Last Night in College Basketball: Michigan Rebounds Against Ohio State in OT

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Michigan finds its stroke vs. Ohio State

Michigan took on Iowa on Sunday, and got hammered. The Wolverines couldn’t shoot, sinking just 31% of their attempts from the field, and turned the ball over 24 times, as well. They slipped from No. 6 to No. 8 in the poll as a result, and ended up tied for second in the Big Ten with the Hawkeyes, too. With No. 13 Ohio State up next on the schedule, Michigan needed to tighten up its shot selection and decision-making in a hurry.

On Wednesday in Columbus, Michigan did just that… sort of. The shots were vastly improved, with the Wolverines shooting 49% overall and 11-for-25 from 3, and they outrebounded the Buckeyes 46-33, even picking up 14 offensive boards despite shooting nearly 50%. The turnovers, though, were still a huge problem: Michigan had 20 assists and 20 turnovers to go with them, and the Buckeyes were able to hang on and force overtime in part by scoring 22 points on those turnovers.

Michigan would win, 88-86, but it took a career-high in points from sophomore guard Olivia Olson: she scored 31 on 12-for-24 shooting with 9 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal. Fellow sophomore guard Syla Swords added another 22 points on 9-for-20 shooting, with the bulk of those misses coming from deep — she shot just 4-for-12 from beyond the arc. Swords also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists, so she contributed in other ways, too.

Still! It took Olson having one of the best games of her life for Michigan to win by 2 points on a night that it shot 49% and hit 44% of its 3s even with Swords missing them in bulk. The turnovers are a serious issue, with this being Michigan’s fifth game with at least 20 of them. While it hasn’t caused a loss yet except for against Iowa, better teams — like Iowa! — will exploit the issue. (There were "just" 17 turnovers against Vanderbilt, but that was an L for Michigan, too.) Maybe Michigan State and Ohio State have not been able to — the Buckeyes did force OT, at least — but there’s a gap between those teams and the ones at the top of the poll that will also be the highest seeds in March Madness, and Michigan can’t rely on shooting lights-out every time it can’t keep the ball in its hands, especially against the likes of UCLA, South Carolina, Texas and UConn.

Iowa handles Ohio State

It wasn’t a great night for Ohio State, either on the men’s or women’s side. At least the women were competitive, though, forcing Michigan into OT despite an off, 6-for-20 shooting night from sophomore guard Jaloni Cambridge. The men took on Iowa needing a W to help with both their standing in the bubble and for seeding purposes in the upcoming Big Ten tourney: Ohio State is toward the back of the single-round bye qualification, in ninth. While that still qualifies for a bye to the second round of the Big Ten tournament, being in ninth isn’t great since it sets that team up for a showdown with likely top-seed Michigan in the quarterfinals. Which is not what anyone in the Big Ten should want at this point, never mind a team that’s now 9-8 in conference play after losing to Iowa on Wednesday.

Iowa was in control in the first half, 37-23, and while Ohio State played a much better second by scoring 34 points, the Hawkeyes’ offense kept going at the same pace it already had been, resulting in a 74-57 win. Iowa shot 57% from the field, scored 15 points off turnovers to Ohio State’s 4, outrebounded the Buckeyes, dominated in the paint 44-18, and did all of this despite falling behind by 12 just a few minutes into the matchup.

Senior guard Bennett Stirtz led all scorers with 22 points, but what truly helped Iowa thrive here was the performance of Alvaro Folgueiras off the bench. The junior guard chipped in 20 points off the bench — more than anyone for Ohio State managed — on 8-for-10 shooting in 25 minutes. He also had 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals for a highly efficient run.

Iowa might not be in position to win the Big Ten tournament, but it does rank 31st in Wins Above Bubble, making the Hawkeyes an easy pick for an at-large bid to March Madness. Ohio State fell to 44th in WAB with the loss, however, putting it very much on the bubble. With upcoming regular season games still left against No. 8 Purdue, Penn State and Indiana, Ohio State’s season is at its make or break point.

Richmond crushes Rhode Island

Richmond had an odd stretch where it just could not hit its shots, despite being the top team in the Atlantic 10 conference and a viable March Madness-caliber threat because of its offense. That appears to be over with now, however, as the Spiders dropped 92 points on La Salle on Sunday before facing — and beating — Rhode Island 72-46 on Wednesday.

