2006-07 Big Ten Basketball Thread

[BuckWrestler141]

Superstar recruit from Illinois Derrick Rose has verballed to Memphis, most assumed that he would not pick the Illini but it is still enough to have their fans screaming 'fire weber'.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

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[osugrad21]

Link

Michigan counting on point guards
Associated Press

ANN ARBOR ? Perhaps fittingly at a football school, Tommy Amaker made a gridiron analogy to explain the key for the Michigan basketball team.
"Our point guards don't have to win games for us, but kind of like a quarterback on a team that has a good defense and other pieces, we need Dion Harris and Jerret Smith to manage the game and limit mistakes," Amaker said in an interview with The Associated Press, entering his sixth season as Michigan's coach. "I think we're going to be solid ? not great ? at point guard."
The Wolverines are openly pointing toward the NCAA tournament this season. With a solid group of seniors, they seem to have a shot at playing in college basketball's showcase for the first time since 1998.
How Harris fares moving from shooting to point guard and how Smith handles being a significant player might prove to be what determines whether Michigan reaches its goal.
Amaker, a former standout point guard at Duke, was a bit defensive when pressed on his program's lack of stronger options at the important position.
"I'm not down on our point guards," Amaker said. "I do understand that's the biggest question going into the season, after losing Daniel Horton following his senior year, but I'm not at the point that I think I have to address that position as a problem area."
If Harris and Smith can combine to deliver 40 minutes of solid play, Michigan has a chance to contend in the Big Ten and beyond.
"I have confidence that I can play the point, bring it up and do a lot of things for the team," said Harris, who has averaged 2.8 assists and 2.1 turnovers during his career.
Harris is one of four seniors, along with Lester Abram, Courtney Sims and Brent Petway. Junior Ron Coleman will likely move into the starting lineup at shooting guard or small forward. Sophomore small forward Jevohn Shepherd should have an increased role. Freshmen forwards DeShawn Sims and Ekpe Udoh lead a solid group of newcomers.
"On paper, I think we have a chance to go nine deep and that would be nice to have that kind of depth for a change," Amaker said. "We've said similar things the past few preseasons, but injuries have really hurt our options."
Michigan was hoping the NCAA tournament would be an option last season when a strong start led to a spot in the Associated Press poll on Jan. 30 ? its first ranking since the 1997-98 season. The Wolverines then fell apart down the stretch with seven losses in nine games.
Though the Wolverines were devastated to be relegated to the NIT, they won four games before losing in the second-tier tournament's finals.
Michigan finished 22-11 overall and 8-8 in the Big Ten, tying Michigan State for sixth place.
"In some eyes, including mine, we should've been in the NCAA tournament," Amaker said. "But we're not going to let people shortchange the season we had. We won 22 games, made it to the NIT finals and went 8-8 in the best conference in America.
"We're not hiding from the hurdle still facing us ? making it to the NCAA tournament. It's fair to expect us to get there this year."
Sims acknowledged there's pressure on the program to be invited to the NCAAs in four months.
"Especially for the seniors," Sims said. "This is our last year to prove ourselves and make it to the tournament. We think we can do that through hard work. We know it's our last shot so we want everything to go smooth."

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Link

Two Of A Kind

By Daniel Bromwich
11/8/06

Meet Courtney Sims No. 1.

He's the senior center of the Michigan basketball team and the Wolverines' best low-post scoring option. Several coaches and players think he has the potential to be not just the best big man in the Big Ten conference, but in the nation.

In Michigan's most recent exhibition game against Division II-Michigan Tech, he scored 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting and had a game-high six rebounds. Makes sense so far.

Meet Courtney Sims No. 2.

Although he's usually the tallest player on the floor, he can also be the hardest to find. He disappears from the action, sometimes for stretches lasting the entire game. If things don't go his way early, he stops looking for his shot

This year's exhibition opener was against Wayne State, a Division II team that lacks a player taller than 6-foot-5. The 6-foot-11 Sims scored five points on 2-of-4 shooting and had two rebounds.

Will the real Courtney Sims please stand up?

Meet Dion Harris No. 1.

He's a senior guard for the Wolverines. He came to Michigan as the second-best shooting guard in the country not named LeBron James. His performance during his final high school season earned him the title of Michigan's Mr. Basketball. The Wolverines expected him to score points immediately.

