Final exams are either going on or have just ended at most campuses. Christmas is less than a week away. There aren't supposed to be many good college basketball matchups at this time of December.
There weren't any good ones Monday night as the six ranked teams that played won by an average of 33.8 points. The squeaker of the night was No. 18 Georgia Tech's 94-73 win over Furman, while the most lopsided victory was No. 13 Cincinnati's 116-54 dismantling of Cal State Northridge."It was good for me," Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said. "I don't know if it was good for them, but I had fun."
Cincinnati made quick work of the Matadors, setting a school record with 65 points in the first half as the Bearcats took a 36-point halftime lead. Unlike two weeks ago when Cincinnati (7-2) blew a 20-point lead to Canisius and lost, the Bearcats opened it up even more against Northridge.
"Blame it all on Canisius," Matadors coach Pete Cassidy said. "I think Canisius ticked them off. It gave them a wake-up call."
Freshman Danny Fortson and LaZelle Durden each had 24 points for Cincinnati, which scored the most points in Huggins' six years there.
"We had two rough games last week. Some of us were a bit tired," said Durden, who has scored 94 points in his last three games. "We haven't run a Bearcat press in a while, so we got to work on that today. I broke a sweat, but it's just one of those games. We were kind of tired. It's good to have a game where you can rest."
Michael Dorsey had 15 points to lead the Matadors (2-4).
No. 9 Duke 99, N. Carolina A&T 56
The Blue Devils (6-1) won their 93rd consecutive home game against a non-conference opponent as Cherokee Parks had 19 points to lead five double-figure scorers.
No. 14 Syracuse 103,
Robert Morris 67
The Orangemen (6-1) forced 16 turnovers and held visiting Robert Morris to 7-for-22 shooting (31 percent) in the first half as they rebounded from being taken to overtime by Princeton. John Wallace's 16 points led six Syracuse players in double figures.
No. 18 Georgia Tech 94, Furman 73
Drew Barry scored 25 points, James Forrest 23 and Travis Best 22 as the Yellow Jackets (7-1) broke it open at home in the second half.
No. 22 Virginia 100, VMI 73
Virginia used a 20-3 run late in the first half to take a 51-28 halftime lead and then cruised to the easy home victory. Harold Deane had 21 points to lead five Cavaliers in double figures.
No. 23 Illinois 90, Mercer 66
The Illini (8-1) scored the game's first 10 points and led by as many as 36 as they won their fifth in a row. Freshman reserve Bryant Notree led five Illinois players in double figures with 15 points.