Player of the Night -- Travis Taylor, Xavier
Taylor had 19 points to go with career highs of 19 rebounds and six blocked shots in Xavier’s overtime win against No. 16 Saint Louis. He’s the first player to generate those totals against a ranked team since Georgetown’s Michael Sweetney is 2003 against Syracuse. The last A-10 player with a 19-19-6 game was Xavier’s David West in 2001.
Stat Sheet Stuffer -- Trey Burke, Michigan
It wasn’t even his most prolific performance this week, but Burke had another big game in Michigan’s win over Purdue. He finished with 26 points, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals -- his second game reaching all of those totals this season. No Big Ten player had one such game since Mateen Cleaves in 1998.
Freshman of the Night -- Chris Bolden, Georgia Tech
The Yellow Jackets topped No. 6 Miami, 71-69, behind a career-high 21 points from Bolden. He’d only scored a total of 16 points in their previous three games. Marcus Georges-Hunt’s tip-in at the buzzer made the difference, but it was Bolden’s offensive outburst that stood out. It’s the highest ranked team Georgia Tech has defeated on the road since beating No. 3 Duke in 2004.
Bench Player of the Night -- Brenton Williams, South Carolina
Averaging 10 points coming into the game, Williams exploded for 38 points off the bench in South Carolina’s 79-72 win against Mississippi State. It was the most points by a South Carolina player since Terry Dozier had 38 against Florida State in 1987, and it was the most points off the bench by an SEC player in at least the past 15 years. (Joakim Noah had 37 off the bench for Florida in 2006.)
Ugly Stat Line of the Night -- Cody Ellis, Saint Louis
Ellis went 0-for-15 off the bench in the Billikens’ loss to Xavier. That’s the second-worst oh-fer in the nation this season behind Southeastern Louisiana’s Jeffery Ricard (0-16). But it’s the worst oh-fer off the bench since Pepperdine’s Yakhouba Diawara went 0-for-18 against San Diego in 2005.