And he arrived on campus with a splash, averaging double figures in scoring during his freshman and sophomore campaigns. Harris's 14.3 points per game led Michigan during his sophomore year.

Going into his junior season, he was expected to team with star point guard Daniel Horton to create one of the best backcourt tandems not just in the Big Ten conference, but in the nation.

Meet Dion Harris No. 2.

As a junior, he started slowly. A lingering injury and an inability to find a new role playing next to Horton combined to reduce his contribution to that of a role player.

His scoring average sank three points per game, and he launched 116 fewer shots on the year. In the NIT semifinal, he managed just five points on 1-of-9 shooting, and recorded three turnovers. In the NIT final, he didn't improve. He scored just four points on 1-of-6 shooting, and turned the ball over another three times.

Harris and Sims have lived together during each of their four years in Ann Arbor. But loitering on their property has been the plague of inconsistency. Will this year be the year they evict this unwanted houseguest, and finally lead Michigan basketball to an NCAA Tournament berth?

Harris loses out on year, 'M' loses out on tournament

With Sims, the problem is from game to game. With Harris, year to year. But their struggle is the same. And with these two veterans unable to produce night in and night out last year, perhaps the most talented Michigan basketball team since the Fab Five fell short of the NCAA Tournament and everyone's expectations.

For Harris, last season's struggles began before the season even started. During the offseason following his sophomore year, he battled plantar fasciitis, a painful inflammatory foot condition. One of the best treatments for the injury is rest, so Harris sat out the preseason and was unable to condition with the team. During the early part of the year, when other players polished their skills and developed team chemistry, Harris needed to get himself back in shape. And that set him back.

"That was the toughest thing I had to deal with all year, just being inconsistent and not really playing up to my own expectations," Harris said. "I'm confident in my abilities out there on the court, and I really do believe that I can do more for this team."

Harris finally started to play well in mid-January. He scored in double figures in seven of eight straight games, and even topped 20 points in consecutive contests against Wisconsin and Penn State.

But on Feb. 9, Harris suffered another setback. He severely sprained his right ankle late in a tough loss to Ohio State and missed the next two games. When he returned against Michigan State, the rhythm he developed before his injury was gone. He did not reach double digits in any of the next four games.

And with Harris unable to contribute regularly, the Wolverines faltered. Including that Feb. 9 game with Ohio State, Michigan lost five of its final seven regular-season games, and then fell in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Unimpressed by the Wolverines' late-season collapse, the NCAA Selection Committee ignored the team when creating the field of 65, and Michigan headed to the NIT for the second time in three years.

Even though he could blame his spotty performance on the injury, Harris offers no excuses about the way last season ended.

"Down the stretch of last year, and really all of last year, guys were expecting me to really bring it," Harris said. "I was a junior last year, and I think the coaches, as well as the players, were depending on me to do things. So when I didn't step up to the plate, that really puts some of the blame on me for the way the end of the season went."

But it wasn't all his doing. Fitting in next to a guard who demands the ball like Horton would have been tough for anyone. For Harris, coming off of a 2004-05 season when the Wolverines relied on him as the main offensive option, it was nearly impossible.

"Sometimes, what I found over the years, as a player and a coach, maybe because you had a dominant personality or person, that someone else wasn't allowed to become what they maybe can become now," Amaker said.

With Horton gone, it seems to be Harris' time to shine. And he has already started asserting himself as the one to fill the leadership void that Horton created when he left. In the exhibition games, he directed freshmen guards Reed Baker and K'Len Morris to the spots they needed to fill in the offense.

Harris has also taken a more assertive role in the huddle.

"Dion directs the team really," senior Brent Petway said. "He doesn't say much (on the floor), but in the huddles, he's telling us what we need to do."

Harris's mentality during games also hindered his performance last season. He explains that if his shot wasn't falling, he would start to focus on his offensive production, and then his defense would suffer. But this year, he has refocused around playing hard all the time, on both ends of the floor.

Focus on playing hard. It sounds like an easy thing to do consistently. But for Sims, that's exactly where he found trouble last season.

"I am so embarrassed"

Sims No. 1 showed up when the Wolverines welcomed Ohio State to Crisler last year. He recorded 26 points and grabbed 16 boards. Against Wisconsin at home, he recorded 18 points. And when he faced the Buckeyes on the road, he achieved a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

But then there were the other games, the contests when Sims No. 2 took the floor. At home against Michigan State, he tallied four points and three rebounds. When Indiana came to Crisler, he didn't attempt a field goal and finished with one point and two rebounds.

