It’s not even February and No. 12 Kansas is already three games out of first place in the Big 12 standings following its 92-86 double-overtime home loss to No. 7 Houston on Saturday. The victory left the Cougars (16-3, 8-0 Big 12) alone atop the standings in what’s shaping up to be a competitive title race.
While the Jayhawks (14-5, 5-3) have considerable ground to make up, Houston still has plenty of quality competition on its heels as both Arizona and Iowa State reached 7-1 in league play with double-digit victories on Saturday. The No. 3 Cyclones got a whopping 33 points from Curtis Jones in a 76-61 win over Arizona State. ISU was dominant in the second half, outscoring the Sun Devils 43-21 after trailing 40-33 at halftime.
Arizona continued to put a poor nonconference showing in the rearview mirror as the Wildcats throttled Colorado 78-63. Coincidentally, Iowa State hosts Arizona Monday in a big-time Big 12 showdown that will help further clarify the league’s title race entering a new month.
But before we get into next week, there are plenty of other consequential results from Saturday to break down. We’ve got the full rundown of winners and losers from a full day of college basketball action below.
Loser: Kansas chokes multiple times
Kansas led by six with 1:31 remaining in regulation before squandering the lead and allowing Houston to force overtime. But that was only the beginning. The Jayhawks also led by six in overtime with under 30 seconds remaining before an absolutely befuddling collapse. A KU turnover led to a game-tying Mylik Wilson 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left to force a second overtime. From there, it was all Houston as the Cougars handed the Jayhawks their second home loss of the season under the most improbable of circumstances. – David Cobb
Winner: Vanderbilt gets validation
Vanderbilt beat a top-10 team for the second Saturday in a row, as the Commodores took down No. 9 Kentucky 74-69 just seven days after knocking off No. 6 Tennessee. It’s the first time since the 2006-07 season that Vandy has defeated two top-10 teams in a season. The Commodores are now firmly on track for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017 and have officially returned the magic to Memorial Gymnasium. Kentucky, meanwhile, is facing real adversity for the first time under coach Mark Pope. – Cobb
Loser: Texas A&M blows massive lead to rival Texas
No. 13 Texas A&M blew a 22-point lead over rival Texas in an eventual 70-69 loss to the Longhorns, capped by a go-ahead bucket from Tramon Mark in the closing seconds. It’s the fourth time this season A&M has lost after leading by seven or more points, and it’s the new largest blown lead for the Aggies on the season, besting their previous record set in the season-opener when they led by 11 vs. UCF before losing 64-61.
The loss is particularly painful for A&M after it blew out Texas in the first matchup of the season 80-60 and was at one point leading 51-29 in the second half. Texas outscored Texas A&M 45-26 in the second half and closed on a 7-0 run over the final 85 seconds. – Kyle Boone
Winner: North Carolina averts disastrous loss
North Carolina averted an embarrassing home loss and in the process may have saved its sinking season — which was on the brink of morphing into an outright spiral after two consecutive Quadrant 2 losses — by holding off Boston College in overtime Saturday for a 102-96 win. The Tar Heels were 19-point favorites and nearly fell inside the Dean Dome, which would have dropped UNC to a three-game skid with road tilts vs. Pitt and Duke on deck over the next week.
This wasn’t so much a must-win as much as it was a must-not-lose for UNC. It would have qualified as a Quad 3 loss and moved it to an 8-3 overall record in Quad 2 and Quad 3 opportunities – with only a 1-6 record in Quad 1 opportunities holding it up.
