Last Night in College Basketball: Bad Weekend For Favorites, But Great For Upsets

Men's college basketball, women's college basketball – there's no shortage of college ball, every night.

Don't worry, we're here to help you figure out what you missed but shouldn't have. Here are all the best moments from the weekend in college basketball.

No. 4 Purdue upset by No. 11 Illinois

This was not a great weekend to be a favored ranked team, especially in men’s college basketball. Six different ranked men’s teams were upset over the weekend, and all on Saturday since Sunday was an abbreviated schedule for the men even before the winter storm that enveloped much of the country postponed multiple matchups. These teams probably wish that their games had been postponed, too.

No. 4 Purdue needed to bounce back after losing to unranked UCLA on Tuesday, but next up on the schedule was No. 11 Illinois, making that a difficult task even in a home game. And one the Boilermakers apparently were not up to, as well, as they lost 88-82. Which is not to say that Purdue isn’t capable or anything of the sort: the Fighting Illini just had a weapon that the Boilermakers had no answer for, and that was freshman guard Keaton Wagler.

Wagler broke out for 46 points — twice his previous career-best — on 13-for-17 shooting while sinking 9-of-11 3-pointers, and on top of that also shot 11-for-13 from the line. He had zero rebounds, no steals and no blocks, but he also just committed one foul, dished out 4 assists, and oh yeah, scored those 46 points. He had a hand in comfortably more than half of Illinois’ points between the buckets and the dimes, and even a Purdue team getting a 27-point, 12-assist double-double out of senior guard Braden Smith couldn’t contend with that performance.

Illinois is now second in the Big Ten at 8-1, tied with Michigan and Michigan State but behind Nebraska. Purdue has slipped from tied with the Huskers atop the conference to fifth in the span of a week, which puts them out of position for the coveted double-bye in the Big Ten tourney. That is, of course, still a ways off, so there is time for the Boilermakers to recover. But given how competitive the conference has been and will continue to be, having to make up ground isn’t a positive.

Somehow, Wagler’s 46 points wasn’t the most of the weekend. That honor instead went to California Baptist senior guard Dominique Daniels, who dropped a program record 47 points on Utah Valley, with 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals in a 78-71 overtime win.

Surging Houston stopped by Texas Tech

No. 6 Houston had been moving up in the poll and in projected brackets owing to an 11-game win streak that included plenty of credible and ranked opponents, like Arkansas and Texas Tech. The rematch against the Red Raiders did not go Cougars’ way, however: whereas the first time out was a defensive-minded, 69-65 affair, this time Texas Tech would win a 90-86 shootout.

Houston shot 48% overall and 39% from three, going 11-for-28 from deep while hitting 17 of 21 free throws, as well. Texas Tech actually shot a little worse overall, but had a dozen 3-pointers and went 24-for-30 from the line: in the end, the extra free throws were the difference, but the Red Raiders also outrebounded the Cougars, 44 to 28 — with 21 of those offensive rebounds allowing for second chances — and that was too much for Houston to overcome.

[Men's College Basketball Rankings: Nebraska, Michigan State Make Big Jumps]

And this despite a monster performance from freshman guard Kingston Fleming, who scored 42 of Houston’s 86 points on 15-for-26 shooting while adding 2 boards, 6 assists and 2 steals. Senior guard Emanuel Sharp added 20 points in 35 minutes, but the rest of the team combined for 24 points, with no one from the bench stepping up to compensate for the otherwise lacking offensive performances from the starters.

Texas Tech, meanwhile, got 31 points in 40 minutes from junior guard JT Toppin, 18 points out of both freshman guard Jaylen Petty and senior guard Donovan Atwell, and sophomore guard Christian Anderson added another 12. That was almost the entire output of the Red Raiders, but it proved enough to topple Houston.

Houston had been undefeated in Big 12 play to that point, but now sits 5-1, tied for third with BYU but leapfrogged by the now 6-1 Texas Tech. Arizona, 7-0 in conference play and undefeated overall, sits ahead of both, but all four of these teams are in position for double-byes in the conference tourney as of now.

