College basketball schedule and results: Virginia obliterated Harvard 76-27

TOP 25 RECAP

No. 1 Kentucky 83, UCLA 44

An eagle-eyed fan at West Virginia’s win against NC State at Madison Square Garden noticed ... this:

Another Big Ten team has lost a stunner. No. 25 Michigan State fell to Texas Southern, a 1-8 squad from the lowly SWAC, in overtime, 71-64.

Texas Southern went into East Lansing having only beaten Lamar, a team that itself is only 1-6 against D-I competition. In their three games before Saturday, they had lost by 26 to Baylor, by 25 to Florida, and by 40 to Gonzaga. They just beat Michigan State, a team ranked as one of the top 25 in the nation. That’s incredible.

Now, just 14 days after that embarrassing loss to the Cavaliers, maybe it’s time to bring the Rams back into the national conversation. Winners of three straight, VCU has spent the past week knocking off then-No. 23 Northern Iowa in double overtime, Belmont at home, and Cincinnati on the road by 21 points. Now at 9-3, it’s fair to say the Rams are worth discussing again.

In its three losses, VCU’s problems were uncharacteristic of a Shaka Smart-coached team. It allowed Villanova, Old Dominion and Virginia to shoot a combined 55 percent, including an unconscious 68 percent performance from the Cavaliers. To compound matters in the blowout against Villanova, VCU’s patented havoc press wasn’t having its typical impact. The same squad that forced 18 turnovers per game last year was struggling to disrupt quality teams.

Well, so much for that. The game was over before it ever really started, with Kentucky running out to a 24-0 lead. Wildcat fans traveled well as always, booing foul calls even as their team was well on its way to a blowout victory of historic proportions. Kentucky led 41-7 at halftime, and the score felt even more lopsided than that.

When the final buzzer mercifully sounded, Kentucky had won 83-42. The Bruins avoided the ignominy of getting doubled up *and* avoided the worst defeat in program history (48 points), but still.

Kentucky has clearly been the best team in college hoops so far. They’ve beaten everybody that they’ve played by double digits, including a walloping of Kansas and wins over UNC and Texas. Let’s see if UCLA can give them a test and NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Aaron Harrison and Devin Booker each had eight before UCLA scored. Let’s look at UCLA’s shot chart:

Chris McCullough wanted to do some rebounding, but he ended up doing some body-surfing:

Here’s another look (plus some Nirvana):

There was a tiny shove-off here, but nothing that would have drawn a foul if D’Angelo Russell didn’t launch himself onto the floor:

I can’t stay mad at you after turning the charge call into a seated sprinkler dance, D’Angelo.

There is a reason the Duke freshman is expected to be one of the first picks in the 2015 NBA Draft. This is it.

First it was Kemba Walker, then Shabazz Napier. Now it’s Ryan Boatright. UConn knows how to recruit quick, little guards.

Wichita State went the entire regular season without losing a year ago. It hasn’t been as easy this season without CleAnthony Early. The Shockers lost at Utah earlier this month and found themselves on the ropes yet again on Tuesday night at home against Alabama. With 11 minutes left, the Tide led by eight points.

That’s when Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet started to turn it on. Wichita State big man Darius Carter capped a furious rally by slamming in a dunk for the go-ahead points off an assist from VanVleet to give the Shockers a 53-52 win.

Gary Payton II had 10 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in Oregon State’s 71-43 romp over Grambling, making him the second player in Oregon State history to record a triple-double. The first? Yup:

Gary congratulated his son via Twitter (correct his spelling in your head)

Monday was Jahil Okafor’s birthday. He had a pretty good birthday.

Everyone knew Jahlil Okafor was going to be good. The Duke freshman was the No. 1 player in our top-100 countdown before ever playing a college game. More than one publication named him the preseason player of the year. On Monday against Elon, Okafor again proved he’s the most dominating physical presence in college basketball.

Tom Izzo records a weekly radio show, as do many college hoops coaches, and tonight Izzo did something special on his show because it’s almost Christmas: He played “Jingle Bells” on the accordion:

He’s no Weird Al, but you can tell he knows his way around the ol’ squeezebox. This is actually an annual tradition. In the past, he’s brought players to sing along:

They probably should have just stopped the game after this.

They kept playing though.

Kentucky only has two more games to go before it can say it entered SEC play undefeated. The Wildcats aced their latest stiff test Saturday afternoon by running through No. 21 North Carolina, 84-70, at Rupp Arena. It wasn’t as close as the score indicates.

Kentucky entered the game shooting only 27.7 percent from three-point range, but got dialed in early from deep. Aaron Harrison and Devin Booker each hit three-pointers to help Kentucky shoot 56.3 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from beyond the arc. The Wildcats’ ball movement was crisp the entire night, with Andrew Harrison (five assists) and Tyler Ulis (eight assists) pacing the offense.