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Late Night Snacks: Gators go cold again; unbeatens fall

Rodney McGruder

Kansas State guard Rodney McGruder (22) blocks a shot by Florida guard Kenny Boynton (1) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012, at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. Kansas State won the game 67-61. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

AP

Game of the Night

No. 12 Missouri 82, No. 10 Illinois 73: Phil Pressey shot 2-18 and still led the Tigers to their fourth straight victory in the annual Braggin’ Rights game. His eleven assists found the hot hands, which belonged largely to Laurence Bowers (23 points, 10 rebounds) and Alex Oriakhi (13 and 14). Jabari Brown logged his first start of the year, putting up 18 points. The Illini lost their first game of the season, falling to 12-1.

Meaningful Results

Kansas State 67, No. 8 Florida 61: Poor shooting from the backcourt kept the Gators on the slide began at Arizona last weekend. Starters Mike Rosario, Kenny Boynton and Scotty Wilbekin combined to shoot 10 of 31 from the floor and 2 of 12 from deep in a game that Florida never led in the second half.

Indiana State 87, Ole Miss 85 (OT): Ole Miss isn’t exactly a powerhouse right now, but they came to Hawaii sporting an 8-1 record and reasonable expectations of being able to handle a middle-of-the-pack MVC team. That didn’t happen, as Manny Arop (27 points) led five Sycamore starters into double figures. Junior Marshall Henderson had a 27 point night for the losing team.

No. 11 Cincinnati 68, Wright State 58: Wright State led this game 28-22 at the half, and Cincy looked like it might be vulnerable to the malaise that hit other undefeated teams like Syracuse and Illinois today. But the Bearcats clawed their way back into the game in spite of terrible shooting from the floor, riding JaQuon Parker’s 21 points to a 12-0 mark.

Virginia Tech 66, Bradley 65 (OT): Erick Green scored 31 points -- a new career high -- including the game-winner in this tight contest.

Starred

Kalif Wyatt, Temple: Hard to argue with 33 points, 15-15 from the line, and an upset of the previously undefeated No. 3 team in the country.

Ben McLemore, Kansas: DeShaun Thomas got all the ink at the beginning of the season, but McLemore proved to be the best player on the floor when Kansas visited Columbus. The freshman went home with 22 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and a block, as well as a couple more of the above-the-rim dunks that are becoming his calling card.

D.J. Cooper, Ohio: The Bobcats were facing one of the worst teams in Division I, so Cooper didn’t have to do much scoring. Instead, he decided to indulge in the spirit of the season and gave out gifts to his teammates in the form of 14 assists, tying his season high. And he did it in just 23 minutes of floor time.

Struggled

Luke Hancock, Louisville: At the beginning of the season, Hancock was generally regarded as the missing piece in a possible national title picture for the Cards, thanks to the 50% shooting mark he brought with him as a transfer from George Mason. Forget about being a missing piece, Hancock is just missing this season: missing the basket, missing in action, you name it, he’s missing it. In a 78-55 rout of Western Kentucky, Hancock tallied zero points, one assist and two turnovers in 16 minutes of play.

Florida’s gunners: Last week, the Gator shooters confined their worst shooting to the ends of halves. Against K-State, they couldn’t find the range all night, not that it stopped them from banging away. As a team, the Gators were 5 of 19 from behind the arc; a tidy 26.3%.

Houston’s Health & PE Center: The bucolically-named venue played host to the worst game of the night. Florida International put up 48 points and Texas Southern managed just 45. Texas Southern’s 83% from the free throw line would have been the stat of the night, except that closer inspection reveals that the Tigers were only awarded six charities all night long, making five.