Lipscomb 74, North Florida 42

And it wasn't that close.

UNF shot exactly zero free throws. They scored 42 points despite missing 42 shots. Their team PEP was an anemic .439, compared to Lipscomb's 1.535.

Get this: Lipscomb won by 30 on a night when Eddie Ard made only one basket.

Across town, Belmont beat Jacksonville 84-78 to move into a tie for the league lead. This makes the Lipscomb-Jacksonville game Saturday absolutely huge. If the Dolphins get swept in Nashville, it raises a question about whether this team can win here in March.

Granted, the A-Sun North is a much tougher division. If Upstate can beat Stetson tonight, the whole division will be .500 or better. Since the last five games are in division, North Division teams can cannabilize each other while Jacksonville rolls through the South again and locks up the 1-seed and NIT berth. Even with a loss on Saturday, don't be surprised to see Jacksonville come to Allen Arena for the conference tournament with a 13-3 or 12-4 record.

But a 3-3 mark against the North raises the question of whether the new unbalanced A-Sun schedule has adequately prepared Jacksonville to run a North-heavy gauntlet in March. Jacksonville is the only team in the South Division with a record against the North over .500. As a division, the South is 10 games under .500 against the North -- and that's including Kennesaw's sweep in Nashville and Jacksonville's sweep in North Carolina. Going into tonight, the North has won 14 of the last 16 against the South, the only two losses coming at the hands of the Dolphins (against GW and Campbell).

And when conference tournament time rolls around, there will be 5 North Division teams in the field, but only 3 from the South.

Stay tuned.