Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
It was refreshing to see Virginia Basketball come out on top again after a losing streak, but it was far from a dominating performance. It was, however, enough to get a nice send-off for the seniors and get Austin Katstra into the game. That’s something, especially after several poor outings during the losing streak.
The first half, in general, was outstanding. The Hoos shot 48% from the field and 56% from three. The second half was vastly different, as the shots just weren’t dropping. Overall, the Hoos shot 8/22 (36%) from downtown which is solid. But Sam Hauser was 4/9 (44%), with the rest of the team combining to shoot 4/13 (30%) and that isn’t good. The Hoos really need other guys to step up and knock down shots for the offense to really get going.
ATLANTA Moses Wright scored 29 points and grabbed two of his 14 rebounds in the final 35 seconds, and Georgia Tech snapped a 14-game losing streak against Duke with an 81-77 overtime victory on Tuesday night.
Wright split a pair of free throws with 35 and 28 seconds left to extend Georgia Tech’s lead to 77-70. But the Yellow Jackets turned it over twice in the final 15 seconds to keep Duke in it.
DJ Steward made a 3-pointer to make it 79-76 and missed a 3 after the second turnover, but Duke got the offensive rebound and Patrick Tape was fouled. Tape made the first with 2.6 seconds left and intentionally missed the second but it didn’t hit the rim. Michael Devoe secured it at the other end with two free throws at 1.8.
Bad Losses
: at Northwestern
Ten days ago Michigan State had virtually no shot at making the NCAA tournament. The Spartans were 10–9, 4–9 in conference play, and a week before had been beaten by 30 at home by Iowa in what was the worst loss in the history of the Breslin Center. One good week later and the Spartans are very much alive in the race for a bid. How? Essentially the Spartans had a season’s worth of opportunities for big wins in six days. A road win at Indiana is a nice feather in their cap, but the real needle-movers were home wins over Illinois and Ohio State that catapulted the Spartans into SI’s most recent projected field. But a blowout loss at Maryland Sunday took some wind from MSU’s sails and left it right on the cut line entering March.