It’s coming down to the final stretch of the season for many teams hoping to sneak into the NCAA Tournament. With not much time left to build their March Madness resumes, every game’s importance is magnified. Tuesday night saw several teams who are “on the bubble” secure big-time wins.
Georgia Bulldogs Score Massive Upset of #3 Florida
The Georgia Bulldogs have been a tough out in a loaded SEC conference, but entering their home game against the mighty Gators, they had just a 4-10 conference record with just 16 wins overall. Even considering their 27th-ranked schedule, the Bulldogs had work to do and were outside of the field in ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s projections.
Tuesday night saw the Bulldogs rise to the occasion and secure a monumental upset that will define their season. Georgia jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the first 4 minutes that became 51-35 at the half, and despite a furious comeback from Florida, Georgia held on for an 88-83 win.
Silas Demary Jr. led the scoring for Georgia with 21 points. Star freshman Asa Newell was impactful as always, with 15 points and 9 rebounds, and the hero of the game was Blu Cain, who, after Georgia fell behind by 2 with only a minute to play, hit a massive three-pointer that gave them the lead back.
If Georgia can close out their season with a few more wins against some of the SEC’s bottom dwellers, then they should be comfortably in the Tournament.
West Virginia Takes Another Step and Blows Out TCU
The Mountaineers have had an extremely rocky go of things in conference play this year, but have found enough Ws to keep their tournament chances alive. WVU demolished TCU on Tuesday, winning 73-55. Javon Small once again led the way with 23-5-10, and Joseph Yesefu added 14 off the bench. The team shot over 42% from three and made 11 total treys.
West Virginia currently resides in Lunardi’s “Last Four Byes” range, one category ahead of the “Last Four In” group. Their victory over the Horned Frogs sets up a showdown with #25 BYU on Saturday, a game that West Virginia could use to all but secure their ticket to the Big Dance.
San Diego State Downs League-Leading New Mexico
The SDSU Aztecs are in a similar position to West Virginia – sitting in the Last Four Byes zone and needing to do some work to make Selection Sunday a less dramatic occasion. Tuesday night was a significant evening for the team, as they faced a New Mexico Lobos team that was in first place in the Mountain West.
San Diego State earned a 73-65 win, with guards Nick Boyd and Miles Byrd running the show as per usual. New Mexico’s Donovan Dent had 26 points but needed 20 shots to get there. SDSU’s defense was good all night, holding their opponents to 34.4% from the field – which was good enough to overcome 15 Aztec turnovers.
San Diego State is looking fairly comfortable as of now. New Mexico may now have some added pressure, and nothing is guaranteed for this team. Even though they’ve had a strong year, it is always trickier for teams not in power conferences, who need to hope that the Selection Committee will favorably treat them despite a weak strength of schedule and a lack of high-profile wins outside of the conference.
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