Ranking the Best Individual College Basketball Performances in February
It's finally time to get geared up for March but not before we look back one last time.
February is when we see who really has what it takes to be a factor in the NCAA tournament. Big-time performances dictate conference championships, plus seeding in league and postseason tournaments.
A whole lot of cream rose to the top last month.
A guy named Denzel was a real heart-stopper on Valentine's Day. Virginia's Malcolm Brogdon climbed into the national Player of the Year race.
A Dukie had a legendary gut-check performance on his rival's court. And Kansas' Devonte' Graham was a real two-way star in a massive Big 12 showdown that brought the Jayhawks out of a road slump.
We also look at a few other games, and individual performances, that will shape the way it all plays out in March.
It's been a wild season. Multiple teams are routinely receiving first-place votes in either the Associated Press or coaches polls. That's how wide-open it is.
But let's close the door on February by recapping the best performances. These outputs have set us up for a well-watched stretch run.
We've taken into account big individual numbers. But we also gear our rankings toward their place in history. Big games should mean more than a win (though that's not always necessary, as we see again this month). They should elevate a player, or team, into a new stratosphere. We look to stars, to a mid-major outcome and even to a hoops afterthought like Alabama.
Here are 10 wonderful cases of college basketball excellence.
Honorable Mentions
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West Virginia’s Jaysean Paige scores career-high 34 at Iowa State (Feb. 22).
Utah's Brandon Taylor gets hot, makes four threes (19 points) to get in Pac-12 tie for first versus Arizona (Feb. 27).
Keenan Evans’ career-high 21 propels Texas Tech to win at Baylor to get Red Raiders in NCAA tournament consideration (Feb. 13).
Jabari Bird scores 24 as Cal romps ranked Oregon at home (Feb. 11).
Edmond Sumner posts 19 points and nine assists as Xavier shifts Big East power race with home win versus Villanova (Feb. 24).
Vanderbilt’s Damian Jones makes 12 of 13 shots (27 points) as Commodores try to stay in at-large hunt with win at Florida (Feb. 23).
10. Colorado's Josh Scott Produces Big Effort for Colorado vs. Ranked Arizona
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The most prominent national takeaway from Arizona's February 24 loss at Colorado was that Wildcats coach Sean Miller solemnly worried about a fan someday getting slugged by one of his players during a court-storming.
And we're not here to belittle that point. It's valid. But let's also not lose sight of what happened at Coors Events Center before the students ransacked it.
Josh Scott, a senior Colorado center, has quietly had a good season and career. But he took it to another level in a critical game that put a noteworthy victory in a bubble team's possession.
Scott made eight of 12 shots in the second half to finish with a season-high 26 points and three blocked shots.
CU had previously lost its last six games to UA and the previous 11 against ranked teams.
"He's doing it on an ankle that's not 100 percent," coach Tad Boyle told reporters afterward. "What that kid is showing down the stretch of his senior year in terms of toughness is incredible. Because he was not at 100 percent tonight. But he played like it. That was an unbelievable performance."
Scott hit six of the Buffs' final seven shots, as noted by Boulder Daily Camera writer Pat Rooney.
9. Denzel Naturally Brings It on Valentine's Day for Michigan State
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Maybe the day ought to just be named after Denzel Valentine.
The last two years, the Michigan State star has really shined on February 14, otherwise known as Valentine's Day.
This year he scored 30 points and added a career-high 13 assists (oh, and don't forget about five rebounds) in a blowout of Indiana.
MSU was coming off a one-point loss to Purdue, and the Hoosiers had been rolling.
But Valentine and his colleagues came through. Of note, Matt Costello had a career game (22 points on 10-of-12 shooting).
Valentine split his points evenly between the two halves.
It's not the first time he broke the hearts of some opponents on the day of love, either. Two seasons ago he hit a game-winning three-pointer to defeat Ohio State.
Michigan State's promotions department naturally had a little fun with Valentine's Day ("Be My Valentine" type stuff was given to fans).
And headline writers could let their inner punster leap out of their hearts, too.
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8. Brice Johnson Comes Up Huge for North Carolina vs. Duke (Except for the Win)
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Not all great performances end in victory.
Remember, a month ago everyone was talking about Buddy Hield's jump to stardom with his triple-overtime performance at Kansas—which you may recall ended in defeat.
February, unfortunately, belongs to North Carolina's Brice Johnson in this category.
The big senior center was awesome February 17 against Duke. It's hard to fathom he couldn't have been one basket better, however, in the 74-73 defeat.
Johnson finished with 29 points and 19 rebounds, making all but four of his 17 shots. But he also scored just two points in the final 13 minutes. The Blue Devils were on the road, undermanned (Matt Jones was hurt early, basically making it a five-man team) and in foul trouble inside.
Alas, more folks seemed to blame the rest of the Tar Heels, and coach Roy Williams, rather than single out Johnson for not doing more.
"We’ve just got to make a better effort to look in there," guard Marcus Paige said afterward, according to the Daily Tar Heel. "Brice has got to work a little bit harder to get the ball, and we’ve got to take care of the ball ...Brice, he can’t do it all. It seems like he about did it all tonight, but someone has got to help him.”
7. Virginia's Malcolm Brogdon Puts Himself in POY Contention vs. North Carolina
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Malcolm Brogdon is still a two-name guy in most college basketball circles.
He's not a Denzel, or a Buddy, or a Ben. Maybe not even a Kris.
But Brogdon is a two-way player, arguably the best in the country at handling both ends of the floor. The senior wing showed it February 27 with a sensational home-game win against North Carolina that arguably vaulted him into National Player of the Year talk and certainly first-team All-America status.
Brogdon had half of his game-high 26 points within the first eight minutes.
That prompted UNC coach Roy Williams afterward to say, per ESPN.com, "Malcolm in the first half was as good a performance as we've had against us this year, maybe several years."
The 79-74 win against a fellow Top 10 team vaulted Brogdon to third on Ken Pomeroy's "kPOY" list; he trails only Michigan State's Denzel Valentine and Oklahoma Sooners star Buddy Hield.
"He's been terrific most all of conference play," said head coach Tony Bennett after the game, per Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller. "Really, all of his career, I should say. He was efficient as ever. Made the tough plays. ... He even did his traditional yawn before tipoff just to let us know that he was steady."
Brogdon told reporters afterward, including Miller, "I enjoy not having my opponent score and making it a terrible night for them more than I (enjoy) scoring points."
As much as the talk of the college game this season has been offense, those are some of the sweetest words uttered.
That's why he's becoming a household name.
6. Duke's Grayson Allen Wills Short-Handed Duke to Win at Rival North Carolina
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Grayson Allen is becoming a second-year legend at Duke.
The February 17 win at North Carolina added to his status, as he was the Blue Devils' leading scorer in an improbable 74-73 road win by the No. 20 team against a Top Five rival.
Allen hit a pair of critical free throws with 70 seconds left, sealing a win for the ages. Duke was basically down to five guys after Matt Jones was hurt early.
It's worth noting that freshman Luke Kennard stepped in, playing an unusually high 32 minutes and finishing with 15 points in a raucous environment. Fellow college newcomer Brandon Ingram had 20 points on 7-of-21 shooting in the instant classic.
Allen had 23 points, missing 11 of his 18 shots but getting the last laugh.
He recorded the final rebound and set the ball sailing toward the ceiling at the "Dean Dome." The final horn sounded, and his teammates gleefully mobbed him.
He's probably glad, for that moment alone, to have stuck around Durham one more year after winning a title last season and perhaps figuring it couldn't get any better than that.
5. Iona's A.J. English Torches NCAA At-Large Hopeful Monmouth
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A.J. English has quietly been torching teams the last three years. We say quietly because he plays in a smaller conference (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) that typically only gets one NCAA tournament bid.
And who knows? That could be the case again after his 31-point performance shellacked Monmouth—on the Hawks' home court, no less—February 19.
There's a chance that 83-67 Iona win could have wide-ranging effects on the at-large bid bubble teams. MAAC leader Monmouth—known of course for its bombastic bench—stole a win at Iona but then couldn't secure the rematch.
English made half of his 10 three-point tries. He's a 36 percent shooter from the arc who has been known to go off. Most notably he put up 46 against Fairfield in December after making 13 three-pointers.
This performance could be one to keep in mind on Selection Sunday as it pertains to the Hawks and the other bid hopefuls.
4. Tyler Ulis Really Becomes "Coach on the Floor" for Kentucky at South Carolina
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All the time, we hear coaches talk about point guards being coaches on the floor.
