Gator bait

Let's hear it for bubble teams. Pittsburgh, Florida and Oklahoma State all won, putting themselves in position for at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. There's nothing more you could ask for, right?

Let's get to the news.

1. Gators chomp Vols

The golden victory of the Todd Golden era went down on Wednesday, with Florida securing a 67-54 home victory over No. 2 ranked Tennessee.

The Vols (18-4, 7-2) became the 10th team ranked in the top two of the AP poll to lose this season, the most in the history of the poll.

Colin Castleton delivered 20 points and nine rebounds, while the steady Kyle Lofton scored 14 points with four rebounds and assists. With six wins in its past eight games, Florida (13-9, 6-3 in SEC) is slowly inching its way to the right side of the bubble. Still, the matchups only get more difficult for the Gators. Road tests against Kentucky and Alabama await in the next 10 days.

People know Golden for three things: Good offense, great use of analytics and looking like a college student. This season, only one isn’t true. The Gators rank 144th in KenPom’s offensive efficiency yet are eighth in defensive efficiency. The great coaches figure out how to win based on the roster personnel, and to Golden’s credit, he’s figured out the team's identity — a hard-nosed defense.

Last night was a terrific example of that. Florida held the Vols to just 27 percent from the field — something Tennessee usually does to opponents — and .83 points per possession, their worst night since that Nov. 13 loss to Colorado.

But we already knew that about Tennessee. When the Vols make enough baskets to complement the sport's best defense, they look like national title contenders. When the shots aren’t falling, it gets ugly. Much of that falls on their trio of Santiago Vescovi, Josiah-Jordan James and Zakai Zeigler, who combined for a 10-for-41 night. Do any of them rise to the occasion as a shot-maker during crunch time in March?

2. Xavier makes its own luck

For a while, it looked like Providence was going to do Providence things away from the AMP. The No. 17 Friars couldn't get anything going in the first half against No. 16 Xavier, trailing by as many as 14 points.

But as things tightened in the second half, it looked like a typical Providence game. After Xavier's Adam Kunkel hit 3, Jared Bynum responded with a 3 of his own to force OT. He had a chance to do the same thing in the extra period — his 3-pointer beat Xavier last year at the Cintas Center — but it rimmed out at the buzzer, giving Xavier (18-5, 10-2 in Big East) the 85-83 OT win.

“I was having flashbacks to last year,” Xavier's Colby Jones said.

Three Muskies scored 20 or more points, Jack Nunge (23), Jones (20) and Souley Boum (20). Even without an injured Zach Freemantle (he'll likely be back for March), Xavier's offense remained electric. It had 22 assists and just five turnovers, an impressive night in its first game without the forward.

Even without the win, the Friars (17-6, 9-3) were impressive on a night when its stars were cold (Bryce Hopkins and Bynum combined for just 6-of-26 from the field). To still have a chance for a road win means they aren't going anywhere in that Big East race.

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3. Pitt sweeps UNC, plus other notable results

Pittsburgh 65, North Carolina 64Pittsburgh (16-7, 9-3 in ACC) picked up a pivotal win in their hopes of making it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016. The Panthers notched their third straight win against UNC (and their fifth in the past six meetings.) Nelly Cummings and Jamarius Burton scored 40 of the Panthers' 65 points. The Tar Heels (15-7, 7-4) were led by Caleb Love's 22 points.

Creighton 63, Georgetown 53Creighton (14-8, 8-3 in Big East) shot 38 percent from the field and 28 percent from deep but avoided a disastrous loss to lowly Georgetown (6-17, 1-11). The Bluejays' bench remains MIA. In 25 combined minutes, four players combined for three shots and zero points.

Auburn 94, Georgia 73What a day to be a Tiger! As if landing one of the top recruits in program history wasn’t enough, scoring a season-best 94 points was the cherry on top. The Tigers (17-5, 7-2) scored a blistering 1.45 points per possession, led by 22 from Allen Flanigan and 19 points and 18 rebounds from Johni Broome.

Oklahoma State 71, Oklahoma 61Oklahoma State (13-9, 4-5 in Big 12) disrupted Oklahoma's offensive rhythm, limiting it to 61 points. The Sooners (12-10, 2-7) didn't carry momentum from Saturday's stunner over Alabama and find themselves on the wrong side of the bubble.

