College Basketball report: week 4

The Texas A&M Aggies embark on a three-game losing streak while the SMU Mustangs bring home the Southwestern Showdown championship

Coty Davis
Dec 3, 2019, 8:55 am
Are Buzz Williams and the Aggies No. 1?

TEXAS LONGHORNS (6-1)

Last week (1-0): W: McNeese State 73-71

This week: Tuesdayvs. UAB, Sunday Texas A&M

The Texas Longhorns improved to 4-0 at the Frank C. Erwin Jr. Center with a 73-71 victory over the McNeese State Cowboys on Saturday. In a surprising turn of events, it took a pair of free throws by Courtney Ramey to seal the deal for Texas, as the sophomore guard recorded 14 points in the win.

Texas' guard, Andrew Jones, also registered 14 points off the bench while shooting 6-for-14 (42.8%) from the field. Following the win, the Longhorns will take on the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Tuesday, before opening up their Lone Star Showdown against Texas A&M on Sunday.

TEXAS A&M AGGIES (3-4)

Last week (0-3): L: Harvard 62-51, L: Temple 65-42, L: Fairfield 67-62

This week: Sunday vs. Texas

The Orlando Invitational did not go as planned for the Texas A&M Aggies over the past week. A&M finished the tournament in last place after dropping all three games, which began with a 62-51 loss to the Harvard Crimson.

After suffering through a 23-point defeat to Temple —where only one player (Josh Nebo, 12) scored in double figures — the Aggies ended the tournament with a 67-62 loss to Fairfield. While riding a three-game losing streak and sitting under .500 on the season, the Aggies will look to bounce back against the Texas Longhorns on Sunday.

HOUSTON COUGARS (3-2)

Last week (1-0): W: Houston Baptist 112-73

This week: Wednesday vs. Texas State, Sunday South Carolina

The Houston Cougars took a 39-point victory over the Houston Baptist Huskies in a game that was over within the first five minutes. Sophomore Nate Hinton recorded a career-high 24 points (6-11 FG, 3-4 3PT) and 15 rebounds in the blowout win. Marcus Sasser also recorded a career-high with 18 points, as the sharpshooting freshman from Red Oak, Texas shot 6-for-9 (66%) from 3-point range.

Following the win, the Cougars will look to make it two straight on Wednesday when they take on the Texas State Bobcats, before traveling to South Carolina to take on the Gamecocks.

RICE OWLS (5-4)

Last week (0-0): No Games Scheduled

This week: Saturday vs. Lamar

The Rice Men's Basketball program had a peaceful Thanksgiving break with no game on the schedule. The Owls will look to end their two-game losing streak on Saturday against the Lamar Cardinals inside the Montagne Center in Beaumont.

BAYLOR BEARS (5-1)

Last week (0-0): No Games Scheduled

This week: Tuesday vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks, Saturday vs. Arizona Wildcats

While riding a four-game win streak, the Baylor Bears will return to the court on Tuesday to take on the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks, and the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday inside the Ferrell Center in Waco.

TCU HORNED FROGS (5-1)

Last week (1-0): W: Wyoming 64-47

This week: Tuesday vs Illinois State, Friday USC

The TCU Men's Basketball team closed their MGM Resorts Main Event showcase with a 64-47 victory over the Wyoming Cowboys. Although TCU shot 42.4% from the floor, their play on the defensive end played a tremendous factor in the Horned Frogs' victory. They held the Cowboys to 14 points in the first half while shooting 17.8% from the field, 18% from behind the arc. Desmon Bane recorded his second consecutive double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds in the win.

After going 1-1 during their MGM Resorts Main Event exhibition, the Horned Frogs will return to Fort Worth for a showdown against the Illinois State Redbirds on Tuesday, and USC on Friday.

TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (5-2)

Last week: (0-2) L: Iowa 72-61, L: Creighton 83-76

This week: Wednesday vs. Depaul

Following a 5-0 start to the season, the Texas Tech Red Raiders are riding a two-game skid after going winless during the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. The Red Raiders dropped their first contest of the first round in a 72-61 loss to Iowa. Following the loss, the Red Raiders endured a tough defeat to the Creighton Bluejays.

After trailing by 14-points at the half, Texas Tech outscored the Bluejays 42-28 in the second period to force overtime en route to an 83-76 loss. Texas Tech had no answer for Marcus Zegarowski, who scored a game-high 32 points (12-18 FG, 3-8 3PT) in a win for Creighton. Up next, Texas Tech will travel to Chicago to play DePaul (8-0) inside the Wintrust Arena on Wednesday.

SMU MUSTANGS (7-0)

Last week (2-0): W: Hartford 90-58, W: Abilene Christian 70-51

This week: Tuesday vs. Northwestern State, Saturday vs Georgetown

The wins keep coming for the SMU Mustangs who are currently riding a seven-game win streak. The Mustangs breezed to the Southwestern Showdown title with back-to-back blowout victories over Hartford (90-58) and Abilene Christian (70-51). After averaging 18 points and 7.3 assists, Kendric Davis took home tournament MVP honors, while Tyson Jolly and Feron Hunt join Davis on the All-Tournament team.