The NIT Tournament final four was symbolic of Sims's season. In the semifinal game against Old Dominion, Sims showed flashes of the dominant player everyone knows he can be. He made 8-of-10 field goals to score 18 points and also corralled seven rebounds. But in the final, he seemed to regress back to Courtney No. 2. He attempted just two shots, scoring two points and grabbing just one rebound.

There is a pattern in Sims's inconsistency. When he faces off against a top big man, his play suffers. Michigan State's front line featured Big Ten player of the year candidate Paul Davis. The Hoosiers depended heavily upon Marco Killingsworth, who finished seventh in the conference in scoring and fifth in rebounding.

When Sims excels, it usually comes against teams that don't have a big man who can adequately match up with him. In nonconference games last year, which were mostly against teams without skilled post players, Sims tallied double-digits in nine of 11 contests. He grabbed at least six rebounds in 10 of those games.

But after the start of the conference season, Sims tallied double figures in just eight of the team's 21 contests (including postseason). He gathered more than six rebounds just six times.

Asked why he struggled in some games last year, Sims responds with one word:

"Concentration."

Sims continued: "Sometimes I would have games with 16 rebounds and the next day, I would have a game with one rebound," Sims said. "I just need to make sure I concentrate and go after everything. I think a lot of things that I struggle with are not physical. I think I have everything physical, it's just all mental."

Assistant coach Andrew Moore agreed.

"I think Courtney gets frustrated when he gets double teamed a lot in the post," Moore said. "There's going to be nights when he's not going to get a lot of good looks when he catches it on the low block when he gets doubled in the post. But he's got to learn to manufacture points by getting on the offensive glass."

The requisite concentration may have finally arrived for Sims. In his game against Michigan Tech in the preseason, Sims faced four players taller than 6-foot-8. After botching two early layups, Sims began to get frustrated with himself. Michigan coach Tommy Amaker noticed, looked directly at him, and screamed.

"Next play!"

Sims scored all 21 of his points after the explosion.

Amaker emphasizes the "controllables" of a game. Injuries are an uncontrollable, but defensive effort and rebounds are controllables, and Amaker stresses the need to master them.

With his 6-foot-11 frame, his jumping ability and his incredibly long arms, Sims could be one of the best controllable players in the country.

"I don't think Courtney has nearly tapped his potential as far as what we think he can do as a rebounder," Moore said. "I think he's as talented and as skilled as anybody in the country. But on the nights when people are going to make him give it up, he's got to be a force for us on the offensive glass. He's got to be able to create some scoring opportunities for himself by getting second- and third-chance opportunities."

Numerous coaches and players insist that Sims has the talent to be one of the top rebounders in the Big Ten. But last year, he finished just 13th in the Big Ten in rebounding. Ahead of him were players like 6-foot-5 Penn State guard Geary Claxton and 6-foot-5 Minnesota guard Vincent Grier.

Sims said that kind of output is unacceptable.

"My goal, individually, is to average a double-double," Sims said. "(Amaker) has said that there is no reason for me not to average double figures in rebounding, so that is what I'm trying to do. I am so embarrassed about how I was 13th in the conference in rebounding last year, and that's just embarrassing because I cannot be that low."

The Michigan coaches don't think that Sims's rebounding troubles last year were entirely due to a lack of effort. They think he was out of shape.

After coming into Michigan weighing less than 230 pounds, Sims realized during his freshman year that he needed to gain weight in order to sustain the level of physical play necessary to be a successful Big Ten center. With a new eating program, Sims put on 25 pounds.

But the extra poundage has hurt Sims, causing him to be unable to play for an extended amount of time or go after rebounds aggressively. He played more than 30 minutes on just five occasions last year. His shooting percentage was very good (63 percent), but he often did not put up enough shots to be effective - perhaps a result of tiring quickly and not having the energy to create them. And Sims certainly wasn't aggressive going after offensive rebounds. He managed more than three offensive rebounds just once during conference play, and he finished with one or zero offensive boards in 15 Big Ten games.

Losing pounds, gaining passion

So this summer, the Wolverine coaching staff decided that Sims's biggest task would be to lose weight. The coaches wanted Sims to drop at least 13 pounds from the 258-pound frame with which he entered the summer. Sims succeeded in bringing his weight down, and his coaches are looking to take advantage of his new condition.

