TOP 25 RECAP
College basketball scores: How Virginia-Miami and Jerian Grant’s dunk won the weekend
In one weekend, college basketball may have seen both its best game and its best dunk of the season so far.
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
No. 2 Duke 85, Boston College 62
No. 3 Virginia 89, Miami (80 (2OT)
No. 4 Wisconsin 81, Wake Forest 58
No. 5 Louisville 85, Wake Forest 76
Seton Hall 66, No. 6 Villanova 61 (OT)
No. 7 Gonzaga 87, Portland 75
No. 8 Arizona 73, Arizona State 49
South Carolina 64, No. 9 Iowa State 60
No. 10 Utah 71, UCLA 39
No. 11 Texas 70, Texas Tech 61
No. 12 Maryland 70, Minnesota 58
No. 13 Kansas 76, UNLV 61
No. 14 Notre Dame 83, Georgia Tech 76 (2OT)
Butler 73, No. 15 St. John’s 69
No. 16 Wichita State 70, Illinois State 62
No. 17 West Virginia 78, TCU 67
No. 18 Oklahoma 73, No. 22 Baylor 63
No. 19 North Carolina 74, Clemson 50
No. 20 Ohio State 77, Illinois 61
Stanford 68, No. 21 Washington 60 (OT)
No. 23 Northern Iowa 67, Loyola (IL) 58
New Mexico 66, No. 24 Colorado State 53
No. 25 Georgetown 76, Creighton 61
GAME OF THE WEEKEND: No. 3 Virginia 89, Miami 80 (2OT)
The Cavaliers avoided becoming the fourth team to taste defeat for the first time this weekend by outlasting Miami in what may have been the best game of the season to date.
After trailing by as many as 18 points, the Hurricanes stormed back late in the second half thanks to the hot outside shooting of Omar Sherman and Angel Rodriguez. The latter scored 13 points in the final 7 minutes of regulation, and forced overtime by drilling three free-throws with less than a second to play.
The U controlled the bulk of the first overtime, but a cold-blooded trey from Virginia’s Justin Anderson evened the score with just 15 seconds to play.
Miami couldn’t get a clean look on the other end, and was then outclassed in the game’s final five minutes.
Even though Virginia’s perfect record was on the line, the decision likely meant more to the home team than it did to the Cavaliers. The U spent nearly all of November in the national rankings thanks to an 8-0 start highlighted by wins over then-No. 8 Florida and then-No. 24 Illinois. Neither of those wins look nearly as sparkling as they did at the time, and the Hurricanes have since lost four of their last six games, a span which includes an embarrassing 72-44 beatdown at the hands of Eastern Kentucky.
UPSET OF THE WEEKEND: South Carolina 64, No. 9 Iowa State 60
Could the Gamecocks wind up being the best team in the SEC outside of Kentucky? It’s possible. Frank Martin’s team’s three losses have come by a combined 11 points, and Ken Pomeroy currently has them as the 28th-best team in the country.
That argument aside, there’s no question that SC made its biggest statement to date on Saturday by stunning ninth-ranked Iowa State at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It marked the first win for the program over a top 10 team in the last five years.
The biggest story of the game was undoubtedly Iowa State’s horrendous outside shooting. The Cyclones, who ranked 10th in the nation in points per game and who had scored 81 points or more in nine of their first 11 tilts, connected on just one of their 18 3-point attempts and shot a season-worst 35.1 percent from the field. The 60-point total was also ISU’s lowest of the season.
THREE GREAT WINS
Seton Hall 66, Villanova 61 (OT)
This was the type of game that Kevin Willard's tough-luck Pirates have lost consistently over the last five seasons, but this group seems different. Even with freshman star Isaiah Whitehead still sidelined by injury, Seton Hall made play after play with the game on the line to hand Villanova its first defeat of the season.