The Mustangs will return to Dallas as champions for a two-game homestand on Tuesday, to take on Northwestern State, and Georgetown on Saturday.

LSU TIGERS (5-2)

Last week (1-0): W: Missouri St. 73-58

This week: Tuesday vs New Orleans, Sunday vs Northwestern State

The LSU Tigers put on a shooting client on Friday in their 73-58 win over the Missouri St. They shot 53.7% from the field, and most of their damage came on the inside as LSU scored 34 points in the paint. Forward Darius Day helped the Tigers come away victorious with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the win.

The Tigers will continue their four-game homestand on Tuesday against New Orleans and Northwestern State on Sunday.

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ASTROS ALDS REACTION

The sole survivor: Jeremy Peña home run lifts Astros to 6th straight ALCS

Astros advance to ALCS. Composite image by Brandon Strange.

It was the longest scoreless game in Major League Baseball history, but in the end it was shortstop Jeremy Peña that sealed the win and the series for Houston.

The Houston Astros advanced to their sixth straight American League Championship Series, beating the Mariners 1-0 in the elimination Game Three in the American League Division Series. The lone run came on a homer by Peña in the top of the 18th inning.

It was a pitchers’ clinic between Houston’s Lance McCullers Jr. and Seattle’s George Kirby to start the game, and it became a clinic for a lengthy list of relievers that also joined in. Both starters made it through six innings, Kirby made it through seven, without giving up a single run.

In total, the Astros and Mariners had a combined 18 pitchers throw a ball in Game Three. Houston’s eight pitchers allowed only seven hits, 0 earned runs and had 22 strikeouts. Seattle’s 10 combined to give up only 11 hits and had 20 strikeouts, but Penn Murfee for the Mariners gave up the lone run.

Houston pitcher Luis Garcia was huge for the Astros. He came into the game in the 14th inning, and essentially was Houston’s second starter. Garcia gave up only two hits and got six strikeouts against the Mariners, including the final out on a line drive to Julio Rodriguez.

Both teams were able to get traffic on the bases throughout the game, particularly early but neither could capitalize, which was the story of the entire game.

The Astros arguably had the best chance to break the stalemate early in the second inning when they had Yuli Gurriel and Kyle Tucker at second and third base. Seattle third baseman Eugenio Suárez did a great job scooping up a ball thrown by catcher Cal Raleigh when Tucker went to steal third base.

Raleigh’s throw was in the dirt and had it gotten past Suárez, it would have allowed Tucker to score on an error. Instead, he stayed at third and Kirby struck out Chas McCormick, which kept the game tied at 0.

McCullers got into a groove following the traffic by the Mariners in the second inning. He put together a strong performance, striking out seven batters and giving up only two hits on 88 pitches in Saturday’s game. Kirby was right behind McCullers with a strong performance of his own. He struck out five batters allowing six hits on 91 pitchers for the Mariners.

The relievers for both teams came into the game and continued the trend of shutout baseball. Dusty Baker went with Hector Neris and Rafael Montero after McCullers. Scott Servais went with Andrés Muñoz and Diego Castillo after Kirby in the seventh and eighth innings.

Neris, Montero and Muñoz were able to keep the scoreboard at 0. Castillo gave up a single to Gurriel and then hit Aledmys Díaz with a pitch. Díaz pinch hit for Trey Manchini. With runners at first and second and no outs, it allowed McCormick to bunt and move both runners to second and third.

Servais decided he had seen enough and went to Matt Brash. The decision for the skipper paid off as he struck out Christian Vázquez and Altuve, who had an abysmal outing against the Mariners in Game Three.

Looking ahead

When it comes to pitchers that did not see action against the Mariners, Baker did not use José Urquidy, who was the only pitcher left standing in the Astros bullpen. Houston did not use Cristian Javier either, who spent the game in the dugout.

Baker went with pitcher Hunter Brown in the 12th and 13th inning. Brown got another taste of postseason action after his debut in Game One. Brown allowed only one hit and also a strikeout in the high pressure situations.

Altuve’s struggles are a big concern heading into the ALCS. He was 0-for-16 against the Mariners in the ALDS, and he went 0-for-8 against Seattle in Game Three. His at-bats were brutal on Saturday. Not only could he not get a hit, but his swings seemed to be more like hacks most of the time.

It is obvious the Venezuela native is in a major slump, and while Baker should be confident his second baseman will eventually figure it out, the manager might need to tweak the lineup going forward and move Altuve down the batting order.

Alvarez, who was the hero for Houston in Games One and Two, went hitless in Game Three. For Astros fans, they will hope that it is an aberration and not the start of a slump.

Now the Astros will wait for the winner of the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees. Game One of the ALCS is Wednesday.

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