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Late Night Snacks: Wildcats survive test, stay unbeaten

Soloman Hill, Jarred DuBois

Arizona’s Soloman Hill, (44) drives against the pressing defense of Utah’s Jarred DuBois, left, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/John Miller)

AP

Game of the Night

No. 3 Arizona 60, Utah 57: Solomon Hill led all scorers with 19 points and the Wildcats remained undefeated at 14-0. A surprisingly tough Utah squad dictated the tempo of the game and had a chance to send the game to overtime in the final second. Utes guard Jarred DuBois fired off a last-second shot that bounced around before dropping to the court.

Meaningful Outcomes

No. 10 Gonzaga 81, Santa Clara 74: Kelly Olynyk is rapidly becoming the sort of player who can put a team on his back. He scored 33 points and jump-started the offense for others by snagging nine defensive rebounds against the Broncs. Olynyk’s big day overshadowed another fine performance by Santa Clara’s Kevin Foster, who had 29 points in a losing effort in front of his home crowd.

No. 12 Missouri 66, Bucknell 64: Head Bison Mike Muscala was awesome. 25 points and 14 rebounds worth of awesome, in fact. Phil Pressey just managed to be a little bit awesomer, putting up a career-high 26 points to go with five assists. Pressey continues to control the rhythm of close games, giving the Tigers a steady hand at the tiller when it’s needed most. And, it appears, he can score a bit as well.

Murray St. 74, Southeast Missouri St. 66: Isaiah Canaan is a heck of a player, but imagine how tough it would be for him to win games without Ed Daniel on his side. Daniel scored 15 points and hauled down 17 rebounds against SEMO, a crucial complement to Canaan’s 28 points. Stacy Wilson chipped in 14 points to get the Racers to 2-0 in the young OVC season.

Starred

Stan Okoye, VMI: Okoye led the run-and-gun Keydets to their first Big South victory of the season. He was the nation’s top scorer with 39 points, and he added 8 rebounds and 3 steals in an 86-77 win over the Presbyterian Blue Hose.

D.J. Cooper, Ohio: Cooper’s scoring touch wasn’t required in this game, as Nick Kellogg broke out for 22 points. Cooper scored 12 points of his own, but found more joy in sharing the rock, dishing out 17 assists.

Notre Dame for three: Scott Martin scored 22 points for the Irish, leading the way with 6-7 three point shots. The rest of the team followed in train, going for 66.7% from deep.

Struggled

Ohio State: Illlinois is a tough team, but the Buckeyes were supposed to be a little more competitive than this. 33% shooting from the floor, 21% from deep, and 68% from the line. As bad as the offensive showing was, the porous defense the Buckeyes showed in this early Big Ten test will be much harder to overcome.

Drexel big men: Frantz Massenat, Damion Lee and Derrick Thomas did their part, scoring 46 of Drexel’s 66 points against Towson. But the surprising Tigers got another huge double-double from Jerelle Benimon and came away with the win. As effective as the Tiger frontcourt was on offense, the Drexel frontcourt was ineffective. Dartaye Ruffin and Daryl McCoy combined for just seven points in the loss.