MBB: University Athletic Association

[cmubobcat]

Carnegie Mellon basketball returns to the airwaves this weekend on WRCT 88.3 FM Pittsburgh and online at www.wrct.org.

Friday:  Tartans @ Chicago
7:00 Women
9:00 Men (Eastern Time)

Sunday:  Tartans @ Wash. U.
1:00 Men
3:00 Women (Eastern Time)

[WBRSsports]

WBRS will be back for all the Brandeis Basketball action this weekend:

Friday, January 27, 8 PM vs. Case Western
Sunday, January 29, 1 PM vs. Emory

Tune in to 100.1 FM in Waltham or www.wbrs.org for all the action

[Gregory Sager]

Brandeis beat Case, NYU clobbered Emory, Wash U nipped Rochester, and Chicago edged Carnegie Mellon, 80-77, in overtime.

I was at the latter game. It was definitely one of the most exciting finishes I've seen in recent years. Chicago did a terrific job on defense; CMU came into the game averaging over 88 ppg, but the Maroons held them to 65 points in regulation. In fact, the Tartans went over nine minutes in the first half without scoring a point, watching their 19-9 lead evaporate into a 24-19 deficit in the process. CMU turned the ball over 22 times, and while some of that was just good ballhawking by the Maroons and good coaching by Mike McGrath in taking away the weakside cuts that CMU was using early, a lot of those turnovers were of the unforced variety. The Tartans showed a disturbing tendency to put the ball on the floor down low in traffic when they should not have, and on three or four occasions they simply didn't look passes into their hands.

The last ten minutes of regulation were back-and-forth, with Brandon Woodhead of Chicago making a driving layup from the left baseline to put the Maroons up 64-62 with 52 seconds left, and his point guard counterpart for the Tartans, Geoff Kozak, answering with his first and only trey of the night at the :34 mark to put CMU up by one. Chicago center Clay Carmody was fouled in the low post with :11 left, missed his first FT, and after the Tartans called a timeout to ice him further, he made the second. After CMU's Nate Maurer missed a runner in the lane with five seconds left, Chicago rebounded and had one last opportunity to score. But Jesse Meyer's trey attempt hit the front of the rim, leading to overtime.

The Tartans jumped out to a 76-71 lead with a minute and a half left in the extra stanza, and it looked as though the visitors would emerge unscathed for the evening. After Maurer split a pair at the line, CMU led 77-73 with 22 seconds remaining. But Woodhead flew down the court, and his runner in the lane with 15 seconds left not only went in, but resulted in a foul by Kozak that gave Chicago the chance to cut the lead to one point. However, Woodhead missed the throw, and Carnegie Mellon's Clayton Barlow-Wilcox rebounded the ball. Chicago's Matt Corning immediately fouled him, putting Barlow-Wilcox at the line for two shots with 11 seconds left and the Tartans up, 77-75.

Incredibly, Barlow-Wilcox not only missed the first attempt, he didn't even hit the rim. It bounced off of the bottom of the backboard to the left of the net. His second attempt bounced off the rim to the right and was rebounded by Chicago's Tim Reynolds. The Maroons streaked down the court and got Woodhead an open look. As poorly as the Maroons shot from downtown all night (6-for-27), this attempt by Woodhead from the left elbow went down, and suddenly the Maroons were on top, 78-77, with two ticks left.

CMU's Marques Johnson threw a three-quarters-court inbounds pass to Maurer between the far end of the scorer's table and the CMU bench. Maurer leaped in the air and caught it, but he had not re-established position inbounds after having stepped on the sideline. The ref whistled the play dead, gave the ball to Chicago, and Maurer's vehement objection drew a technical. Meyer made two FTs, Chicago inbounded the ball, and the game ended.

Maurer led all scorers with 23 for CMU. Barlow-Wilcox had 16 points and 8 boards, and Barry Dunn chipped in with 10 off the bench for the Tartans. Chicago was led by Meyer with 18 (half of his points coming at the line, as he went a horrific 3-19 from the field), Woodhead with 16, Corning with 13, and Carmody with 10.

