Arizona 81, St. John's 72

[recap] [box score]

I've decided to severely limit anything I write about St. John's until they stop playing that zone, or start playing it better or something. Otherwise, I'm just going to end up pointing out the same thing over and over again. Arizona hit 14-of-29 three-pointers in this one. If you want a difference in this game, you don't have to look any further than the Wildcats' 33-point advantage in that category.

Nurideen Lindsey, quickly gaining recognition as one of the best one-on-one and transition players in the college game, nearly won this game on his own, thrilling the Madison Square Garden with his spectacular moves and keeping his team in front for most of the second half. He picked up his fourth foul with maybe six or seven minutes left and St. John's clinging to a lead, and Arizona quickly went on top. Steve Lavin had no choice to bring him back, and Lindsey then made a mistake that is probably attributable to his inexperience -- he immediately committed his fifth and disqualifying foul on the offensive end, pushing off as he tried to create a lane to the basket.

Without Lindsey, it was all over but for the celebrating.

Mississippi State 69, Texas A&M 60

[recap] [box score]

Rarely does a team win a college basketball game in the first eight minutes, but that's basically what Mississippi State did tonight.

In that time, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 24-9 lead, hitting their first five three-pointers. And Texas A&M's Ray Turner -- who had scored 20 points in each of the Aggies' first two games -- picked up two quick fouls. A&M was already without its best player, Khris Middleton, who will be on the shelf for a few weeks after he tore his meniscus in the season-opening win over Liberty. With Middleton in street clothes and Turner riding the pine because of the foul trouble, Texas A&M had nowhere to turn for offense, and having dug themselves into such a deep hole, they really couldn't get out.