UNC comes back against Virginia

Not only was No. 14 Virginia upset by No. 22 UNC, but North Carolina stormed back to win a game it looked like the Tar Heels were maybe out of. With 2:05 left in the first, UNC was down 43-27, and Virginia had been in complete control for the entire game to that point. A 7-0 run to end the first cut the lead to 43-34, however, and then the Tar Heels exploded for a 51-point second half. The result? An 85-80 comeback win and upset for UNC.

Two big performances off the bench kept that ball rolling, with junior forward Jarin Stevenson scoring 17 points in 16 minutes while freshman guard Luka Bogavac added another 14 in his 28. Virginia outrebounded UNC, 44-28, but the Tar Heels made up for that deficit by turning the ball over just four times while converting Virginia’s 11 turnovers into 19 points. And, despite the rebound difference, the Cavaliers outscored UNC by just 6 points in the paint.

But wait: more upsets!

We’re only halfway through the upsets in men’s college basketball from Saturday. Like Houston, Florida has been surging lately, though in the case of the Gators you could call it "resurgent" instead, given their earlier struggles. Much of that had to do with a tough schedule, though — the Gators have played the seventh-toughest slate in all of men’s college basketball — but it was also adjusting to a turned over roster from last year’s championship squad.

The resurgence hit a snag on Saturday, when the No. 16 Gators lost to unranked Auburn at home, 76-67. Auburn held on to win here, dominating in the first half, 43-28, and then surviving a Florida team that outplayed the Tigers in the second. Junior forward Thomas Haugh scored a game-high 27 points on 9-for-19 shooting and secured a double-double with 10 rebounds — also a game-high — but just didn’t get enough help from his teammates: Florida shot a mere 37% overall, and 7-for-27 from beyond the arc. Auburn, conversely, was at 48% overall and went 19-for-21 from the line, both of which made up for sinking 5 3-pointers.

Tennessee takes down Bama

Alabama might have entered its matchup with Tennessee ranked No. 17, but that did not matter to the Volunteers. Tennessee rode a 43-point second half to a 79-73 win over Bama, dropping the Tide to 3-3 in SEC play while bringing the Vols to the same conference record.

Freshman forward Nate Ament dropped a game-high 29 points on Bama on 10-for-20 shooting while picking up 7 rebounds and 3 assists, and he was joined by senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie, who scored 24 points with 3 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Points-wise, the rest of the Vols offered very little, but they did combine for 42 rebounds to Bama’s 33.

Former G League center Charles Bediako, now back at Alabama and a senior and playing once more thanks to a temporary restraining order due to an eligibility-based lawsuit against the NCAA, played 25 minutes with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, but this boost from the bench wasn’t enough for the Tide.

Texas gets a W over No. 21 Georgia

Here we are, the final men’s upset from Saturday. And it featured unranked Texas downing No. 21 Georgia, and not in a close one, either. The Longhorns would win, 87-67, with Georgia going into the half up 37-30 but then getting blown out in the second, 57-30, to give that back and much, much more.

Junior guard Dailyn Swyn led the way with 26 points on 12-for-16 shooting, while pulling down 6 boards with 2 assists and 5 steals. Senior guard Tramon Mark added 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting with 6 boards of his own to go with 4 dimes and a steal. Then, sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis and senior guard Jordan Pope each added 14 points, with Vokietaitis contributing a game-high 8 rebounds with an assist and 2 blocks to go with the scoring. Texas’ bench added very little in the way of scoring despite extensive minutes, but did have 8 combined rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and a block to shore up the Longhorns elsewhere. 

Georgia’s offense wasn’t terrible, but 43% shooting isn’t going to cut it when Texas seemed incapable of missing, especially in the second half — the Longhorns finished at 58%, hitting regularly enough that it didn’t even matter that they went to the line less than half as often as Georgia did. The Bulldogs are now just 4-3 in SEC play, which is going to make life more difficult for them — as of now, Georgia is in fifth in the conference, one spot out of a double-bye in the conference tourney and tied with Missouri, Vanderbilt and Auburn.

