Ness’s Notes (January 12)
Duke beat Maryland 76-52 and Florida beat Miss St 75-60 on Wednesday, keeping both teams undefeated. The only other undefeated team in the nation, the Pitt Panthers, play at home tonight against DePaul (ESPN at 9:00 ET). The 12-0 Panthers have gotten used to fast starts in recent seasons, opening 10-0 last year, 18-0 in 2003-04 and 9-0 in 2002-03.
The last loss of school in the months of November or December occurred on 12/31/02 in Georgia. DePaul (8-5), in his first year in the Big East, will play Pitt for the first time since the 1936-37 season. Pitt is favored by 12 points with a total of 130 1/2.
My free game for Thursday is Middle Tenn St over Arkansas St in college basketball at 8:00 ET. Tonight I present my BIGGEST play of the season in the Pac-10, my 20* Game of the Year. Plus, I’ve got my 10* Sun Belt game of the month in college hoops plus a HUGE play (no rating!) in tonight’s NBA final showdown rematch (Det/SA)!
Speaking of long waits, Baylor, competing in its 100th year of basketball this season, lost its 15th straight game last night. What was so unusual was that the school’s 15th straight loss came 307 days after its 14th loss (77-57 to Iowa State in last year’s Big-12 tournament). As part of the NCAA sanctions, the team was not allowed to play any non-conference games this year.
Southern Illinois beat Evansville last night 66-38 and the Carbondale, Illinois school has now quietly joined Gonzaga and Illinois with 30 straight home wins, the longest active streak in college basketball.
While the DePaul/Pittsburgh game leads a 31-game college basketball slate tonight, the NBA features just a three-game card. However, at 8:05 ET on TNT, it’s a rematch of last year’s Finals, the Pistons vs. the Spurs. Detroit owns the best overall record in the league at 27-5 and its best record on the road (13-3). San Antonio owns the second-best record in the league at 27-8, as well as its best record at home (17-1).
These teams met on Christmas Day in Detroit with the Pistons winning 85-70. Ginobili missed that game for the Spurs, and Detroit won thanks to an 18-8 first-quarter lead and a 28-17 fourth-quarter lead. San Antonio is favored by 4 1/2 points with a total of 177.
The second half of the TNT doubleheader begins at 10:35 ET, with LeBron and the Cavaliers visiting Kobe and the Lakers. Kobe scored ‘just’ 41 points last night in Los Angeles’ 113-103 loss at Portland, ending his streak of 45+ point games in four. The Lakers are favored by 2 1/2 points tonight with a total of 193 1/2.
Kobe leads the league with a 34.3 PPG average and LeBron ranks third with 30.8 PPG. Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson is second with a 33.7 PPG average, giving the league THREE 30-plus PPG scorers. The last time the NBA had three players average 30 or more PPG over a full season was 1981-82. The players were, George Gervin, Moses Malone and Adrian Dantley.
Ness’s notes on Friday will be dedicated to this weekend’s NFL divisional playoffs.