Fighting Irish Ride Bonzie Colson's 33 Points To 84-72 Win Over Florida State

College Hoops Player of the Day for Saturday, February 11, 2017

Less than a month ago, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish had won seven straight, their 16-2 record had them high in the national rankings and their 5-0 ACC record led the conference.

That was before a spate of five losses (and just two wins) dropped the Irish out of the Top 25 and down in the conference standings. The Irish lost to Florida State, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Duke and North Carolina, while defeating just Syracuse and Wake Forest.

Saturday may have been the start of what could be called the Irish Revenge Tour as Notre Dame hosted #14 Florida State and handed them an 84-72 defeat at South Bend.

Leading the charge was junior forward Bonzie Colson, who hung a career-high 33 points on the Seminoles and improved his conference-best double-double tally to 16 with 13 rebounds.

The win moved Notre Dame to 8-5 in conference play, tied with Syracuse in fifth place, but only 1 1/2 games behind ACC leader, North Carolina.

Colson, a 6'5" match-up nightmare out of Detroit, made 12 of 18 shots from the field including a three-pointer and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.

With the win, the Fighting Irish may have turned their season back into a sure invite to the NCAA tournament. At 19-7, the Irish have an excellent shot at being one of the six or seven teams out of the ACC to go to the big dance, They have games remaining against Louisville, Georgia Tech, Boston College (twice, home and away) and NC State prior to the ACC tournament.

Memphis, Duke, Butler, Kansas All Winners

Butler 62 Wisconsin-Green Bay 57 - The Butler Bulldogs are ranked in the top 10 nationally, and a major factor is the stiff competition in the Horizon League. Seven of ten Horizon League teams have winning records.

Trailing 29-26 early in the second half, the Bulldogs outscored their Green Bay hosts 23-10, to seemingly take command of the game with 8 minutes remaining.

The Phoenix responded with a 8-0 run of their own to trail 49-47 with 4:20 left, but Pete Campbell knocked down consecutive three-pointers to increase the lead back to eight.

Campbell joined A. J. Graves, Mike Green and Matt Howard in double figures as the Bulldogs improved to 10 -2 in the conference and 21-2 overall. The loss by the Phoenix dropped them to 7-6 and 13-10 overall, dimming hopes for a trip to the NCAA tournament.

Butler shot only 39% from the field and hit just 8 of 32 threes, but they made them when they mattered most.

Kansas 100 Baylor 90 - The Jayhawks took their first step toward opening up some daylight in the contentious Big 12, putting down the Baylor Bears with their highest point output since a season-opening 107-78 rout of Louisiana-Monroe.

Kansas has scored 90 or more in back-to-back wins, topping Missouri, 90-71, on Monday. The win kept the Jayhawks 1/2-game in front of Kansas State, which topped Oklahoma State, 82-61, earlier in the day. Kansas is 8-1, K-State, 7-1. The two meet at Kansas March 1, in a game that will likely decide the Big 12 champion.

The Wildcats stunned the Jayhawks on January 30, handing them their first loss f the season, 84-75.

Surprising Baylor dropped to 5-3 in the Big 12, but are a solid 17-5 overall and should get an invite to the big dance in March.

Darrell Arthur led the Jayhawks with 23 points. Russell Robinson came off the bench to score 22, hitting 14-of-15 from the foul line. Kansas shot 51% from the field but was 0-9 from behind the three-point line. It was the first time since 1999 that a Jayhawk team failed to register a three-point shot.

This Monday, Kansas plays at #12 Texas, third in the conference at 6-2. It is the only meeting beg 12 rivals this season. The Longhorns beat Iowa State on Saturday, 71-65.

Around the Nation

Elsewhere in the Top 25, top-ranked Memphis made quick work of UCF, 85-64, as the Tigers improved to 23-0 and remain the only unbeaten team in Division 1. #2 Duke dispatched Boston College, 90-80 and #7 Tennessee scraped by LSU, 47-45. Surging UConn won their 7th straight with an 80-68 win over Georgia Tech.

Notre Dame won their 34th straight home game, squeaking by Marquette, 86-83. The Irish canned 10 straight free throws down the stretch to seal the win, holding a huge edge at the charity stripe. Notre Dame was 24-31, while Marquette was just 5 of 8.

Late games of note had Purdue at Wisconsin and Georgetown at Louisville.