00:00And welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid. Great matchups inside of the top 25 yesterday. And of course, in the month of December, it's what we get before conference play begins. Let's bring in Mike DiCorsi from Sporting News for a recap and a preview of what is to come. Mike, happy holidays. Great to have you back here on Newswire. I know certainly these are some really good matchups, unfortunately, for my Florida Gators. This is not the best start defending the national championship for them.
00:27But I guess when you lose Walter Clayton, this is going to happen. The Gators offense, not nearly as good. 67 to 66. Duke comes up with a big shot late. Thanks to, of course, a lot of great performances in this one. But very specifically, Cameron Boozer on pace to do with Cooper Flag did last year, which is when maybe player of the year. So Duke moves up. The Gators probably going to move down a little bit more, although they had a nice little run recently. What did you make of this game last night?
00:52Yeah, honestly, I give Florida a lot of credit for getting back into that game because they were down 15 points and Duke had never lost like an 85 games or so when they were up by 15. And Florida had a legitimate chance to win that game. I thought the Gators did a nice defensive job, but the offense doesn't flow.
01:11They had four assists last night, the whole game. The offense does not flow. You had such a great performance by Thomas Houck for much of that game. And then when it was being decided, he was more or less as much of a spectator as I was, but he was in the building. I was at home.
01:28So that was about the only difference. He should have had the ball more often down the stretch. That was a big key to why Florida was not able to close. But you got to give a lot of credit to Duke. Cameron Boozer is a fantastic player. So versatile, so physically powerful, so many different things he can do to succeed.
01:48And I think Duke won on a night where they did not play great offensively either. You had a reasonably ineffective performance by Isaiah Evans. He made a huge play at the end of the game that made a difference, but he was only 5 of 14 from the field, 1 of 8 from 3. It's not who he is. He's one of the better offensive players in the country. So big time win for Duke on a night where maybe they weren't their best.
02:14Yeah, and Boozer's still the favorite to win the Wooden Award. He's plus 170. Generally, you don't see that this early in the season, but he's been fantastic. And naturally, Duke favored to win the ACC. And then some of the other items there, as you see the Final Four National Championships, still work in progress. But a big win and a great resume win for a potential number one seed in the tournament in March. Long way to go, I know, until then.
02:37North Carolina defeats Kentucky 67-64. And Mike, a game that a lot of folks thought Kentucky would end up coming out on top of this one. How did Carolina get this done?
02:49Well, first of all, Henry V. Saar was fantastic and really dominated the game, especially out of pick-and-roll play. Kentucky could not guard the pick-and-roll action.
02:58And that's a problem for the Wildcats for sure. And then also, you had Caleb Wilson playing fantastic. He's one of the best players in the country, one of the best freshmen in the country, doing a phenomenal job.
03:12Kentucky's offense just does not connect. They lost or have, for now, do not have access to Jalen Lowe, the transfer point guard from Pitt.
03:21We don't know what his status will be. We know that there were some early reports that he might sit the rest of the year, but he sort of backed away from that and is trying to get himself back out there.
03:33And they need him. Denzel Aberdeen, who transferred from Florida, your Gators, and was a big part of the national championship team last year, is trying to fill in as a full-time point guard.
03:42And he just doesn't seem to understand the responsibility of the position, when he could shoot, when he shouldn't shoot, when he needs to get others involved, how to get in the lane and make plays.
03:54Those things aren't happening for the Wildcats, and it's really become a problem for them.
03:58Low-scoring game in Kansas, where UConn wins, and they are a top-five team. Kansas, ranked number 21 in the country.
04:06But, you know, certainly a really good matchup here, 61-56. And I know the Huskies aren't really known for their offense this season, especially inside the top 10.
04:15You can see where their offense ranks. It's nowhere near some of the other squads there.
04:19But defensively, getting it done yet again, and contributions, double-digit contributions, Mike, from a lot of players in this one as well.
04:25Yeah, Braylon Mullins, who had missed most of the first part of the season, a freshman from Indiana, small forward type, who is really offensively skilled.
04:36He has a chance to be one of the great shooters in college basketball this year.
04:40Missed a bunch of early games with injury, and he was back last night and was a huge difference.
04:47Kansas had a difficult time guarding him, along with Solo Ball and some of the other UConn players.
04:56But I think what really helped UConn get this win was the inavailability of Darren Peterson.
05:03Kansas just isn't talented enough. With Darren Peterson, they are talented enough to be a Final Four team.
05:09But he is such a gifted player and so important as a point guard and as an offensive weapon.
05:15And without him, Kansas just doesn't have enough to fight off a good performance, maybe not even great yet.
05:22Mullins added to Caravan and Ball and some of the others gives them the offense.
05:27But Terrace Reed's still not available, and he's a great finisher around the goal and a physical presence on defense.
05:33And he didn't play last night.
05:35So I think there's a lot of better basketball out there still for UConn.
05:39Meanwhile, Kansas has moved down plus 950 to win their, of course, conference BYU, plus 550 Iowa State.
05:47Still at the top here in the Big 12. Long way to go as we continue the college basketball season.
05:52So weird still to see Arizona, some of these teams in the pack now playing in the Big 12, I've got to tell you.
05:57All right, so Louisville ranked sixth in the country.
06:01No test for them last week, Mike.
06:03They played a couple of, I hate to say cupcakes, but they won by, I believe, 40 and 50 their last couple of times.
06:08So they're hanging around there.
06:09They're going to get tested tonight, though, against the SEC in Arkansas.
06:12Total 165 and a half.
06:14So two and a half point favorites for Louisville tonight.
06:18But look, Arkansas is not one of these teams that's going to lay down at home.
06:22This is going to be a much tougher matchup, I would assume, this evening.
06:25Yeah, this is an interesting game because Arkansas really needs it.
06:29Playing at home against a high-level opponent, they lost both of their games to date against high-level opposition, Duke and Michigan State.
06:36Weren't expected to win either of those games.
06:39But this one at home, I feel like the Razorbacks really need to put out a great effort.
06:45They've been led in shooting and scoring by their two freshmen, Darius Acuff and Malik Thomas.
06:52And they haven't been involving the veterans enough.
06:55Acuff, the point guard, needs to get those guys more involved.
06:59And Malik Thomas is a great guy to have in transition and when the shot clock's down and when he's left wide open.
07:06But I think he's been a little bit too eager to shoot the basketball and not remembering.
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