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I Slept On It: Arizona State Stuns Arizona After 2 OTs (And A Side Of Controversy)

The Sun Devils took a huge step toward selection by knocking off their archrivals. Earlier, in the evening Louisville and SMU picked up easy AAC road wins.

By ChrisDobbertean
Ralph Freso

"I Slept On It" is Blogging the Bracket's nearly daily roundup of the previous night's college basketball action, with a bracketology focus.

Pac-12

Arizona State (19-6, 8-4) took advantage of Arizona's (23-2, 10-2 Pac-12) offensive struggles to hang in the pair's tense showdown in Tempe. Neither team could close things out at the end of regulation or the first overtime, so a second extra session beckoned. With 1:55 left in the second OT, the Wildcats had a four-point lead and looked to be safe, then Jermaine Marshall took over, draining two threes and hitting a layup to put the Sun Devils up one. Then, things got a bit crazy.

I'm fairly sure two technicals could have been called there: the first for Jahii Carson hanging on the rim after the dunk (no, the fact his own player rushed to get under him doesn't excuse it) and the other for the premature court storm. The officials didn't agree with me, so none were called and Nick Johnson's desperation three attempt at the buzzer just missed.

Note: College students of America, rushing the court is fine. Just wait until you hear the buzzer and the teams are walking off the court to do so. Your game's officials may not be as laid back as they are in the Mountain and Pacific time zones.

Arizona's lead over UCLA in the Pac-12 race is down to just a game in the loss column. However, the Wildcats and Bruins won't meet again in the regular season, thanks to the post-expansion Pac-12 schedule.

Elsewhere

The finale in Tempe wasn't the only close one on Valentine's night. Oakland (10-17, 5-7) completed a season sweep of Detroit (12-15, 5-7 Horizon) after an extra session, with the Grizzlies' Travis Bader (30 points) and the Titans' Juwan Howard, Jr. (33 points) putting on a show. Bader got the better of Howard at the end of regulation and the conclusion of OT, as he hit shots that Howard just couldn't answer.

American

In the two AAC games rescheduled from Thursday due to weather, Louisville (20-4, 9-2) and SMU (20-5, 9-3) prevailed over Temple (6-17, 1-10) and Rutgers (10-15, 4-8) respectively. Montrezl bagged a double-double for the Cardinals, grabbing 10 boards to go along with 22 points, while Nic Moore led the Mustangs with 21.

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