"We need Courtney to have a consistent senior year," Amaker said. "He's capable of doing that. We talked about him shedding a few pounds and trying to be a little lighter to be a little bit more active, agile and quick, to get up and down the floor a little better and to be in better shape. That's one of the things that we talked about for our team. Courtney is a guy that's attacked that very well so I've been pleased with that."

It's important for Sims to be able to keep up with the up-tempo style of play that Michigan hopes to employ this year. But necessary to that style of play is a point guard who can direct the team and control the pace of the game.

With Horton gone, it's up to Harris to be that type of leader. This summer, he worked on developing his game as a point guard.

"The last time I played (point guard) was in my sophomore year when I had to really come in and play (due to Horton's knee injury and legal trouble)," Harris said. "It was unexpected and kind of just got thrown on me. Now, I'm really comfortable with the ball in my hands. I worked on it all summer and really had it in my hands a lot."

Harris committed himself to basketball during the offseason, working in the gym even when the other guys took days off. That's a switch from the approach he took in previous years.

"In the past, I really got away from having a passion for the game," Harris said.

For a natural scorer like Harris, it might be tough to evolve into a point guard that sets his teammates up before looking for his own shot. For help with that, he turned to an assistant coach who has known the guard since he was 9 years old.

"He is a very cerebral player, he has really good skills and he has really good understanding of the game," Mike Jackson said. "So we talked about him playing the lead guard and not putting so much pressure on himself to score, because that will take care of itself. He needs to work on running our team, making good decisions and creating plays for our team."

Harris lost weight this summer as well, reducing his body fat to 7 percent, and he and Sims were not alone. The football team tried to get smaller and faster, and the two squads saw a lot of each other during the summer. With the football team 10-0 and heading toward a possible National Championship game, Sims and Harris can see their hard work paying off in the future, as well.

"We look at the football team doing well now and that drives us," Sims said. "Dion and I look at that and see the opportunity. They went through struggles last year, and we can do the same thing that they are doing right now. A lot of them tried to lose weight, and that's basically what I did. And they always have high expectations and they have to deal with that, so seeing what they went through, that drives us."

Their final (four) chance?

Both Sims and Harris entered Michigan with lofty individual expectations. They have yet to live up to their highly touted r鳵m鳮

Harris even says as much: "I don't think I've done enough up to this point in my career."

But fulfilling individual expectations isn't remotely as important as the bigger goals these two players have for the Michigan basketball team. Both expect to get over the hump and make the NCAA Tournament this year. Both would consider this season - and their careers - disappointments if they do not make the tournament. But Sims explains that his goals are even larger than that.

"I remember one time I heard (Duke) coach (Mike Krzyzewski) talking about coach Amaker, and saying how he was probably one of the most important players of coach K's career because they made it to the Final Four when he was there," Sims said. "They didn't win a National Championship when he was there, but he brought the program back. And five years from now, I want to be known as somebody who brought the program back and put it back on its feet, and maybe assisted to eventually winning a national championship.

"Hopefully we can even do it this year, make it to the Final Four. People don't really talk about that with us, but we talk about it - especially Brent (Petway), since it's in Atlanta (his hometown). So we talk about that all the time and I think we have the talent to do it."

For the Wolverines to get anywhere close to the Final Four, Harris and Sims will have to expel their unwelcome houseguest. Maybe send him down the same road as Sims's extra weight. Or shove him to the same corner where Harris's lack of passion now resides. After all, the house is only big enough for two: Sims No. 1 and Harris No. 1.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BIG TEN ROUNDUP
Cornley tops Penn State in opening-game victory

Saturday, November 11, 2006


ASSOCIATED PRESS





Penn State 63, Morehead State 46 ?
Jamelle Cornley of Brookhaven scored a game-high 17 points and had 12 rebounds to help Penn State defeat Morehead State last night in State College, Pa., in its season opener.
Ben Luber chipped in 12 points for the Nittany Lions (1-0), who were playing without leading returning scorer Geary Claxton, who is out until early December with a broken right hand.
Danny Morrissey, playing his first game in a year after recovering from a knee injury, started in Claxton?s place and had nine points.
Shaun Williams led Morehead State (0-1) with 18 points.


