Category: Men’s Basketball

Gators unchanged in Basketball Power Index rankings after loss

No changes in ranking for Florida since our last update but there have been some shifts in efficiency and other values.

The Gators saw their four-game winning streak come to an end in College Station on Saturday with a 67-66 loss to the Texas A&M Aggies that went down to the last shot. The late-game woes continue to haunt Florida as they fell to 15-7 overall with a 5-4 mark in Southeastern Conference play.

In ESPN’s latest Basketball Power Index update following the loss, Todd Golden’s team remained in the same spot as our last update at No. 28 overall, sitting between the No. 27 Oklahoma Sooners and No. 29 Wake Forest Demon Deacons — the of which beat the Gators earlier this season.

Florida’s BPI rating — a measurement of a team’s true strength moving forward — rose 0.2 points to 10.9. The offensive BPI fell 0.2 points to 7.7 but the defensive BPI rose 0.3 points to 3.2.

The win-loss projection slightly decreased to 20.4-10.6, with an also slightly reduced 10.4-7.6 prediction for the conference schedule. ESPN gives Florida a distant 0.6% chance to win the Southeastern Conference while the remaining strength of schedule ranks at No. 54.

The Gators will return home to host the Auburn Tigers inside the O’Connell Center on Saturday, Feb. 10. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

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Florida falls but still in NET rankings top 40 after TAMU loss

The Gators are still among the top 40 in the NET but lost some ground after the loss.

Florida basketball’s late-game woes finally caught up with it again on Saturday afternoon in College Station, where the Texas A&M Aggies outlasted the Gators, 67-66. It was yet another game that the Gators had late lead that disappeared before the end of regulation.

As a result of the Quad 1 loss, the Orange and Blue fell three spots to No. 39 overall in the NET rankings, putting them between the No. 38 South Carolina Gamecocks and the No. 40 Washington State Cougars.

Here’s how the quadrant system breaks things up:

  • Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
  • Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
  • Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
  • Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353

The Gators are now 1-7 against Quadrant 1 opponents, 3-0 against Quadrant 2 opponents, 7-0 against Quadrant 3 opponents and 4-0 against Quadrant 4 opponents. They hold a 15-7 record overall and a 5-4 mark in Southeastern Conference play.

The Gators will return home to host the Auburn Tigers inside the O’Connell Center on Saturday, Feb. 10. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

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MBB Recap: Ducks go cold down the stretch and fall to the Bruins

Oregon’s offense goes cold in the final five minutes and the Ducks fall to the Bruins 71-63 in Los Angeles.

If Oregon misses the NCAA tournament, the Ducks will probably look to this one game as the reason why.

In somewhat of a must-win game, the Ducks were unable to hit shots down the stretch inside Pauley Pavilion and UCLA was able to come away with a critical 71-63 victory.

With the loss, Oregon dropped to 15-7 overall and out of first place in the Pac-12 with a 7-4 record, 1/2 game behind Arizona.

This was one of the strangest games you’ll see this college basketball season as the Ducks found themselves down by 18 in the first half only to rally and take a 34-33 halftime lead.

Both the Ducks and Bruins traded baskets for most of the second half, but UCLA managed to go on a 13-3 run to end the game after it was 58-58 with just 5:23 left.

N’Faly led the Ducks with 16 points and eight rebounds while Jadrian Tracey added 15 points, 13 of those coming before halftime. His trio of treys brought the Ducks back into the game in the first half as the Bruins threatened to run Oregon out of the building.

Dylan Andrews led all scorers with 21 points. Most of his nine made shots came from the elbow off of a screen. UCLA ran that same play on Oregon’s defense more than a few times and killed the Ducks with that 15-foot jumper all night.

Sabastian Mack added 16 for the Bruins and Laz Stefanovic scored 15.

It was a missed opportunity for the Ducks to get a road win onto their resume and to get a nice road sweep in Los Angeles. Perhaps everyone should have known this wasn’t destined to occur even before the game as the Ducks were stuck on the team bus for over an hour due to the presidential motorcade.

Oregon arrived at the arena just a half hour before game time. UCLA was able to delay the official start time by 25 minutes to give the Ducks the proper time to warm up.

Unfortunately, it took a bit for the Ducks to get their legs under them. UCLA raced out to a 23-5 lead in the first 7:30 of the contest.

Now the Ducks will travel back to Eugene where the Washington schools await. The Huskies are first up on Thursday before taking on the Cougars on Saturday.

