What we learned after a thrilling day of nonconference men's hoops - ESPN

Dec. 14 was a date college basketball die-hards circled on their calendars before the season started. While some of the luster was taken away given several teams' poor starts to the campaign, it was still as loaded a nonconference Saturday as we've had in some time, with 18 ranked teams in action.

And it lived up to expectations.

There were buzzer-beaters — we're looking at you, Dylan Harper and Jordan Gainey. There were rivalry games, with Kentucky, Cincinnati, Oklahoma and Rutgers among those beating their biggest in-state foe. And there were massive top-25 upsets, with Dayton over Marquette being the biggest one.

As conference play across the country inches closer and narratives are beginning to take shape, ESPN college basketball writers Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf break down the biggest talking points from a busy weekend of nonconference showdowns.

After the UConn Huskies won at Texas last weekend, coach Dan Hurley had a comment about people writing off his team's chances at a third straight national championship. «Maybe the people with the shovels and the dirt, maybe they were too quick to grab the shovel and throw the dirt on us,» Hurley said. After Saturday's 77-71 win over Gonzaga at Madison Square Garden, that statement looks even more prescient.

Since losing three games in three days at the Maui Invitational, UConn has won four in a row — including victories over Baylor, Texas and the Gonzaga Bulldogs in a 10-day stretch. The Huskies are defending better on the perimeter, and freshman Liam McNeeley had a true breakout performance against the Zags: 26 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers. McNeeley was terrific in the second half and looks like a potential go-to guy for the Huskies moving forward.

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