Michael Alexander

Rating: 2 Units

The Pacers are 15-15. The Knicks are 16-17. An opportunity for the Knicks to hit .500, seems like a good time for them to fail. The next game after the Knicks scored 140 points seems like a good time for them to experience “what goes down” after “what went up.” Why the Pacers decided to take 50 of their 84 field goal attempts from three-point range the last time they played the Knicks (and lost 106-102) is a good question with no good answer. But perhaps, without menacing Mitchell Robinson on the floor for New York, Indiana will have the good sense to go inside much more. They also don’t have Victor Oladipo to shoot 3-for-16 like he did in that game.

Rating: 2 Units

Second of back-to-backs on this floor for the host Thunder after they beat Atlanta last night. The Nuggets are rested and off a loss, but with a handful of guys out, their defensive abilities are on the wane. The Thunder have visited Denver twice already (0-2, 119-101 the first time, 97-95 the second). Double-revenge home dog shouldn’t be too taxed to give it a good go in their final home game before the league’s one-week break. They don’t play again until March 3-4 in Dallas-San Antonio. OKC sat Al Horford last night but he should play tonight. Leave it all on the floor.

Rating: 2 Units

If you’d told us in advance that Evansville would go out and score 81 points last night, we’d have figured it to have led to a winner for us, taking +5. However, it was not to be as Missouri State hit 69.4% of their shots (they’re at 48.4% for the season). Look, if that’s what it takes to beat us, then we probably should take some pride in that, and stick to our guns for the instant re-hook. Besides, Missouri State locked the MVC’s #3 tournament seed with the win.

Rating: 3 Unit Big-12 Play of the Day

Earlier this season, KU suffered a home loss to Texas by the score of 84-59. Texas was ranked #8 then, is still in the Top 20. Baylor is ranked #2, with a points differential of +23.1, and beat the Jayhawks 77-69 in January after leading 41-28 at halftime. Wisely, the Bears didn’t pour it on in the second half, the better to lessen Jayhawk revenge emotions for this re-hook. Sweeping Kansas would put a nice cherry on top of Baylor’s seasonal sundae that sure is taking a long time in between spoon fulls.

Rating: 3 Unit Atlantic 10 Play of the Day

Duquesne was robbed of momentum earlier this month when their program had to go on pause. The Dukes now have two games under their belt and now will get to play in their renovated Cooper Fieldhouse for just the second time this season. In their first outing in their new gym, the Dukes impressed in a home victory over Rhode Island. Duquesne’s recent loss to La Salle has deflated their value and a buy-low situation now has appeared. Head coach Keith Dambrot said a good old fashioned butt kicking would be good for his team. The duo of Michael Hughes and Marcus Weathers inside can control the interior in this one for the Dukes.

Rating: 3 Unit Ohio Valley Play of the Day

JSU is off a season-best 54.2% from three-point range in a season sweep of Murray State. This happened on the same Thursday night during which Tennessee Tech pulled a shooting night out of their butts (56.4% overall, 50.0% from three-point range) to beat Austin Peay, who contributed to their own demise with a 5-for-20 (25.0%) outing on three-pointers. The traveling Governors have revenge against JSU, for a 76-70 loss in which their available bench was three players who totaled 3 points. They’ve gotten guys back since then. Consider that Jacksonville State is 5-14 ATS in their last 19 games as a home favorite

Rating: 3 Unit Big-12 Play of the Day

Texas Tech hasn’t been able to catch much of a break in the past week, as they had the challenge of playing at Kansas and at Oklahoma State. The Red Raiders lost both by narrow margins but now get to return home against a Texas team that is perhaps in for a letdown. The Longhorns had a different fortune against Kansas, narrowly escaping in overtime. Encouraging for Texas Tech as they have previously defeated Texas this season despite the Longhorns making 13-of-25 three-pointers. The Red Raiders limited Texas to 34.5% shooting from two-point range in that contest

Rating: 2 Units

Boston College will be playing just their fourth game in the last five weeks, as the Eagles have been hit by two separate program pauses. In addition, the Eagles fired head coach Jim Christian and saw both guards Rich Kelly and Wynston Tabbs opt to transfer. The Eagles program is simply running out the string on the season at this point. Notre Dame has struggled with physicality at times this season as well as switching man-to-man defense. The Eagles do not pose that challenge as they’ve played a passive zone defense for most of the season.

Rating: 2 Units

Miami was dominated from the start in their last outing against Florida State as the Hurricanes are limping to the finish line. Miami is down to six scholarship players and will have to deal with another team that possesses depth and pressure defense. Clemson’s ability to defend for 90 feet will take a toll on a Miami team that simply has run out of bodies this season. Clemson has started recapture some of their play from early in the season and still have plenty to play for as they try to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. 

Rating: 4 Unit ACC Game of the Week

In their prior meeting, Va. Tech blocked 9 shots to Wake’s 0, shot 47.8% to Wake’s 36.7%... but won the game only 64-60! Despite that nonsense, we’ll side with the #16-ranked Hokies in their second game back from a pause. They returned from it in a hornet’s nest – all right, a Yellow Jackets’ nest -- at Georgia Tech, turning in their worst offensive game of the season against a good defensive foe. At the same time, Tech exploited their shaky interior defense with 26-and-10 game from Moses Wright, a 6’9” inside scorer the likes of whom Wake Forest does not feature.

Rating: 2 Units

The Chicago Blackhawks will shoot for their third win in a row when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night in the first game of a back-to-back set. Chicago is coming off a pair of road wins against the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier in the week. The Blackhawks posted a 6-5 shootout victory on Tuesday, then added a 2-0 win on Thursday. Strong goaltending has been a key to the Blackhawks' success this season. Rookie Kevin Lankinen has produced an 8-3-3 record to go along with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage, and Malcolm Subban has shined as a backup by going 3-1-1 with a 2.13 GAA and a .930 save percentage. Today's matchup will be the fifth of the season between the teams. Chicago owns a perfect 4-0-0 record in the season series, including two wins at home and two on the road. Consider that Detroit is 5-16 in their last 21 games following a win.

Rating: 2 Units

Tampa Bay, which claimed its second Stanley Cup in six games over Dallas in October, has regained its footing and won three consecutive games, wrapping up a four-game set with a 3-1 victory Thursday over the Carolina Hurricanes. While the offense has slipped some, goalies Andrei Vasilevskiy and Curtis McElhinney, plus a strong defensive corps, backstopped the club and protected the net in winning three of four against Carolina. After the Lightning went through a recent 1-3-0 stretch, Vasilevskiy (11-3-1, 1.87 goals against, .935 save percentage) notched his 22nd career shutout in a 3-0 win Wednesday, and McElhinney stopped 31 of 32 shots in the finale. Consider that Tampa Bay is 69-29 in their last 98 home games.