NCAA Basketball: Minnesota pulls off upset on uneventful day

During the NFL’s final week of the regular season, NCAA basketball had a rather uneventful day.

In the Busting Brackets Daily Wrap-Up, we will go through the major NCAA basketball games from the night before with a few short summaries and articles to keep you up to date on the recent news in the college basketball world. This covers the major games from the previous night, as well as looking at major news stories from across the nation.

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We also go through each game of major importance in our “Games to Watch” section, which includes a **Game of the Day**, a ^^Bubble Battle^^, and a brief preview as to what to watch for.

Here we go:

Recaps from Sunday, January 1st:

Just days after falling to Providence and dealing with a very scary flight home, the Butler Bulldogs bounced back in impressive fashion against Providence. They took advantage of a balanced attack offensive attack in which they shot 61.9 percent from the field, including 57.1 percent from three. The Dawgs also added the fashionable fast break seen here:

Kyron Cartwright’s 26 points were not enough to remain close with Butler. Hinkle Fieldhouse welcomes No. 1 Villanova on Wednesday in another great Big East battle.

In already their second overtime game of the year, Minnesota was able to come out on top this time. The Golden Gophers, who were already off to a pretty good start to the season, traveled to face No. 15 Purdue and were able to knock them off on the road.

Caleb Swanigan was remarkable once again for the Boilermakers, contributing 28 points and 22 rebounds in the losing effort. Minnesota received a top-notch game from junior guard Nate Mason, who recorded a double-double of 31 points and 11 assists.

For a more in-depth look at this game, Bryce Bennett has you covered here.

In our Bubble Battle on Sunday, Angel Delgado (18 points, 12 rebounds) had another double-double to lead Seton Hall over the Golden Eagles of Marquette. MU’s Katin Reinhardt was 5-of-8 from three off the bench for 17 points, but it was not enough in a poor shooting game for Steve Wojciechowski’s team.

In each team’s first Pac-12 game of the year, the Utah Utes came out and beat Colorado from start to finish. Four of five Utah starters scored 10 or more points and helped the Utes climb to 10-3 on the season, a respectable mark for a team whose tournament chances continue to increase. Derrick White had 15 points and eight assists for the Buffaloes, albeit in a losing battle.

Ohio State had 26 points from JaQuan Lyle, but it was not enough to stop the balanced scoring attack of the Fighting Illini in this Big Ten battle. Leading the way for Illinois was Malcolm Hill with 20, but they also had three other players score in double figures. The game was also won at the free throw line, where Illinois went 17-of-23 to Ohio State’s 9-of-11.

For a more in-depth look at this game, Carmine Carcieri has you covered here.

Best of Yesterday from Busting Brackets:

Florida State Basketball: Noles are the ACC’s most underrated team: Looking for your ACC fix? Carmine Carcieri takes a look at one of the biggest surprises from the conference and how they have done it.

Next: Three takeaways from Villanova's win over Creighton

That ends today’s Daily Wrap-Up. Tune in tomorrow for another edition and have a happy holiday.