Performance of the Week: Boise State Broncos
While it’s become an overused cliche, Hall of Famer Yogi Berra’s famous quote, “It ain’t over til it over” certainly applied if you’re trying to describe Boise State’s dramatic 18 point comeback in the final three and a half minutes to beat Utah State.
The Broncos appeared to be adding another conference loss to their record after they struggled through the Saturday night battle with the Aggies, but behind the cool shooting of freshman point guard RayJ Dennis, they team mounted improbable comeback and turned it on when it mattered most.
With 3:36 left, Utah State’s top post man, Neemias Queta, fouled out, sending Boise State to the free throw line and beginning the downfall of Utah State’s large lead. After the Broncos’ RJ Williams swished two free throws, Dennis knocked down the next five points, including a huge three pointer, bringing the deficit to 11. But that wasn’t the only time Dennis would convert on a key three in the final minutes. He did it three more times in the final two minutes, and along with two dunks by teammates, they found themselves all of a sudden within three points, down 68-65 in the final 46 seconds. The play of the game proved to be, rightly, in the last 10 seconds of the game. Following a huge Dennis three, Boise forward Justinian Jessup intercepted a Utah State pass, spun around and laid the ball off the backboard, watching it fall in with just 1.1 seconds to go, and tying the game at 75.
With the crowd back in it, Boise dominated overtime, pulling away as the tired, and somewhat confused Aggies tried to get back their lead. However, it was too late. Boise State finished the improbable comeback in overtime, with a 88-83 victory and a surge of confidence that there’s never a deficit they can't overcome at any point in a game.
Upsets Galore!
If you were a top 25 team, especially on Wednesday, you were lucky to survive with a victory, no matter what the final score was or the quality of the opponent, because many others weren’t as lucky as unranked opponents rose to the occasion and took down some of the nation’s best teams. Here’s my ranking of the five upsets of top 25 teams on Wednesday based on surprise from least to most:
5. No. 18 Seton Hall over No. 5 Butler- Seton Hall, led by future NBA draft pick Myles Powell could easily become one of those dark horse teams come NCAA tournament time. They have played well throughout the season, always on the verge of becoming a premier team, and this win over Butler only solidified that. However, what made it an upset was that Seton Hall has not fared very well against top 10 teams on the road throughout the program’s history, only winning once it that type of a matchup before this one. It’s also important to add that Butler lost again on Saturday, this time to unranked DePaul. It’s safe to say they won’t be in the top five this week.
4. Georgetown over No. 25 Creighton, 83-80- In a closely contested Big East game, the Hoyas of Georgetown rose to the occasion on their home court behind 20 points from Omer Yurtseven, a native of Turkey.
3. South Carolina over No. 10 Kentucky-There was a huge difference between the Gamecocks and Wildcats in this game, and really, this difference can apply to the majority of Kentucky’s losses this season: experience. Something typical for Kentucky, the majority of the team is underclassmen, freshmen and sophomores. While these are some of the highest rated players in the country coming out of high school, they lack experience at the college level, which has worked against them on multiple occasions this season, such as against the Gamecocks. In comparison, Frank Martin’s squad, who are also very well-coached, have four seniors who have played multiple seasons in the SEC and know how to finish close games.
2. Temple over No. 16 Wichita State- The Shockers had played great basketball up to this point, but a cold shooting day on the road was just too much to overcome as they missed several three pointers in the final few minutes, putting away the possible chance of a comeback. They followed that up with a loss on Saturday to Houston, making them the third top 25 team this week to lose both of their games.
1. Alabama over No. 4 Auburn- The Tigers saw their undefeated season come to an abrupt end when they fell in two consecutive road games this week to unranked opponents as a Saturday defeat at Florida succeeded this one. What was most surprising about the loss wasn’t that Auburn was defeated, but rather how much they were defeated by. On this particular night, they didn’t play like the No. 4 team in the nation, shooting just 31% from the field and 57% from the free throw line.
My Top Four
If the season ended today, and determined the final four, here’s the four teams I would select:
1. Baylor
2. Gonzaga
3. Kansas
4. Duke
It was tough to include Duke, especially after losing twice this week, but their strength of schedule and overall play this season helped them squeeze into that fourth spot ahead of teams like San Diego State and Oregon.
Have a great week!
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