Purdue 80, Penn State 60It was just another double-double day in the office for the behemoth that is Zach Edey, dropping 19 points and 13 rebounds as No. 1 Purdue (22-1, 11-1 in Big Ten) moonwalked to victory over Penn State (14-8, 5-6.) Mason Gillis’s 29 points on 9-of-12 shooting from deep actually outshined Edey’s stellar performance in the win. PSU coach Micah Shrewsberry summed it all up perfectly.

(Psst. You can buy that shirt here.)

Seton Hall 84, St John's 72Don't look now, but Seton Hall (14-9, 7-5 in Big East) has won six of seven games. Wednesday's win was courtesy of Al-Amir Dawes scoring 21 points and Kadary Richmond securing a double-double. Also, St John's (14-9, 4-8) continues to slide in conference play, and tempers boiled over with Andre Curbelo's goggle toss leading to an ejection.

Rutgers 90, Minnesota 55Rutgers (15-7, 7-4 in Big Ten) didn't just beat Minnesota (7-14, 1-10), it beat the brakes off the Gophers. Six Rutgers players reached double-figure points, led by 17 from Cam Spencer.

NC State 94, Florida State 66It's time to rank NC State (18-5, 8-4 in ACC.) No, beating Florida State (7-16, 5-7) isn't groundbreaking, but completely dismantling the Seminoles (who beat Pitt and nearly beat Clemson) is worth noting. NC State's only loss this calendar year is to UNC in Chapel Hill. Terq Smith dazzled with 32 points.

Marquette 73, Villanova 64The spread pregame closed at Marquette -6.5 points, which seemed light based on the Golden Eagles (18-5, 10-2 in Big East) sitting atop the conference, while Villanova (10-12, 4-7) has looked lost for a majority of the season. Vegas always knows, even if it took work to get there. The Wildcats led by one point at halftime and stayed in the range of Marquette throughout the second half. But the consistency and poise of Tyler Kolek lifted the No. 14 Golden Eagles to victory.

Louisville 68, Georgia Tech 58The Cardinals (3-19, 1-10 in ACC) grabbed their first conference win behind Jae'ly Withers' double-double (19 points, 13 rebounds). That leaves the Yellow Jackets (8-14, 1-11) in last place in the ACC. The Feb. 25 rematch in Atlanta might be the difference for conference bottom-dwellar.

Utah State 84, New Mexico 73The Aggies (18-5, 7-3 in MWC) got 20 points from Sean Bairstow and 19 from Steven Ashworth to move into a tie for second in the Mountain West. Jamal Mashburn Jr. scored 17 points for the Lobos (19-4, 6-4), who have lost two of three, but have nearly a week to prepare for Nevada's trip to the Pit.

Bradley 62, Southern Illinois 52Ja'Shon Henry scored 13 points off the bench as the Braves (16-8, 9-4 in MVC) won their third in a row and helped create a four-way tie atop the Mo Valley. They, Drake, Belmont and the Salukis (17-7, 9-4) lead, while four more teams are a game back. Gotta love February conference races.

Drake 88, Northern Iowa 81, 2 OTThe Bulldogs (18-6, 9-4) did their part in the wild conference race with a wild double-OT win. Roman Penn scored 28 points and had six assists for their fourth straight win. Bowen Born scored a career-high 30 points for the the Panthers (12-11, 8-5).

Samford 85, Western Carolina 77Logan Dye's season-high 24 points helped the Bulldogs (15-9, 9-2 in Southern) bounced back from back-to-back losses. They're still tied atop the conference, which could come down to the Feb. 25 regular-season finale vs. Furman.

Furman 79, Chattanooga 58Mike Bothwell scored 17 points and the Paladins (18-6, 9-2 in Southern) kept pace with Samford in the conference race with their fifth-straight win.

Army 71, Lehigh 69Jalen Rucker's 23 points propelled the Black Knights (13-11, 7-4 in Patriot), who snapped Lehigh's 8-game winning streak. Keith Higgins led the Mountain Hawks (13-9, 8-3), who led Army by just one game for second place in the league.