Jerry Palm had UNC among his last four teams in the NCAA Tournament field entering the weekend, and a win against Boston College likely doesn’t change much. However, a loss could have served as a death knell for its tourney hopes. UNC with the win lives to keep fighting, and it’s not impossible that we look back on this win as the inflection point of its season. – Boone
Loser: Ed Cooley falls to 0-4 vs. Providence
Ed Cooley is now 0-4 vs. Providence since leaving the Friars, his hometown school, for Big East rival Georgetown after the 2022-23 season. The Hoyas entered Saturday’s road contest as a slight favorite and took an early 12-point lead. But Providence closed the first half on a 25-10 run and fended off the Hoyas for a 78-68 win, despite a combined 52 points from Georgetown’s Thomas Sorber and Micah Peavy. Are Friars fans any closer to forgiving Cooley’s betrayal? The profane chats directed at him from the Providence student section suggested the answer to that is an emphatic “no.” – Cobb
Winner: Streaking Michigan State stays hot
No. 8 Michigan State extended its winning streak to 12 games and improved to 8-0 in Big Ten play with an 81-74 win over Rutgers inside Madison Square Garden. It’s the best start for MSU in Big Ten play since the 2018-19 when it started 9-0, and the second-longest winning streak for the team since that same season – which ended in a run to the Final Four as a 2 seed.
Just don’t tell Tom Izzo his team is hot.
“I was really disappointed,” Izzo said. “We look like we’re reading our own press clippings.”
Michigan State fell behind early but rallied to a lead by half and never looked back. Freshman Jase Richardson led the team with a career-high 20 points, and Coen Carr added 14 points and eight rebounds.
With a Michigan loss on Friday at Purdue and a win for Michigan State, the Spartans’ lead in the Big Ten regular season race ballooned to a full game – with no other team in the league owning fewer than two losses in Big Ten play. – Boone
Winner: Florida stomps and chomps visiting Dawgs
No. 5 Florida handed visiting Georgia an 89-59 loss in the O Dome on Saturday for its second 30-point win over an SEC opponent this month after handing then-No. 1 Tennessee a 30-point defeat on Jan. 7. The Gators forced 18 turnovers and made nine 3s in the blowout with Alijah Martin, Walter Clayton, Will Richard, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh all scoring in double figures. – Boone
Loser: Gamecocks lose another heartbreaker
South Carolina was the SEC’s Cinderella story last season, as the Gamecocks finished 13-5 in league play after being picked to finish last. The comedown is proving to be brutal. The Gamecocks fell to 0-7 in SEC play with a 65-60 overtime loss to No. 14 Mississippi State on Saturday. The painstaking defeat came just three days after South Carolina fell 70-69 to No. 5 Florida after leading for virtually the entire game. Also on the ledger for the Gamecocks are 3-point losses to Auburn and Vanderbilt. So, in summation, four of South Carolina’s seven SEC losses are by a combined 10 points. The manner of defeat against Mississippi State was particularly gut-wrenching as South Carolina committed 19 turnovers and shot just 29% from the floor. – Cobb
Winner: Curtis Jones helps Iowa State survive upset bid
After leading by as many as seven points at halftime, Arizona State couldn’t secure an upset win over No. 3 Iowa State at home. The Cyclones fell victim to an upset loss last weekend to West Virginia, and a big day by Jones propelled his team to a 76-61 win over the Sun Devils. Jones scored 18 of his 33 points before halftime, and his team ended the game on a 19-3 run over the last 5:14 to move to 17-2. — Cameron Salerno
Loser: Ole Miss on the skids
With an 83-75 loss at No. 22 Missouri, No. 16 Ole Miss has now dropped three straight games since taking down No. 4 Alabama on Jan. 14. That monumental road victory against the Crimson Tide improved the Rebels to 4-0 in SEC play and seemed like a grand announcement that the Rebels had officially arrived as national contenders under second-year coach Chris Beard. But it’s clear there are still kinks to work out after the Tigers duo of Tamar Bates and Caleb Grill combined to shoot 10 of 16 from beyond the arc to torch the Ole Miss defense. – Cobb
Winner: Duke survives upset bid vs. Wake Forest
After trailing by as many as six points and allowing a 17-1 run in the second half against Wake Forest, No. 2 Duke survived a potential upset bid and walked away with a 63-56 win. Duke star freshman Cooper Flagg scored 15 of his game-high 24 points after halftime to help his team win their 13th consecutive game. Duke remains the lone team from the ACC that has yet to lose in conference play. – Salerno
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