Late Night Snacks: What you missed while watching football

Nov 11, 2012, 12:48 AM EDT

Look, we realize you were watching football all day today. We ain’t even mad. To prove it, we’ll catch you up on everything you missed in the sport where an undefeated season is pretty much a pipe dream.

Games of the Night

1. No. 15 Missouri 83, SIU-Edwardsville 69

We’ve had some very frank and serious discussions about Laurence Bowers’ importance to the Tigers here at CBT, but none of us expected this. Bowers, who missed Mizzou’s last season in the Big 12 after suffering a knee injury, came back in a big way, helping to crush the Edwardsville Cougars with a 20 point, seven board tour de force. UConn transfer Alex Oriakhi hasn’t changed much; he didn’t do much scoring himself, but grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked three shots. Flip Pressey kept everyone involved with nine assists to go with his 19 points. 6’7″ Tigers freshman Negus Webster-Chan had a very efficient debut, hitting 3-5 from behind the arc on his way to 11 points off the bench.

2. Providence 64, NJIT 63

Not a big-picture kind of game, really, except for the injury to Vincent Council. The Friars struggled to score without the senior, who did the splits and hurt his hammy just five minutes into the first half. Notable for the fact that NJIT could have won this game with a two-pointer, but heaved up a three with as many seconds left on the clock.

3. Central Florida 74, South Florida 56

Rather surprising to see a team supposedly gutted by sanctions destroy a big, experienced USF squad that made the NCAA tournament last season.

Ouch, that smarts!

The Rice Owls, who are so smart they have to hang debate championship banners in their fieldhouse, just can’t seem to catch a break in actual basketball games. They lost, badly, to a crosstown NAIA school by the name of St. Thomas, 72-59. The Owls shot a miserable 37 percent from the floor.

Starred

1. Isaiah Sykes (UCF) – 26 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals vs. South Florida

2. Jack Cooley (Notre Dame) – 19 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 6 blocks vs. Evansville

3. Phil Pressey (Missouri) – 19 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal vs. SIU-Edwardsville

Stunk

1. South Florida’s offensive rebounding. A frontcourt that features its fair share of big, beefy dudes sure didn’t expend much effort getting second and third chances at the basket. The Bulls’ leading offensive rebounder was 6’4″ guard Jawanza Poland, with three.

2. Rice guard Tamir Jackson. One assist and five turnovers against an NAIA opponent. Yuck.

3. Carl Baptiste. A guy I called out as a possible impact newcomer in the CAA this year gave the Delaware Blue Hens a measly two points and one rebound in 29 minutes of play against LaSalle. He only attempted three shots on the day, which begs the question of just what the heck he was actually doing that whole time.

Tempo-Free Star of the Weekend

Dee Davis (Xavier) – Davis made the most of the time he was given this week, tallying a sweet +35, derived from the NBA’s efficiency equation: ((Pts + TReb + A + Stl + Blk) – ((FGA – FGM) + (FTA – FTM) + TO)). The sophomore’s 22 points, 15 assists and deadly 72 percent shooting touch helped the Musketeers rout Fairleigh Dickinson 117-75.