Monday night recap: Some brutality, some fouls, and some awful three-point shooting

Need to make sense of all of Monday’s action?

We can’t help you there. A lot of it just didn’t make sense. But we can tell you what happened and try and get at what it means for the early 2017-18 college basketball picture.

Let’s get to it:

Marquee Games

Nevada 88 Rhode Island 81

This was an entertaining matchup bogged down by the officiating, with 45 fouls called in the game. Jordan Caroline led all scorers with 28 points, he also notched his first double-double of the season with 12 rebounds. Rhody was led by Jared Terrell with 24 points, but he ultimately fouled out.

Saint Joseph’s 86 UIC 82 OT

In a highly contested, back-and-forth game, the Saint Joseph’s Hawks came away with the victory in overtime. This game was close and the stats back it up. The Hawks shot 32 percent from long range, while the Flames shot 30 percent. Saint Joe’s won the rebounding battle 45-44, and both teams had 10 steals. The difference was at the charity stripe, where UIC missed nine free throws.

Wichita State 81 Charleston 63

The Shockers ran away with this game, taking the lead 19 seconds in and never giving it up. Wichita State shot 48 percent from the field and held the Cougars to 37 percent. Charleston was out-rebounded 44-27, fully encapsulating the Shocker dominance.

Brutality:

Read more about these games in our new series, Your Nightly Brutality. The first edition can be found here.

Milwaukee 74 Iowa State 56

The Panthers not only beat a Power 5 team by double figures, they did it at Hilton Coliseum, a notoriously difficult place to play. Milwaukee’s Brock Stull led the way with 17 points and four steals, but it was the Panthers’ defense that made the difference. Milwaukee held Iowa State to 3-15 shooting from long range and the Cyclones doled out just five (5!) assists all night.

Jacksonville St 94 Richmond 61

I’d like to start this one as an apology. An apology for picking Richmond to only finish ninth in the Atlantic 10. Clearly, I was wrong. My bad.

The Gamecocks absolutely manhandled the Spiders. They trailed for 27 seconds the entire game, at 7-6. Jacksonville State more than doubled Richmond in rebounds with a 42-20 margin. And shot 57 percent from the field. It’s going to be a long year in Spider Country.

Vanderbilt 60 Belmont 69

I’ll give some credit to the Commodores for going to Belmont on this one. The main takeaway from this game is that both teams were egregiously terrible from beyond the arc. Vandy was 4-23 and Belmont was 6-27.

Not Exactly Brutality, but Still Brutal

By rule (the rule Russ made up last night), losing to a non-Division I school does not qualify for brutality under our definition. But these games were still brutal.

Embry-Riddle 82 NAU 70

Unless you regularly scroll through the evening’s ESPN basketball scoreboard (which we all do, until the garbage site crashes), there’s a good chance you didn’t know this game was happening. There’s also a good chance you do not know what or where Embry-Riddle is. Neither did I. So I did some searching and discovered that it is an Aeronautical University (awesome) with campuses around the country, including in Arizona, which is where this particular team is based.

Northern Arizona did not shoot the ball well, going for only 24 percent from behind the arc and 36 percent overall. The Jacks were also out-rebounded 41-36, which should never happen against an NAIA opponent.

Lynchburg 83 Norfolk State 80

The Spartans lost this game because they couldn’t hold onto the ball, coughing up the rock 26 times in the contest. And, as was the theme last night, Norfolk State could not shoot from three, going just 6-24. The Hornets went on a roll in the second half, out-scoring Norfolk State 46-33.