Friday’s Den: Thinking out loud on the last day of the month

— Big 18
Nebraska 80, Illinois 74 OT
Cornhuskers snap a six-game losing skid.
Illinois never led in this game. 

UCLA 78, Oregon 52
UCLA has won five in a row, following an 0-5 skid.
Bruins led 40-26 at halftime.
Oregon lost three of last four games, after a 15-2 start.

Michigan State leads Big 18 by two games, over Purdue/Michigan.

— Sun Belt
Three double digit underdogs won straight-up Thursday

Louisiana-Monroe 62, South Alabama 58
ULM just upset South Alabama twice, after an 0-10 losing skid.
Tyreese Watson was 6-12 on arc; USA’s whole team was 5-25

Georgia State 85, Marshall 81
Georgia State snaps a four-game losing skid.
Panthers shot 67.6% inside arc, were 9-18 on arc
Georgia State survived turning ball over 18 times.

Louisiana 70, Texas State 61
Cajuns are 5-5 in Sun Belt, after a 2-10 pre-conference mark.
Louisiana shot 36.1% inside arc, 10-17 on the arc.
Texas State opponents are shooting 37.3% on arc (#339)

8-2 Arkansas State leads 7-3 Troy by a game; the other 12 teams in the league all have 4+ losses. This conference tournament should be very good.

— WCC
Pacific 70, Washington State 68
Pacific had lost 13 of its previous 14 games.
Wazzu led by 7 with 9:02 left to play.
Pacific had 16 offensive boards, out-rebounded Wazzu, 34-24.

Saint Mary’s leads Gonzaga by two games, San Francisco by three games.

— Big West
Cal-Irvine 80, Long Beach State 75 OT
Long Beach led by 7 with 3:16 left in regulation.
Irvine shot 11-20 on the arc.
Anteaters played only six guys more than 8:00, a red flag for Big West tourney.

Cal-Northridge 78, Cal-Santa Barbara 71
Matadors shot 56.8% inside arc, had 16 offensive boards.
UCSB was 7-15 inside arc, 15-36 on the arc. Lot of 3’s.
Northridge has a very athletic team.

Cal-Irvine leads the Big West, with a 9-1 record.

Upsets of the Night:
Louisiana-Monroe (+15.5) 62, South Alabama 58
Georgia State (+12.5) 85, Marshall 81
Louisiana-Lafayette (+11.5) 70, Texas State 61

Pacific (+11.5) 70, Washington State 68
Detroit (+7) 68, Northern Kentucky 57
New Mexico State (+6) 61, Middle Tennessee 57

— CAA
Charleston 81, Stony Brook 74
Stony Brook led 18-2 out of the gate.
Cougars shot 62.9% inside the arc.
Seawolves are 1-8 in the CAA, Charleston is 7-2.

Monmouth 104, Drexel 97, 2OT
Monmouth led by 18 late in first half.
Madison Durr was 10-11 from floor, 19-19 on the foul line.
Drexel lost despite making 12-26 on the arc.

8-1 Towson leads UNCW, Charleston, Wm & Mary by a game atop the CAA.

— Big Sky
Montana 92, Portland State 78
Grizzlies shot 10-15 on the arc.
Montana has won seven of its last nine games.

7-1 Northern Colorado leads Montana by half-game atop the Big Sky.

— Horizon
Cleveland State 68, Fort Wayne 58
Vikings have won 13 games in a row, after starting season 4-6.
Chase Robinson scored 20 points for Cleveland State; he didn’t start.
Fort Wayne was 5-32 on the arc. 

Cleveland State leads Milwaukee by two games atop the Horizon, but the winner of the Horizon tournament is only team going to the NCAA’s. No pressure there.

— Conference USA
This is #9 league in country, highest they’ve been ranked since 2011.

New Mexico State 61, Middle Tennessee 57
Aggies snap a three-game losing skid.
Teams combined to shoot 9-44 on the arc.

Jacksonville State 71, FIU 67
Gamecocks outscored FIU 9-4 over the final 3:53.
Jacksonville State has won five games in a row.

6-2 Jacksonville State leads four other teams by a game atop C-USA standings. 

— Famous birthdays, January 31st:
Nolan Ryan, 78
Feed Kendall, 76
Bob Apodaca, 75
Anthony LaPaglia, 66

Rod Higgins, 65
Doug Pederson, 56
Minnie Driver, 55
Justin Timberlake, 44

Cole Irvin, 31
Donte DiVincenzo, 28
Ronnie Rivers, 26
Zach Neto, 24

— Toronto Blue Jays signed P Max Scherzer for one year, $15.5M; 40-year old Scherzer has 223 career wins- he was 2-4, 3.95 in only nine starts for Texas last year.

— Tampa Bay Rays signed IF Ha-Seong Kim for two years, $29M; he is a .242 hitter with a .706 OPS in four big league seasons. Kim is expected to miss the first month of this season— he is recovering from shoulder surgery.

— Detroit Tigers signed reliever Tommy Kahnle for one year, $7.75M; Kahnle has pitched for four teams in his 10-year career- he has a 1.23 WHIP, 3.47 ERA in 390 big league games.

— Reliever Carlos Estévez signed a 2-year deal with the Royals worth $22.2M; Estevez had 26 saves last year, pitching for the Angels/Phillies. Overall, he has 82 career saves.

— Reliever Ryne Stanek signed on with the Mets for this year; he had seven wins, seven saves last year, pitching for Seattle and the Mets. He’s pitched for five different teams in his eight-year big league career.

— Washington Nationals signed Japanese left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara to a 2-year deal; last year, Ogasawara was 5-11, 3.12 ERA in Japan, throwing 144.1 IP in 24 games.

— Happy birthday to former Mets manager Davey Johnson, who turned 82 this week; Johnson led the Mets to the 1986 World Series title. The other time the Mets won the World Series, in 1969, Johnson made the last out in Game 5, while a 2B for the Orioles. 

Author: Armadillo Sports

I've been involved in sports my whole life, now just write about them. I like to travel, mostly to Las Vegas- they have gambling there.