Southern Utah 72, Cal Baptist 71Tevian Jones' 3-point play with a minute to go proved to the difference as the Thunderbirds (16-7, 8-2 in WAC) maintained a tie for first place in the WAC. He finished with 12 points, while Drake Allen had 15.

4. A C-USA showdown

The battle of the Conference USA season is tonight at Bartow Arena in Birmingham. Florida Atlantic (20-1, 11-0 in conference) gets a chance to sweep the streaky UAB Blazers (15-7, 6-5.)

FAU is the top mid-major team this season, without a loss since Nov. 11. The Owls have rattled off 20 consecutive wins with victories over Florida, UAB and North Texas (twice) in the process. FAU is top 50 in both offensive and defensive efficiency and boasts a deep roster.

Heck, FAU's two best players, Johnell Davis and Alijah Martin, primarily come off the bench for coach Dusty May. That speaks to the buy-in from players. So what's going to make this game interesting? Two things.

UAB's defense is coming off an impressive night against Rice, holding those Owls to just 55 points, which snapped a four-game skid.

More important: UAB is expected to be near full health. Superstar guard Jelly Walker should be back from injury after missing the past three weeks. And reserves Ty Brewer and Javian Davis will return from a brief suspension for violating team rules, per source.

FAU is on track to make the NCAA Tournament regardless of what transpires today or in the conference tournament, but adding a little more insurance never hurts for mid-majors before selection Sunday. The best thing about the Owls? Johnell Davis can drop 36 points in an FAU win, but he could score six while six other players hit double figures — and still win. It is hard to find the right formula to defeat the Owls. Davis is the Mariano Rivera of mid-major basketball — he's not starting the game, but he's making the final play of the game win-or-lose.

5. Auburn lands major recruit

Auburn fans rejoice! The Tigers secured a verbal commitment from 5-star 2024 guard Tahaad Pettiford, who attends Hudson Catholic in New Jersey. Pettiford is a diminutive floor general, standing at 5-foot-11, 160 pounds, but Bruce Pearl morphed smaller guards like Jared Harper and Sharife Cooper into eventual NBA players. It's a historical commitment from an Auburn perspective — Pettiford is the third highest-rated recruit in the 247sports era, behind Jabari Smith Jr in 2021 and Cooper in 2020.

Here's the way Pettiford described his game to On3.com: “I’m a scoring point guard that can get my teammates involved and make a big play when needed. I also bring a lot of energy on the court and love to win.”

Pettiford teams up with top-100-ranked recruit Peyton Marshall in Auburn's 2024 class — with plenty of potential to strengthen the future of the Auburn program.

Colgate's shooting for yet another title

Some things don't change: Colgate's in the middle of yet another impressive Patriot League season. The Raiders are 17-7 overall and boast a sparkling 11-0 league record. They've flirted with unbeaten conference seasons the last two years, losing just three games over that span thanks to a roster that usually boasts balance and top-shelf shooting mixed with a healthy dollop of experience.

That formula's at work again this season, but with an added wrinkle: A freshman is running the show. Braeden Smith (no, not that one), has meshed with four seniors — Tucker Richardson, Keegan Records, Oliver Lynch-Daniels and Ryan Moffatt — to comprise the best-shooting team in D-I.

Not bad. Coach Matt Langel, now in his 12th season at Colgate, took some time for the latest Four Questions with Mike Miller.

Q: Colgate’s had good offensive teams the last few years, mostly driven by high-percentage shooting and taking care of the ball. But this year you lead D-I in effective field goal percentage (58.2 percent) and only 17 teams turn the ball over less frequently. It’s like you leveled up. What’s driving that?

Matt Langel: I wish I could put my finger on it. I'd bottle it up and get out of the profession. Jokes aside, the answer is we have really good players. Tucker Richardson is a really cerebral player now in his fifth year. I would say he's the engine. We have two big guys who are in their third and fourth year of college, and a fourth-year forward, a guy in his sixth year of college and fourth year with us. We've got a freshman point guard, who is the outlier in that he's only 18 years old. And I think the fact that we have multiple guys who can make shots and stretch the floor is valuable. It allows us to get high-percentage shots and the guys are committed to that.