Great game ... well worth the price of admission.

[Rhodes Scholar]

I saw NYU rout Emory, 97-64, last night. The game was never in doubt, as NYU raced out to an early 8-0 lead and never looked back. The Violets shot 73% from the floor in the first half and led 58-30 at the break.

It was an excellent outing for NYU, probably their best performance of the year. Mike DeCorso and Jared Kildare had excellent games, and Matt Basford and Jason Boone chipped in as well. Good ball movement, excellent shooting, and solid defense paved the way for the win.

Emory is not nearly as bad as the score indicates. The Eagles have a fair amount of talent, some size and decent depth. They dealt first-place Washington U their only conference loss and they're capable of springing another upset down the road.

I was impressed with Emory's shooting guard Spiros Gerderigos. He is aggressive, a good ballhandler and a solid outside shooter who's also tough enough to take it inside and finish. Freshman power forward Johnny Pinto also looked good. He's got good range, can dribble a bit, and has a decent inside game. He's a versatile player who has skills and is athletic. I don't know what Jeff Hall's status is. He is (was?) the team's leading scorer, but he didn't play and hasn't played a game in a month or so.

[Rhodes Scholar]

UAA Standings

Washington 5-1
Carnegie Mellon 4-2
NYU 4-2
Chicago 3-3
Rochester 3-3
Brandeis 2-4
Case Western 2-4
Emory 1-5

[hugenerd]

Carnegie beats WashU tonight, getting back on top of the UAA.  CMU, WashU, and NYU are all tied at the top with 5-2 records, but CMU has beaten both squads so they hold the tiebreaker currently.  WashU and CMU square off again next Friday at Skibo Gym, in Pittsburgh. 

Updated Standings

Carnegie Mellon5-2
Washington 5-2
NYU 5-2
Chicago 4-3
Rochester 3-4
Brandeis 3-4
Case Western 2-5
Emory 1-6

[Rhodes Scholar]

I saw NYU defeat Case Western Reserve, 78-49, yesterday. Once again, a very impressive performance by NYU. They led all the way and the game was never in doubt.  Good ball movement, solid shooting and tough, aggressive defense paved the way for the Violets. Jared Kildare is playing extremely well, running the show on offense, scoring when necessary and playing solid defense. Jason Boone is scoring inside, while Mike DeCorso and Matt Basford are shooting very well from the perimeter.

Case Western is a pretty fair team and they were simply blown out of the gym. NYU played two excellent games this weekend and if they continue to play this way, they're going to be tough to beat.

[ADL70]

Will confusion aid CWRU this weekend v NYU and Brandeis?
http://www.case.edu/athletics/varsity/winter/throwback.htm

[David Collinge]

That is just too cool... 8)
I really miss Cleveland...

[deiscanton]

Halftime from Auerbach Arena

#10 Amherst 47, Brandeis 44

[deiscanton]

For scoring details of the game, check related post in NESCAC forum.

[bouttime]

I just want to make a comment on how strong the UAA is from top to bottom. Even thought Emory is 1-6 in the conference, their only win in against leauge leader WashU. Case is 2-5 in the conference and one of their wins is against leauge leader CMU. There have only been a few blowout wins in conference this year. Every game that I have seen this year has been extremely physical and a close contest. I think that if you put some of the weaker teams in the UAA this year in other conferences they would be up near the top of the standings. I hope that whoever makes it to the NCAA tournament this year from the UAA is not physically spent prior to making a tournament run.

[deiscanton]

Final score from Auerbach Arena

#10 Amherst 82, Brandeis 69

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'd agree, the UAA is very strong this year.  I think even Emory would represent themselves well, even in some very strong conferences.

[hugenerd]

Big Game tonight between CMU and WashU, both teams hold the head-to-head tiebreaker vs. NYU, so the winner of tonights game will be in 1st place of the conference regardless of NYUs result (for the time being). 

You can go to:  http://www.wrct.org/  for the call.