February 22, 2023: Last night's conference tournament action did not disappoint!

Conference tournaments are in full swing now, and there were so many great matchups last night! Every night, so many teams are playing to just keep their seasons alive, which makes it very entertaining basketball. Here are a few of the games that caught my attention last night, categorized by conference.

WIAC

UW-Oshkosh def. UW-La Crosse, 57-54: This was probably the best game of the night, hands down. I loved watching these two teams battle it out for a full 40 minutes, as neither was willing to give in. UWL, with all its height in the post, did end up with a +7 rebounding advantage, but only four more points in the paint. Remember that UWL had beaten UWO 56-42 back on Feb. 11, so there was that to consider entering the matchup as well. I thought the Titans did a solid job of converting a the free-throw line, which ended up being huge in such a tight contest. UWO was 17-of-19 from the charity stripe, their highest FT percentage in a game since the two-point win over Stout on Jan. 21.

UW-Eau Claire def. UW-Platteville, 65-55: Both top seeds prevailed on Tuesday night. But even this 10-point win for the Blugolds did not come easy, with UWEC racing out to a 33-20 halftime lead before UWP countered in a 21-12 third quarter. The key run for UWEC came midway through the 4th quarter, in a 12-2 spurt that gave the Blugolds a 14-point lead after UWEC had cut the deficit to four. Bailey Reardon and Jessie Ruden each had stellar offensive nights for UWEC, with 19 and 18 points, respectively. UWP’s 3-point shooting kept them in the game, as they were 8-of-20 from beyond the arc. It just wasn’t enough to keep UWEC’s equally strong offense at bay.

Also, side note, but the WIAC did change their tournament schedule yesterday. Below is the press release sent to me by the league office.

ASC

UT Dallas def. Sul Ross State, 82-78, in OT: It was a battle all the way through between the #4 (UTD) and #5 (SRSU) seeds in the ASC Tournament. They were tied after three quarters, as well as at the end of regulation, forcing one of three overtime games last night. UTD did a stellar job of defending the 3-point arc. With as many shooters as SRSU has, holding the Lobos to a mere one 3-pointer (on 14 tries) was one of the major highlights of the night and keys to the win. Also I tend to bring up defense a lot when talking about UTD (because in my opinion they are the best defensive team in the ASC, perhaps in Region 10). But I have to give props to the offensive attack of the Comets. Amanda Crowninshield had 17 points, and Cierra Trigg and Blythe Williams each had 8. They were also 4-for-4 at the FT line in OT, which was huge in pulling out the win.

The final 4 left standing in the ASC are Hardin-Simmons, UTD, UMHB, and ETBU. Tournament plays resumes in Abilene on Friday night.

ARC

Simpson def. Dubuque, 95-90: Alright, getting into some quick thoughts on some of these games now. This was the best I’ve seen Simpson perform offensively all year. Shooting 63% from the field? 13-of-27 from 3-point range? Putting 95 points on the board? Those are numbers unheard of in conference tournaments, especially considering Dubuque actually BEAT Simpson 77-73 back on Jan. 14 (AT Simpson). Simpson jumped into Massey’s Top 50 (at #48) following the win.

Luther def. Coe, 70-64: The big win on Luther’s resume is the defeat of Loras, but the Norse are just 8-8 in ARC play, therefore, playing to keep their season alive every time they step onto the floor in this conference tournament. They pulled off a huge win at Coe last night, outscoring the opposition 23-13 in the 4th quarter to extend their season at least one more game. Watch out for the Norse!

GNAC

Emmanuel def. St. Joseph’s (CT), 70-67, in OT: The #2 seed out of the north division was nearly stunned by the #3 seed out of the south, but Emmanuel pulled off the narrow victory at home to escape the upset. Jordan Oullette was a big reason why St. Joe’s (CT) stayed in the game and pushed it into OT. She played 42 minutes, scoring 27 points, and pulled down 11 rebounds. They didn’t win, but you have to shout-out performances like that! Emmanuel didn’t shoot very well, but its depth really helped, especially as the game got into OT. Depth is usually the primary reason why near upsets do not happen, and that seemed to be the case in this one. Emmanuel had 21 points off the bench. St. Joe’s (CT) had just 2.

Centennial
Washington College def. Dickinson, 56-48: We were talking on Hoopsville the other day about how Washington was in sort of a downward spiral the last few weeks. But last night, they looked like the team they had been back in December, winning against a very good Dickinson team that was 14-5 in the Centennial. And they won on the road. That was a very impressive result to me, especially since Washington finished two games below .500 in league play this year. A +10 reb margin probably helped.

OAC

Baldwin Wallace def. John Carroll, 73-62: In a rematch of last week’s win for JCU, Baldwin Wallace did what they needed to do in order to claim the win; they forced turnovers and converted at the free throw line. JCU got out to a 15-9 lead, and I thought we might see JCU pull off another upset of BW. But once the Yellow Jackets settled down, they found some offense and things started to click. Still, I’m not sure BW will have enough to take down Marietta. I get that saying that is bulletin board material, but I really like Marietta’s chances in Thursday’s semifinal.

CCIW

Illinois Wesleyan def. Wheaton, 67-47: I considered IWU as the favorite entering this one, but Wheaton was actually the highest seed after both finished with an identical 10-6 CCIW record. They’d split the season series 1-1, and with Wheaton at home, that definitely gave the Thunder an advantage. But you wouldn’t have known it with the way IWU played. They were so much better defensively, which led to the wide margin of victory. Wheaton just couldn’t score at points, shooting only 28.1% from the field. Sets up a battle between IWU and Millikin on Friday night. Should be a good matchup in the CCIW semifinals.

Those are a few of the games that caught my eye as I was following all the action. Tonight we have 4 Top 25 teams in action, as well as some battles for Pool C hopefuls, such as Catholic vs. Elizabethtown in the Landmark Tournament. TCNJ and NJCU could be a great contest as well. I’ll try to have something out a bit sooner tomorrow. Have a great day!