Four Power Five teams entered the weekend undefeated in conference play. But not all of them would survive Saturday.
First, USC upset No. 7 Michigan State 70-64 at home. The Spartans entered the game riding a 13-game winning streak and had won their first nine games against Big Ten competition before losing to the Trojans on the road.
The last loss Michigan State suffered came in the Maui Invitational semifinals all the way back during Thanksgiving week. Michigan State (18-3, 9-1 Big Ten) and Purdue (17-5, 9-2) are the only teams from the Big Ten with at least nine wins in conference play.
But the Spartans weren’t the only team undefeated in conference play to go down on a wild Saturday.
Kansas could finish out of the top-three in its league in back-to-back seasons for first time in 40-plus years
Matt Norlander
No. 6 Houston was undefeated in the Big 12 until it lost at home to No. 22 Texas Tech 82-81 in overtime in a wild game that had a big impact on the league standings. The Red Raiders’ victory snapped the Cougars’ home-winning streak at 33 games, which was the longest in the nation.
The list of teams yet to lose a conference game was trimmed to two as No 1 Auburn and No. 2 Duke survived their league games.
Despite a late surge from No. 23 Ole Miss, Auburn kept its perfect record in the SEC intact with a 92-82 win on the road. The Tigers have won 13 consecutive games dating back to their lone loss suffered to Duke in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
The Blue Devils rolled over the Tar Heels in an easy 87-70 victory in the latest edition of the best rivalry in the sport.
We’ve got the full rundown of winners and losers from a full day of college basketball action below.
Winner: Duke makes a statement vs. rival UNC
No. 2 Duke was pushed deep into the second half against in-state ACC foes Wake Forest and NC State during its previous two games entering Saturday’s showdown with North Carolina. But the Blue Devils put away their in-state rival in short order, opening up a 32-point lead on UNC en route to an easy 87-70 win. It was domination from the start for Duke, which extended its nation-best winning streak to 15 games behind a 52.8% shooting performance.The Blue Devils opened up a 23-6 lead in the first seven minutes and never looked back as freshman phenoms Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel led the way with a combined 43 points. — David Cobb
Loser: Houston’s falls to shorthanded Texas Tech
No. 6 Houston’s 33-game home winning streak, the nation’s longest, ended against No. 22 Texas Tech in a wild 82-81 overtime loss. Texas Tech leading scorer JT Toppin and coach Grant MCcasland were each ejected less than four minutes into the game after a controversial Flagrant 2 foul against Toppin that ignited McCasland into rage on the sideline. Yet, the Red Raiders never flinched while hitting more 3-pointers against Houston (12) than any other team this season. TTU was regarded as a projected No. 8 seed in Jerry Palm’s Bracketology entering the day. But you can bet the Red Raiders will be on the rise after earning one of the most impressive victories of anyone in college basketball this season. — Cobb
Winner: Tennessee gets revenge vs. Florida without Zeigler
No. 8 Tennessee made a statement with a 64-44 win over No. 5 Florida. The Vols won the game despite not having star point guard and defensive anchor Zakai Zeigler in the lineup due to an injury. The 20-point margin of victory marked the largest win over a top-five opponent in program history. The result is even more impressive because Tennessee lost to Florida last month by 30 and had lost three of its last four games against SEC competition. These are the kind of wins that will matter on Selection Sunday. — Cameron Salerno
Loser: North Carolina is fading fast
North Carolina entered the day as one of the “First Four Out” of the projected NCAA Tournament field in Jerry Palm’s Bracketology. A road rivalry showdown with Duke marked a golden opportunity for the Tar Heels to prove they should be in the bracket. Instead, they put their shortcomings on display for the nation to see in an 87-70 loss. At 13-10 (6-5 ACC) and with just two Quad 1 games remaining, UNC is flirting with missing the NCAA Tournament for the second time under fourth-year coach Hubert Davis. The Tar Heels have a week off before they return with a critical home showdown against Pitt. After losing four of its last five, UNC needs to press the reset button on its rapidly disintegrating season. — Cobb
Winner: UConn gets a major win vs. Marquette
No. 25 UConn put the Big East on notice in a 77-69 win at No. 9 Marquette: the Huskies (16-6, 8-3 Big East) aren’t getting out of the Big East title race just yet. Coach Dan Hurley’s club led by as much as 22 and held on late to drop the Golden Eagles out of a tie for first in the conference standings. St. John’s (19-3, 10-1) now stands alone atop the conference standings with two tremendously consequential games up next. The Red Storm host Marquette (18-4, 9-2) on Tuesday before traveling to face UConn on Friday in a seismic conference showdown. With star freshman Liam McNeeley nearing his return from injury, the Huskies are raring up to make a charge. — Cobb
With less than a minute remaining in Arizona’s rivalry game against Arizona State, things got chippy. Arizona State guard BJ Freeman appeared to headbutt Arizona star Caleb Love. After a long discussion, Freeman and Love were both tossed from the game, and Arizona held on to win 81-72. Another odd part about the end of the game was Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley instructing his team and staff to head to the locker room early – likely to avoid further confrontation – before the final buzzer sounded. Rivalries run deep in college basketball, even if Arizona and Arizona State are part of a different conference. — Salerno