Will Baker credits teammates for hot start in win over Arkansas

Will Baker led the team with 25 points, converting on 9 of his 11 looks on Saturday.

LSU jumped out to a big early lead against Arkansas at home on Saturday, and it never looked back en route to a crucial 95-74 win that ended a three-game losing streak.

Forward [autotag]Will Baker[/autotag] was a major reason for that hot start. Baker led the team with 25 points, making 9 of his 11 attempts from the field including a 7 of 8 showing in the second half. He was even effective from long range, attempting five threes and sinking four of them.

Baker credited his teammates for allowing him to get in the zone early.

“My teammates found me on a corner three,” he said, per On3’s Matthew Brune. “I got in a rhythm early and I definitely think that helped me. All credit to my teammates because they kept finding me when I was open. I just stepped in and shot it.”

Baker wasn’t the only Tiger who got hot from three-point range. The team shot 12 of 23 from downtown as a whole, and it had 17 assists overall in the win.

“We have a lot of talent on the team,” guard [autotag]Jalen Cook[/autotag], who scored 20 coming off the bench, said. “We can spread it around. (Will) Baker can step out and shoot the three. We have a lot of three-point shooters. Mike Williams can shoot it. We have some shooters, so we just try space the floor out and attack.”

Baker concurred with Cook’s assessment.

“Like (Jalen) Cook said, we have shooters so that allows us to space the floor,” Baker said. “When you have threats like that it allows us to be able to drive and kick out to find more open looks. It just builds on itself. When one guy is a threat, he can drive and kick it to another shooter.”

The Tigers will hope that trend is one they can build on with a crucial road matchup against Tennessee coming up in the midweek.

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Matt McMahon praises LSU men’s basketball’s ‘team effort’ in big win over Arkansas

The Tigers battled injuries and illness during the bye week, but they didn’t show it on Saturday.

LSU entered Saturday’s home matchup against a floundering Arkansas team desperate for a win, and it got one.

The Tigers ended a three-game skid with a decisive, 95-74 win in a game that it controlled throughout. Now, the Tigers sit at 4-4 in SEC play and have already doubled their league win total from a season ago.

After the game, coach [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] praised what he called a “terrific” team effort.

“Thrilled with our players’ performance today,” McMahon said, per On3’s Matthew Brune. “I thought they were just terrific; a true team effort for 40 minutes. I thought on the defensive end, we were really locked in to the game plan and the things we needed to do. Then offensively, I thought it was just a really unselfish, disciplined performance. It’s a lot of fun to watch us play that way. Most of all, I’m really proud of our players for their response this week. The bye week didn’t go exactly as we had planned; we had some injury and illness early in the week that kind of changed up our schedule. But, I thought our guys really competed throughout the week and found ways to get better, and then came out with an 11 a.m. start today with a tough, together performance to get us a big win here at home.”

LSU’s ball movement was on display in the win. It had 17 assists to Arkansas’ 10 with [autotag]Jordan Wright[/autotag] leading the team with six. That helped LSU score its most points in SEC play so far this season.

“That’s the key,” McMahon said of the team’s fluidity on offense. “Since December, we’ve been playing a lot faster and our spacing is a lot better, so when we move the ball and execute, we have really good players and when they play well, it allows us to score 95 points. Our efficiency was really good because of the unselfish play. A big concern was Arkansas being top five in the country in getting to the free throw line and they got there 33 times today, but we got there 28 times and made 25 of them because of the spacing and the strong drives and good decision making.”

It’s a nice win for the Tigers, who likely kept whatever outside hopes of an NCAA tournament bid remain alive on Saturday. But the real test will come on Wednesday night when they hit the road to take on a Tennessee team that’s one of the best in the conference.

“You hope it leads to more confidence,” McMahon said. “When you see the hard work and the trust they played with, you see that it works. Our guys should have confidence and we’ll keep getting better as we prepare for the next opportunity.”

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LSU offers 2025 4-star point guard from Massachusetts

Rutgers is a 35% favorite to land Nigel James per On3.

[autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] and his recruiting staff took a trip to the northeast to extend a scholarship offer to one of the best point guards in the 2025 recruiting class.

[autotag]Nigel James[/autotag] is a 6-foot, 186-pound, four-star point guard from Ashburnham, Massachusetts where he plays for Long Island Lutheran High School. The Long Island Crusaders are currently 13-2 during the 2023-24 season. Their next game is scheduled for Saturday against Gonzaga High School.

