Last Night in College Basketball: No. 3 Houston Survives OT Thriller vs. Syracuse

Men's college basketball, women's college basketball – there's no shortage of college ball, every night.

Don't worry, we're here to help you figure out what you missed but shouldn't have. Here are all the best moments from last night in college basketball.

Houston forces OT in dramatic fashion, beats Syracuse

Houston fell to No. 3 in Monday’s rankings, and then took on Syracuse later that night. And what a game we got out of it. The Cougars were up 37-33 against the unranked Orange after the first half, but Syracuse flipped that in the second by leading 33-30. It was very nearly 35-30 in the second half, which would have meant a Syracuse dub right then and there, if not for one hell of a play in the paint late.

That’s junior Joseph Tugler making the block, one of five that the 6-foot-8 junior had in the game despite just scoring 2 points on 1-for-7 shooting, Tugler certainly did his part on the other side of the ball. The clock expired and overtime began, and Houston was in control from that point forward after losing it in the second half: senior guard Milos Uzan scored 6 points, had 2 rebounds and an assist in overtime alone, and the Cougars moved to 6-0 with a 78-74 win. Uzan, by the way, scored 26 overall, tied for the game-high with teammate Emmanuel Sharp, and he added 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals to that figure, too.

Gonzaga upsets Alabama

Alabama just made it to the top 10, jumping from No. 11 to No. 8, and took on Gonzaga, who had been bumped from No. 13 to No. 12. We might see a lot more movement from the two of them by this time next week, as it was Gonzaga that came out ahead in Monday’s matchup, upsetting Bama by the score of 95-85.

It’s difficult to catch up when you leave a player this wide open, is all.

Senior forward Graham Ike and senior guard Tyon Grant-Foster both dropped 21 points on Alabama, and three other Bulldogs reached double-digits in scoring, too. Alabama’s sophomore guard Labaron Philon Jr. led all scorers with 29, but didn’t get nearly as much help as his opponents — while two other starters reached double-digits, the other two combined for 2 points, and the bench was good enough to keep them in the game but not good enough to help them win it.

Iowa State bests St. John’s

Gonzaga wasn’t the only team to post an upset, though, Iowa State was ranked a bit closer to St. John’s in a matchup of the No. 15 team against the No. 14. They weren’t just close in the poll, either, but in the game itself: this one went back-and-forth, and wrapped up with just a 1-point difference.

St. John’s actually led by 5 at one point — it was Iowa State that blew the larger lead, as they had been up 10, and it took a 9-0 run to get back into position to reclaim that late. 

The two were close on just about everything, not just the score: Iowa State was 27-for-62 shooting, St. John’s was 26-60. The former was 20-for-25 on free throws, the latter 23-for-30. The Cyclones won the rebound battle, 38-36, but had one fewer assist than the Red Storm. Iowa State turned the ball over 11 times, St. John’s 10, with 14 and 13 points scored off of turnovers, respectively. St. John’s scored more points in the paint and more on fast breaks, but those couple of extra 3-pointers that Iowa State sank — 9-of-22 compared to St. John’s 7-of-20 — ended up being the difference.

This was also win No. 100 for coach T.J. Otzelberger at Iowa State — he joined the team as its head coach in March of 2021.

Troy’s double double-doubles lead to win

Rebounding! That’s Troy’s game, and has been for years now. The Trojans took on Montana State on Monday, and while their rebounding was slightly down, there was a good reason for it: they hit 60% of their shots, going 25-of-42 from the field, including 8-for-13 on 3-point attempts. So, they had "just" 39 rebounds — they are tied for 17th of 363 teams in all of women’s D-I ball right now at 46.5 per game — but it’s because there were fewer opportunities to pull them down, too.

With that being said, senior forwards Fortuna Ngnawo and Zay Dyer still were able to post double-doubles, both in points and rebounds: the former scored 19 on 7-for-11 shooting with 10 rebounds and an assist and a block each, while the latter scored 11 on 5-for-7 shooting while pulling down 15 boards, as well as a pair of assists. Troy is now 5-1, with the second-best record among Sun Belt conference teams behind 6-0 Southern Miss.

Smith scores 38 in last-second W

Sophomore forward Darin Smith had a huge game for Central Connecticut on Monday against Sacred Heart, and since they won in overtime, every bit of it was needed. The 6-foot-7 second-year player scored a career-high 38 points and picked up 5 rebounds and 4 assists while making just one turnover, and shooting 11-for-12 on free throws.

Connecticut State won in OT, 108-106, with two seconds left on a dunk by 6-foot-9 Max Frazier, with an assist from senior guard Jay Rodgers, who just a few minutes before had hit a clutch three to send the game to OT in the first place — he faked another three here before dishing it underneath to Frazier for the slam.

Also wild about this game? The top-scoring player on Sacred Heart, senior forward Anquan Hill, had 34 points — two of the top-four highest-scoring players of Monday, across both men’s and women’s D-I ball, were sharing the court here.

It’s been a great season for Central Connecticut so far: they’re 4-2 with big upset wins against both Rutgers and Boston College, the latter of which was a 60-59 W secured with a last-second layup after being down 11. That was their first win against a major conference school — Boston College is in the ACC — since 1999 against Providence, and then the Big Ten’s Rutgers fell shortly after.

You can’t overstate how much of this is Smith’s performance, too: he’s scoring 20.2 points per game, which leads the Northeast Conference, and it has them atop the NEC early, while Jay Rodgers is leading the conference in assists per game at 6.7.

Merkle has another big night

Penn State senior Gracie Merkle didn’t take long to follow up on her strong weekend effort. The center scored 26 points on 12-for-15 shooting, pulled down 12 rebounds, and collected 3 assists and a block in 26 minutes of play. Add that to the 39 points and 7 rebounds she had on Saturday, and it’s been a wild stretch for her. 

Unlike the previous game, however, Penn State won this one, as they defeated San Diego State 83-67: Merkle got more help this time, and also didn’t have an opponent hitting the century mark to contend with, either.

Merkle leads the Big Ten in points per game with 23.8, and she’s now up to 9 rebounds per game, as well, putting her fourth behind Northwestern’s Taylor Thomas and Grace Sullivan, as well as Indiana’s Zania Socka-Nguemen.

That’s right

Stay pumped, kid, college basketball is worth the energy.

Illinois would end up defeating UT Rio Grande Valley 87-73, so hopefully that’s just how the whole night went for this one.

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