City of Basketball Love

Matt Trabold (@TrabsMatt)
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In his weekly Trabs Files, CoBL national analyst Matt Trabold takes a look around the national college landscape, both in the week that was and the week to come:

Some Ranked Teams Dropped the Ball Right before the Ball Dropped

The final week of 2016 has already not gone swimmingly for a number of currently ranked squads. Just since Wednesday, two teams presently in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll were upset by unranked sides on top of another two barely squeaking out victories against much inferior opponents. Plus, eleven nationally ranked clubs will be squaring off against unranked opponents between Friday night and New Year's Eve on Saturday.

In the ten days prior to Nebraska playing at Assembly Hall on Wednesday night, the Cornhuskers were shocked by Gardner-Webb and narrowly survived previously 4-7 Southern by five points. Nebraska rebounded from that dastardly span in a massive way by ending Indiana’s 26-game home winning streak via a four-point victory over the Hoosiers. 6-7 sophomore Ed Morrow got back on track after a disappointing rebounding performance of three boards against Southern – following eighteen rebounds versus Gardner-Webb – with ten rebounds, twelve points and five blocks against the Hoosiers.

James Blackmon Jr. may have gone 2-of-9 from behind the arc in the defeat, but it is what he did with 25 seconds to go in regulation that may have sealed Indiana’s fate. The leading scorer for Tom Crean and his staff somehow missed a layup with no one legitimately around him. The reason may have been him being quite surprised the route to the bucket opened up so much in the hustle and bustle of the possession. That basket would have tied the score.

Beating an underachieving Syracuse side is one thing – even if it was by 33 points. Downing thirteenth-ranked Butler in a game where you trailed by double figures in the second half is another level of achievement altogether. St. John’s freshman guard Shamorie Ponds was as poised as a grizzled veteran at the charity stripe in the final nine seconds of regulation with 4-of-4 shooting on foul shots en route to the three-point victory. The leading scorer for the Red Storm ended the game with a game- and career-high 26 points, seven rebounds at 6-1, two steals and two blocks.

Undefeated Southern California squared off against undermanned and previously 4-9 Oregon State on Thursday night. The Trojans shot 5-of-18 from downtown, were outscored by ten points in the second half and had more turnovers than the Beavers, who have fallen to Lamar, Savannah State, Long Beach State and Portland this season already, but still survived by seven points. On Wednesday night, top-ranked Villanova squeaked out a three-point win over a DePaul side that came in after dropping two in a row against Missouri State and Wyoming.

Watch Your Back, Goliath (Upset Predictions)

No. 11 West Virginia at Texas Tech--Tues., Jan. 3, 9:15 PM ET

Texas Tech may be flying under the radar a little bit this campaign after Tubby Smith left following last season to take the same position at Memphis, but the Red Raiders still boast a striking 11-1 record thus far. In his last year at the helm in Lubbock, Smith brought the program to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2005 installment. Unlike Smith though, the squad’s new head man in Chris Beard actually won a game in the 2016 NCAA Tournament when he occupied the seat on the team bench closest to the scorers table for Arkansas at Little Rock.

The Red Raiders currently have five double-digit scorers as a part of eight players averaging at least 7.3 points an outing. Returnees – Keenan Evans and Zach Smith for example – make up a slight majority of that group, but new faces, like Arkansas State transfer Anthony Livingston and top-thirty junior college transfer Shadell Millinghaus, have played a pivotal role in this hot start as well. Junior mountain of a man Norense Odiase went 4-of-6 from the field for eight points in eleven minutes against Longwood in Texas Tech’s last contest in just his first game of the season due to a foot injury. Odiase missed twelve games in the latter half of his sophomore campaign because of the same type of injury to his other foot.

It is no shock that “Press Virginia” is yet again first nationally in steals average, turnover margin and turnovers forced at the moment. On top of that, the Mountaineers are presently fourth in the country in scoring defense. The facet of the team’s game that has been a good deal better so far this time around is scoring in general. Through twelve ballgames this campaign, West Virginia is scoring around thirteen more points per contest than last season. The club is fifth nationally in scoring offense.

