Looking back (FEB. 4) | Florida State 68, Duke 67
While Sunday evening's Super Bowl certainly fell short of two weeks worth of hype, NCAA basketball provided a taste of March with unranked Florida State's 68-67 upset of Duke. The win marked the Seminoles' first in 16 attempts at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., and it spoiled a night where the Blue Devils retired J.J. Redick's No. 4 jersey.
After falling behind 7-0, Florida State trailed throughout the first half, climbing to within four at the break. The Seminoles came out of the locker room on a 12-4 run to give them a 45-40 lead early in the second half, and Duke failed to regain the advantage throughout the rest of the contest.
The game came down to the final 2:31 after Jon Scheyer made two free throws to make the score 68-67 in Florida State's favor. That score held up for the final margin of victory, as the Blue Devils missed five field goals going down the stretch. In the final 10 seconds alone, Greg Paulus missed a lay-up and Josh McRoberts rimmed out a short floater that DeMarcus Nelson failed to tip in the hoop.
The team brought the Seminoles even with No. 16 Duke in the ACC standings at 5-4. At 17-6 overall heading into last night's contest at Clemson, Florida State's Sunday night victory could give it the edge when tournament selection time comes around.
Looking ahead (FEB. 9) | Women's Basketball: Tufts At Bowdoin
One team is finally going to get a loss in the NESCAC, as Tufts (7-0 NESCAC) heads to Maine to take on Bowdoin (7-0) on Friday. The Jumbos are currently second in the NESCAC, and have a chance to secure a first place spot if they can top the Polar Bears. This will be no easy task as Bowdoin currently stands second in the nation with a dominating 21-1 season record.
The Jumbos are off to their best start in years, and will look to improve against a Bowdoin squad that has suffered just one loss, a 51-49 defeat at the hands of Maine Maritime on Jan. 17. Tufts is currently on a four-game winning streak and hopes to keep that streak alive this weekend. But the Polar Bears have momentum on their side as well, coming off of a 78-32 trouncing of Colby College last Saturday.
Tufts will be bolstered by senior guard Valerie Krah, who was named NESCAC Player of the Week on Feb. 5. Krah has averaged 14.3 points, accumulated 49 assists and nabbed 49 steals, and is coming off a recent career-best performance, in which she scored 21 points against Middlebury on Friday. Tufts won the game 61-50.
The last time these two teams faced off was Feb. 18, 2006, when Bowdoin handed Tufts a 52-41 loss and an early exit from the NESCAC Tournament, in a season in which the Jumbos finished with a 3-6 conference record. This year, however, things are different, and the perennial NESCAC Champion Polar Bears may not be able to waltz through all of their conference games.
