Gonzaga's Killian Tillie made his season-debut Tuesday night. The senior forward, coming off of knee surgery, went 6-of-11 from the field and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds in the Zags' 72-66 victory over Texas-Arlington.
So that's a great development.
Tillie, you might remember, was Gonzaga's leading returning scorer heading into last season -- but didn't play until January, and only played 15 games total. He never got comfortable after joining the team mid-season and averaged just 16.6 minutes per contest. The fact Gonzaga still won 33 times under those circumstances is remarkable. And, either way, if Tillie is now good again, Gonzaga should be really good again and worthy of discussion. So, with that in mind, Matt Norlander and I opened this episode of the CBS Sports Eye On College Basketball Podcast by discussing Tillie's return and the Zags in general.
After that, the conversation went like this:
- 10:00: Virginia beat Vermont 61-55 on Tuesday night -- but the Catamounts' Anthony Lamb was the story. He made six 3-pointers and finished with 30 points, which was just four fewer than Syracuse's entire team scored against the reigning national champions earlier this season. So that was something. And it's hopefully the type of performance that'll shine a brighter light on Vermont, which is an incredible 45-3 in its past 48 America East games. John Becker's team has been running through its conference and should do it again this season while winning at least 27 times for the fourth consecutive year.
- 21:30: There aren't many interesting games on the schedule over the next couple of days -- but the 2K Classic is kind of intriguing. It starts Thursday at New York's Madison Square Garden with No. 22 Texas vs. Georgetown followed by No. 1 Duke vs. California. The winners will play Friday. It's an event that provides, among other things, an opportunity to see Patrick Ewing back at MSG where he played 15 seasons for the New York Knicks in what ultimately became a Hall of Fame career.
The latest "Eye on College Basketball" podcast is below. Give it a listen. If you're not already subscribed, please subscribe via Apple Podcasts. And if you've already done that, thank you. #ShoutsToDevanDowney.
