Saturday

Saturday’s slight was highlighted by a mid-major battle in Philadelphia between Siena and Temple. The Owls won, 73-69, in what has to be a frustrating loss for Fran McCaffery’s team, since the Saints won three of the Four Factors.

As we continue to see, eFG is the trump card to override deficiencies in the other areas. Siena made seven more free throws, had three fewer turnovers and two more offensive rebounds, but none of that mattered because of the disparity behind the 3-point arc. Siena hit 1-of-9; Temple made 6-of-19. Juan Fernandez was especially big for the Owls, making 4-of-6.

The big upset of the day was in Jeff Capel’s return to Richmond to face his former team, VCU. This was another case of 3-point shooting making all the difference. The Sooners hit just 5-of-26 (19 percent), while VCU nailed 9-of-25 (36 percent).

Standout sophomore Willie Warren made none of his eight 3-point attempts and freshman Steven Pledger, who went to high school in Virginia, hit just 2-of-10. VCU’s Larry Sanders had 17 points, four assists and three blocks in just 21 minutes for new Rams coach Shaka Smart.

Beyond a couple of good wins for mid-Atlantic mid-majors, on the other coast, Pac-10 teams struggled on Saturday. Portland took down Oregon, 88-81; Loyola Marymount defeated Southern Cal, 67-59; and Sacramento State knocked off Oregon State, 65-63.

In an absurd game in Corvallis, Sacramento State, which won just two games last season, led by 22 points at the half on Craig Robinson’s Beavers. OSU stormed back but couldn’t overcome the slow start or — to continue to develop the theme — the Hornets’ 15-point advantage on 3-pointers. Nik Raivio had 24 points for Portland in a difficult road test for Oregon. The Pilots hit 11-of-19 3-pointers. Finally, in Los Angeles, Kevin O’Neill played just six players and took an eight-point lead into halftime, but the Lions got hot from deep, making 6-of-11 compared to USC’s 1-for-9. Four Trojans played at least 35 minutes in the loss.

Elsewhere, the MVC had a rough time of it against tough competition, with Drake losing by four to MAC favorite Akron in Daytona and Butler going to Evansville to defeat the Purple Aces by four. Southern Illinois also lost, at UNLV, by nine.