The Spiders were up 27-9 after the first quarter, and while they mustered just 5 points in the second, they were still comfortably ahead of Rhode Island going into the half, and then resumed the thrashing from there on out. Every Rams player was held to single-digit scoring, while the Spiders shot 49% from the field and went 16-for-30 from 3. Senior forward and WNBA hopeful Maggie Doogan had just 13 points, but showed off the rest of her game with 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Sophomore guard Alicia Newell led all scorers with 20 points and added 7 boards of her own. Every starter reached double-digit points and had at least 5 rebounds or assists, plus a couple or more of the other.

[Get to Know a Mid-Major: Atlantic 10]

Rhode Island is, even after the loss, first in the A-10, but now just one game up on Richmond in the standings. And the Spiders are right back in bubble territory by WAB, too, with a score of -0.05 — beating St. Joseph’s in the regular-season finale and then playing well in the conference tournament should get them the rest of what is needed for the Selection Committee, assuming Richmond doesn’t pick up the automatic bid as conference champ.

Kansas upsets Texas Tech

No. 20 Texas Tech blew it in the fourth quarter. That’s the long and short of Wednesday’s game against Kansas. The Lady Raiders were up 52-48 at the start of the fourth — a close game, yes, but one Texas Tech was not only still in but actively leading — and then they were outscored 20-7 by the Jayhawks the rest of the way. Kansas scored a bucket 21 seconds in, then got within a point, 56-55, with a 3-pointer from senior guard Elle Evans about five minutes later. That was the start of a 7-0 run, briefly interrupted by Texas Tech bringing it back to within a point, that was followed by another 7-0 run to close out the game.

The Lady Raiders went just 3-for-12 in the fourth quarter, and 1-for-2 from the stripe. Maybe they could have survived such a tough quarter, but Texas Tech also scored just 11 points in the second — paired with Kansas scoring 39 points in the second half, the Lady Raiders just could not afford a late performance like that.

The good news for Texas Tech is that it’s still comfortably in position for a March Madness bid, as it ranks 30th in NET and 26th in WAB. Kansas, though, just got a renewed opportunity: it moved up three spots in NET, from 50 to 47, and its WAB is now -0.81, a significant boost from the -1.36 it sat at prior to the game. There is just one game left in the regular season for the Jayhawks — against a tough Oklahoma State — but a win there, and a great showing in the Big 12 conference tournament… well, there is a lot more reason to be hopeful about Kansas women’s basketball on Thursday morning than there was on Wednesday morning.

Oklahoma State picks up key W

Speaking of Oklahoma State, the Cowgirls got a necessary win over Iowa State. With Texas Tech losing and Colorado taking the L last time out, Oklahoma State defeating Iowa State pushed the Cowgirls into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Big 12, which is also a tie for the final double-bye in the Big 12 tournament. Not only that, but the dub against the Cyclones also shot Oklahoma State’s WAB up from 1.32 to 1.98 — it’s in a much better position now to weather the storm that is the Big 12 tournament, where the Cowgirls will likely have to contend with some combination of TCU, Baylor, West Virginia and Texas Tech, but even teams like 8-9 Kansas are dangerous in the right conditions, as the Lady Raiders can vouch for.

Oklahoma State was powered by a pair of double-doubles, from juniors Achol Akot and Stailee Heard. Akot, a forward, led all scorers with 25 points on 10-for-14 shooting, while picking up 10 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. The guard, Heard, added 22 points with 14 boards, 2 assists, 4 steals and a block. The rest of the starters were relatively quiet, but 47 points, 24 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals and a block was a pretty great head start.

The Cyclones did well offensively, scoring 77 with four of its starters picking up between 11 and 19 points, but it’s "just" 19 points when they come from junior center Audi Crooks, and while junior guard Jada Williams had a 19-point, 10-assist double-double, junior forward Addy Brown is still settling back in after missing considerable time with a leg injury: she had 11 points on 4-for-9 shooting, but just 2 rebounds and 3 assists, well below her usual output.

The defense was the real issue, however: the Cyclones allowed Oklahoma State to shoot 53%, and that makes winning tough even if your offense is in order. Iowa State is now 9-8 in conference play, and just has to hope Brown has fully shaken the rust off by the time the Big 12 tourney rolls around.

