Friday’s solid performances

Some of the Wooden Preseason Top 50 players had great games on Friday.

– Boston College guard Tyrese Rice scored 24 on 7-9 shooting (5-5 from downtown) in a 6 point win over UAB.

– Wake Forest super sophomore James Johnson scored 18 on 8-13 shooting in a victory against UTEP. Star guard from UTEP, Stefon Jackson, scored 31 and pulled down 9 boards in the loss.

– Tennessee forward Tyler Smith shot 50% from the field and 90% from the line en route to a 21 point effort in a win over Georgetown.

– Syracuse shifty sophomore guard Jonny Flynn scored 15 to go along with 6 feeds in a 3 point in over Virginia.

– Pittsburgh big man DeJuan Blair notched his 4th double-double of the season with 15 and 11 in a 13 point beat down of Texas Tech. Forward Sam Young scored 24, but it he took 25 shots in doing so.

– Michigan State foward Raymar Morgan scored 29 points on 9-11 from the floor and 11-13 from the charity stripe in a 15 point victory over Oklahoma State.

– Oklahoma brute Blake Griffin did not have a compelling performance from the field (5-13) but he did have 21 rebounds and 3 blocks in an overtime win over Purdue. Although Blake’s brother Taylor was not a Wooden Preseason Top 50 player, he scored 19 on 8-11 shooting.

Mind-boggling STAT of the DAY

Oklahoma shot 46 free throws compared to only 5 for Purdue. Oklahoma connected on 4 three pointers compared to 12 three pointers for Purdue.

The difference…

Sooners had 7 more offensive rebounds and 7 more steals than the Boilermakers, plus 5 less turnovers.