Brigham Young at No. 19 Saint Mary’s--Thurs., Jan. 5, 11:00 PM ET

The Gaels got a scare in their West Coast Conference opener against Loyola Marymount. Saint Mary’s led by only six points with 5:47 to go in regulation. Brigham Young certainly provides more of a challenge on paper than the Lions. The most notable aspect of the Cougars this season so far is their might on the boards. Dave Rose’s men lead the country in rebounding with 45.5 boards an outing. At the forefront of that feat is sophomore Eric Mika. In his first game back to action after a two-year Mormon mission to Italy, Mika pulled down eighteen rebounds to go with his 26 points versus a Princeton side that was deemed one of the tip-top mid-majors around before the unfortunate season-ending injuries to Hans-George Brase and Henry Caruso. Starting point guard L.J. Rose is even averaging just fewer than six rebounds per contest after not having a rebounding average of over 2.5 boards an outing in any of his first four men’s college basketball seasons. The former Houston Cougar and Baylor Bear is currently top-fifty in the country is assists average and barely outside the top-fifty in the country in assist-turnover ratio.

It is safe to say that Saint Mary’s has not fared as well as Brigham Young on the glass this year thus far. The Gaels currently find themselves tied for 217th nationally in rebounding. With that being said, the vastly improved Jock Landale has a better rebounding average than anybody on his team’s opponent for this one. The 6-11 junior has not only added ten points and nearly six rebounds to the averages from his sophomore campaign, but he is also top-forty in the country on the boards at this point. Landale has rattled off four double-doubles in a row against Western Kentucky, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, South Carolina State and Loyola Marymount last time out in that start to conference play.

Stat Tease

College of Charleston at Elon: Three-Point Shooting

Grayson Allen’s now infamous trip of Steven Santa Ana makes most people forget that Elon was actually up on the fifth-ranked team in the country at the time in Duke at halftime nine days ago. Four games prior, the Phoenix hit eleven threeballs to only lose to Georgetown by three points. That is a big reason why Elon is top-25 nationally right now in total three-point field goals made. 6-8 Brian Dawkins is still at the top of the country in three-point field goal percentage at 62.5% with twenty converted three-point field goal attempts under his belt up to this point. Dawkins went a perfect 4-of-4 from behind the arc against the Blue Devils.

The aspect of this contest that is arguably the most interesting is the caliber of perimeter defense that College of Charleston can throw at that volume perimeter prowess. The Cougars are fifth nationally in three-point field goal defense through thirteen games. Earl Grant’s contingent held the second-ranked team in the country at the time in Villanova to 5-of-17 shooting from downtown earlier this season. Quick paws play a major role in this impressive part of College of Charleston’s game. Four healthy Cougars average at least one steal an outing. Former Western Kentucky Hilltopper Payton Hulsey was averaging 1.4 steals per contest before a toe injury sidelined him after the first five contests of this campaign.

Philadelphia-Area Product Update

Ja'Quan Newton--Jr., Miami (Fl.) (Neumann-Goretti)

Newton posted career-high marks in scoring and rebounding with 22 points on 3-of-5 shooting from downtown and 9 rebounds at 6-2 against a pesky Columbia side Wednesday night. He has stepped into the role of the top scoring option for the Hurricanes after the graduation of current Washington Wizard Sheldon McClellan and Ángel Rodríguez.

Miles Overton--Jr., Drexel (St. Joseph's Prep)

In a crosstown battle against Penn Wednesday night, the first-year Wake Forest transfer guard recorded a career-high nineteen points. Overton hitting five three-pointers in that one is a big improvement over how he performed offensively from behind the arc over his first five games as a Dragon. He started this season going 2-of-23 from deep versus Monmouth, Rutgers, Hartford, North Texas and Niagara.

Carrington Ward--Sr., Norfolk State (Philadelphia Electrical and Technology Charter)

Two games ago in an overtime win for the Spartans over Eastern Kentucky, the first-year North Texas transfer had the first double-digit scoring performance against a Division I opponent of his Norfolk State career with ten points, a career-high five rebounds, a block and a steal. Ward has gone 15-of-19 from the charity stripe thus far this year.

Tyere Marshall--Fr., Rider (Martin Luther King)

Marshall only received thirteen minutes of playing time against North Carolina State on Wednesday night, but he still made his presence felt with seven points, seven rebounds, a block and a steal. Those seven boards versus the Wolfpack gave him three outings in a row pulling down seven of those bad boys. The other two ballgames in that span were against Massachusetts and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State.