2nd Follow-Up Posting on the Correlation Between Basketball Team Assists and Game Results

This 2nd follow-up posting follows the 1st Follow-Up Posting on the Correlation Between Basketball Team Assists and Game Results for NCAA and NIT championship tournament basketball games. Prior to this 2nd follow-up posting, the team that led in assists had won 42 games and lost only 8 games with three games where assists were tied. That stat can now as follows be summed to 55 won and 13 games lost by the team that led in assists with 4 games tied in assists.

Further NCAA Division I championship tournament games (the team that led in assists won 11 games, lost 4, with 1 game tied in assists)

• Richmond beat Morehead State 65-48 and the Spiders also led in assists 18-7 (recall that Eagles had only 11 assists in upsetting Louisville and we predicted they would lose this game)
• Connecticut beat Cincinnati 69-58 but trailed in assists 12-10 as Kemba Walker scored 33 points with 5 assists for the Huskies and Uconn won the game at the foul line making 25-30 free throws to only 10-14 for the Bearcats (recall that Cincinnati trailed in assists in beating Missouri and we predicted they would lose this game)
• San Diego State beat Temple 71-64 in 2 overtimes and the game was tied in assists 13-13 (recall that the Owls trailed in assists 12-10 in beating Penn State and we predicted they would lose this game)
• Kentucky beat West Virginia 71-63 and led in assists 12-9
• BYU beat Gonzaga 89-67 but trailed in assists 18-17 as Jimmer Fredette scored 34 points with 6 assists for the Cougars, who won the game on long distance shooting, canning an uncanny 14 of 28 3-point shots, i.e. 42 points on 3-pointers !
• Florida beat UCLA 73-65 and led in assists 13-12 (recall that the Bruins trailed in assists 13-20 in beating Michigan State and we predicted they would lose this game)
• Butler beat Pittsburgh 71-70 but trailed in assists 21-12 as the Bulldogs beat the Panthers via 12 of 27 3-point field goals, among other things
• Wisconsin beat Kansas State 70-65 and led in assists 12-7 as Wildcat guard Jacob Pullen scored 38 points, but the Badgers won the game mostly at the free-throw line on 19 of 23 conversions to only 15 of 22 for K-State, which befits the Wisconsin record of being the best free-throw shooting team in the country this season, currently at 82.3%, which would break the Harvard NCAA record of 82.2% set in 1984
• Kansas beat Illinois 73-59 and led in assists 17-16
• Florida State beat Notre Dame 71-57 and led in assists 15-12 as the Fighting Irish converted only 7- of 30 3-point shots and 8 of 32 inside field goals
• VCU beat Purdue 94-76 and led in assists 26-20 (!) as both teams played strong team basketball with VCU winning the accuracy match with a 57% to 45% FG percentage
• Duke beat Michigan 73-71 but trailed in assists 13-12
• Arizona beat Texas 70-69 and led in assists 17-13 as freshman Jordin Mayes was the difference in 19 minutes of play with a season-high of 16 points, 6 of 7 field goals, of which 4 of 4 were 3-pointers (his season average is 46% and if he plays more than 19 minutes in upcoming games, look out for Arizona)
• North Carolina beat Washington 86-83 and led in assists 18-17 as Tar Heel freshman guard Kendall Marshall had 14 of those assists (!)
• Ohio State beat George Mason 98-66, even after falling behind early 11-2, and led in assists 23-13, 15 of those by freshman guard Aaron Craft off the bench, as the Buckeyes made 61% of all field goals, including not only 16 of 26 from 3-point range but 7 of 7 3's by the game's leading scorer, 6'5" senior David Lighty
• Marquette beat Syracuse 66-62 and led in assists 15-11

Further NIT championship tournament games  (thus far 2 of 3)

• Kent State beat Fairfield 72-68 but trailed in assists 16-12
• Wichita State beat Virginia Tech 79-76 in overtime and led in assists 18-10 (who is going to beat the Shockers in the NIT tourney?)
• College of Charleston beat Cleveland State 64-56 and led in assists 15-9  
• Northwestern beat Boston College 85-67 and led in assists 27-13