When you play in tournaments other than the Big Dance, the hope (beyond winning games, obviously) is the additional practices and games give you an opportunity to experiment and grow, and to build confidence for your young players as they head into the offseason. That certainly was the case for the Bluejays Tuesday night, as freshman Khyri Thomas had his best game since mid-December against IUPUI. He scored 13 points in that game, and bested it with a 15-point, 8-rebound, 3-steal game against the Crimson Tide.
It was his best game by far since the non-conference schedule ended; Thomas was an early standout this season but slumped badly in the first part of Big East play and was taken out of the starting lineup after a handful of games.