Dec. 19, 2012

MBB WEEKLY REPORT | MBB SCOREBOARD | MBB STATS | MBB CHAMPIONSHIP

A quick look around Atlantic 10 men's basketball for Wednesday, Dec. 19.

ON TAP FOR WEDNESDAY (12/19)

ILLINOIS STATE Redbirds (7-3)
at DAYTON Flyers (8-2)
7:00 pm | UD Arena | WHIO
Series: Dayton leads 4-1
A-10 vs. Missouri Valley: 2-2
Gamenote: Dayton has had a winning record in December in the last 10 seasons, which includes 2012-13 season. Dayton is 56-16 (.774) during the previous 10 campaigns.

WESTERN MICHIGAN Broncos (7-3)
at DUQUESNE Dukes (6-5)
7:00 pm | A.J. Palumbo Center | NBC Sports Network
Series:  Western Michigan leads 1-0
A-10 vs. MAC: 5-2
Gamenote:  First-year coach Jim Ferry is getting contributions from up and down the DU roster. Ten players have seen action in all 11 games and nine of those have scored in double digits.

THE CITADEL Bulldogs (3-5)
at ST. BONAVENTURE Bonnies (6-3)
7:00 pm | Reilly Center
Series:  First Meeting
A-10 vs. SoCon: 6-0
Gamenote:  This game marks the second time this year the Bonnies will play an opponent for the first time. The other was the  65-55 season opening win over Bethune-Cookman.

CANISIUS Golden Griffin (7-2)
at TEMPLE OWLS (8-1)
7:00 pm | Liacouras Center
Gotham Classic
Series:  Temple leads 4-0
A-10 vs. MAAC: 5-4
Gamenote:  Temple is celebrating its 15th Anniversary at the Liacouras Center. The Owls own a 157-43 record (.785) in the building which opened with a win over #17 Fresno State in 1997.

XAVIER Musketeers (7-2)
at No. 11 CINCINNATI Bearcats (10-0)
7:00 pm | U.S. Bank Arena | ESPN2
Skyline Chili Crosstown Classic
Series: Cincinnati leads 48-31
A-10 vs. Big East: 65-8
Gamenote:  Xavier's annual game versus Cincinnati is now known as the Skyline Chili Crosstown Classic benefitting the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

RADFORD Highlanders (5-5)
at CHARLOTTE 49ers (10-1)
7:30 pm | Halton Arena
Series: Charlotte leads 3-0
A-10 vs. Big South: 3-0
Gamenote:  The 49ers are currently 10-1. Charlotte began the 1976-77 season, 13-1 and finished with a Final Four run. The 1991-92 team started 11-1 and the 1981-82 season began 10-1.

OHIO Bobcats (7-3)
at MASSACHUSETTS Minutemen (5-3)
7:30 pm | Mullins Center | CBS 3 Now
Series:  UMass leads 1-0
A-10 vs. MAC: 5-2
Gamenote:  This will mark the first of four games this season against MAC schools. Umass will also play Northern Illnois, Miami (Ohio) and Eastern Michigan.

EASTERN ILLINOIS Panthers (3-8)
at SAINT LOUIS Billikens (6-3)
8:00 pm | Chaifetz Arena | FOX Sports Midwest
Series:  Saint Louis leads 5-1
A-10 vs. OVC: 2-0
Gamenote:  First-year EIU coach Jay Spoonhour is the son of the late legendary SLU coach Charlie Spoonhour. Jay served as an assistant coach at SLU from 1996- 99.

ON THE TUBE

Wednesday, December 19
Illinois State at Dayton | 7:00 pm | WHIO
Western Michigan at Duquesne | 7:00 pm | NBC Sports Network
Xavier at Cincinnati (U.S. Bank Arena) | 7:00 pm | ESPN2
Ohio at Massachusetts | 7:30 pm | CBS 3 Now
Eastern Illinois at Saint Louis | 8:00 pm | FOX Sports Midwest

Friday, December 21
Fordham at Connecticut | 7:00 pm | UConn Sports Network
Longwood at VCU | 7:30 pm | CBS 6.3

A-10 SCOOP

>>Butler upset No. 1 Indiana, VCU and Dayton beat Alabama, last week, Duquesne beat West Virginia, Temple beat Villanova and La Salle beat Penn State, giving the A-10 14 total wins this season over "big six" programs. Last year, the Atlantic 10 had 28 wins versus big six schools, including three in the postseason.

>>Continuing on the big wins theme, the Atlantic 10 has taken down four ranked opponents so far this season. Most notable was Butler's Saturday overtime win over No. 1 Indiana. Saint Joseph's began the fun with an overtime win over No. 20 Notre Dame. Butler also got a win over No. 9 North Carolina and VCU had the headline on Thanksgiving by defeating No. 19 Memphis.

>>Polling always comes to the forefront in an election year. Butler cracked the Top 25 this week, checking in at No. 19 in the AP Poll and No. 25 in the Coaches Poll. In addition, the A-10 has five other teams that have received votes in the AP and ESPN/USA TODAY Coaches Polls. Saint Joseph's, Saint Louis, Temple, VCU and Xavier have all gotten votes in both polls.

TUESDAY'S (12/18) RESULTS

VCU 76, WESTERN KENTUCKY 44 | HIGHLIGHTS | POSTGAME VIDEO | SPORTSCENTER TOP 10

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Briante Weber scored 13 points and helped lead a stifling Virginia Commonwealth defense that forced 32 turnovers in a 76-44 rout of Western Kentucky Tuesday night.

The Rams (8-3) won their fifth straight game with suffocating defense against the Hilltoppers (8-4), whose starting backcourt was injured and didn't play. Weber set the night's tone by making a steal on the opening possession and then throwing down a dunk. At halftime, VCU led 42-16.

Western Kentucky had no one score in double figures. George Fant and Kevin Kaspar led the Hilltoppers with 8 points apiece. They badly missed starting guards T.J. Price and Jamal Crook, who are also the team's top two scorers.

Virginia Commonwealth shot 42.4 percent from the floor (28 of 66) while Western Kentucky was just 15 of 42 (34.7 percent). Rob Brandenburg scored 12 points for the Hilltoppers. Treveon Graham added 11 and Juvonte Reddic 10.

No. 9 KANSAS 87, RICHMOND 59 | HIGHLIGHTS | POSTGAME VIDEO

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Jeff Withey had 17 points and 13 rebounds, Ben McLemore added 14 points and No. 9 Kansas used another big first-half run to help put away Richmond, 87-59 on Tuesday night.

Travis Releford and Naadir Tharpe each added 11 points, and Elijah Johnson had seven assists for the Jayhawks (9-1), who will ride an eight-game win streak into Saturday's showdown at No. 7 Ohio State - a rematch of last year's national semifinal won by Kansas.

The Jayhawks used an 18-0 first-half run to bury the Spiders, allowing them to push their home winning streak to 28 games, tied for the sixth-longest in school history.

Derrick Williams had 14 points and Cedrick Lindsay finished with 12 for the Spiders (9-3), who had been 7-3 in their last 10 games against ranked opponents.