Ball quarter is live tonight from Madison Square Garden in New York City, we’ll blog both semifinal games of the 2K Sports Classic, Southern Illinois vs. Duke and Michigan vs. UCLA.
All the big-shot reporters are here, including ESPN’s Andy Katz and Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn. Also, Dick Vitale will announce the game. Makes sense with big names like UCLA and Duke playing back-to-back, and possibly meeting tomorrow.
Definitely a late-arriving crowd here at the Garden. I heard way, way more chatter about Wall Street today in the city than sports in general, much less a preseason college basketball tournament.
A slow start for both teams in game one, as Southern Illinois builds a 9-5 lead. Duke’s Greg Paulus just committed a bad turnover for the Blue Devils. Paulus, a senior, has been relegated to the bench after starting at point guard for most of his first three seasons in Durham.
A fast-break basket by Duke’s Jon Scheyer and a put-back from Brian Zoubek have tied the game at nine. Southern Illinois has not scored in the past three minutes.
It feels like November college basketball. Both Duke and Southern Illinois are having a difficult problem finding open shots. With seven minutes remaining, Southern Illinois leads 15-14.
There are a few seniors- I mean senior citizens- playing in the Duke band right now. Maybe alumni? We’ll try to figure out at halftime.
Duke started to assert itself in the final minutes of the first half, and leads 29-23 at the break.
Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith was honored on-court at halftime. Pat Summit and Lou Carnesseca were also awarded the Joe Lapchack character award.
The Michigan basketball team is watching the Duke-Southern Illinois about three rows below us. Ben Howland’s UCLA team is not in the stands, though.
A huge dunk from Nolan Smith and a three-pointer from Gerald Henderson have suddenly turned the tide in Duke’s favor. The Blue Devils lead 39-29, with 15-minutes to go in the second game.
Game-breaker. Kyle Singler picks off a pass, races down the court and dunks just as Southern Illinois’ Tony Boyle slams into him. Boyle received an intentional foul for the play, and now the Blue Devils lead 66-49.