Michigan 60, Cent . Connecti cut St . 40 ?
Dion Harris scored 19 points and Michigan (1-0) shook off a sloppy start to defeat Central Connecticut State (0-1) in the John Thompson Challenge in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Lester Abram and Ron Coleman each scored 10 points for Michigan.
Cornell 64, Northwestern 61 ? Sophomore Adam Gore had 20 points and freshman Ryan Wittman 18 as Cornell defeated Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., the first time in nearly 40 years it has beaten a Big Ten opponent. Sterling Williams and Tim Doyle had 11 points each for Northwestern.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOP 25/BIG TEN ROUNDUP

Michigan turns back Davidson comeback bid

Sunday, November 12, 2006


ASSOCIATED PRESS




Michigan 78, Davidson 68 ?

Dion Harris scored 23 points and Courtney Sims added 21 to lead Michigan past Davidson yesterday in the John Thompson Challenge in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The Wolverines (2-0) led by 17 points in the second half, but the Wildcats (1-1) used a 12-0 run to cut the lead to 58-53 .
The Wolverines went inside to Sims after a timeout and he answered with a basket and two free throws as Michigan pushed the lead back to nine.
Ron Coleman scored 12 points and Brent Petway grabbed 13 rebounds for Michigan.
Stephen Curry had 30 points and nine rebounds for Davidson, which is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance in which it lost by eight points to Ohio State in the first round. The Wildcats had to replace seven seniors from a team that finished 20-11 last season. The Wolverines shot 64 percent from the field in the first half to take a 41-31 halftime lead and make up for cold shooting in the season-opening win Friday night over Central Connecticut State.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

Not sure if anyone was watching the IU-Butler game, but Butler just beat IU 60-55.

IU went about 10 minutes without a fg when they were up 12 and let Butler back in the game.

Then Butler was up 2 with little time to play and IU let them play till the shotclock went down. The kid lost the ball and was back towards half court with about 3 seconds left on the shot clock, he dribbled to the 3 pt line and shot a fade away 3 and BANKED it in with 6 or so seconds left to play and that ended the game.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

MEN?S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Graves? bank shot helps Butler rally past Indiana in NIT


Butler 60, Indiana 55 ? A.J. Graves scored 20 points, including a banked three-pointer with 5 seconds left, to help Butler rally from a 12-point second half deficit and advance in the NIT Season Tip-Off with a victory over Indiana last night in Indianapolis.
Butler (3-0), the Midwest Region champion, advances to a semifinal against Tennessee on Nov. 22. Indiana (1-1) was led by D.J. White with 22 points and seven rebounds.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

MEN?S ROUNDUP
Michigan State clips Texas on Neitzel?s late basket
Friday, November 17, 2006


Michigan St. 63, No. 19 Texas 61 ? Drew Neitzel scored on a drive with 2.4 seconds left to send Michigan State past Texas last night in the semifinals of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in New York.
Neitzel, the only junior in the Spartans? starting lineup with two sophomores and two freshmen, took an inbounds pass with 8.4 seconds left. He drove the lane for the winning points.
Texas called a timeout and had a final chance, but A.J. Abrams? long shot from a step inside half-court bounced off the rim.
Michigan State (4-0) will play Maryland for the championship tonight in Madison Square Garden. Freshman Raymar Morgan of Canton had 18 points for Michigan State. Freshman Kevin Durant had 21 points for the Longhorns (2-1), one less than Abrams, a sophomore.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

MEN?S ROUNDUP
Maryland survives wild finish, clips Michigan State

Saturday, November 18, 2006


ASSOCIATED PRESS




Maryland 62, Michigan St. 60 ?

D.J. Strawberry scored 17 points for Maryland, which shot 55 percent from the field in beating Michigan State last night to win the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in New York.
The Terrapins (5-0) were able to win despite scoring just two points in the final 3 1 /2 minutes.
Michigan State (4-1) used a 6-2 run to get to 62-59 with 1:21 to play. Each team turned the ball over and Maryland called a timeout with 12 seconds to play and four seconds left on the shot clock.
The Terrapins inbounded the ball near midcourt and freshman Eric Hayes was forced to shoot a long three-point attempt. Michigan State?s Idong Ibok grabbed the rebound but was called for an offensive foul when he turned with his arms raised.
Strawberry missed two free throws with 4.5 seconds left.
Michigan State?s Drew Neitzel was fouled with .2 of a second left before he could get a shot off. He made the first free throw and missed the second on purpose, but the Spartans couldn?t get off a clean tip.
Drew Neitzel finished with 20 points, 16 in the second half.

Indiana 73, Indiana St. 66 ?