A number of guys could average more points doing different things, but they really do what they can to help the team win. And that's to get the best shot for the team on every possession. And when you do that and you don't turn it over, the results are where they are.

Q: Colgate doesn't typically start freshmen – mostly because you’ve had experienced teams. But Braeden Smith’s been your lead guard all season and with some impressive results. You mentioned him as the outlier, but did you know he'd be this good?

Matt Langel: I think it's a combination of the team that he's on, meaning there's a bunch of selfless guys. There's no issue with having a talented young guy come in and play 30+ minutes, make decisions and have the ball in his hands. And he's a really mature, 18-year-old kid. He was really well coached in high school and was a very accomplished football player as a quarterback, so I don't know if that plays a part in his court vision and understanding.

He's just fit right in. Nelly Cummings graduated last December and couldn't come back (he's doing just fine at Pitt), so there. Not that he doesn't make freshman mistakes, but he's played great. He's a good athlete. He's got a great body control. He makes good decisions with the ball and it helps that he's got a lot of guys around him who can shoot, know where to be and and and they're in the spot for him to deliver some passes.

Q: Seven of the Patriot’s League 10 coaches have been with their programs for at least seven seasons, which makes for incredible consistency. Does that make conference play more challenging because of that familiarity? And has the extra year because of COVID just added to that layer of experience?

Matt Langel: There's adjustments year to year no matter what conference you're in, but it's rare that somebody totally flips the script and does something entirely different. So you get to know tendencies and situations and offenses and defenses. Obviously, the personnel changes and there are small tweaks, but when there's that much continuity, you know how the games are gonna, you know, play out, whether it's style of play or pace of play. You can't really surprise anybody. In my 12 years, I think maybe everybody but Army and Loyola, have either won the regular season or been to the NCAA tournament. So that's pretty significant in terms of parity.

Q: When you tell people about your playing career, do you get strange looks when you tell people you played with Mike Jordan? Or is it more strange to see a former teammate and good friend coaching at a rival in Lafayette?

Matt Langel: Yeah, people really don't ask me about my playing career that much anymore. It was strange the other night when we coached against each other for the first time, after spending so many years together playing and coaching together.

They have three guys on their staff, one who played for us and then worked with us, and two other guys who worked with us. They were such a part of this. We're a really small community here in Hamilton and they were such a part of the community for so long, that it was a little weird, not to mention that you're playing against people that are your family. So that's never easy, not to mention they're people who know exactly what you're trying to do and how you're thinking.

Colgate plays at American this Saturday. Read other Four Questions here.

End-game implications in Evanston

Michigan (11-10) at Northwestern (15-6)

The sand in the hourglass is running out for Michigan's NCAA Tournament hopes — as the losses continue to pile up. Michigan has lost five of the past seven games and Northwestern hopes to shake off the Sunday slip-up to Iowa. Look, it's a big game for two Big Ten teams, who hope to make the NCAA Tournament. The difference? One (Michigan) had expectations of not only appearing in the tournament but winning games thanks to Hunter Dickinson as a possible All-American and the other (Northwestern) was widely regarded as one of the conference bottom feeders.

• Wisconsin (12-8) at Ohio State (11-10), 7 pm, (FS1)

• Marshall (18-5) at Appalachian State (13-10), 6:30 pm (ESPN+)

• Oregon (13-9) at Arizona (19-3), 10:30 pm (ESPN)

Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin

It's been an unorthodox year in the ACC. Preseason favorites North Carolina and Duke have underwhelmed and projected cellar-dweller Pitt sits in third place in the conference standings. But what about NC State? The Pack and their electrifying offense have put themselves in position to win the league. And they'll almost certainly go dancing for the first time since 2018. Hear Dauster, T.O. and Fanta break it down:

Subscribe to The Field of 68 on YouTube here and subscribe here to the DTF podcast.

Links to click as you turn on a Bill Murray classic.

• Iowa cancels 150 tickets purchased by Illinois fans to Saturday’s game.

• Gonzaga in the Big 12 is still being discussed.

• A deeper look at Northwestern’s shocking turnaround.

• HeatCheck bubble watch!

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