No Okafor, No problem for Duke.
Just three days after an emotional a 92-90 overtime win over North Carolina, the Blue Devils had to face Clemson with Jahlil Okafor sitting out with a sprained ankle. The result? As far as Mike Krzyzewski is concerned, it was one of their best wins of the season, as Due crushed the Tigers 78-56 on Saturday. The Blue Devils were shorter and faster with Okafor out, and opted to speed the game up, which worked out greatly for starting senior guard Quinn Cook, who matched a career-high with 27 points. Duke scored 19 fast-break points and outscored the Tigers 42-30 in the paint, mostly from drives and layups. Krzyzewski’s team has four games left, beginning with Virginia Tech on Wednesday. Okafor hopes to return by then.
Roy Williams is kinda upset with North Carolina fans lately.
The Tar Heels spent their game on Saturday against Georgia Tech honoring the memory of Dean Smith, even opening the game with the offensive scheme that he was known for. After North Carolina’s 89-60 victory however, head coach Roy Williams took the opportunity to express his frustrations with the fans as of late.
“I was a little disappointed that more of our crowd didn’t have more savvy, but I felt like they were asleep most of the day anyway. That wasn’t intended to be criticism, but it’s criticism. We need some daggum help.
“We’ll go on the road and people are screaming like banshees or something. And today it was like every time I yelled at a player, they turned around and looked at me. I yelled at a player Wednesday night (at Duke) and they never even knew I was over there yelling. They thought I was doing freaking exercises. So if you want to act like I’m chastising the fans, come in and invest.
“My gosh, we’re trying to honor the greatest coach I’ve ever … maybe one of the greatest individuals I’ve ever known. I can understand if you didn’t recognize (the four corners) because it sort of went quickly and it’s nice that (we got) a backdoor layup, but don’t sit over there and feel like we have to entertain you. This is a team thing. Now does anybody want to ask me any questions about the game that I’ve got off that soap box?”
It will be interesting to see how the fans respond at the Tar Heels next home game on Feb. 28 against Miami.
SMU is rolling.
Despite some setbacks to the team’s roster this year, veteran coach Larry Brown has his Mustangs on an impressive streak as they approach the stretch run. SMU won their fourth-straight on Saturday, disposing of a 19-8 Temple team by a score of 67-58. The Mustangs are 13-2 since the new year began, which also happens to be when conference play started in the AAC. Junior guard Nick Moore has led the charge for SMU, and they sit in first place of the AAC, taking advantage of Memphis and UConn teams that are both down this year. With an underdog squad coached by the well-traveled Brown, the Mustangs are a matchup to be avoided when the NCAA Tournament comes around.
Ohio State is relying too heavily on D’Angelo Russell.
The freshman for the Buckeyes has been fabulous all season, leading the team in scoring and rebounds as a 180 pound guard. But ever since his triple-double outing against Northwestern on Feb. 8, Russell has been shooting 33 percent while watching his team lose two out of the last three games. The Buckeyes’ offense has stagnated, as it now seems his teammates would rather rely on him to create a play instead of themselves. If Ohio State can’t get more production out of senior players such as Sam Thompson and Amir Williams, they could be an early out come March.
Iowa State is inching closer to the Big 12 crown.
After losing to Oklahoma back on Feb. 9, the Cyclones have reeled off three-straight wins over NCAA tournament-level teams, including No. 21 West Virginia, No. 22 Oklahoma State, and a bubble Texas team. In their 85-77 win over Texas on Saturday, Cyclones forward Georges Niang had his standard 17-point, 5-rebound performance, and Iowa State was able to get to the free-throw line 33 times. With that win, they are now 10-4 in conference, just one game behind the 11-3 Kansas Jayhawks, whom they split the season series with.
