COLLEGE BASKETBALL REPORT
NCAA hoops: Tech stumbles; UH, SMU get wins over Wichita State
Jan 22, 2018, 3:56 am
Mohamed Bamba was a big part of Texas' win over Tech. Chris Covatta/Getty Images
TEXAS LONGHORNS (12-7, 3-4 BIG XII)
Last week (1-1): W-Texas Tech 67-58, L-@ West Virginia 86-51
This week: Monday vs. Iowa State, Saturday vs. Ole Miss
Kerwin Roach wasn’t even supposed to play for Texas until the weekend, but the doctor cleared him from his fractured hand right before tipoff, and he made the most of it. Roach led Texas with 20 points as the Horns beat the No. 8 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders 67-58. Mohamed Bamba was strong as well, particularly on defense. He posted a 15 point, 11 rebound, 5 block night in the win. Texas outshot Tech 51%-38% on the night. Things didn’t go as well on the road, as Texas dropped their matchup against West Virginia by an 86-51 count. Texas shot horribly, going 34% from the field and only 20% from deep. The Mountaineers also dominated on the boards, 45-29. Bamba had 9 points and 13 rebounds to lead Texas in defeat. Texas has two home games this week, Monday against Iowa State and an out of conference matchup with Ole Miss on Saturday.
TEXAS A&M AGGIES (13-6, 2-5 SEC)
Last week (2-0): W-Ole Miss 71-69, W- Missouri 60-49
This week: Tuesday @ LSU, Saturday @ Kansas
The Aggies finally got their first conference win of the season, though it didn’t come easy. Texas A&M beat Ole Miss 71-69 in a close game that saw Ole Miss rattle out the game-winning attempt at the buzzer. Tyler Davis led the charge for the Aggies with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Robert Williams was terrific from the field, going 8 of 9 en route to an 18 point night. The weekend game against Mizzou was not pretty, with both teams shooting sub-40%, but the Aggies did enough to take a 60-49 win. The Aggies only turned the ball over 4 times in the win. Tonny Trocha-Morelos scored his season-high 14 points and led the team in the win. The Ags travel to LSU and Kansas this week.
HOUSTON COUGARS (15-4, 5-2 AAC)
Last week (1-1): L-@ Tulane 81-72, W-Wichita State 73-59
This week: Sunday vs. South Florida
Last week was a true mixed bag for the Cougars. Houston fell 81-72 at Tulane on Wednesday. The game was closer than the final score would appear. The teams went back and forth until Tulane hit 10 free throws down the stretch to seal the win. Rob Gray led the Cougars with 24 points in the loss. Devin Davis (5 of 8) was the only Cougar to shoot better than 50% from the field. Houston had a considerably better showing on Saturday against Wichita State, who was ranked No. 7 in the country. The Cougars took the game 73-59, giving them their first win against a top-10 opponent since 1996. Gray again led the Cougars with 24, but the key to the win was a strong defensive showing. The Cougars held the Shockers to 33% shooting and turned them over 18 times. The Coogs are now legitimately in contention for the AAC title, and have only a home matchup with the conference cellar-dwelling South Florida Bulls this weekend.
RICE OWLS (4-16, 1-6 CUSA)
Last week (0-2): L-@ Southern Miss 86-75, L-@ Louisiana Tech 69-54
This week: Thursday vs. Florida International, Saturday vs. Florida Atlantic
Another week, another couple of losses for the Rice Owls. The Owls lost 86-75 to Southern Miss. The Owls shot well, but were out rebounded 29-17 and turned the ball over 23 times on the night. Ako Adams led the Owls in points and assists with 18 and 5, but was also responsible for 6 of the aforementioned turnovers. Things continued against Louisiana Tech, as the Owls fell 69-54 to the Bulldogs. Connor Cashaw led the Owls with 14 points, but Rice struggled to find the basket, shooting 37% for the game. The Owls will try to get out of the Conference USA cellar this week, with relatively winnable games against Florida International and Florida Atlantic.
