Live blog: Vermont, Jaylen Adams and more early evening thoughts

College football is over, folks.

Sure, your friends might disagree. The schedule on your TV might disagree. But college basketball is in full swing and that means the annual gridiron appetizer might as well be back on the shelf until next August.

This is Feast Week, and that means we have college basketball going all damn day.

We’ll check in periodically right here, but for now, here are the games to track. All times Eastern:

Houston vs. Liberty, Paradise Jam, RIGHT NOW
Harvard at Manhattan, 1 p.m., ESPN3
Furman at Butler, 2 p.m., FS2
La Salle vs. Northwestern, Hall of Fame Tip-Off, 2:30 p.m., ESPN3
Quinnipiac vs. Wake Forest, Paradise Jam, 2:30 p.m.
Coastal Carolina vs. Vermont, Bahamas Showcase, 5 p.m.
Mercer vs. Drexel, Paradise Jam, 6 p.m.
Princeton at Saint Joseph’s, 7 p.m.
Oakland at Toledo, 7 p.m., ESPN3
Campbell at UNC Wilmington, 7 p.m.
Iona vs. Northern Kentucky, Bahamas Showcase, 8 p.m.
Bucknell at Maryland, 8:30 p.m.
UT Arlington at BYU, 9:30 p.m., ESPN3

Enjoy the games!

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UPDATE: 11:27 p.m.

UT Arlington absolutely demolished BYU in Provo in this clash between a traditional mid-major power and a burgeoning star. Tonight, the up-and-comers, led by Scott Cross, systematically picked apart the Cougars.

With four players posting double-digit scoring totals, UT Arlington managed to take down BYU by a score of 89-75 (it was not even that close), limiting the production of TJ Haws significantly. I’m not going to post the whole box score here because that would be outrageous, but you should seriously take a look (and note UTA’s numbers from the perimeter as well; they’re something special).

In his preview of this weekend’s games, our own Russ Steinberg said that a loss ensures that “the Cougars are already worrying about at-large chances.” With such a brutal loss to a solid Mavericks team, it seems like Steinberg’s predictions are already becoming a reality.

However, it wasn’t a totally bad night for the Cougars, I suppose...

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UPDATE: 8:12 p.m.

Dylan Frye hit a three with 0.9 seconds left and Bowling Green upset Florida Gulf Coast in an absolute thriller, 83-80. Here’s the game-winner:

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UPDATE: 7:23 p.m.

So a ton of basketball has happened over the past few hours. Let’s haphazardly catch up on some of the action:

• Wake Forest has been kind to our mid-majors this season with brutality losses to Georgia Southern and Liberty, and by falling to Drake in the first game of the Paradise Jam. But Baker Dunleavy’s Bobcats couldn’t (understandably) keep the trend going in a 72-55 loss to the Demon Deacons.
• North Florida is now 0-5 after a loss to Mt. Saint Mary’s. The schedule has been brutal up to this point, but that’s a strange mark to see next to UNF after several solid seasons. The Ospreys should obviously be cut some slack as they replace an all-timer in Dallas Moore.
• Hey, let’s not bury the lede. Vermont fought off a better-than-many-might-think Coastal Carolina team with an 80-67 win in the Bahamas. The Catamounts actually trailed by one at the break before dropping 43 points in the second half. Trae Bell-Haynes was brilliant again (15 points, 5 assists), but the game highlighted why Vermont is so dangerous. Anthony Lamb didn’t do much, but it didn’t matter as Ernie Duncan (19 points) and Drew Urquhart (15 points) had big games. Good luck, America East (yes, we know Albany will have something say about that).
• The proprietor of #WACWednesday is writing this update so you’re not avoiding a dose of the WAC. Kudos to Jim Hayford for getting his first Div. I win at Seattle with a 102-71 victory over Detroit in Nashville (2K Classic).

• Still no Jaylen Adams for the St. Bonaventure, but the Bonnies got 27 points from Matt Mobley and beat Jackson State easily. The injury watch on the star guard is the biggest storyline in the A-10 right now.

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UPDATE: 4:25 p.m.

La Salle can take some positives form this loss to the 20th-ranked team in the country.

B.J. Johnson followed up his 30-point outing against South Alabama with a 22-point game (9-15 FG) against the Wildcats’ high quality defense. It was mentioned on the broadcast, but with some of the A-10’s best unfortunately dealing with injuries to some degree or another (E.C. Matthews, Lamarr Kimble, Jaylen Adams), Johnson may stand out more than he already would this year.

The Explorers also stormed out of the locker room with some crisp offense, cutting a 22-point half time deficit to just seven points with 8:38 to go. The game was never in doubt — and Northwestern would push its lead back out before another La Salle rally — but John Giannini should be happy with the second half effort.

UPDATE: 2:38 p.m.

Maybe not. The Crimson trailed by 15 headed into the half at Manhattan, but have opened up the second half on a 34-16 run. Seth Towns is leading the way with 14 points for Harvard.