A few updates after a relatively light night of games:

The Game Everyone Was Talking About (sort of)

Beasley Cries Himself to Sleep, Wants His Huggins – #5 Texas 74, Kansas State 65: Put yourself in Michael Beasley’s shoes. Every night you step on the court, you drop a double-double (last night’s line: 30 points, 15 boards with 5 on offense, a pair of dimes and a steal). On any given night, your teammates MIGHT show up. More likely, as they did last night, they will actually vomit on the court. (Taking out Beasley’s stats, the Wildcats shot 26% from the floor and 45% from the line.) There are millions on the table in the NBA. Oh, and you are stuck in Manhattan, Kansas. I’m a big fan of higher education, with the student debt to prove it, and even I want Beasley to go to the NBA for his own sanity.

Meanwhile, the Longhorns showed the type of balance you need to win games on the road. Connor Atchley, who is unsurprisingly Caucasian, contributed 14 points and 7 boards despite spending most of the game in foul trouble after vain attempts to guard Beasley. D.J. Augustin and A.J. Abrams contributed 24 and 13 respectively thanks to 45% accuracy behind the arc. (The Longhorns may struggle against faster teams with better perimeter defense, but that’s a problem for another day.)

The Game You Should Have Watched

More evidence that student government causes harm than good – Texas Southern 77, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 76: The unfortunately-abbreviated APB sent the game to overtime when Marcelle Goins nailed a shot from half court as the buzzer sounded to tie the score at 68. Texas Southern, however, had a two point lead going into overtime thank to a technical foul called on APB as time expired. What gave? After Goins’ miracle lob, the home crowd celebrated by littering the court with cups, Frisbees, and pens given out pregame by candidates for student office. The two gimmes were the difference, keeping APB three games behind Alabama State in conference standings. Video courtesy of tWWL after the jump, that suggests that the refs may have overreacted just a bit:

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem: This is two days old, but warrants mentioning – after escaping Northwestern in their first game under interim coach Dan Dakich on Saturday, several Indiana players came back to the locker room to find text messages from former coach Kelvin Sampson. In a related story, Sampson said he admires Mike Huckabee for staying in the presidential race, and that yes, he absolutely expects to get another coaching job soon.

Jesuits Catholics dominate West Coast, promise to ban beach enjoyment – #23 Saint Mary’s 61, San Diego 54: Nothing even remotely exciting in this game, but combined with Gonzaga’s win over Portland, it confirms what we already knew – the Jesuit Papist schools dominate small conference basketball. Even as an alum of such an institution, I have no good explanation for why this is the case. But be afraid. Fire and brimstone ain’t got nothing on a priest run rampant with a ball.