College Hoops Tuesday

Analysis from last night's games and a preview of today's action as the Coaches vs Cancer Classic continues.
Memphis was in trouble a bit early, but they pulled away bigtime in the 2nd half against Tennessee-Martin. SOS College Hoops analyst Ilan Katz has the recap of the Tigers triumph:

The Memphis Tigers opened their season tonight with a 102-71 victory over Tennessee-Martin. Playing without their top big man Joey Dorsey, Memphis looked sloppy in the 1st half. They didn't have too many turnovers, but they let up a lot of threes and were down at one point by as many as 7. On the offensive end they couldn't hit a 3 as they shot 31% from long range and missing 24 treys. Highly touted freshman Derrick Rose was as good as advertised. He finished with 17 points on 8-16 shooting to go with 6 rebounds and 5 assists (he would have had at least 10 had his teammates hit some shots). He also had 2 blocks, one of them on the fast break after his lone turnover of the came. he caught up from behind and swatted it off the backboard and then led the fast break. This kid is really special. But Memphis as a whole had me a little worried. Their outside shooting has got to improve for them to be a national title contender. Other than that, this team showed tonight why it is ranked #3 in the nation in both major polls.

Memphis will battle the Richmond Spiders in the 2nd round as David Gonzalvez sunk two free throws with 3.6 seconds left in a 44-42 win over Maine. He led all scorers with 15 along with 4 rebounds. Black Bears Guard Mark Scobey had 14 points and 10 boards in the loss. Maine will play Tennessee-Martin in round two. Texas State beat DII Concordia 131-96 in exhibition play.

Today at 4pm from Lexington, Gardner-Webb takes on Alabama A&M in more CVC round one play. The Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs of the A-Sun went 9-21 last year and are led by 6'3 senior Thomas Sanders, who averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds last season. The Alabama A&M Bulldogs of the SWAC went 10-20 last year, but feature one of the nation's best defensive players. 6'11 senior Mickell Gladness averaged 7.6 points and 7.6 rebounds, but led the nation in blocks per game with an astounding 6.3 per contest. A&M returns all five of their starters.
At 6pm from Memphis, Maine will face Tennessee-Martin in the consolation game. The Skyhawks got 35 points and 10 rebounds from Guard Lester Hudson last night. At 7pm on ESPNU, Kentucky has their season opener at home against Central Arkansas. The Wildcats went 22-12 last season and are now led by head coach Billy Gillispie. They have the players to compete for the SEC title. They battle Central Arkansas Bears of the Southland conference. Clemson hosts Augusta tonight in exhibition action. Memphis hosts Richmond at 9pm tonight on ESPNU