Quick Hitter: Blowing It

Well, those two games were lost, not won. Purdue could have been much closer and even led the game at various times, but they managed to blow possessions in a variety of ways. UConn was not the dominant team they were last weekend, as Jeff Adrien was not hitting the foul line jumper on the pick and pop and Chris Kramer had A.J. Price largely contained for much of the game.  Despite mostly being outplayed, Purdue was never behind by all that much. But Purdue could never get over the hump, and UConn finally flexed its superior talent in the last ten minutes and pulled away. Purdue definitely fumbled away a chance to push UConn to the last possession. 

Xavier has to be heartbroken as well. Their long drought at the beginning of the second half turned their 37-29 halftime lead into a seesaw game.  They could not push the advantage they had gained from a quiet first half by DeJuan Blair, and the odds caught up with them. Blair came alive in the second half, with rebounding and scoring, but Xavier could still control the game. Pitt was not really clicking offensively or defensively. Xavier had an incredible run of missed chippies throughout the game, and they had turnovers at the most inopportune times, sometimes after big stops.  They were deflated by the final minute, and when Levance Fields hit that gigantic 3 over a good contest, it seemed like Xavier was basically finished mentally, even though they were only down 1.  Not a fitting way for Xavier to end the season. 

Two Big East beasts escape average performances. On to the late games....