Lance Stemler scored 18 points and Earl Calloway added 13, helping Indiana (2-1) hold on to beat Indiana State (1-1) in Bloomington, Ind.
It was the Hoosiers? 22 nd consecutive victory in their home opener. It was also the first win in Assembly Hall for new Hoosiers coach Kelvin Sampson. The Sycamores were led by Jay Tunnell with 16 points.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BIG TEN
Davidson, Gee lead Alabama past Iowa in Paradise Jam

Monday, November 20, 2006


ASSOCIATED PRESS




No. 10 Alabama 72, Iowa 60 ?

Jermareo Davidson?s return gave Alabama the spark it needed to overcome Iowa.
Davidson had 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks after a one-game absence, and Alonzo Gee added 21 points and six rebounds to lead the Crimson Tide (3-0) over the Hawkeyes (2-1) at the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam yesterday in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Davidson missed the Tide?s win over Middle Tennessee State on Friday when he remained in Alabama to mourn his girlfriend, who died in a car wreck last week.
Ronald Steele added 18 points and six assists, and Richard Hendrix had 14 points and seven rebounds for Alabama. Tyler Smith led Iowa with 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Indiana 90, Chicago State 69 ?

D.J. White scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, and Lance Stemler and Roderick Wilmont each added 15 as Indiana (3-1) routed Chicago State (1-3) in Bloomington, Ind.
David Holston, with 23 points, was the top scorer for the Cougars.

Illinois 84, Florida A &M 63 ?

Trent Meacham scored 24 points thanks to 8-of-13 threepoint shooting to lift Illinois (4-0), which trailed 38-34 at halftime, over Florida A &M (1-3) in Champaign, Ill.
Meacham is a backup guard who started in place of the injured Jamar Smith. Meacham transferred to Illinois after playing at Dayton as a freshman.
Chester Frazier had 13 points and 10 assists for Illinois.
Rome Sanders led Florida A &M with 22 points. Leslie Robinson scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half.

No. 9 Wisconsin 92, Southern 39 ?

Alando Tucker scored 16 points and Brian Butch had 12 to lead Wisconsin to a rout of Southern in the first round of the South Padre Island Invitational in Madison, Wis.
The Badgers (4-0) led by 30 points with 3:46 left in the first half and went up by 50 with 9:17 left in the game on two free throws by Butch. Jazz Williams led Southern (0-2) with 10 points.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOP 25/BIG TEN ROUNDUP

Neitzel sparks Spartans

Wednesday, November 22, 2006


ASSOCIATED PRESS


Michigan St. 66, Vermont 46 ?

Drew Neitzel didn?t play a perfect game. It only seemed that way.
The 6-foot junior guard was 7 of 8 from three-point range and scored a career-high 26 points as Michigan State defeated Vermont last night in East Lansing, Mich.
Neitzel, whose driving layup beat Texas last Thursday in New York, drilled four threes in five tries in the first half against the Catamounts, then added three threes after the break.
"When your first few shots go in, your confidence goes way up," Neitzel said. "You think every shot is sure to go in. But my teammates did a good job of getting me the ball and setting picks."
Neitzel finished 9 of 13 from the field and also paced the Spartans (5-1) with a career-high eight rebounds and four assists.
Vermont (2-3) was 2 of 13 on threepoint tries and shot 32.6 percent from the field.
The visitors were led by Joe Trapani with 21 points. Michigan State freshman Raymar Morgan of Canton McKinley had 10 points and stretched his school-record string of double-figure games at the beginning of a career to six.


No. 7 Wisconsin 64, Delaware St. 52 ?

Alando Tucker scored 25 points and Brian Butch 18 to lead Wisconsin (4-0) over Delaware State (1-4) in the South Padre Island Invitational in Madison, Wis. Roy Bright and Jahsha Bluntt each scored 18 points to lead Delaware State.



Iowa State 68, Minnesota 63 ?

Mike Taylor had 25 of his 33 points in the second half, helping Iowa State (5-0) come back to beat Minnesota (2-1) in Minneapolis.
Spencer Tollackson had a careerhigh 24 points, plus 13 rebounds, and Lawrence McKenzie added 15 points for Minnesota. Rahshon Clark had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Iowa State.

Purdue 74, Oklahoma 71 ?

