Each week, we like to bring you a collection of stories that caught our eye. From conference title races to national title hopes, think of them as weekend talking points as you sit down to watch the best games of the weekend.
Here’s a look at what caught our eye this week.
1. Mo Watson’s injury likely dashes Creighton’s Final Four hopes
When Creighton faced off with Xavier on Monday as part of the Big East’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day festivities, it looked like a good opportunity to get a measure on just what to expect from that team from somewhere in Middle America.
Behind one of the most efficient offenses in the country, the Bluejays had already positioned themselves as arguably the second-best team in the Big East behind defending national champion Villanova. The one remaining question, though, was how this squad would handle a quality opponent on the road. Until its matchup with Xavier, Creighton had yet to play an away game against a team ranked in the top 50 of KenPom‘s adjusted efficiency rating.
Unfortunately, the contest gave us more questions than answers. Late in the first half, senior point guard Mo Watson crumpled to the floor clutching his knee before being carried off the court. It was a scene similar to so many that have come before it signaling a season-ending injury. Watson’s Instagram post the next day confirmed that he tore his ACL and would miss the remainder of the season.
It’s hard to overstate Watson’s value to the Bluejays. This season he’s averaging 17.3 points and 11.3 assists per 40 minutes while playing 29.9 minutes per game. He is the lone true point guard on the roster and his impact has been felt the most against Creighton’s toughest competitors. Versus KenPom top 100 opponents, the Bluejays have a scoring margin of +18 points per 100 possessions with Watson on the court, per Hoop Lens. With him on the bench, they’ve actually been worse than those teams, posting a margin of -5 points. The remainder of Creighton’s Big East schedule features matchups against just three teams that rank outside of the KenPom top 100 and the games won’t get easier come March.
There are ways to find optimism. The Bluejays closed out the game against Xavier with a 72-67 win at the Cintas Center and rotations will change without Watson available, meaning those scoring margin numbers could improve. Junior Marcus Foster seems likely to return to the more ball-dominant role he played at Kansas State in his first two season as well. During that time, Foster posted a 19.3 percent assist rate, suggesting he may be able to fill some of the void left in Watson’s absence.
Unfortunately, that may not be enough for a Creighton team that figured to be a dark horse candidate to make the Final Four behind the backcourt of Watson and Foster, as well as the emergence of redshirt freshman Justin Patton.
Injuries are one of the worst parts of watching sports and they’re even more painful when they rob fans of a potentially great moment. The Bluejays were one of the most fun teams in the nation to watch play with Watson running the show, but now we won’t get to see how their potentially riveting story could have ended.
2. Jordan Woodard single-handedly reshaped the Big 12 title race
Bold proclamations about conference title races only a third of the way through league play should always be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s hard to overstate the significance of the individual performance Oklahoma’s Jordan Woodard delivered on Wednesday night.
In his third game back from a leg injury, the Sooners’ senior scored 20 points and dished out five assists to help seal an 89-87 upset of no. 7 West Virginia in Morgantown. Woodard delivered a pair of baskets with less than a minute to go in regulation that tied the game — first at 75, then at 77 — before missing a go-ahead free throw with three seconds remaining. He made up for it in overtime, though, again scoring twice in the final minute, including a game-winning layup with 2.2 seconds left on the clock.
Outside of Norman, no city in America cheered Woodard’s make as much as Lawrence, Kansas. For 12 straight seasons, Kansas has won at least a share of the Big 12 title, and after Oklahoma’s shocking upset in Morgantown, the campaign for number 13 just got a little easier.
The secret to the Jayhawks’ success is really no secret at all. Allen Fieldhouse has been a nightmare for opponents to play in under head coach Bill Self, and when a team can be expected to win all of its home games in the Big 12, it gives that program a major advantage when it comes to projecting the final standings. Kansas hasn’t a lost a conference home game since 2013 when current Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart suited up for Oklahoma State (For more context, Perry Ellis — of incessant old man joke fame — was a freshman that season).
Home losses to title competitors like the one West Virginia suffered on Wednesday cede ground to the Jayhawks’ title chase. Now, KenPom projects Kansas to be the outright winner of the league with Baylor finishing a game behind. The Bears are also currently undefeated at home, but the Ferrell Center hasn’t historically been Allen Fieldhouse South. Baylor has lost at least two conference home games per season since the Big 12 switched to its current double-round-robin format.
For now, Kansas looks like the prohibitive favorite to win the league once again and its fans can thank Jordan Woodard for that.
3. Meet South Carolina: The SEC’s other undefeated
Only two teams remain undefeated in the SEC. One, Kentucky, is rather obvious as the Wildcats are far and away the best team in the league. The other is South Carolina. The two teams will square off at Rupp Arena on Saturday, so now is as good a time as any to learn a little bit about the SEC’s other undefeated team.
This week, the Gamecocks picked up a home win over Florida, the team best positioned to make an argument to be the SEC’s second-best team based on efficiency metrics. The matchup was just what South Carolina wanted: a messy, low scoring slog through the mud. The first half statistics help tell the story. The two teams combined to score 49 points on 19-of-61 (31.1 percent) shooting from the field. They committed 19 turnovers and added 20 personal fouls. It was a miserable watch.
This, though, is how South Carolina wins games. The Gamecocks have the best defensive team in the nation, according to KenPom. They turn teams over on 25.1 percent of possessions, limit 3-point makes (opponents are shooting 26.7 percent from deep, first nationally) and use their length to protect inside the arc where their 41.1 percent 2-point defense ranks fourth nationally.
The Gamecocks’ offense runs through two players, sophomore PJ Dozier and senior Sindarius Thornwell. Both players can fill it up from behind the arc. They are also the team’s two best distributors. South Carolina’s isn’t great, but with Dozier and Thornwell on the court, it’s been good enough. The team’s only three losses this season came when Thornwell was suspended in December.
There’s no question the Gamecocks will enter Saturday’s contest as a sizable underdog — it is, after all, an away game against the league’s best team — but don’t be surprised if you hear about them down the line where their grinding style can keep games close and let Dozier and Thornwell put games away.
The weekend game to watch: Arizona at UCLA, 4 p.m. ET, CBS
With games that regularly start late in the evening on the east coast, it’s often difficult for much of the country to get a good look at the best of the Pac-12. Luckily, Saturday’s 4 p.m. ET tip-off for Arizona and UCLA offers that opportunity.
The Wildcats and the Bruins, alongside Oregon, are the best that the league has to offer and they will face off as the second leg of the former’s two-game Los Angeles road trip. The frontcourt battle between sharpshooting freshmen Lauri Markkanen and TJ Leaf could be the turning point in a matchup that features plenty of NBA talent and collegiate star power.