Late Night Snacks: Fresno State and UC-Riverside was ugly

Games of the Day

1. Fresno State 39, UC-Riverside 30: Yeah, no. This is called sarcasm. The Bulldogs outlasted UCR in one of the ugliest games we’ll see this season. The two teams shot 26.1% (23-88) from the floor, while managing to turn the ball over 31 times. The score was actually 32-27 with just over a minute left before a late “flurry”. Think about this: Fresno State shot 28.2% from the floor, and managed to grab just four offensive rebounds. To get all Kenpom on you, their offensive rebounding percentage was 8.88%. That’s what happens when the team you’re playing manages to post 0.518 PPP.

Allen Huddleston led the way with 17 points, which was more than either team had at halftime, when the score 13-11.

2. Northern Iowa 84, Toledo 81 OT: The Panthers opened up a seven-point lead at one point in the second half, but the Rockets weren’t going anywhere. After trading baskets down the stretch, UNI sophomore Deon Mitchell hit a jumper with 32.8 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 70. The end of the overtime was a flurry of excitement. I’ll let UNI’s website explain:

However, Toledo’s Brown buried a 3-pointer with 11.8 seconds left to set the stage for a frantic finish. UNI was unable to get ball in-bounds and was whistled for a five-second call giving the ball back to Toledo. But Tuttle intercepted the Rocket’s in-bounds pass and was fouled with 10.5 seconds left. Tuttle made both free throws to improve the Panthers’ lead to 84-81.

Mitchell and fellow sophomore Seth Tuttle combined for 48 points on 14-20 shooting.

3. Delaware State 73, Wagner 69 OT: Wagner forced the overtime on this bucket with 0.6 seconds left in regulation. After taking a three point lead in the extra frame, Del State scored the final seven points of the game.

Important Outcome

1. Santa Clara 74, St. Louis 62: We talked about the importance of this loss for the Billikens here, but SCU’s win shouldn’t simply be glossed over. After taking an 0-fer in league play a season ago, the Broncs have Marc Trasolini healthy again and Kevin Foster once again eligible to play alongside Evan Roquemore. A lot of people thought they could make a run in the WCC last year. Could this be the season they sneak up on the league?

Starred

1. Kevin Foster, Santa Clara: In that win over St. Louis, Foster finished with 30 points, five assists and seven steals. He also had seven turnovers, but no one else on SCU managed to score more than nine points.

2. Seth Tuttle and Deon Mitchell, Northern Iowa: Playing without leading returning scorer Anthony James, the Panthers got a huge boost from these two sophomores. They combined to score 48 points on just 20 shots from the field.

3a. Erik Murphy, Florida: 24 points and eight boards. 10-10 from the field. 2-2 from the line. A 74-56 win over No. 22 Wisconsin. Not a bad night.

3b. Gregory Echenique, Creighton: He had 13 points on 5-5 shooting, 16 boards and four blocks for the Bluejays in a win over UAB.

Struggled

1. Wisconsin’s D: Florida hit 18 of their first 22 shots and coasted to an 18 point win.

2. Everyone on Presbyterian not named Khalid Mutakabbir: He finished with 13 points and seven assists. The Blue Hose lost to Georgia Tech 52-38. Mutakabbir had a hand in all but four of Presbyterian’s field goals and made all but one of their free throws. And he didn’t even play all that well, going just 4-11 with five turnovers. Yeesh.

3. Fresno State and UC-Riverside: They were really, really bad.

Three Facts

1. Greg Whittington had 18 points, nine boards, four assists and two steals to lead Georgetown to a win over Liberty with Otto Porter laid up with a concussion. He was 8-13 from the floor, but 0-5 from three.

2. No. 15 Creighton erased a 10 point second half deficit in the blink of an eye thanks to Josh Jones. He scored 10 straight to tie the game and finished with all 18 of his points in the second half as the Bluejays eventually won 77-60. Most importantly, Creighton won despite getting just five points on 2-6 shooting from all-american Doug McDermott.

3. There with 32 games played on Wednesday. Eight involved a non-Division I team. Two more included provisional D-I’s Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Kentucky. Other than the Florida-Wisconsin game, there were four BCS conference schools in action, and of them, only Georgetown has a prayer of making the tournament. The only other ranked team in action was Creighton. Yeah. Slow night.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.