Syracuse and Indiana fought to the end. A 20-rebound, 20-point double-double. A freshman scoring record, and a career-high. It wasn’t a quiet November Monday in college basketball by any means.
Here’s what you need to know from yesterday’s slate of college basketball.
You know what makes a serious difference in the performance of a guard? A lack of fear. Sure, you might miss a layup. You might get rejected at the basket. You also might get fouled and go to the line, or maybe, just maybe, break through the defense and score despite the odds.
Ryan Moesch is a guard for Syracuse, and the Orange freshman stands just six feet tall, per Syracuses own numbers. And on Monday night against Indiana, Moesch went right at 7-foot-2 Hoosier center Samet Yigitoglu in the paint. And Moesch came out ahead in that encounter.
That kind of aggressiveness, that lack of hesitation, is vital for a guard. There is always going to be someone taller lurking in the paint. Someone who could swat both you and the ball away with a thought. Learning to work around their existence, though? Thats a huge part of the job, and Moesch is showing a willingness to attack early in his collegiate career.
The game didnt go Syracuses way in the end, with Indiana winning 83-80. Still, a great effort from Moesch and the Orange against a Big Ten opponent in non-conference play, despite the first loss of Gerry McNamaras run as Orange coach.
Tatum West played just 22 minutes for Northern Colorado on Monday, but she made them count. While taking on NAIAs Northern New Mexico, the senior forward put on a show: she shot 9-for-12 and hit six of nine free throws, blocked two shots, grabbed a steal and pulled down 20 rebounds to go with her 24 points. Thats a double-double and then some. Of those rebounds, 12 of them were actually offensive boards: given her shooting percentage, it wasnt her misses she was grabbing, either. She was doing work under the basket for everyone else.
West also had two assists â you can see one of those dimes, a real quick-thinking pass back outside, below.
Sure, an NAIA opponent is the kind a Division I school like Northern Colorado is going to plow through, but its not like West has never performed before. As a junior playing Big Sky ball for Northern Colorado last season, she averaged 11.2 points per game and pulled down 9.1 rebounds while grabbing two steals and nearly 1.5 assists per game. She also shot just under 59% â West is an efficient player who has gotten better every year, and could be taking one more leap as a senior.
Jason Crowe Jr. set the freshman rookie scoring record for Missouri on Monday night, while facing SIU Edwardsville. The 6-foot-4 guard shot 11-for-16 overall and 4-for-8 from beyond the arc, to go along with eight makes in nine trips to the line to finish with 34 points. He also grabbed a pair of boards and logged four assists.
Through three games, Crowe is averaging 21.7 points with 4.3 assists. It should be noted, though, especially with the small sample, that his worst performance so far came against the toughest opponent Missouri has had: Saint Louis. Still, seven dimes was encouraging, and maybe the shots will fall next time.
Petra Božan, a junior transfer from Nebraska to Penn State, did basically one thing on Monday: score. The 6-foot-4 forward has never been much of a rebounder, and on Monday she had just one board to keep that going. What she did have was her shot from three, though: Božan launched six triples and sank five of them, and made every shot from inside the arc to finish with 27 points on 10-for-11 shooting.
While this was a career high for Božan â her previous best was 17 in a game last December, coincidentally against Penn State â it wasnt enough to get the Nittany Lions past Dayton. The The Flyers won, 77-71, and Penn State is now 0-3 on the year.
Center Matas Vokietaitis is in his second season with Texas. The seven-fo
