For the first time since 2016, the “Clasico” Indiana – Purdue turned in favor of the Hoosiers! At the end of an intense and disputed match, the men of Mike Woodson went to seek a victory of prestige, on their parquet and thanks to the support of a fabulous public, against a team of Purdue ranked #4 in the AP ( 68-65).
Indiana “senior” Rob Phinesee scored 20 valuable points off the bench, including the decisive award-winning shot 17 seconds from the end of the match. Opposite, the “sophomore” sensation Jaden Ivey scored 21 points while the Canadian pivot Zach Edey came close to double-double (12 points and 9 rebounds). Unfortunately not enough for the Boilermakers, who are already losing their third Big Ten conference game.
” Rob and I had a great chat a few hours before the game, and it’s great to see how he responded by raising his game. It’s a huge win for us. It’s been a long time since we beat Purdue“, recalled Mike Woodson after the feat.
#3 Arizona in control
Freshly integrated into third place on the AP podium, Arizona easily mastered Stanford (85-57). Off the bench, the “junior” Oumar Ballo brought 21 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes while the future “lottery pick” Bennedict Mathurin was content with 13 points and 2 assists in this collective walk.
This is the fifth victory in as many games in the Pac-12 conference for the Wildcats, who have only one defeat on the season (15-1).
#11 Villanova surprised at home by Marquette
With a winning shot 11 seconds from the buzzer of “freshman” Justin Lewis, who finished with 21 points, Marquette created a surprise and won on the Villanova floor (57-54). The Golden Eagles were particularly skilful behind the arc (13/29), while Jay Wright’s men had a painful game in attack (22/58, 6/24 behind the arc).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-2eifHq5FU
Alabama dominates #13 LSU
Struggling in its SEC calendar, Alabama finds some air thanks to this victory over the floor of #13 LSU (70-67), which marks the end of a series of three defeats. Deprived of their holders Xavier Pinson and Darius Days, the Tigers were quickly left behind before embarking on a valiant “comeback”, which failed very little.
“Sophomore” and likely future first-round draftee Tari Eason delivered a huge double-double (26 points and 10 rebounds) for the Tigers, while “junior” Jaden Shackelford led the charge for Alabama (26 points , 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals).
” I told my guys before the match that we had to get back to our good habits. Last year we had an aura around us, we knew we were going to play harder than our opponents.” in particular declared the coach of Alabama, Nate Oats, proud of his troops.
Second ACC loss for #6 Duke
Traveling to Florida State, Paolo Banchero (20 points and 12 rebounds) and his teammates lost by the smallest of margins against the Seminoles (79-78). In control during the first half, the Blue Devils were then penalized, once again, by their loss of balls (15!) and saw the locals come back into the game until an extension was forced.
Although clumsy (5/17), the “sophomore” Caleb Mills scored a decisive shot in the “money-time” before his teammate Rayquan Evans, in great difficulty throughout the match, planted the two decisive throws 11 seconds from the end.
