Late Night Snacks: ‘The Day That No Ranked Teams Played’ Edition

Get ready kids. The top five teams in the nation – Indiana, Duke, Michigan, Syracuse, and Louisville – are all in action on Saturday. There will be 20 of the top 25 in action on Saturday, including a great match up of two unbeaten teams: No. 13 Illinois at No. 10 Gonzaga. Both teams are 9-0.

Game of the Night

Fairleigh Dickinson 82, Lafayette 80: Sidney Sanders, Jr. scored on a last-second tip-in to lift Knights over the Leopards and climbing back to .500 at 4-4. Fairleigh Dickinson also had a 14-point lead in the first half and nine with under four to go. A 12-3 Lafayette run late in the game set up the dramatic finish. Two weeks ago, Fairleigh Dickinson had a game-winning bucket in the last seconds, also featured on Late Night Snacks. Might be a more exciting team than you think.

Marist 62, Manhattan 58: The Red Foxes almost gave this one away. After Jay Bowie’s 3-pointer tied the game up with 1:41 left, Chavaugh Lewis and Isaiah Norton could only make one of two free throws each, leaving the door open for the Jasper. However, Manhattan coughed the ball up with a second remaining. Devin Price was fouled and sunk a pair of free throws.

Important Outcomes

UConn 57, Harvard 49: Shabazz Napier entered the game averaging 18.6 points per game, but didn’t score until 7:41 remaining in the game. Didn’t matter because DeAndre Daniels carried the load with a career-high 23 points. Napier did well in other facets of the game with seven rebounds and nine assists. UConn bounces back from a loss to N.C. State on Tuesday and has three more non-conference games before Big East play starts.

VCU 83, Old Dominion 70: Havoc has won three straight after losing a pair of games in the Bahamas. VCU now has a week off and gets to take on 6-2 Alabama next Saturday, looking for another nice win in out of conference play.

Iowa 80, Iowa State 71: Iowa used an 8-0 run to start the second half to take control against their in-state rival. Aaron White led the way for the Hawkeyes with 18 points and seven rebounds. After getting blown out by Virginia Tech, Iowa, who is undefeated at have one three straight.

Starred

DeAndre Daniels, UConn: Daniels converted on his first five shots, carrying the Huskies’ offense to a 15-2 start. He added some crucial buckets when Harvard made it a one-point game in the second half. More importantly, he did this in a game when Shabazz Napier’s shots were not falling.

South Carolina three ball: The Gamecocks shot an incredible, 10-for-16 (63 percent) from behind the arc, which was eight percent better than South Carolina’s total field goal percentage. Brenton Williams did most of the damage with four 3-pointers on five attempts, while Brian Richardson came off the bench going 4-for-4 from deep. South Carolina won 91-74

Casey Coons, Taylor University: According to Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com, Coons scored the tenth point for the fourth time in his career at Taylor University’s annual “Silent Night” game. Must be a great feeling. Don’t understand? Click this link.

Struggled

Harvard second half shooting: The Crimson dug themselves into a whole early, down 15-2. Once the offense got going, Harvard started finding open shooters. Harvard connected on five 3-pointers to get within three heading into halftime. The Crimson would not hit from deep the rest of the night.

Jacksonville first half defense: The Dolphins gave up 57 first half points to South Carolina, en route to a 91-74 loss. The Gamecocks shot 55 percent from the field for the game. Jacksonville had no answer for the South Carolina perimeter shooting.

Terrence is also the lead writer at NEHoopNews.com and can be followed on Twitter: @terrence_payne