Saturday, March 19, 2011

Men's and Women's Early-Round NCAA Hoops

Today we have the first day of the NCAA men's college basketball round of 32 and the first day of the women's round of 64.

MEN'S

Kentucky gave up a 22-7 spurt to West Virginia to close the first half, but rebounded with an 11-0 run to open the second half, en route to a 71-63 victory.

Temple outscored San Diego State 9-2 to close regulation play and force overtime, but the Aztecs won in double-OT, 71-64. Temple hit only 1-of-8 field-goal attempts in the second extra period, due in no small part to San Diego State's shot-blocking (play-by-play sheet).

Brigham Young's Jimmer Fredette hit on 7-of-13 three-point attempts and the Cougars put together runs of 11-2 and 12-0 to put away Gonzaga 89-67. (There seems to be a discrepancy between the game article and box score, as to whether Fredette had 12 or 13 attempts from behind the arc. The play-by-play sheet seems to confirm 13 as the correct number.)

WOMEN'S

Tennessee trounced Stetson 99-34. When a result is so one-sided, I'm hesitant to talk about streakiness, as any pronounced scoring runs likely reflect an overwhelming talent differential. For what it's worth, however, Stetson had kept the game close for a little while, before Tennessee's initial burst. According to this game article:

Stetson managed to hit a few early shots to keep up with Tennessee, which led 10-9 with 15:13 left in the first half. The Lady Vols' size and shooting became too much for the Hatters, though, and a 23-0 run put the game away early.

Gonzaga used an 18-5 spurt (from down 60-55 to up 73-65) to turn around its game with Iowa, before triumphing 92-86.

Texas Tech fell 55-50 as "St. John's had an 8-0 run and another 13-2 spurt late..." A late 10-2 run by the Lady Raiders cut their deficit from 50-38 to 52-48, but it wasn't enough.

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