— SEC pounded on the ACC this week, going 14-2 in their challenge.
Chances are we’ll hear about this week on Selection Sunday, when most of the SEC gets in the Field of 68.
— Alabama 94, North Carolina 79
83-possession game, very fast pace. Alabama scored 1.13 points/possession.
North Carolina was 5-28 on the arc.
Alabama is #68 in bench minutes; they put six guys in double figures.
— Duke 84, Auburn 78
Auburn led 13-2 out of the gate, but Duke shot 55.6% inside the arc.
Duke had only four turnovers, in a 63-possession game.
Auburn started 5 seniors; Duke played one senior more than 5:00.
— Creighton 76, Kansas 63
Kansas never led; they shot 35.7% from the floor.
Creighton led 41-31 at halftime.
Bluejays are shooting 60.2% inside the arc (#11)
— UConn 76, Baylor 72
UConn was 26-33 on foul line, Baylor 12-19
Baylor led by 11 early on, led 37-36 at halftime.
Baylor is 5-3, 2-3 against top 50 teams (schedule #10).
— Oregon 68, USC 60
Oregon held the Trojans to 34.5% from the floor.
Ducks are 9-0, with four top 100 wins.
Trojans other than Claude (9-20) were 10-35 from the floor.
— Iowa State 81, Marquette 70
This game was 61-61 with 8:43 left.
Marquette star Jones was only 6-21 from the floor.
Cyclones are 3-1 vs top 100 teams, scoring 87.5 ppg
— Famous birthdays, December 5th:
Jeroen Krabbe, 80
Jim Plunkett, 77
Bill Simpson, 73
Cliff Floyd, 52
Charlie Batch, 50
Josh Smith, 39
AJ Pollock, 37
Christian Yelich, 33
— Maryland 83, Ohio State 59
Terps led this game 63-23 at one point; they shot 59.5% inside arc.
— Belmont 99, Illinois State 97 OT
Belmont led MVC opener 54-45 at the half.
Illinois State shot 18-33 on the arc and still lost.
Belmont is 7-2, playing schedule #285.
— New Mexico 83, San Jose State 77
San Jose led 17-4 early, 71-65 with 7:16 left in game.
Lobos had 16 offensive boards, out-rebounded San Jose 42-31.
— Upsets of the Night:
Coastal Carolina (+5.5) 58, Campbell 57
Creighton (+4.5) 76, Kansas 63
North Dakota State (+4.5) 77, Weber State 73
St Thomas (+4.5) 87, Northern Colorado 75
IU Indy (+4.5) 84, Green Bay 75
— Texas 63, NC State 59
59-possession game; very slow pace.
NC State lost last three games, scoring 61-61-59 points.
Wolfpack was 5-14 on arc, 6-14 on foul line.
— Summit League went 5-4 against the Big Sky in their challenge; underdogs were 5-4 ATS in the nine games.
— Jacksonville Jaguar QB Trevor Lawrence was put on IR, is most likely out for the year; he got a concussion Sunday after a late hit by a Houston defender.
— South Korean star 2B Hyeseong Kim was posted, will be available as a free agent starting Thursday at 5:00. KIm will be 26 next month; he hit .326 LY, with 11 homers, 75 RBIs while stealing 30 bases for the Kiwoom Heroes in the KBO.
— Red Sox signed reliever Aroldis Chapman for one year, $10.75M. In 61⅔ IP for Pittsburgh last year, Chapman struck out 98, walked 39, had a 3.79 ERA. He’ll be 37 years old soon; Boston will be his 7th major league team.