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Late Night Snacks: Butler tackles Gonzaga in nip-tuck Bulldog Battle

Gonzaga v Butler

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JANUARY 19: Khyle Marshall #23 of the Butler Bulldogs fouls Kelly Olynyk #13 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs at Hinkle Fieldhouse on January 19, 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

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We had an internal argument conversation about whether we should pick one game of the night each night, or leave room for the notion that more than one game might be equal to the honor. My position was that - as with evil rings of power and immortal swordsmen - there can be only one. Tonight, I’m going to stick to my guns, but oh, man was it hard. Lots and lots of great games. And yet, there’s no argument as to which one stood out tonight.

Game of the Night

N0. 13 Butler 64, No. 8 Gonzaga 63: Out of all of the fantastic games tonight, I had to pick the non-conference showdown between two rumored future members of the Catholic 7. The setting - historical Hinkle Fieldhouse - put it on top of the heap already, but then Kevin Schwartz, who was in Hawaii when Rotnei Clarke splashed his miracle shot to beat Marquette earlier this season, emulated his hero by dropping a half-court shot to win $18,000. Schwartz said he’d pay off his trip to the island first during a halftime interview. On top of all that, the game was absolutely dynamite. After a back-and-forth tennis match of a game, Gonzaga had the ball and a one-point lead with just over three seconds left. Kelly Olynyk muffed the inbounds pass, Roosevelt Jones took it to the hoop, and the game was over... or was it? The officials reviewed the play mid-floor-storming to determine if Jones had released the ball in time. They quickly (for once) ruled the play good and Butler had a huge, epic, historical, heart-palpitating win. And they did it without Rotnei Clarke, who was still recovering from a terrifying neck injury. An absolute heavyweight punch-out from beginning to end.

Watch the amazing ending here, courtesy of ESPN:

Meaningful Results

N0. 18 Michigan State 59, N0. 11 Ohio State 56: The Spartans laid claim to the Big Ten lead as Wisconsin fell to Iowa. Keith Appling and Adreian Payne led the Spartans.

No. 21 Oregon 76, No. 24 UCLA 67: Arsalan Kazemi was a starter at Rice, and is the only reason anyone has thought much about Rice basketball over the past five years. Now, after transferring to Oregon to play for Dana Altman, he’s a bench option. A bench option who scored 12 points to go with 11 rebounds to help down surging UCLA and vault the Ducks to 5-0 in the Pac 12. Oregon center Tony Woods led all scorers with 18.

Cincinnati 71, No. 25 Marquette 69 (OT): It’s only fitting that Sean Kilpatrick made the game-winning bucket for the Bearcats, since he did just about everything else before that. Kilpatrick scored 36 points on the evening, aided mightily by Titus Rubles and his ten rebounds.

Wyoming 58, No. 15 San Diego State 45: The Cowboys regulated, shutting down Chase Tapley and holding Jamaal Franklin to 13 points in a huge win that helps keep the MWC as wild as we could ever hope. And that’s without the guy who jacked somebody up in a bar fight.

No. 16 Kansas State 69, Oklahoma 60: Oklahoma, under long-time veteran (and former Kansas State) coach Lon Kruger, was starting to look like a threat in the Big 12 after a 3-0 start. Kansas State under - and I cannot stress this enough - Bruce Weber dished the Sooners their first loss in league play. Rodney McGruder scored 20.

Alabama 50, Texas A&M 49: I wish people would stop saying that Elston Turner was “held to” 13 points in a game like this. The 40 points at Kentucky is the outlier, not the 13. That said, Alabama is now 3-1 in an SEC that looks wide open. With some hideous chili stains on their non-con record, the Tide will have to keep this up all the way into the SEC tournament, but winning is like, you know, better than losing, no matter when it happens.

Starred

Kevin Schwartz: Duh.

Kwamain Mitchell, St. Louis: 29 points, 7 assists, 6 steals in a 82-80 OT loss to Rhode Island.

Ray McCallum, Detroit: 25 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block in a 98-47 beatdown of Illinois-Chicago.

Struggled

Phil Pressey, Missouri: Two points and 10 turnovers in a big loss to Florida as the Tigers continue to fall apart without Laurence Bowers in the lineup.

Florida State: Not only did the Seminoles lose a 56-36 laugher to a rather average UVA team, but not a single Seminole player eked into double figures on the night. Worst of all, Terrance Shannon went down with a serious neck injury in the waning minutes of the game and had to be taken to the hospital on an immobilizing backboard.

Eric Angevine is the editor of Storming the Floor. He tweets @stfhoops.