NCAA Basketball: TCU’s struggles, Maui breakdown among biggest takeaways
By Joey Loose
2. A review of the Main Event in Las Vegas
The Continental Tire Main Event gave us one of the best holiday tournament fields of the entire season. Four ranked teams met up for a pair of games on Friday and Sunday. Virginia was the victor, winning a pair of hard-fought games and seeing their ranking shoot up this week as a result. Illinois looked fantastic and Baylor had a bounce-back effort, while UCLA just couldn’t get the job done, dropping two games.
Friday’s night action saw the underdogs coming through with wins. #16 Virginia toppled #5 Baylor 86-79, with a 26-point effort from Armaan Franklin helping ignite a suddenly red-hot Cavaliers offense. The same night saw #19 Illinois dig out of a second-half hole to upset #8 UCLA in a 79-70 affair. Former Texas Tech star Terrence Shannon Jr. had 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Illini in the win, setting up those two Sunday matchups.
The championship game was a thrilling back-and-forth affair between Illinois and Virginia, but the Illini ran out of offensive gas late, with the Cavaliers pulling out a 70-61 victory. Reece Beekman had 17 points for Virginia, who enjoyed a major advantage from the charity stripe in the game. The third-place game was a dandy as well, as Baylor secured an 80-75 win over UCLA. LJ Cryer had 28 points for the Bears while Adam Flager added 22, with the two of them certainly pacing Baylor to the victory.
First and foremost, the nation got to see that this Virginia team is much better than even the most optimistic expectations, beating two very good-looking programs. The nation got to see that this new-look Illinois squad has talent all over the court. Baylor may be two years removed from its national championship but still has some very impactful pieces on this roster. Finally, even though they lost both games, UCLA is no pushover and will certainly be in a dogfight with Arizona for the Pac-12 crown this year. It wouldn’t be surprising to see all four of these teams making noise when March rolls around.