College basketball scores: Duke loss and Kentucky blowout highlight busy Tuesday

TOP 25 RECAP

No. 1 Kentucky 86, Missouri 37

No. 2 Virginia 65, Clemson 42

Miami 90, No. 4 Duke 74

No. 6 Louisville 78, Virginia Tech 63

No. 9 Kansas 67, No. 24 Oklahoma State 57

No. 16 West Virginia 86, No. 18 Oklahoma 65

No. 17 VCU 65, Rhode Island 60

Tennessee 74, No. 19 Arkansas 69

Butler 79, No. 21 Seton hall 75 (OT)

No. 23 Northern Iowa 63, Bradley 52

GAME OF THE NIGHT: Syracuse 86, Wake Forest 83 (OT)

For all the high-profile matchups that Tuesday night had to offer, it hardly provided us with any quality games from the teams ranked amongst the top 25.

Syracuse and Wake Forest were there to pick up the slack, however, playing a game that included a hard-fought overtime period and two Gordon Haywards (barely missed halfcourt shots at the buzzer) from the Demon Deacons at the end of both regulation and overtime. Ironically enough, Wake’s Codi Miller-McIntyre beat the halftime buzzer with a 30-foot shot that gave the Deacs a 37-36 lead at the break.

Playing without freshman Chris McCullough, who suffered a torn ACL in the Orange’s game against Florida State on Sunday, Syracuse got 35 points from senior forward Rakeem Christmas, and 21 from junior guard Trevor Cooney. The Orange are now 4-0 in the ACC, and have won three of those contests despite their opponents having a chance to tie or win the game with a last second shot.

UPSET OF THE NIGHT: Miami 90, No. 4 Duke 74

“What’s wrong with Duke?” is sure to be the topic du jour in the college hoops world on Wednesday.

I think the short answer to that is plenty right now, but probably not all that much in the grand scheme of things. The Blue Devils didn’t defend at all on Tuesday, they’re not playing with a great deal of confidence at the moment, and they haven’t appeared to be having much, if any, fun since around Christmas.

Still, all the pieces for success in March are on that roster, and all the previously listed issues are correctible. January is the time for elite teams to figure out how and what they need to do in order to become the best forms of themselves in a couple of months and Duke is no exception.

On the flip side, a Miami team that lost to Eastern Kentucky at home by 28 less than a month ago is suddenly looking like a legitimate contender in the ACC. The Hurricanes should have handed Virginia its first loss two Saturdays ago, and they were better than the No. 4 team in the country in virtually every facet of the game on Tuesday.

The biggest reason for that was junior guard Angel Rodriguez. He was the best player on the court inside Cameron Indoor, scoring a game-high 24 points and making momentum play after momentum play when his squad needed him to.

He’s also not a young man who is short on confidence, telling ESPN after the game: “If there was any team I feel confident about beating, it was Duke, because of the way they play and the way we play. I feel like we match up great with them. It showed today.”

There’s no time for either team to get too low or too high. Duke has a date in Louisville with the sixth-ranked Cardinals on Saturday at noon. About two hours later, the Hurricanes will be tipping off against No. 12 Notre Dame in South Bend.

THREE GREAT WINS

1. No. 17 VCU 65, Rhode Island 60

Did you know Shaka Smart has never won a regular season conference championship? Well if that fact is in serious danger of not being altered come two months from now, I have a feeling you and everyone you can think of who doesn’t even care about college basketball is going to be made well aware of it.

Smart’s quest to stop this streak before it becomes a widely-known thing is off to a great start, as VCU overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to knock off Rhode Island, one of their biggest threats in the Atlantic 10. The win moved the Rams (the VCU brand) to a perfect 4-0 in conference play.

Treveon Graham played hero, scoring 16 of his game-high 26 points in the second half to out-duel Rhode Island star E.C. Matthews, who dropped 22 points of his own. It was the 15th time this season Matthews has scored 20 points or more, the most of any player in the A-10.

2. No. 1 Kentucky 86, Missouri 37

So I guess there’s just going to be no middle ground in SEC play then? Kentucky’s either going to let themselves get taken to overtime or they’re going to whomp on fools by 50 points.

That’s cool, I guess. Either way, they’re keeping our attention.

3. Ohio State 71, Michigan 52

This was an absolute beatdown in a game Ohio State really needed after falling out of the rankings for the first time this season. The Buckeyes led 52-24 at one point in the second half and cruised to their 10th win in their last 11 home games against their arch-rivals. Freshman star D’Angelo Russell was brilliant once again, scoring a team-high 21 points while also handing out six assists.

This is sure to be a victory that will have the folks in Columbus buzzing and celebrating nothing other than this for at least the rest of the week.

It’s funny because they just won the national championship in football and they really like football. I’ve been to Ohio. Went to school there for a while. Just making sure you’re aware that you’re getting this information from an expert.

