Your Local SEO and Digital Marketing Experts in San Diego County
The outcome of the Rady Children’s Invitational championship game between No. 13 Purdue and No. 23 Ole Miss was still in doubt Friday evening with less than one second remaining.
No surprise there.
The college basketball tournament is produced by the same group that stages the Holiday Bowl, which earned its reputation as “America’s Most Exciting Bowl Game” when eight of its first 10 games were in doubt until the final minute.
Oklahoma beat USC for last year’s inaugural Rady Children’s title on a putback basket with 1.4 seconds remaining.
Purdue played it even closer, scoring with .5 seconds remaining for an 80-78 win at UC San Diego’s LionTree Arena.
With 14.7 seconds left, Purdue inbounded the ball to point guard Braden Smith, who dribbled time off the clock while working toward a 15-footer in the corner.
Smith’s shot was off the mark, but teammate Myles Colvin had the miss drop into his hands under the basket and banked in the game-winner for the Boilermakers (7-1).
“I just went to do my job, got a rebound and got the game-winning points,” said Colvin, who sparked the Boilermakers with seven of his 20 points down the stretch. “Winning plays. We’ve got to do what we’ve got to win.”
Purdue looked like it was going to run away against Ole Miss (6-1), taking an 8-0 advantage from the jump and leading by as many as 17 points in the game.
But Ole Miss got back in the game behind a team-high 18 points from Mikeal Brown-Jones and double digits from teammates Matthew Murrell (14) and Jaylen Murray (13).
In fact, the Rebels led 75-68 with less than five minutes to play when Colvin, Smith (18 points) and Trey Kaufman-Renn (25 points, 13 rebounds) restored order.
“It was really kind of a gut check for us to be able to find a way on both ends to pull a victory out,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Give our guys a lot of credit. They showede a lot of basketball character.”
BYU’s Russian asset
BYU’s Egor Demin drove the lane in the first half of the Cougars’ 72-61 win over North Carolina State and was whistled for an offensive foul.
Demin will be driving again when the Cougars return to Provo, Utah, intent on avoiding any infractions. He is going for his drivers license. The 6-foot-9 freshman guard from Moscow has been studying the rules of the road and practicing with his teammates.
“We’ve gone out driving the car a little bit, making sure I have the skill,” Demin said. “I feel good.”
The Cougars (6-1) feel real good with Demin on the roster. He leads the team in scoring this season, but does so many other things on the floor that it’s difficult to believe he’s only 18 years old.
It comes from playing three years in Spain for Real Madrid before coming to college.
The stay here may not be long. More than 100 NBA scouts and executives have visited BYU practices and games this season to see Demin, a potential lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
“We will see,” said Demin, who had eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds against N.C. State. “The season is going to show my progression.
“If I’m ready, good. If I’m not, I’m hoping to stay here net year and play another season in college to make sure I’m ready for the NBA.”
Dog day afternoon
Comedian W.C. Fields said something that is as true today as it was when he said it a century ago: “Never work with children or animals.”
It assures being upstaged or overshadowed.
Case in point: Christian and Scooby, the halftime act during the BYU-N.C. State game.
Christian Stoinev, billed as a winner of “Germany’s Got Talent,” came out to midcourt and some impressive balancing feats, highlighted when he did a one-handed handstand with on a basketball.
That generated polite applause.
The crowd really perk up a few moments later, however, when a Chihuahua emerged from a small box.
The little dog jumped through a hoop, then ducked back and forth between Stoinev’s legs. He climbed on the man’s back as Stoinev balanced straight out on one hand and then made it to the top (make that bottom) of the Stoinev’s shoes as he did a handstand.
The little dog finished off the bit by balancing on a basketball.
The audience ate it up.
Hot ticket
Early-season tournaments like the Maui Invitational and Wooden Classic (now the Vegas Showdown) built their reputations over decades with top-level fields. Contrast that with the Players Era Festival, which debuted in Las Vegas this year, purchasing prestige with millions of dollars in payouts.
One objectives of the Rady Children’s Invitational was to be one of the best tournaments, but it didn’t want to take decades to do it. And it certainly wasn’t going to buy its way into the discussion.
The Rady recipe for success, develiering sellouts in its first two years, includes quality fields and a highly-desirable destination coupled with broadcast TV exposure.
“It’s such a great collaboration of many organizations putting this together,” said Mark Neville, CEO for Sports San Diego, which puts on the tournament. “The thing that really put us over the top to make this a special event was bringing in Rady Children’s Hospital. It puts meaning behind the event. They’re the most beloved organization in San Diego.
“I feel like around the country we’re already there as one of the best in the country. … It’s a hot ticket.”
Already announced for the 2025 event is a field that includes current No. 1 Kansas, along with No. 15 Wisconsin, No. 18 Florida and Providence.
Tickets go on sale in the spring. Get ’em while they’re hot.
Your Local SEO and Digital Marketing Experts in San Diego County