Full-Court Press, Jan. 6

Our morning look back at last night, and a recap of news and notes from around the country:

- It looks like it will be another topsy-turvy season in the Mountain West. In the season opener, San Diego State knocked off New Mexico.

- However, SDSU’s leading scorer, Billy White, did suffer a first-half ankle injury and did not play the rest of the game.

- While on the Mountain West, Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes that UNLV will need to be tough if it wants to win the league.

- Purdue’s defense makes a lot of teams look bad, but the way Minnesota closed out its 79-60 loss to the Boilermakers was embarrassing -- by missing 13 of its final 16 shots.

- Who is the most important player for Notre Dame, which knocked off South Florida by one last night? According to Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune, it’s not Luke Harangody.

- Georgia Tech is not living up to its potential, writes Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Yellow Jackets lost to Georgia on Tuesday, and face Duke this weekend.

- Despite playing just 17 minutes, Damion James was the difference for Texas in its win against Arkansas last night.

- In his first game back from suspension, Courtney Fortson had 19 points and seven assists, but he suffered from cramps and seemed to tire down the stretch.

- After getting off to several slow starts this season, Illinois head coach Bruce Weber changed his lineup, inserting Jeffrey Jordan instead of D.J. Richardson. The Fighting Illini bolted out a 22-point halftime lead against Iowa, Jordan had five assists and zero turnovers and Richardson dropped 17 off the bench. Everyone wins.

- Don’t overlook Rhode Island’s comeback win at Akron last night. The Rams are now 12-1 this season, and could be headed for an NCAA Tournament bid.

- Another one of my favorite annual columns: Seth Davis of SI.com’s “Stock Report.”

- According to Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch, Evan Turner could return tonight for Ohio State. However, Turner’s mother does not think he’s ready.

- I’ll have my first “Power Sweet Sixteen Rankings” this week, but here’s Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com’s most recent Bracketology.

- The nation’s best high school player, St. Patrick (N.J.) junior Michael Gilchrist, suffered a knee injury in last night’s game and was taken to the emergency room.