THREE BAD LOSSES

1. No. 16 West Virginia 86, No. 18 Oklahoma 65

The Big 12 is going to be this year’s “none of this sh-t makes any sense” conference. There’s no question about it. Oklahoma’s current run is just the first of what will be many examples.

The Sooners spent the opening week of the new year beating No. 22 Baylor and No. 10 Texas by a combined 31 points. Since then, they have lost to arguably the most disappointing team in the country, Kansas State, and been throttled by Bob Huggins and West Virginia.

The Mountaineers, meanwhile, continued to build on their reputation for being one of the deepest teams in the conference by getting 55 of its 86 points from bench players. In all, 11 different WVU players scored in a game the Mountaineers never trailed.

West Virginia is quietly becoming one of the best stories of the season. Huggins and company are 15-2, and those two losses (to LSU and Iowa State) have by a combined 3 points. They’ll face Texas in Austin on Saturday.

2. Tennessee 74, No. 19 Arkansas 69

I’m not sure if anyone else has tried this with Arkansas, so I’m just going to go for it: LEARN HOW TO WIN ON THE ROAD. DO IT. STOP THIS RIGHT NOW. WIN. ON. THE. ROAD.

It just does not register with me how being nearly unbeatable at home and equivalently awful on the road can be a program’s “thing.” I mean, these are new players and new teams every single season that keep doing this. It’s not like this is an inherent trait. It’s not like somehow a DNA change takes place every time a future Razorback faxes his letter of intent to Fayetteville. It just doesn’t make any sense and it frustrates me, a person with zero rooting interest in Arkansas basketball, to no end.

Stop it. Start beating teams you’re better than on the road. Do it now.

3. Boise State 82, UNLV 73 (OT)

Yes, I know Seton Hall lost to Butler, but that doesn’t qualify as a “bad” loss just because one team is ranked and the other isn’t. UConn losing to Tulsa is head-turning, but if we’re looking at those two teams as nameless piles of data on paper, then that one isn’t bad either.

You know what is bad? Scoring just 5 points and turning the ball over six times in a five-minute overtime period. That’s what UNLV did Tuesday night, and they earned their seventh loss of the season as a result.

The Rebels are now 1-3 in the Mountain West, and appear to be in the midst of a season that will end without an NCAA Tournament bid for a second straight year. They also beat Arizona.

DUNK OF THE NIGHT

I still think we need another name for these “aggressively throw the ball through the rim at close ranges” (something other than that), but if what Cliff Alexander did on Tuesday qualifies as a dunk, then this is an easy call.

Kansas, by the way, took care of No. 24 Oklahoma State by 10. The Jayhawks have rebounded from their debacle against Temple to win five straight heading into this Saturday’s showdown at No. 11 Iowa State.

SHOT OF THE NIGHT

Let’s go to The Barn, where Iowa’s Jarrod Uthoff sent Minnesota to 0-5 in Big 10 play.

The Gophers, perhaps the unluckiest team in college basketball so far this season, then proceeded to tie the game on DeAndre Mathieu’s full-court drive for a layup at the buzzer. Or so they thought. A review quickly revealed that the shot had left Mathieu’s hands a split-second too late, handing Iowa the victory.

PLAYER OF THE NIGHT: Rakeem Christmas, Syraucse

The Orange desperately need their star to emerge during this portion of the season, and Christmas’ 35-point, nine-rebound performance against Wake Forest could certainly be the start of that.

ALL-TUESDAY TEAM

Angel Rodriguez, Miami - As mentioned earlier, the K-State transfer stole the show during his first Cameron Indoor experience.

Sterling Gibbs, Seton Hall - The Pirate star was once again tremendous, scoring 30 points in an overtime loss to Butler.

Treveon Graham, VCU - Graham was the lone Ram to score in double figures, dropping 26 to almost single-handedly avoid an upset at the hands of Rhode Island.

James Woodard, Tulsa - Scored a game-high 21 points as Tulsa moved to 4-0 in the AAC with a 66-58 win over defending national champion Connecticut.

Harrison Hawkins, Abilene Christian - Went for 31 and six as Abilene Christian beat Northwestern State, 95-81.

DID DEPAUL WIN?

DePaul lost to Georgetown, 78-72, but its bench was awesome.

NUMBERS OF THE NIGHT

34 - That’s the number of the new longest homecourt winning streak in the country, which belongs to Gonzaga. Duke had won 41 straight at Cameron Indoor before Tuesday.

9 - The number on consecutive possessions Virginia scored on during one stretch in the second half of the Cavaliers’ 65-42 win over Clemson. After leading just 25-19 at halftime, UVA scored 31 points on 16 possessions to build a 56-27 advantage over the Tigers.

1950 - That was the last time Missouri managed to score fewer points than the 37 it posted against Kentucky.

11 - The number of seasons you have to go back to find a team that began conference play 0-5 and wound up earning an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. That team was Washington, which won 12 of its final 13 regular season games and advanced to the Pac-10 Tournament championship game before earning a No. 8 seed in the big dance. There’s still hope, Minnesota.