Buzzkill; Second Night of Rivalry Week

Tonight was the second night of Rivalry Night.  We saw a blow out, a comeback and an upset.  Does it get any better?

(24) Vanderbilt 90
(12) Tennessee 71

Vanderbilt’s sophomore guard Jeffery Taylor couldn’t have picked a better time to break out of his shell – 26 points 7 boards against a 12th ranked Tennessee Squad. Vanderbilt was able to sweep the season series with the Vols since 2004-2005. The game was one in two areas: free throws and on the glass. Vandy outrebounded Tennessee by a whopping 40-26. The Commodores also found themselves at the charity stripe 43 times, where they connected on 37 shots for 86%. Tennessee, on the other hand, only shot 13-21 from the line for 61.9%.

Not only was this a good win for Vanderbilt in the SEC but it was also a big rival game that Coach Kevin Stallings hopes will propel the Commodores to a strong finish in the regular season.

“You always want to win rivalry games,” Stallings told ESPN. “It feels good that it puts us ahead of them in the league race temporarily. Hopefully, we can keep it going. You have to take care of your home court if you are going to have a successful season. Thus far, knock on wood, we have been able to do that.”

(6) Purdue 76
(10) Michigan State 64

Purdue pulled off a huge win in East Lansing tonight against a Michigan State team who went into the game perfect a home. Junior guard E’Twaun Moore led the Boilermakers with a season high 25 points and proved to be one of the most dangerous players in the Big 10. He scored off the pull-up jumper, he drove to the lane, he created for his teammates, and he hit spot up jumpers.
Michigan State found itself down by 18 early in the second half but pulled within 3 with 4 ½ minutes left after Spartan’s guard Chris Allen hit a three, but Moore replied with a three of his own and the Spartans never could recollect. Chris Allen led MSU with 21 points.

Kalin Lucas played courageously with a sprained ankle. He limped down the court, he limped to the sidelines and he even limped while driving to the hoop – but he never gave up. He fought his way to the free throw line 11 times and connected on 8.

“Kalin was unbelievable,” teammate Chris Allen told ESPN. “Every time he came down, he tweaked it even more, but he sucked it up.”

Illinois 63
(13) Wisconsin 56

The Fighting Illini shocked Wisconsin tonight at one of the toughest places to play in all of college basketball – the Kohl Center. Illinois snapped Wisconsin’s 51 game winning streak against unranked Big 10 opponents at home. Demetri McCamey topped his 22 point effort against Michigan State with 27 and 7 assists tonight. Mike Tisdale chipped in 19 on 8-11 shooting for the Illini.

McCamey and teammate D.J. Richardson answered a Wisconsin three-pointer with jumpers of their own to go up 57-53, where Wisconsin then went scoreless for 5 minutes. Badger star Trevan Hughes only scored 12 points on 4-16 shooting. Wisconsin was led by Jason Bohanan’s 15 points.

On the Badger’s late game cold streak, Bohanon said “We just had to find a way to make those shots, and they didn’t happen to go down tonight.”

Other News:

Kentucky(2) brushes past SEC opponent Alabama 66-55 behind John Wall’s 22 points and DeMarcus Cousin’s 13 rebounds.

Georgetown (8) fights off trailing early to defeat Providence 79-70. Center Greg Monroe had 12 points to go along with 12 assists. Yes, 12 assists.

Any questions? Feel free to contact me at Tyler@PeteProse.com!