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Quick Hits: Kentucky Survives, Arizona Falls

By Andrew Kahn

Another exciting college basketball weekend is in the books as we inch closer to March Madness. Here’s a look at some of the key games.

Arizona State 81, Arizona 78

Arizona State entered Saturday’s game against No. 6 Arizona with just three Pac-12 wins, but they scored inside and out to pull off the upset. It was the best offensive performance of any team this season against the Wildcats. How did they do it? Freshman guard Tra Holder got the Sun Devils going early, scoring 10 points in the first 15 minutes. Forward Savon Goodman was a beast throughout, hitting 7 of 9 shots and grabbing nine rebounds, including four offensive boards. Goodman and his teammates grabbed a higher percentage of their misses than any other Pac-12 team against the Cats this year. Only Wisconsin does a better job of keeping opponents off the offensive glass than Arizona, but it simply wasn’t the case on Saturday. Bo Barnes, who led Arizona State with 18, provided the game’s dagger: a deep, off-balance three to give his team a seven-point lead with 55 seconds left.

Even though the Sun Devils are not an NCAA Tournament team, losing to them on the road is no cause for panic. Arizona needs to get more from their 7’0, 245-pound center Kaleb Tarczewski (he shot just 1 of 6 and didn’t protect the rim very well) but T.J. McConnell’s aggressiveness offensively was encouraging. He’s still a pass-first player, but with Stanley Johnson sidelined with foul trouble, he looked for his shot more and delivered, scoring 25 on 11 of 19 shooting. A performance like that should only give him more confidence to hit open shots that will be there when opponents clog the lane against Johnson and Brandon Ashley.

Kentucky 68, Florida 61

Perhaps Florida’s strong performance against undefeated Kentucky was just as unexpected as Arizona State’s, though the big difference was that the Gators couldn’t complete the upset. They held a two-point lead at half and trailed by two several times in the final minutes, but the Wildcats did what John Calipari’s teams are not known for: hit their free throws. Kentucky made 21 of 22 from the line. Willie Cauley-Stein made one after he was fouled converting a ridiculous dunk with 12:09 left in the game that gave Kentucky a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. The Gators took it to Kentucky, showing little fear of their enormous frontline. Players skillfully used shot fakes to keep the shot blockers off balance. Better outside shooting (they were 6 of 21) and foul shooting (7 of 14) could have made the difference.

Virginia 52, Louisville 47

Louisville did not score a point in the final 10:32 of the first half, and yet a late push gave them a chance to win. Virginia led 24-13 at half but offensive struggles kept them from pulling away. More importantly, they’ll be without their best player, Justin Anderson, for six weeks because of a broken finger. His absence and potential return will definitely be something to watch as the NCAA Tournament approaches.

Virginia-Louisville was not the only top-10 ACC match-up on Saturday. Duke avenged its Jan. 28 loss to Notre Dame with a 90-60 win. The Blue Devils had a 43-7 run early in the game and shot 81 percent in the first half. Meanwhile, fans in Stillwater rushed the court after Oklahoma State upset Kansas 67-62. Le’Bryan Nash scored 18 for the Cowboys.

Andrew Kahn is a regular contributor to CBS Local who also writes for Newsday and The Wall Street Journal. He writes about college basketball and other sports at AndrewJKahn.com. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn.

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