Ranked games today

[Phil]

18th ranked Villanova shouldn't have had much trouble with Providence, but they were down at the end of the first quarter, down at the half, still down at the end of three quarters, and needed a 22-11 final quarter to pull out a win.

Even more surprising is the Green Bay Northern Kentucky game.

Northern Kentucky came into the game with 2 and 10 record and was expected to lose by 34 points.

Despite managing to score only two points in the third quarter, they outscored Green Bay in two of the other three quarters and beat the 19th ranked Green Bay team by eight points.

What happened?

Northern Kentucky didn't score in the first three minutes of the game, but the outdid themselves in the third quarter with a went over eight and half minutes before scoring.

Yet they won, knocking off a ranked team.

 

[trisailin]

I was just about to make a post titled "What happened?".
I agree Phil - TOTALLY baffling result.
You were kind too, citing the Massey prediction at 34 points...Sagarin had it near 50 points.
Anybody have any insight?

 

[Plebe]

This was all about 3-pointers and free throws.

Northern Kentucky came into this game shooting 28% from the arc. But today they went 10 of 24, with 6 different players hitting 3s.
By comparison, Green Bay came in shooting 36% from 3, but today was only 4 of 22. Ouch.

NKU also shot 22 of 26 from the FT line. Over half of these free throws came in the final minute of the game, when NKU was 12 of 14.

Incredible that NKU only made 5 two-point FGs all game long, and still won the game.

 

[MilfordHusky]

18th ranked Villanova shouldn't have had much trouble with Providence, but they were down at the end of the first quarter, down at the half, still down at the end of three quarters, and needed a 22-11 final quarter to pull out a win.

Even more surprising is the Green Bay Northern Kentucky game.

Northern Kentucky came into the game with 2 and 10 record and was expected to lose by 34 points.

Despite managing to score only two points in the third quarter, they outscored Green Bay in two of the other three quarters and beat the 19th ranked Green Bay team by eight points.

What happened?

Northern Kentucky didn't score in the first three minutes of the game, but the outdid themselves in the third quarter with a went over eight and half minutes before scoring.

Yet they won, knocking off a ranked team.

Among other things, teams lack focus over the holidays and when they are out of their regular semester routine. I expect a few more head-scratchers over the next 2 weeks or so.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I suspect they entered the game thinking it was a walk over.

 

[donalddoowop]

This was all about 3-pointers and free throws.

Northern Kentucky came into this game shooting 28% from the arc. But today they went 10 of 24, with 6 different players hitting 3s.
By comparison, Green Bay came in shooting 36% from 3, but today was only 4 of 22. Ouch.

NKU also shot 22 of 26 from the FT line. Over half of these free throws came in the final minute of the game, when NKU was 12 of 14.

Incredible that NKU only made 5 two-point FGs all game long, and still won the game.

The way they improved their three point shooting percentage in this game, they must have thought they were playing UCONN.

 

[Plebe]

The way they improved their three point shooting percentage in this game, they must have thought they were playing UCONN.

For most teams in the Horizon League, playing Green Bay is like playing UConn. A win over the Phoenix will be the highlight of their season.

 

[Vowelguy]

Green Bay's chance of an at-large bid to the NCAAs takes a serious nosedive thanks to a loss to RPI 300+ team.

 

[Plebe]

Green Bay's chance of an at-large bid to the NCAAs takes a serious nosedive thanks to a loss to RPI 300+ team.

Well, after today's game NKU moved up to #268

One bad loss won't break Green Bay's chances, but they can't afford many more of those. Their wins over Arizona State, South Dakota State, and Marquette are likely to stand as top-50 wins.

 

[Magy Cannon]

SEC channel 611 on Direct TV has a full afternoon of women's college basketball. TN, MS State, and South Carolina are all opening SEC play.