The first full week of conference play across college basketball has produced a series of shocking outcomes that suggest we’re in store for a tumultuous battle before someone cuts down the nets in Arizona on April 8.
The mayhem began Tuesday night when No. 1 Purdue and No. 2 Houston each lost in road games against unranked teams. It continued Wednesday, when No. 3 Kansas and No. 5 Tennessee also fell on the road against unranked teams. No. 4 UConn survived the mayhem with an 80-75 win at Xavier but not without trailing in the second half against the mediocre Musketeers.
It was the first time four top-five teams have lost to unranked opponents in a two-day span, according to CBS Sports Research.
Tough two days
Results Tuesday and Wednesday of the top-five teams in the AP Top 25.
1PurdueLost TUE at Nebraska 88-722HoustonLost TUE at Iowa State 57-533KansasLost WED at UCF 65-604UConnWon WED at Xavier 80-755TennesseeLost WED at Mississippi State 77-72
Collectively, the run of results illustrates a lack of dominance among the supposed top teams in the sport and opens the door for recently downtrodden brands such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina to reclaim their place atop the college basketball hierarchy.
The No. 6 Wildcats have won six straight and are off to a 2-0 start in the SEC. The No. 7 Tar Heels have won four straight games, with double-digit victories against No. 9 Oklahoma, Pitt and No. 21 Clemson among them. Duke has won seven straight and appears to be hitting its stride.
None of the three survived past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament last season, and North Carolina didn’t even make the 68-team field. With Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski and counterpart Roy Williams each retiring in recent years and Kentucky coach John Calipari struggling to maintain his former greatness, the blue bloods have been missing from the party.
Kentucky began last season at No. 4 but quickly fell out of the top 10 and never returned. North Carolina began the 2022-23 campaign at No. 1 but left the poll for good by Jan. 2 during a colossally disappointing season. Duke began coach Jon Scheyer’s first season as coach at No. 7 but was out of the top 10 for good by Nov. 28.
But there’s an excellent chance that, come Monday, all three will be in the top 10 simultaneously for the first time since last November. Duke plays Georgia Tech on Saturday, North Carolina hosts Syracuse and Kentucky is at Texas A&M.
Of course, if the last two days have taught us anything it’s that no one is safe this season in college basketball.
Mississippi State entered Wednesday night’s game against the No. 5 Volunteers second among those in the “receiving votes” category of the AP poll and at a respectable No. 34 in the NET. But the Bulldogs did not have a Quad 1 win. That changed as Josh Hubbard and Tolu Smith III combined for 48 points to lead Mississippi State to a 77-72 win over the SEC’s top-ranked team.
It was the program’s first win over a top-5 foe since 2002 and underscored just how open the SEC race is this season. Second-year coach Chris Jans held things together during the season’s first two months while Smith, an All-SEC center, was out injured. Now that he’s back and that Hubbard has emerged as one of the best freshmen in the country, the Bulldogs have shown they are for real.
Kansas goes down
Kansas led 35-19 in the first half against UCF and seemingly began to believe everything it may have heard about the Golden Knights. After struggling to a 32-40 mark in league play during their last four seasons as members of the AAC, UCF was supposed to become a punching bag for the Big 12 this season amid football-driven realignment.
It played the role to perfection in a 77-52 loss at Kansas State on Saturday before rising to the moment of its first-ever Big 12 home game and winning 65-60. UCF has never defeated an opponent with a higher spot in the polls than the No. 3 ranking the Jayhawks brought into the matchup. The Knights dominated in the second half, holding Kansas to 31.8% shooting and asserting themselves with a 14-6 in the paint. Jaylin Sellers led UCF with 18 points while Darius Johnson added 17.
Purdue’s problem
The common theme in Purdue’s two losses is playing on the road against opponents that are shooting well from 3-point range. In Purdue’s 88-72 Tuesday night loss at Nebraska, the Cornhuskers hit 14 of 23 attempts beyond the arc. In a Dec. 1 loss at Northwestern, the Wildcats made 10 of 20 shots from deep.
No other opponent has made 50% of its 3-pointers against the Boilermakers this season. It’s no coincidence Purdue won every other game. Even with those two games on the ledger, Purdue still ranks a respectable 77th nationally in 3-point shooting defense at 30.7%. Purdue shouldn’t be totally absolved of blame for struggling on the road against Northwestern and Nebraska. But the Boilermakers’ losses can be chalked up to playing inside hostile environments against opponents shooting abnormally well from 3-point range. That’s the cost of doing business in college basketball.
Houston learns about Hilton Magic
Houston started its Big 12 tenure with an 89-55 throttling of West Virginia on Saturday before getting its first taste of Hilton Magic on Tuesday in a 57-53 loss inside Iowa State’s notoriously hostile Hilton Coliseum. Star guards LJ Cryer and Jamal Shead suffered through an off shooting night, and the Cyclones certainly had something to do with it.
Iowa State entered at 11-3 and well-rated by advanced analytics metrics. But it needed some sort of tangible validation after playing the nation’s No. 343 ranked nonconference schedule, per KenPom. Beating Houston certainly counts as validation.