Carl Landry was 10 of 13 from the field and scored 30 points to lead Purdue (3-1) over Oklahoma (2-2) in the consolation bracket of the Maui Invitational.
The Boilermakers will play DePaul, which beat Chaminade 93-74, for fifth place today.
Purdue took the lead for good at 67-66 on a drive by Tarrance Crump with 3:56 to play. Landry scored on a low spin move to give the Boilermakers a three-point lead one minute later. After grabbing two big defensive rebounds on consecutive possessions, he made two free throws with 29 seconds to go for a 71-66 lead.

Illinois 81, Savannah State 34 ?

Chester Frazier had 17 points, five rebounds and five assists and Illinois (5-0) limited Savannah State (5-1) to 10-of-40 shooting from the field in Champaign, Ill.
The Illini stuck with a three-guard lineup, but the Tigers started two players under 6 feet, giving Illinois a matchup advantage it used to limit Savannah State in a game-long scoring slump.
Illinois led 33-11 at halftime, then went on a 14-3 run to build a 47-14 advantage with 14:16 to play. By the 10-minute mark, Illinois was up 58-17. Javon Randolph led the Tigers with nine points, including 3-of-4 freethrow shooting.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Purdue 81, DePaul 73 ?

Carl Landry scored 22 points and Tarrance Crump had 20 to lead Purdue (4-1) over DePaul (2-4) in the fifth-place game of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
Wilson Chandler had 16 points for the Blue Demons.

Michigan 65, Youngstown St . 56 ?

Courtney Sims scored 18 points and Lester Abram and Brent Petway each added 13 to power Michigan (6-0) over Youngstown State (2-3) in Ann Arbor, Mich. Keston Roberts scored 18 points to lead the Penguins.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Marist 63, Minnesota 56 ? James Smith scored 16 points to lead Marist (3-1) over Minnesota (2-2) in the Old Spice Classic.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Yahoo

Missouri St. 66, (7) Wisconsin 64

Missouri St. 66, (7) Wisconsin 64Preview - Box Score - Recap

Wisconsin
November 24, 2006

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) -- Missouri State's Blake Ahearn said he wasn't all that worried about facing No. 7 Wisconsin. He played like it, too, hitting 3 of 5 from 3-point range, making 6 of 7 free throws, and scoring 25 points as the Bears shocked Wisconsin on Friday in the semifinals of the South Padre Island Invitational.
It's just another game," Ahearn said. "We can't worry about who's on the front of that jersey over there. We're a bunch guys from Springfield, Missouri, just coming out trying to play hard and play together."
The Bears (4-0) led by as many as 19 in the first half, but they had to come back late in the game after Wisconsin (4-1) rallied.
"We felt like we played outstanding defense in the first half," Missouri State coach Barry Hinson said. "In the second half, we knew that they would be getting hot. We just told our team that we were one step away from winning this game if we could get just one stop, one rebound."
Missouri State will face Oklahoma State in the title game Sunday.
The Badgers took a 62-57 on a 3-point shot by Alando Tucker with 5:25 remaining.
But then Missouri State outscored the Badgers 9-2 the rest of the way. A jump shot by Nathan Bilyeu made it 65-62 before Wisconsin's Tucker and Kammron Taylor each missed free throws in the final 1:14. A Bilyeu free throw with 1:05 left made it 66-63 for the Bears.
Taylor's free throw with 46 seconds left cut the lead to 66-64.
Tucker led Wisconsin with 26 points and had a chance to win it. After a missed shot by the Bears, Tucker attempted a 3-pointer from the left side just before the buzzer that bounced off the rim.
Missouri State shot 63 percent from the floor (14-of-22) in the first half and hit 6-of-7 3-pointers to take a 45-32 lead by halftime. Overall, the Bears shot 45 percent (23-of-51).
Ahearn finished 8-of-13 from the field. Deven Mitchell added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears.
The Bears raced to a 7-0 start and their biggest lead came with 1:06 remaining before halftime, when Ahearn sank a pair of free throws to put Missouri State up 45-26.
Wisconsin shot 34 percent (11-of-32) in the first half and 39 percent (22-of-56) for the game. The Badgers shot 13 percent (2-of-15) from 3-point range. "Missouri State is a good team," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan. "We just had too many missed shots. We definitely weren't shooting that well. I think it was because both teams were playing so well defensively." Tucker was held to nine points in the first half on 4-of-10 shooting but made 6-of-9 shots in the second half, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range. Michael Flowers added 10 points for Wisconsin.