The Daily Gus: December 7th

A mini-upset Saturday was brewed across the national landscape, and two Big Ten rivals led the way to do so. Ohio State and Michigan both faced top 10 squads who the nation loves, Notre Dame and Duke respectively. Ohio State got Notre Dame on a neutral court and Michigan got the Blue Devils in the friendly confines of Ann Arbor. As called right here on MTM, the Buckeyes would prevail in Luke Harangody's first game back from sickness. Ohio State got the win, 67-62 led strongly by a career day from OSU forward Evan Turner. Turner had 28 on 11-16 from the field to go along with ten rebounds and five assists. He did it all and Ohio State capped off an incredible week, beating Miami and then ND, to certainly garner some national respect. Surprising to this columnist, Harangody played fantastic in his comeback, he had 25 and 16, but it was the Buckeye press and smothering defense that was their benchmark. Ohio State got up by as many as ten, forcing the Irish guards to really struggle with the pressure and as a result their jumpers fell short. Irish guards Kyle McAlarney and Tory Jackson combined for just a 7-22 performance and only 19 of the 62 Dame points. Ohio State now does not leave Columbus until the Big Ten season kicks off on January 3rd, so it is a distinct possibility we could be seeing a 12-0, highly ranked Buckeye team taking on Michigan State in early 2009. Michigan got beat at Maryland by five on Wednesday after defeating lowly Savannah State by two last weekend. The Wolverines got up for Duke just as they did for UCLA and shocked the blue Devils led by DeShawn Sims' 28 points and 12 rebounds. John Beilein captures another giant killer win to his resume that just keeps on growing, and all of a sudden Michigan could be a Big Ten contender. Duke shot 48%, placed four players in double figures and equally rebounded and turned over with Michigan. Why the loss? 33 three point attempts. Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer went 2-14 from three, and the entire team did not even try to get the ball inside to post Singler, as Michigan was able to exercise its identity and slow down the game, getting easy buckets in transition and open looks from three. The telling statistic is at the free throw line, where *gasp* Michigan shot SIXTEEN more free throws than Duke. Last time that will ever happen, I promise. This however had nothing to do with the zebras, and everything to do with Duke's lack of desire to go inside. They could not utilize their size advantage and as a result take a real tough road loss to Michigan.

Shoot-Around

- Illinois moved to 7-1 after a 76-42 rout of Georgia on Saturday. Dennis Felton's UGA club has bounced right back to mediocrity after that miraculous run in the SEC tournament in March. They are 5-3, but have yet to get a 300+ RPI win, and have looked anything but stellar.

- Battle of Boston went to Boston College as Tyrese Rice had 21 for the Eagles as they dropped UMass to 1-6. The Minutemen led by three at the break, but down the stretch and in overtime no one could score except for Ricky Harris. Harris had 35 in the loss.

- UNLV is starting to get on track, they moved to 7-2 after a 64-57 win at in-state rival Nevada-Reno. Not only getting on track, but the Rebs seem to be a bit deeper than at first glance. Rene Rougeau had 19 and 13 for UNLV and TreVon Willis had 11 to go along with the regular contribution of Wink Adams' 11. UNLV leads the rivalry series 51-19!

- Dwight O'Neill hits a fadeaway jumper as time expires to give Fresno State a 66-64 victory over Pacific. The Spanos Center at UOP is one of the toughest venues on the west coast, so a great victory for Fresno. Paul George had 23 for Fresno who has been incredibly disappointing checking in at 3-4 with losses in all of their opportunity games; St. Mary, San Diego State, UNLV and Nevada. Maybe this can springboard them; the next eight are a piece of cake with a date at Creighton sandwiched in.

- Forget figuring out Charlotte. The Niners can't buy a home win, and then go into one of the toughest venues in the nation in Carbondale and squeak out a victory 66-64. Ian Andersen hit six treys for Charlotte as they moved to 2-6. Southern Illinois is certainly not as strong as past years, but a win in the doghouse is tough to come by.

- Curtis Jerrells struggled from the field (3/10) but Baylor got a win at Washington State 58-52. Wazzu is in a rebuilding mode, and is an overrated 6-2, but they only lost one game last season in Pullman to UCLA. Baylor moved to 7-1 and has looked mighty professional, just finding ways to win. If Jerrells continues to struggle though, those wins could become harder to come by.