Late Night Snacks: Shabazz on his way to the NBA?

Game of the Night

No. 3 Duke 79, N0. 5 Miami 76: It’s not often the No. 3 team in the country needs a statement win, but the Blue Devils wanted to bounce back from their loss at Virginia, and Miami had the bad luck to be the next scheduled opponent to come to Cameron Indoor. Ryan Kelly came back from his foot injury and proved his worth. Miami, on the other hand, suffered a loss, but didn’t really much change their standing in the world.

Meaningful Results

UCLA 74, No. 11 Arizona 69: Ben Howland thinks this upset was Shabazz Muhammad’s last game in Pauley Pavilion. Muhammad grabbed the key rebound, got fouled, and hit his free throws to close out the win. Muhammad had 18 points, and his fellow freshman chipped in 17. Defense was the difference, led by (freshman) Jordan Adams’ five steals. This win puts UCLA in a tie with Oregon for the Pac-12 lead.

No. 13 Kansas State 64, Baylor 61: This one seemed headed to overtime, but Baylor’s long pass attempt with one second left sailed the length of the court and out of bounds without being touched by either team, so the second went to K-State instead. Rodney McGruder was left alone on the wing and nailed the game-winner in dramatic fashion, allowing the Wildcats to keep pace with Kansas atop the Big 12.

No. 7 Georgetown 64, Rutgers 51: It’s always important to win the ones you’re supposed to win, especially if you’re in line for a No. 1 seed.

No. 25 Louisiana Tech 88, San Jose State 61: The Bulldogs got to empty the benches in this one, which led them to a 16-0 record with two games to go in the WAC season. The WAC is not a good conference, but unbeaten is unbeaten.

Mississippi State 73, Ole Miss 67: Ole Miss is trying to get into the NCAA tournament, and this is not the way to do it. In fact, it probably won’t happen. A 20-win team should handle a 20-loss team, no matter where the game is played.

Starred

Doug McDermott, Creighton: The Blue Jays have struggled this year, but they rode their main man to a regular-season championship in the Mountain West. McDermott scored 41 points to go with six rebounds and three assists.

Jeff Withey, Kansas: Yes, Ben McLemore had 36 points, and that was huge, but Withey came one block away from his second triple-double of the season, with 14 points, 10 rebounds and nine blocked shots.

Derrick Marks, Boise State: Marks scored 38 points on 72 percent shooting. His Broncos took down the Colorado State Rams, leaving New Mexico alone with the league title.

Struggled

Reggie Johnson, Miami: It’s a measure of how good Miami is as a team that they nearly beat Duke at Cameron on a day when Johnson played just 17 minutes, scored zero points and had four fouls.

Butler: Just Butler. Twenty team turnovers, many of them on the wrong side of the timeline. Just… ouch.

Colorado’s Shooters: The Buffs shot 23 percent from the floor in a loss to Cal, ending up with just 46 points in a big league game.