Winner: The Muss Bus rolls over Michigan State
USC delivered one of the biggest upsets with a 70-64 win over No. 7 Michigan State at home. The Spartans entered the day as one of four Power Five teams that hadn’t dropped a game in conference play before the Trojans handed them their first loss. USC now has wins over Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraksa. — Salerno
Loser: Kansas chokes away huge lead at Baylor
No. 11 Kansas blew the largest lead in a loss in school history on the road, falling 81-70 to Baylor after leading by as many as 21 points in the game. The Jayhawks’ collapse was spurred by a massive game from Bears freshman guard Rob Wright, who did KU’s defense wrong for a career-high 24 points in the game. KU was outscored 60-30 (!!!) in the game’s final 20 minutes of play in the loss. — Kyle Boone
Winner: St. John’s is soaring under Rick Pitino
How about the Johnnies? No. 15 St. John’s defeated Providence at Madison Square Garden after prized transfer Kadary Richmond knocked down a mid-range jumper with less than 3 seconds remaining to secure a 68-66 win. The Red Storm have won eight consecutive games and sit in first place in the Big East with a 10-1 record. The last time St. John’s won eight straight games in Big East play was the 1991-92 season. St. John’s only loss in conference play was a one-point loss to Creighton on New Year’s Eve. Pitino should be the current favorite to win Big East Coach of the Year. — Salerno
Loser: Nova on the losing end of lucky Creighton break
Villanova surrendered its late lead vs. Creighton in an eventual 62-60 loss in unfortunate fashion as Bluejays guard Steven Ashworth went off the glass – from the corner! – to give Creighton the late lead with a go-ahead basket with 5.8 seconds remaining to bury the Wildcats. Ashworth gathered an inbounds pass in the corner and with a Villanova defender bearing down on him managed to hoist a high-arcing attempt that somehow smooched the top left of the glass before sinking into the rim.
Ashworth scored nine of his 13 points in the second half – all coming from beyond the arc – to lead Creighton to its seventh consecutive win in Big East play. Ryan Kalkbrenner led the Bluejays with 22 points and eight boards, outdueling Wildcats guard Wooga Poplar, who finished with 24 points. — Boone
Loser: Iowa State falls at home in historic fashion
No. 3 Iowa State was on the receiving end of some unfortunate history with an 80-61 home loss to Kansas State. The K-State win helped the Wildcats become the first below-.500 team in AP poll history to defeat a top-five team on the road by 15 or more points, per ESPN, as Kansas State ran away in the second half in Hilton Coliseum and outscored the Cyclones 43-26 in the final 20 minutes of play.
“It certainly wasn’t an effort we are proud of at all,” said Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger. “Extremely disappointing.”
The loss put Iowa State two games back of Houston and Arizona in the conference race and fourth overall in the Big 12 standings after opening league play 7-1. — Boone
Winner: Boston College snaps skid in dramatic fashion
With 14.2 seconds remaining in regulation and trailing by four, Boston College completed an improbable sequence to secure a 77-76 win over Florida State. After scoring a layup with 7.2 seconds left to cut the deficit in half, Boston College guard Chas Kelley III stole the inbounds pass and knocked down a go-ahead 3-pointer to give his team the lead. The win snapped Boston College’s six-game losing streak. — Salerno
Loser: Doug Gottlieb has failed spectacularly at Green Bay
How long until all parties involved acknowledge that hiring an active sports talk radio host with no college coaching experience to lead a Division I program may have been a bad idea? Green Bay lost its 19th straight game under first-year coach Doug Gottlieb, falling 67-57 to a Detroit Mercy team that entered the weekend ranked No. 315 in the NET.
Others without college coaching experience such as Penny Hardaway at Memphis and Bucky McMillan at Samford have successfully made the transition into Division I head coaching with no prior college coaching experience. But neither of them are dually employed as the hosts of a three-hour daily radio show. The Gottlieb experiment has officially flopped. — Cobb
Winner: Missouri makes a statement vs. Mississippi State
Dennis Gates’ Missouri Tigers won their second game in the span of a week over a team from Mississippi with an 88-61 beatdown of No. 14 Mississippi State inside the Bulldogs’ building in one of their most dominant outings of the season. Mizzou made 15 of its 32 3-pointers and held Mississippi State to 36% shooting from the field in its fourth-largest win by margin of the season and largest win over an SEC opponent since defeating Arkansas by 30 points on March 5, 2013. — Boone
Winner: Mississippi Valley State gets first Div. 1 win of season
The Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State (1-19, 1-8 SWAC) scored their first win over a Division I opponent of the 2024-25 season with a stunning 79-76 road win over Arkansas Pine Bluff (1-18, 0-8)) in a matchup of the bottom two teams in the NCAA’s NET ranking system.
MVSU, No. 364 in the NET, had the longest road losing streak at 40 games before defeating the Golden Lions, the No. 363 team in the NET. The victory snapped the Delta Devils’ 12-game losing streak and their 22-game losing streak vs. Division I opponents.
MVSU went 1-30 during 2023-24 and was 5-27 the season prior in what was George Ivory’s first season as coach. It is 3-19 this season with the win, with one of the three victories coming vs. Mississippi University for Women and the other coming vs. NAIA opponent Oakwood. — Boone
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