Last night (and yesterday in the wee morning) in MACsketball:
Hawaii 65, Central Michigan 62 — Not sayin', just sayin'. The Chips are 0-2 when Trey Zeigler is the high scorer; they're 1-0 when he isn't. But it won't be that way forever. If you did the whole watch-for-24-hours-straight marathon, you might've felt the two hours draggin' a little, since there were 41 fouls called in 40 minutes. Ball. Whistle. Ball. Whistle. Zeigler finished with 24 points, five rebounds, and five turnovers. Put Jalin Thomas down for 14. And get the heck back on the mainland. You can drink the water. Next game: Saturday, 11/20 at South Alabama
Kent State 62, Robert Morris 59 — Ha. Ha. I gigglesnickered at the poll results wherein you wanted me to get up at 8 a.m. and watch all of this one. But I realized that I'd have had to leave before its conclusion to go to work, so I didn't bother. But I did roll over and notice that KSU was down double-digits to start the half. Once I was out of the shower, Kent State's lead had diminished, and I like to think that they and I were waking up at the same time. Justin Greene had 11 of his 20 points in said second half to go along with his 12 rebounds. Randal Holt also had a strong second half to finish with 12 points. They probably slept all day, those adorable lads. Next game: Friday, 11/19 vs. Furman
Duke 79, Miami 45 — Well, yeah. The RedHawks' only lead was 1-0, which lasted for all of two minutes. It was a good time. From there, Duke went on the inevitable 79-44 run. Nick Winbush gets the gold star for a 14-point performance. In fact, everyone gets some type of prize for holding the defending national champs to 80 points. Just barely. Next game: Saturday, 11/20 vs. IUPUI
Bradley 66, Northern Illinois 63 — I don't know what it's called when you have more turnovers than field goals, but NIU just barely escaped that stigma. 21 buckets, 20 turnovers. To do that an lose by three ... you're treading on thin ice. The obligatory Xavier Silas line: 22 points, 6-of-6 on free throws. Nate Rucker earned his 14 points and 10 rebounds. Okay, enough of these losses to in-state schools. Let's beat down an overmatched team. Next game: Saturday, 11/20 vs. Cardinal Stritch (NAIA school)
Youngstown State 64, Buffalo 53 — The 10-2 start was promising as it looked like UB was going to treat Penguins like they do naval cadets. But as you've heard from Morgan Freeman, penguins are a resilient, family-oriented species. They used a 17-0 run to flip the game back into their hands and, despite the Blue Bulls' best efforts, never relented the lead. The losing effort was accented by 13 points each from Dave Barnett and Jawaan Alston, the latter of whom also snatched eight rebounds. Byron Mulkey was the facilitator, stealing six balls and doling out five assists. Unvindicated. Buffalo's next game: Saturday, 11/20 vs. Towson
Dayton 76, Akron 68 — A cunning game plan for the Zips: THREE-BALL THREE-BALL THREE-BALL THREE-BALL THREE-BALL THREE-BALL THREE-BALL THREE-BALL... you get the idea. They took 36 three-point shots, converting on 14 of them, but the parabolic theory was no match for Flyer ingenuity, who rebounded fiercely. Brett McClanahan won't rue his performance: 21 points, 5-for-11 on threes. Nikola Cvetinovic did a bit of everything, cleaning up with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. And on the whole, Akron had just seven turnovers, because ill-advised three-points shots are, by rule, a different stat. Next game: Saturday, 11/20 vs. Youngstown State