There are currently no Crystal Ball projections at this time for James but the Rutgers Scarlet Knights are a 35% favorite to land him per On3. Maybe McMahon can get him to change his mind.

Five takeaways from Florida’s last-minute loss at Texas A&M Aggies

The Gators relinquished yet another second half lead, this time leading to its first loss in the last five tries.

This time, they didn’t go in.

Walter Clayton Jr. had another chance for a shot to remember. So did Zyon Pullin.

But the two Gator guards each missed a shot in the final eight seconds allowing Texas A&M to pull off a 67-66 win in College Station.

“We got a good look,” said Florida coach Todd Golden. “Walt got a good look, ZP pimp faked the guy to get a good look. Just came up short.”

The Gators had a rough second half scoring only 26 points. Two more might have been enough to pull off another Quad 1 win.

Instead, Florida drops to 15-7 and 5-4 in the SEC.

PHOTOS: LSU men’s basketball beats Arkansas 95-74 to end 3-game skid

The Tigers will now gear up for a critical road matchup against Tennessee.

The LSU men’s basketball team got back on track on Saturday at home against a struggling Arkansas team, ending a three-game skid with a convincing 95-74 win.

[autotag]Will Baker[/autotag] had a huge game, scoring 25 points on 9 of 11 shooting, while [autotag]Jalen Cook[/autotag] scored 20 and Jordan Wright and [autotag]Mike Williams III[/autotag] each scored 13.

The Tigers shot north of 50% for the game and dominated throughout, holding a 15-point lead at the half. Arkansas never led after 2-0.

LSU will now prepare for a major opportunity as it hits the road to take on a Tennessee team that ranks in the top five nationally on Wednesday. For now, here are the photos from Saturday’s decisive win.

Instant Analysis: LSU men’s basketball rolls against Arkansas to end losing streak

The Tigers ended a three-game skid with a convincing home win against the struggling Razorbacks.

LSU’s men’s basketball ended a three-game skid in SEC play on Saturday at home, beating Arkansas 95-74 in a morning showdown as the Tigers move to 12-9 overall and 4-4 in league play.

LSU had a red-hot start offensively, hitting 8 of its first 9 shots from the field and five of its first six threes. A lot of that production came from [autotag]Will Baker[/autotag], who was dominant in the half and scored 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting including 3 of 4 from three-point range.

The Tigers stretched out a lead as big as 21 points, but they allowed Arkansas to cut that deficit down before half. The Hogs ended the period on a 6-0 run, but they still faced a 45-30 deficit heading into the locker room.

The second half was more of the same for LSU, which managed to stretch its lead out as wide as 28 points. Baker finished with 25 points, hitting 9 of his 11 shots from the field, while [autotag]Jalen Cook[/autotag] scored 20 and [autotag]Jordan Wright[/autotag] added 13.

The Tigers managed to recapture some momentum heading into a crucial road matchup on Wednesday night against a Tennessee team that currently ranks fifth in the nation.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

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‘It’s going to be a rock fight;’ Dana Altman stresses physicality ahead of must-win game vs. UCLA

Oregon Ducks head coach Dana Altman stressed the need for more physicality as the team prepares for a must-win game vs. UCLA.

The Oregon Ducks got a big-time victory over the USC Trojans on the road earlier this week in a must-win game down in Los Angeles. Another must-win game now sits in front of them, though, as they prepare to take on the surging UCLA Bruins on Saturday night in Pauley Pavillion.

While Dana Altman and the Ducks continue to deal with injuries — both Keeshawn Barthelemy and Mookie Cook were ruled to likely be out for the remainder of the season this past week — they are hanging around the NCAA Tournament bubble with 10 games left in the regular season.

Altman knows that Saturday night’s test against the Bruins is going to be a physical one.

“Well, we’ve just got to get tougher,” Altman said on the postgame radio after Oregon’s win on Thursday night. “We’ve got a tough one there and we’re going to have to rebound the ball better.  It’s going to be a rock fight, they’re a very physical team. We’re going to have to be a lot more physical than what we were tonight.”

Though UCLA was one of the more disappointing teams in the nation to start the year, they’ve come on strong over the last month, winning four of their last six games.

With the Washington schools coming to Eugene next weekend, this offers a great opportunity for the Ducks to pick up a Quad 2 win on the road, which would bolster their resume a ton going into March.

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