If Whitehead can get healthy and find a way to effectively co-exist with Sterling Gibbs -- who is carrying the Pirates for the time being -- then not only is Seton Hall going to make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006, but they're going to be an awfully tough out for any team that draws them.
No. 18 Oklahoma 73, No. 22 Baylor 63
The lone matchup of the weekend featuring multiple ranked teams was won by the Sooners, who got a breakout performance from TaShawn Thomas. The Houston transfer was good but not great during the non-conference portion of the season, but looked like a different player on Saturday. Thomas showed off his entire skills set against Baylor, drilling 11-of-17 from the field and scoring a team-high 24 points.
Washington State 69, California 66
We’ll give the Cougs a shoutout just because this was their first Pac-12 road win in nearly two years. For Cal, it marked the continuation of a bizarre stretch that has seen it knock off No. 21 Washington and also lose to 4-11 Cal State Bakersfield.
THREE BAD LOSSES
NO. 10 Utah 73, UCLA 39
I mean, it’s almost impressive just how thoroughly UCLA commits when it decides it isn’t all that interested in winning a game.
Take it away, former Louisville star Russ Smith...
I have no affiliation to UCLA mens basketball but man.. every time I turn around it seems like they losing by 30+
— Russ Ruby Rhod Smith (@Sir_Saudade) January 5, 2015 You’re not wrong, Russdiculous.
New Mexico 66, No. 24 Colorado State 53
This is totally unfair, I’m well aware of that. The Pit is one of the toughest places to play in college basketball and Colorado State was a team that most people believed to be unworthy of its national ranking, but still, proving those people right has to be deemed a “bad” thing ... right?
Sorry, Rams. I’ll make it up to you at some point over the next three months.
Connecticut 63, Florida 59
Both teams have been such disappointments so far this season that it was hard to believe this was a rematch of a national semifinal game played last April. Each squad entered the game banged up both mentally and physically, and it showed. It was a game that was as ugly as the seasons for both teams up to this point, and one which was lost by Florida more than it was won by Connecticut. The Gators will now enter SEC play with twice as many losses (6) as they had all of last season.
BUZZER-BEATER OF THE WEEKEND
Utah State is more than just the team with the best hair in college basketball, it’s also a team that has won six of seven after David Collette’s heroics at Boise State on Saturday.
Poor Broncos. It seems like they’ve been getting beat at the buzzer every weekend for the past five years or so.
DUNK OF THE WEEKEND
Impossible to go with anyone other than Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant, who produced probably the most talked about dunk of the season during the Fighting Irish’s double overtime win over Georgia Tech.
Although Wichita State's Tekele Cotton certainly did enough to warrant at least an honorable mention here.
Young man is more athletic than we are.
PLAYER OF THE WEEKEND: Jahlil Okafor, Duke
There was no clearcut choice this weekend, but we’re going with the national POY candidate who introduced himself to the ACC by scoring 28 points, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking four shots in 30 minutes against Boston College. There will be no “Hack a Jahlil” (“Choke an Oke”?) defense option this year, either. The big man drilled 14 of 17 attempts from the charity stripe.
ALL-WEEKEND TEAM
Jordan Mickey, LSU - One of the most versatile players in the country, Mickey finished with 24 points, 14 rebound and three assists as the Tigers cruised past Savannah State.
Chris Jones, Louisville - The oft-criticized Cardinal point saved Louisville in its ACC opener against Wake Forest, scoring 20 points and dishing out a career-high 10 assists. Ten of those points came in the game's final five minutes, a span which started with U of L leading by a single point.
Daniel Ochefu, Villanova - Brought down a weekend-high 24 rebounds and added 19 points in a losing effort for the Wildcats.
John Brown, High Point - One of college basketball's best-kept secrets scored 33 points to go with eight boards in High Point's double OT win over WInthrop.
Adrian Diaz, Florida International - Diaz connected on 11-of-14 field goal attempts, scored 27 points and corralled 11 rebounds to lead FIU past in-state rival Florida Atlantic, 62-60.
See More:
