Thursday in College Basketball: Wolverines Upset Bruins

Story of the Day

The No. 4-ranked UCLA Bruins lost to unranked Michigan in the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic on Thursday night in Madison Square Garden.  Michigan, who is under the tutelage of second-year coach John Beilein, had a 10-22 record last season.

Michigan trailed UCLA 29-23 at halftime but used a 10-2 run to open the second half to take the lead.  Junior forward DeShawn Sims scored 18 points, and sophomore guard Manny Harris added 15 to lead the Big Blue to their first win over a top five-ranked team in 11 years.

UCLA has been a participant in each of the past three Final Fours, and their loss in this game eliminates the anticipated matchup of No. 4 UCLA vs. No. 5 Duke for the 2K Sports Classic Final.  Fans will have to settle for Duke vs. Michigan.

Early Season Tournaments

The 2K Sports Classic played out its semifinals in Madison Square Garden on Thursday.  Michigan scored an upset victory over UCLA, and Duke used a big second half to defeat Southern Illinois.  The Blue Devils and Wolverines will now meet in the finals tonight.

The third-place game between UCLA and Southern Illinois will give a good indication of how good UCLA is this season, as their response to an early loss shows how much perseverance they have.

In addition, the Puerto Rico Tip-Off got underway on Thursday. 

Virginia Tech defeated Fairfield as Puerto Rico native A.D. Vassallo notched 24 points.

Xavier, a team rebuilding from its Sweet 16 run of a year ago, overcame a stingy Missouri team to advance to the semifinals by a score of 75-71.

Memphis struggled at the start but ultimately defeated Chattanooga, the main challenger to Stephen Curry's Davidson squad in the Southern Conference.

Also, in the second-largest upset of the day, Seton Hall outscored No. 20-ranked USC 35-18 in the second half to defeat the Trojans by a score of 63-61.

Thursday's results set up games featuring Virginia Tech vs. Xavier and Memphis vs. Seton Hall for today.  It will also be interesting to see how USC responds to their first loss against Chattanooga, who has opened their season with three losses to major conference teams.

High-Scoring Affairs

There were several teams that put big numbers up on the scoreboard on Thursday.

VMI, still high off of their win over Kentucky to open the season, scored 133 points in their victory over Stevenson.

Western Carolina used a 70-point second half to defeat Toccoa Falls by a score of 120-62.

In the highest scoring game of the night, and perhaps the season, Texas Tech defeated East Central by a score of 167-115.  The Red Raiders scored 90 points in the second half alone and had 10 players with double-digit point totals.

Close Call

Florida State of the ACC narrowly defeated Stetson from the Atlantic Sun conference by a score of 79-77.  Stetson had an opportunity for the last shot to tie or win the game but was called for an offensive foul as time expired.

Stetson outscored FSU 50-36 in the second half.

Conferences

The Big Ten conference scored two huge victories on Thursday.  In addition to Michigan's upset over UCLA, Illinois also defeated Vanderbilt on the road by a score of 69-63.  Illinois and Michigan were the second-to-last and last place finishers in the Big Ten last year respectively.

The Big Ten is now undefeated as a conference on the season.  The only other conference to boast that result is the ACC.

On the other side of the coin, the Pac-10 suffered two upset losses on Thursday.  No. 4-ranked UCLA and No. 20-ranked USC both lost to unranked opponents.  The Pac-10 has other noteworthy losses on the season.  These include Arizona losing to UAB, Oregon losing to Oakland, Oregon State losing to Howard, and Washington losing to Portland.

Fantastic Freshmen

Much has been made over the inferiority of this season's freshman class compared to prior years.  But there were several first-timers that had big impacts on Thursday night.

Xavier freshman point guard Terrell Holloway made 10-10 free throws to secure his team's victory down the stretch over Missouri.

Memphis freshman guard Tyreke Evans had 11 points to go along with five rebounds, four assists, and three steals in Memphis' victory over Michigan.  Evans is averaging over 16 points per game on the season.

West Virginia freshman guard Darryl Bryant went 2-2 from three-point range and 6-6 from the free-throw line on his way to 16 points in his team's victory over Longwood.

Iowa freshman guard Anthony Tucker made seven of 11 three-pointers to account for 21 points in the Hawkeyes' win over the Citadel.

Look Out For...

Michigan: The Wolverines' win over UCLA was no fluke.  Michigan has talented players with a lot of experience gained from last season.  Their big win tonight could put Michigan over the edge for receiving an NCAA tournament bid if they are on the bubble in March.

Penn State's backcourt: The Nittany Lion starting guards, Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle, combined for 44 points against Hartford.  Combined they successfully made 9-15 three-pointers.

Chattanooga: The Mocs are 0-3 to start the season but put up a good fight against Memphis.  Stephen McDowell notched 27 points on seven three-pointers and is looking to provide Stephen Curry with some competition for Southern Conference player of the year.

Coming off games against Tennessee, Missouri, and Memphis, Chattanooga should not be overwhelmed when they face Davidson.  Chattanooga will also gain experience in their game against USC tomorrow.

Gerald Henderson: Henderson scored 20 points, all in the second half, to lead Duke to a blowout victory over Southern Illinois.  In Duke's search for a go-to player, Henderson could fill the void if he can replicate his second-half performance in this game.

Oklahoma State: The Cowboys are now 3-0 after their victory over Tulsa Thursday night.  Tulsa is expected to be near the top of Conference USA this season, and Oklahoma State jumped on them to a score of 54-28 by halftime.