BAYLOR BEARS (12-7, 2-5 BIG XII)
Last week (1-1): W-Oklahoma State 76-60, L-@ Kansas 70-67
This week: Monday vs. Kansas State, Saturday @ Florida
Baylor blew a big first half lead, but came roaring back in the 2nd half to take a 76-60 win over Oklahoma State. Most of the second half charge was led by Manu Lecomte, who was struggling with a sore shoulder. Lecomte scored 30 points on the night, 25 in the second half, to lead the Bears to the much needed conference win. The Bears shot 43% from 3-point range, including Lecomte’s 7 for 12 showing. It seemed they may have taken their momentum into the weekend matchup against Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. The Bears fell behind early, but rallied to take a 6 point lead with two minutes left in the game. It wouldn’t hold, and the Jayhawks took a 70-67 win. Lecomte’s 3-point stroke failed him, as he went 1 of 8 from beyond the arc. Jo Lual-Acuil led the Bears with 14 points and 12 rebounds, but fouled out in the loss. Baylor gets Kansas State at home before traveling to Florida on Saturday.
TCU HORNED FROGS (14-5, 2-5 BIG XII)
Last week (1-1): W-Iowa State 96-73, L-@ Kansas State 73-68
This week: Monday vs. West Virginia, Saturday @ Vanderbilt
After losing 4 of 5 to start conference play, TCU got a convincing Big 12 win over Iowa State, 96-73. Playing without Jaylen Fisher, who injured his knee in practice, the Frogs didn’t miss a beat. Vladimir Brodzianksy was 11 of 13 from the field for 26 points. Alex Robinson set a TCU record with 17 assists in the win. Even without their starting point guard, the Frogs only committed 4 turnovers. The turnover bug bit the Frogs later in the week, losing the ball 14 times in a 73-68 loss at Kansas State. Brodziansky again led TCU with 15 points a game that saw the first ever ejection of TCU head coach Jamie Dixon. The Horned Frogs get a home matchup with West Virginia and a road trip to Vanderbilt this week.
TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (15-4, 4-3 BIG XII)
Last week (0-2): L-@ Texas 67-58, L-@ Iowa State 70-52
This week: Tuesday vs. Oklahoma State, Saturday @ South Carolina
The Big 12 parity bug finally caught up to Texas Tech. They dropped a 67-58 game to Texas, but Chris Beard believes his team still has what it takes to win the conference. The Raiders shot 38% from the field and 26% from 3-point range in the loss. Freshman Jarrett Culver led the Red Raiders with 16 points and 9 rebounds. The Red Raiders haven’t won a game in Austin since 1996. Ames, Iowa was not much friendlier, as the Red Raiders dropped back to back games for the first time this season in a 70-52 defeat. Keenan Evans, who has led Texas Tech in scoring all season, could only muster 7 points on 2 of 12 shooting. The Raiders as a team shot only 33% from the field. Tech draws Oklahoma State and South Carolina this week.
SMU MUSTANGS (14-6, 4-3 AAC)
Last week (2-0): W-@ Wichita State 83-78, W- Tulane 73-62
This week: Thursday @ Connecticut, Sunday vs. East Carolina
SMU got the toughest win you can get in the AAC, taking an 83-78 game at Wichita State. Shake Milton had a career high 33 points to lead the Mustangs, going 11 of 14 including 5 of 6 from deep. The Ponies didn’t miss much, shooting 63% from the field. The win broke Wichita’s 27 game home winning streak. Milton was hot again against Tulane, scoring 20 to lead the Mustangs to a 73-62 win over the Wave. Jimmy Whitt added 18 points and 5 steals in the victory. SMU gets two bottom-half of the conference opponents in Connecticut and East Carolina this week.
LSU TIGERS (11-7, 2-4 SEC)
Last week (0-2): L-Georgia 61-60, L-@ Vanderbilt 77-71
This week: Tuesday vs. Texas A&M, Saturday @ Auburn
LSU has shown promise early in conference play, but this week was a reminder that they are far from a finished product. Tremont Waters missed a 3 to win the game with two seconds left and LSU lost 61-60 to Georgia. Georgia took the lead with five seconds left to seal the comeback after LSU led by 10 at the half. Waters, LSU’s leading scorer on the season, only scored 6 for the Tigers. Junior Brandon Sampson led LSU with 17 points in the loss. The Bulldogs dominated the glass 38-27. Vanderbilt, the last place team in the SEC, took a 77-71 win over the Tigers in Nashville. Duop Reath did his part, putting up an impressive stat line of 31 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. He shot 13 of 20 from the field, but the rest of the team shot only 14 of 42. LSU gets Texas A&M at home before traveling to Auburn.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.