Tyler Ulis of Kentucky took that to a whole new level February 13, after Wildcats coach John Calipari was ejected early for arguing with the referees at South Carolina.
All Ulis did was score a career-best 27 points and rack up a dozen assists.
“I never touched offense. Didn’t have to,” assistant coach Kenny Payne said afterward after un-technically winning his first game as the leader on the UK bench, per Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal. “Between Cal and Tyler Ulis, they’re on the same page. Tyler Ulis ran the offense. Every now and then, I may have interjected something, but at the end of the day it was his show.”
It was an easy 89-62 win against a thriving Gamecocks team that hadn't lost at home and has been at the front of the SEC race.
3. Domantas Sabonis Saves the Day for Gonzaga at Brigham Young
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Domantas Sabonis saved Gonzaga's bacon on two accounts February 27.
There hasn't been much sizzle to the Zags, who had been on the cusp of missing out on the NCAA tournament or failing to win at least a share of the West Coast Conference title.
Mark Few's good men aren't in the clear yet. But getting some revenge (after BYU won on its home court earlier) was a good way to wrap up the regular season, 71-68.
Gonzaga has won 15 league titles in the last 16 years, counting this one. Sabonis played a huge role in salvaging the share with Saint Mary's, getting 15 points and 14 rebounds at BYU.
He scored six straight points late in the second half after the Cougars had used an 11-2 run to pull within 62-59.
Worth noting: Kyle Wiltjer had a team-high 21 points, but we give the nod to Sabonis for his overall impact, especially as 13 defensive rebounds were critical against a team that plays fast and chucks it from three-point range frequently. (BYU shot 32.3 percent from the field, its second-worst accuracy this season.)
Gonzaga still split with BYU and lost both meetings with longtime nemesis Saint Mary's. But at least the at-large chances are alive a little more after success at the Marriott Center.
2. Retin Obasohan of Alabama Ruins LSU with a Career Game
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With no really great ("elite" has been a buzzword) teams this year, the game's popularity is left to rely on continuity or star power.
So, it's in the game's general interest for a player like LSU Tigers freshman Ben Simmons to make it to the NCAA tournament.
But that might not happen, and Alabama's Retin Obasohan is a reason why. He scored a career-high 35 points in Baton Rouge on February 17 as the Crimson Tide beat LSU, 76-69.
It was Bama's fifth straight win, propelling it into the "bubble" picture when not many pundits figured that program would amount to anything with Avery Johnson coaching for the first time.
Even more notably, it may have signaled the end of the Simmons hype train before getting diverted to the NIT and then the NBA.
That home loss was the first of three straight defeats in SEC play for the Tigers, who were haunted by Obasohan after he had missed two late shots in the first meeting, which was lost by his team in Tuscaloosa.
This time he made 11 of 18 shots. And if LSU doesn't make the tournament, remember the name Obasohan, an improved 6'1" senior from Belgium who averages about 17 points.
1. Devonte' Graham Takes Care of Business for Kansas at Oklahoma
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Devonte' Graham isn't getting any nods as national Player of the Year.
But his work Feb. 13 at Oklahoma produced even more historical significance and was one of the top individual performances in the country this season.
He scored a career-high 27 points, but even more valuable was his defensive work on Buddy Hield—who went from scoring 46 points in the first meeting at Kansas in January to barely managing 24 in a 76-72 Sooners defeat that forever altered the Big 12 race.
OU also lost its next game to Texas Tech, giving the Jayhawks more than enough wiggle room to chase their 12th consecutive Big 12 title after playing from behind most of January, because they couldn't seem to get their act together on the road.
Graham almost single-handedly changed KU's season. He hit a couple of late three-pointers while teammates struggled and fellow point guard Frank Mason III had fouled out with about three minutes left.
He added a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left to produce a three-point lead, and OU missed a game-tying shot on its next possession.
Graham made eight of 13 shots (6-of-9 from three-point range), while Hield went 5-of-15 from the field, including misses on his first seven shots.
Afterward, per KUSports.com, Kansas coach Bill Self called Graham's energy level "a joke," meaning it as a nice thing—he couldn't believe his sophomore could shut down Hield and also score at will.
The real joke, it turned out, was on anyone who figured before that meeting that KU's conference reign was done.
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