It wasn’t just the men getting upset

Ranked women’s basketball teams took care of business this weekend in a way the men’s teams did not, but they did not all escape unscathed. While Georgia’s men might have fallen to Texas, its women’s team surprised No. 11 Kentucky with a 72-67 win on the road.

Georgia came out strong with a 21-12 first quarter, and while the Bulldogs were outscored over the next two, it wasn’t by enough for Kentucky to fully dig out of the hole it found itself in — the Wildcats were still down 52-50 at the start of the fourth, and then Georgia buckled down and won that quarter, 20-17, as well as the game.

The difference? Free throws. Kentucky committed 18 fouls to Georgia’s 12, and sent the Bulldogs to the line 20 times — they shot 90%, sinking 18 of them to Kentucky’s 10 in 17 tries. The Wildcats hit more 3s and shot slightly better overall, but the 8-point difference in free throws was too large, giving Georgia the road upset dub.

Shout out to junior guard Rylie Theuerkauf, who scored 19 points on 5-for-9 shooting off the bench with a 5-for-6 showing from the line — she also had 5 boards and a steal.

A perfect night for O’Keefe

Senior forward Charlotte O’Keefe crashed the boards hard again on Saturday, picking up 22 rebounds in a game for the second time this month. While that would normally be the focus — what else do you need when you have 22 rebounds? — the UTRGV standout actually did something even more impressive. She had 19 points on a perfect 7-for-7 game from the field where she hit all three of her 3-point attempts, as well as both of her free throws. Nine shots, all makes regardless of the where or why, and oh yeah, 22 rebounds, too… as well as 3 assists, a steal and 3 blocks.

The Vaqueros would get the 65-53 win over Houston Christian, and O’Keefe is now at 13.8 rebounds per game for the season while leading the Southland conference in offensive, defensive and total rebounds. Oh, and the 22 boards pushed her over 1,000 for her career, too, making her the only player in program history to accomplish the feat.

Vanderbilt is no longer undefeated

No. 5 Vanderbilt was 20-0. No. 2 South Carolina was coming off of a shocking loss against what had been a reeling Oklahoma team. Maybe this one was going to be close, or Vanderbilt might even surprise everyone and remain undefeated by handing the Gamecocks their third loss of the season.

All of that pregame wondering was quickly dismissed, as South Carolina got out to a commanding 33-16 lead after one quarter in Sunday's major SEC matchup. While Vandy recovered in the second by dropping 28 points while holding South Carolina to 22, the Gamecocks once again ran the show in the third quarter, and ended up winning 103-74 despite a much closer final frame.

Sophomore guard Mikayla Blakes scored 23 points to lead the Commodores, but she shot just 9-for-24, her third-straight contest where she’s shot 38% or worse. The rest of Vandy fared much better percentage-wise, but took a combined 37 shots, which limited just how many points the Dores could score even in a game where they went 12-for-25 from 3.

The real killer was turnovers. Vanderbilt turned the ball over 20 times, and South Carolina converted those into 32 points, while the Commodores managed to get 15 the same way. Vanderbilt is great, but South Carolina looks like it’s on a completely different level despite the closeness of position in the poll.

Four of South Carolina’s starters had at least 10 points, with senior guard Ta’Niya Latson leading with 21, junior guard Tessa Johnson putting up 20 and sophomore forward Joyce Edwards getting 16 while adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists for the best all-around performance. On top of that, senior forward Madino Okot added 17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and a block in 20 minutes from the bench. The Gamecocks might have two losses, but they still look real tough to beat.

With Vanderbilt taking the L, UConn is now the only undefeated team left in women's college basketball – the Huskies downed Seton Hall in their rematch, 92-52, on Saturday to improve to 21-0 overall and 11-0 in the Big East.