College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, December 1, 2013
It was a weird Sunday for a few of college basketball's Top 25 as the UAB Blazers shot just 31%, but managed to upset #16 North Carolina,
63-59; star forward Doug McDermott was held to a season-low seven points in George Washington's
60-53 victory over #20 Creighton; and,
Xavier Thames scored nearly half of his team's points in San Diego State's
67-59 win over #25 Marquette.
The 5-1 Aztecs won their fourth straight to capture the final of the Wooden Legacy tournament at Fullerton, California, having already topped Charleston, 72-52, in the opening round and dumping Creighton,
86-80, in the semi-final on Friday.
Thames, a senior guard, had a career-high 29 points to pace the Aztecs. Though he could not get his two-point shots to drop (2-for-10), he was money from beyond the arc, hitting five of six three-pointers, and, at the foul line, where he canned 10 of 11.
Named tournament MVP, Thames scored 26 in the Creighton win and had 11 points in the easy win over Charleston.
With victories over two ranked teams during the holiday weekend, it's a good bet that the Aztecs will find themselves among the ranked teams when the new polls are released Monday. San Deigo State's only loss was a 69-60 setback to #6 Arizona.