Villanova strengthens case for March

The Big East has been weaker this year, it’s true, but Villanova, at least, has been doing its part, both on the men’s and women’s sides of the game. The men’s team took on Butler on Wednesday, and won 82-73 despite the Bulldogs being more than a match for Villanova in the paint — the Wildcats were outrebounded, 38-28, and the two scored the same number of points in the paint, with Butler technically getting the edge there by drawing far more fouls and sinking far more free throws, 22 to 10.

Villanova, though, had significantly more success from deep: the Wildcats shot 10-for-32 from beyond the arc, while Butler got off 13 3-point attempts total, sinking just 3 of them. With Villanova also nearly doubling up Butler on points off turnovers, the difference was more than made up.

Still, Villanova won in large part due to its dominant first half, in which it outscored Butler 42-28 — the Bulldogs’ offense woke up in the second, dropping 45 on the Wildcats to their 40, but that wasn’t enough to dig out of the hole. Acaden Lewis was the star for the Wildcats in more ways than one: the guard led all scorers with 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting, but he also dished out 4 assists, setting a new program record for assists by a freshman with 146.

Villanova is now 25th in WAB, third among Big East teams and also looking like the final likely conference entry into March Madness — Seton Hall might still get there, but sports a negative WAB at the moment, so a strong conference tournament showing is needed for the Pirates for that to happen.

Two 40-point games, and basketball history

Penn State picked up a thrilling comeback, upset win over USC, 85-82, and did so thanks to a huge 40-point performance from Kiyomi McMiller. The sophomore guard has been on a tear lately, as this was her sixth game in a row with at least 30 points, but this is the high point: 40 is a career-high, and she reached 1,000 career points, as well. Her 40 points led all of men’s and women’s Division I basketball on Wednesday.

She’s averaging 34.3 points over this stretch, and it’s not just points, either: she has 6.0 rebounds, 5.3 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game over her last half-dozen, as well. McMiller has also moved into third in the Big Ten in scoring, at 22.2 points per game, behind just Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge and Indiana’s Shay Ciezki.

This wasn’t the only 40-point game last night: Omaha freshman guard Regan Juenemann dropped 40 on Oral Roberts in Summit play, and did so in 30 minutes off the bench. Juenemann pulled it off on an efficient 13-for-19 shooting and 7-for-11 from 3, while also sinking 7 of 8 from the stripe.

Those 40 represent a career-high for Juenemann, but are also the most of any Omaha player in the Division I era, as well as just the second 40-point game in the program’s entire history. Beyond that, starting senior guard Sarai Estupinan scored 30 points in 39 minutes, and freshman forward Avril Smith had a wild boxscore entry: zero points, 5 assists, 4 steals, 4 blocks, and a Division I-leading 23 rebounds. She took just one shot the entire night and missed, but had plenty to offer elsewhere.

Per OptaStats, this was the first time a team in Division I — men’s or women’s — the NBA or the WNBA had a player with at least 40 points, one with at least 30, and one with 20 or more rebounds in a single game. Seton Hall’s men were the last to pull it off in college, back in 2009, and you have to go back to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in 1996 for the last time it happened in the pros, and that took three Hall of Famers in Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.

And even with that, Omaha won by just 9 points, 84-75. What a performance from this trio, though.

UConn demolishes St. John’s

It was not pretty. Well, it was if you were pulling for UConn, but No. 15 St. John’s had a rough go of it against the No. 6 team. The Huskies won, 72-40, and are now tied for first in the Big East with the Red Storm. Just one St. John’s player — sophomore guard Joson Sanon — reached double-digit scoring, and just so with 10 points, and defensively there was just no answer for UConn in the paint. The Huskies scored 42 points in the paint, which if you remember the final score, you already know is more points than St. John’s scored total. The Red Storm missed 12 consecutive shots in the first half, and then its final 24 attempts in the second. As said: it was not pretty. 

FOX Sports college basketball analyst Michael Cohen already published his takeaways from the beatdown, and what there is to glean from it. St. John’s will be trying to work out its own answers over the next week-plus, before the two potentially end up facing off against each other in the Big East tournament for the rights to the conference’s automatic March Madness bid.