Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Not Good to Be #1

For the second straight week, being the #1 Men's College Basketball team has been too much to handle. First it was Ohio State who had their 24 game winning streak snapped by 14th ranked Wisconsin on Saturday. The Badgers watched Ohio State go on a 19-4 run early in the second half breaking a 28 all tie to take a 15 point lead with a little over 13 minutes to play in what had all the makings of a route. But Wisconsin responded with a 15-0 run of their own and erased the deficit in a little over 3 minutes. Then it became the Jordan Taylor show as he scored 11 points in the final seven and a half minutes and the Badgers emerged victorious 71-67. Taylor finished with a game high 27 points and added 7 assists for Wisconsin who hit 12 3's in the game. Ohio State got 21 points from William Buford and 19 points and 12 rebounds from Jared Sullinger who lost despite shooting 54.3% from the floor. The Buckeyes will get another crack at Wisconsin, this time in Columbus, on March 6th.

 Picture Courtesy: thesportsbank.net

After Ohio State's loss, which ironically came one day after Cleveland's win, Kansas took over atop the polls. On their first full day atop the rankings, Kansas found themselves playing unranked rival Kansas State and it did not go well. Kansas State led by as many as 14 in the first half and Kansas never got closer than 5 in the second as the Wildcats cruised to an 84-68 win. Senior Jacob Pullen scored a career high 38 points to lead the way for Kansas State. His previous career high was 30 points set last year against Alabama, and his previous high this season was 26 against Emporia State. Kansas turned the ball over 18 times and shot just 20% from beyond the arc in what was clearly not their best effort. Just two weeks ago Kansas blew out this same Kansas State team 90-66. The Jayhawks will try to rebound against Colorado on Saturday.

Photo Courtesy: businessinsider.com

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