

UCLA is the Surprise Team of the Pac So Far (USA Today Images)

Team of the Non-Conference: UCLA snatched this award away just moments before Santa and his reindeer took flight on the strength of a huge neutral court win over Kentucky on December 23. The Bruins have three wins over Power 6 teams right now (Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Kentucky) which is second-most in the league behind… well, you already know. The Bruins are doing all this despite the suspensions/departures of three freshmen expected to contribute this year in LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley. Aaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh have been providing the on-court stability the Bruins were expecting, with both playing heavy minutes and logging true shooting percentages of about 57 percent. UCLA, a team with a relatively short roster, has damned the torpedoes and pushed the ball up at a pace of 74.5 possessions per game, 27th-fastest nationally. Lunardi currently lists UCLA as one of the first four out of the NCAA Tournament, but those three solid wins along with no bad losses (KenPom #29 Creighton, #33 Michigan, and #10 Cincinnati) gives it a good shot to work Pac-12 play to a decent seed in March. Credit head coach Steve Alford for moving past all the distractions and keeping things together in Westwood.

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How Long Can UCLA Last Without More Depth?

Posted by RJ Abeytia on November 21st, 2017

So UCLA is already four games into its season and its 3-1 start has been reduced to a footnote while Lavar Ball and President Trump usurp air, airtime and attention better spent on literally any other aspect of human life by any other humans on the planet. Bringing the focus back on to the court, however, the real questions begin for a team that is now down three scholarship athletes. What we know through those four games, though, is that the Bruins’ rotation is not so much a rotation as essentially a half-dozen players head coach Steve Alford either trusts or is forced to trust. Players in the former category include returnees Thomas Welsh and Aaron Holiday. Both were given relative siestas in playing 26 and 32 minutes, respectively, in the Bruins’ rout of South Carolina State, but Holiday played at least 35 minutes in UCLA’s three more competitive games against Georgia Tech, Central Arkansas and Creighton, while Welsh logged major minutes as well when he wasn’t in foul trouble (Creighton).

UCLA  (USA Today Images)

This grinding down of two players who will have to perform all season is clearly not sustainable, and it is the strongest indication yet that LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill will likely not be held out for the entire season. The Bruins’ loaded freshman class fortunately includes two standouts — Kris Wilkes and Jaylen Hands — who refrained from jacking sunglasses in China, and both are already establishing themselves as indispensable cogs in the UCLA “rotation.” Even in a loss, not much changed against Creighton on Monday night. Holiday was superb, scoring 25 points on 11 shots and dishing out seven assists against one turnover. Although UCLA exhibited a fairly balanced eight-man rotation, five of those players were underclassmen and three of those five are freshmen. The Bluejays took full advantage of that defensive inexperience, putting up an Offensive Rating of 119.0 on the evening that included 11 three-pointers.

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