This week’s slate didn’t feature many ranked matchups, but teams are still molding their identities in preparation for the NCAA Tournament. The No. 1 Connecticut Huskies continued to dominate their Big East opponents while the South Carolina Gamecocks got blown out by the Auburn Tigers. Meanwhile, the Samford Bulldogs are on the verge of setting a new school record for wins in a single season and are looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over two decades. Let’s break down college basketball’s latest happenings.
Team of the Week: Connecticut
For the last five weeks, the same team has been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll: the Connecticut Huskies. Coming off a national championship, the Huskies haven’t spent any time outside of the top six, and they are 3-1 against ranked opponents this season. This week, they won their nation-leading thirteenth straight game.
The kicker? Out of the eight players with minutes in last year’s championship game, only three returned to Connecticut to try and defend their title. How have the Huskies remained successful?
Their three returning contributors, Donovan Clingan, Alex Karaban, and Tristen Newton are three of the team’s top four leading scorers. The trifecta’s championship DNA is key for this year’s Huskies team, as they are averaging a combined 42 points and 8.7 assists per game, whereas the rest of the Huskies (eleven players) average 47.6 points and 10.9 assists per game.
However, the team’s leading scorer this season is senior guard transfer Cam Spencer. Connecticut is 23-2, and in their two losses, the Rutgers product has put up only five and six points, respectively, which illustrates his importance to the Huskies’ dominance.
On Saturday, Connecticut faced off against the Georgetown Hoyas on the road. Georgetown is only 1-5 at home against Big East opponents, and the Huskies are the consensus best team in the conference. After a 52-28 halftime deficit, the Hoyas were never able to gain momentum, and Connecticut cruised to a 89-64 victory.
Their opponent Wednesday night, the DePaul Blue Demons, are the only team in the Big East worse than Georgetown. After taking a 4-3 lead in the game’s opening minutes, the Huskies led for the rest of the contest and finished with a 101-65 blowout. Every Huskie starter scored in double figures, with Karaban scoring 21 to lead the way.
But Connecticut doesn’t just beat up on bad teams. Out of their 23 wins, six have been decided by fewer than ten points. Only three of those were separated by five or less points. Connecticut has been a juggernaut, and there is no sign of a championship hangover. Now that they are all but guaranteed one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, there is a chance that the Huskies will be the first back-to-back national champions since the Florida Gators in 2007.
How real is South Carolina?
Even after a 17-3 start, the South Carolina Gamecocks were not ranked in the AP Poll throughout January. Finally, after a road win against No. 5 Tennessee two weeks ago, the Gamecocks joined the poll at No. 15 and have climbed up to No. 11 since. More importantly, the battle for first place in the SEC is tight, with Alabama, South Carolina, and the Auburn Tigers all within one game of each other before last week’s results.
On Wednesday night, in what ended up being a battle for second place, the Gamecocks went to Neville Arena for a tough road test against Auburn. Before the game, South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris said, “Auburn’s gonna play incredibly hard because that’s what they do. It’s a home game for them… they’re in a race… we’re a team that’s also in the race.”
If Wednesday night’s game was a race, the Gamecocks were riding a slower horse. By halftime, Auburn took a 50-28 lead, completely dominating South Carolina on both ends of the floor. The Gamecock offense couldn’t convert on any looks, shooting less than 35% from the field, whereas Auburn was north of a bloodthirsty 60% on the night.
After the 101-61 blowout, Paris said, “Stuff happens. Sometimes you get the bull; sometimes the bull gets you.”
In his 57 games as South Carolina’s head coach, the Gamecocks have now lost by 40 or more points four times. However, Wednesday night was the first time it has happened this season.
The Gamecocks are still 21-4 and in third place in the Southeastern Conference standings. Four of their remaining six games are Quad 1 contests, which will give both the committee and fans a better idea of how South Carolina will fare against NCAA Tournament opponents.
Mid-Major Spotlight: Samford
Who are the Samford Bulldogs? College basketball fans who only watch March Madness probably won’t know, as the Bulldogs haven’t played a game in the NCAA Tournament since March 16, 2000 as the postseason’s sole representative of the Trans America Athletic Conference, which dissolved over 20 years ago. Since then, the Bulldogs have a 324-380 record and haven’t won more than 21 games in a single season.
That is, until this week, when Samford got their 22nd and 23rd wins with at least six more opportunities to add to their total. Like most mid-major schools, Samford will almost certainly have to win their conference tournament to show up on brackets, but their 23-3 record indicates that they could be this year’s Cinderella story if they get the opportunity.
As of today, the Bulldogs are one of five teams in the nation shooting over 40% on 3-pointers. The others? No. 2 ranked Purdue, No. 12 Baylor, No. 22 Kentucky, and projected Southland Conference champions McNeese State.
Samford is in good 3-point shooting company, but they don’t rely on threes. In fact, more than 100 teams take a higher proportion of shots behind the arc. The team’s leading scorer, junior forward Achor Achor, takes less than two 3-pointers per game. On Wednesday night against the Western Carolina Catamounts, Achor didn’t make a single three, but still led the Bulldogs in scoring with 18 points. Samford won 88-62 and led for the entire second half.
With one more win this season, the Bulldogs would tie their school record from 1999 of 24 single-season wins. However, no wins will matter until the Southern Conference Tournament, where every game will be a must-win if Samford wants to bust brackets in March.