Catching up with the weekend’s Top 25 college basketball action in 25 sentences.
#1 Villanova 92 Seton Hall 76 – No Phil Booth, still no problem, as the best team in the country continues to march on.
#2 Virginia 59 Syracuse 44 – The Cavaliers defense is so stifling that only 4 players from Syracuse even attempted a shot.
#3 Purdue 78 Rutgers 76 – The Boilermakers extended their school record win streak to 19 games in a row in a nail-biter against the Scarlet Knights.
St. Johns 81 #4 Duke 77 – Pretty easy to predict that the Red Storm, losers of 11 in a row and last in the Big East, would beat a top 5, national title contender in Duke. o_O
#5 Michigan St. 63 Indiana 60 – Another top 5 team visiting Bloomington, another top 5 team that escapes with a win, as the Spartans join Duke and Purdue as near misses vs the Hoosiers this year.
#6 Xavier 96 Georgetown 91 OT – The Musketeers fought off a scrappy Georgetown team in OT to remain in the hunt for a #1 seed come March.
Oklahoma St. 84 #7 Kansas 79 – The Jayhawks celebrated the 30th anniversary of their ’88 National Title team by losing to unranked Okie St…congrats???
#8 Cincinnati 65 Connecticut 57 – The Bearcats made it 14 wins in a row, as they opened the game on a 13-0 run and never trailed the rest of the way.
Washington 78 #9 Arizona 75 – Dominic Green, send them home with a W, big fella!
What a finish. pic.twitter.com/pXBfWohOw7
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) February 4, 2018
#10 Texas Tech 83 TCU 71 – Currently tied atop the Big 12 standing with the Jayhawks, will the Red Raiders finally be the team to end Kansas’ conference title run?
#11 Auburn 93 Vanderbilt 81 – Led by Bryce Brown (25 pts) & Mustapha Heron (23 pts), the Fighting Bruce Pearls continued to soar in the SEC.
Texas 79 #12 Oklahoma 74 – Para Bailar Mo Bamba (that’s our nickname for him) dropped 13 pts with 9 rebs, as Trae Young and the Sooners fall yet again.
#13 St. Mary’s 65 San Diego 62 – The Gaels held on for a tough road win to remain unbeaten (13-0) in conference play.
#14 Gonzaga 68 BYU 60 – The Bulldogs exacted some revenge on BYU, winners of three at Gonzaga and spoilers of the Zags’ perfect regular season last year…in your face, Mormons!
#15 West Virginia 89 Kansas St. 51 – Losers of 5 of 6 coming in, the Mountaineeers throttle the Wildcats to hopefully get back on track before their showdown with Oklahoma.
#16 Wichita St. – DNP
#17 Ohio St. 75 Illinois 67 – Keita Bates-Diop (35 pts) scores almost…half?…definitely half (just checked on a calculator (math wasn’t our strong suit)) of the Buckeyes’ points in a nice B1G win.
#18 Tennessee 94 Ole Miss 61 – The Vols won their 17th game of the year, after winning only 16 all of last year.
#19 UNC 96 Pittsburgh 65 – The Tar Heels got off the schneid, winning for their first time in four games, and Pitt remained winless in ACC play.
#20 Clemson 75 Wake Forest 67 – Remember when no one outside of Clemson knew that Gabe DeVoe was the best shooter in the ACC (hint- it’s still happening right now)?
Missouri 69 #21 Kentucky 60 – Missourah was 0-10 vs the Wildcats coming into the game, but Kentucky did hit a three pointer:
#22 Rhode Island 81 VCU 68 – The Rams are one of only 12 teams in the country that are still undefeated in conference play.
Alabama 68 #23 Florida 50 – The Tide got a much needed quality road win to stay inside the bubble.
#24 Michigan 76 Minnesota 73 OT – Moritz Wagner (16 pts, 10 rebs) & Charles Matthews (13 pts, 11 rebs) had double-doubles, as the Wolverines held off a scrappy Gopher team.
#25 Arizona St. 88 Washington St. 78 – The Sun Devils continued to be the most bi-polar teams in the country, as they’ve alternated losses and wins for the last 10 games (so all in on USC in their next game).
