Games I wish I'd seen: 11 November 2013

Yesterday there were two big nationally televised games, so you had your choice of Stanford vs. Connecticut, Tennessee vs. North Carolina - or both.  Since I saw the first game, one game I'd wish I'd seen is the second one, where the Lady Vols beat the visiting Tar Heels 81-65.  Rather than me yakking about it, I'll direct you to the writeup at the SB Nation Tar Heel Blog.

Notre Dame beat Michigan State 81-62.  What, you forgot about this Top 20 matchup?  (Oh right, it wasn't on TV.)  A 12-2 run in the first half by the Irish pretty much put the game in control of Notre Dame as Michigan State opened its season with a road  loss.  Notre Dame freshman forward Taya Raimer had 19 points and 13 rebounds on 8-for-13 shooting.

UCLA squeezed by Pepperdine 82-78.  UCLA, beset by injuries, is only playing seven players and will probably have to fight for every win until someone gets healthy.  Pepperdine tried to turn it into a foul fest just to get the ball back, but the Bruins hit all of their free throws in the stretch - they were 27 for 36 at the charity stripe in a foul fest of a game where three players (UCLA 2, Pepperdine 1) ended up fouling out.

Virginia Tech beat Old Dominion 73-61.  Twenty years ago I would have given this to ODU in a heartbeat, but things ain't the same in Virginia.  The Lady Monarchs were held to just 32 percent shooting.  Virginia Tech has started the season 2-0, just eight wins away from matching last year's season total.