Weekend Quick Hitters, pt. 2

Saturday's games:

UNC - Beat Penn 86-71. Remove Hansbrough, insert Tyler Zeller and Ed Davis. 18 for Zeller and a double-double for Davis... yea, this is like replacing Shaq in his prime with Hakeem at center. Deon Thompson added 17 for the Tar Heels. It will be interesting to see how the Kentucky guards, particularly Jodie Meeks, do against a banged up Tar Heels backcourt without their best perimeter defender (Ginyard). But the Tar Heels should be able to score enough that it won't be a problem.

Gonzaga - Beat Mt. St. Billings 83-52. 15 points apiece for Austin Gaye and Josh Heytvelt. If Heytvelt can be the guy he was freshman year, the Zags are going to be VERY tough to beat. Daye also showed no signs of his injury over the summer (partially torn knee ligament). Together, they give Gonzaga one of the best frontcourts in the country.

Memphis - Beat Fairfield 90-63. Freshman Tyreke Evans scored 19 in his college debut, and four other Tigers scored in double figures. They struggledc with Fairfield's zone early but Taggart started taking control of the game inside and the Tigers never looked back. Memphis did give up 50% shooting, including 44% from 3, which could be a problem.

Tennessee - Beat Chattanooga 114-75. 32 assists for the Vols on Saturday, a team record. Tyler Smith led with 21 points. Junior Guard Bobby Maze had 12 points and 10 assists, and Tennessee shot almost 59% from the floor.

Miami - Beat Florida Southern 96-60. Lots of production from the usual suspects - McClinton, Dwayne Collins - but newcomers Cyrus McGowan and DeQuan Jones also had good starts, which will be huge for the Hurricanes because, well, this team was pretty good last year when they didn't have these guys.

USC - Beat UC Irvine 78-55. This game was actually close for a while. USC was clinging to a 1 point lead with a minute left in the first half. But a 23-7 run after halftime put it away. DeMar DeRozan had a pretty solid debut with 14 points in 28 minutes. Guard Dwight Lewis added 18 and Taj Gibson added 17 to lead the Trojans.

In non Top 25 news... Florida State barely beat Jacksonville 59-57. Cleveland State won a close game vs. Oakland 58-55 and they get an important non-conference game coming up on Tuesday (@ Washington). Lipscomb put up 121 on Oakland City in their win. And Washington St. held Miss Valley St. to only 26 points in a win. Something tells me they'll be competitive in the Pac 10 this year despite all the seniors they lost.