Faculty basketball scores, winners and losers: Tempers flare as Duke tops Clemson, Ed Cooley returns to boos

Frustration, tempers and outright tantrums have been among the many largest tales of the day in faculty basketball on Saturday. 

On the frustration entrance, Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger had us lined, delivering a prolonged assertion after his crew’s win over Kansas whereby he denied accusations from earlier within the week that somebody was making an attempt to videotape the huddle of Kansas State from the group at Hilton Coliseum.

On the tempers entrance, Windfall followers not-so-kindly gave former coach Ed Cooley a homecoming in Friartown with a smattering of boos and different vulgarities aimed in his path with Georgetown on the town.

And on the tantrums entrance, Clemson’s Joe Girard appeared to attempt to cost at an official within the moments proper after the Tigers misplaced to No. 12 Duke 72-71 inside Cameron Indoor Stadium on the heels of a controversial end during which the Blue Devils took the lead within the closing seconds on the charity stripe off of an iffy foul name. 

We love ourselves some drama in sports activities and faculty hoops delivers the products in spades, would not it?

Our recap of the day and drama that unfolded from Saturday is beneath Saturday’s Prime 25 leads to full replete with all of the winners and losers throughout the game. 

Saturday’s Prime 25 scoreboard

Winner: Kentucky’s Reeves continues to shine

No. 6 Kentucky righted the ship with a 63-57 street win over Arkansas simply days after a loss at South Carolina behind an enormous 24 factors from senior guard Antonio Reeves. On a UK crew loaded with NBA expertise (and on Saturday lacking Rob Dillingham), Reeves once more led the way in which in scoring — as he is finished all season — to assist the Wildcats to an enormous street win. 

There’s way more gifted guards in faculty basketball than Reeves however you would be hard-pressed to search out one who’s each as necessary and underrated as Reeves is to UK’s success. — Boone

Loser: Clemson’s Brownell rips refs in loss to Duke

Clemson coach Brad Brownell wasn’t in essentially the most joyful temper when speaking about his groups 72-71 loss to No. 12 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils shot 13 free throws within the last six minutes of motion — together with a pair by Tyrese Proctor after he was fouled by Clemson’s Josh Beadle with one second remaining. Proctor was in a position to step to the road moments later and linked on each to finally give Duke the win.

“I’m unbelievably disenchanted with the ending,” Brownell stated. “That is actually poor. That is poor. We have had some historical past with that official. There was a number of emotion from our bench as a result of we’re a passionate group that fought our tails off and felt like the sport was taken from us somewhat bit. It should not be determined like that.”

After the ultimate buzzer sounded, it appeared that Girard appeared to attempt to cost at an official, however he was held again by his coaches and teammates earlier than something escalated. — Salerno

Losers: Windfall followers go nuts over Cooley

Even earlier than Saturday’s Windfall-Georgetown recreation — a homecoming for Hoyas coach Ed Cooley and an opportunity for Friars followers to air their grievances — issues received off the rails.

Oh, sure. Actually.

A borderline belligerent fanbase of Friars knocked over rails set as much as restrain followers and almost induced a trampling incident. And issues did not calm a lot the remainder of the day, both, as ramped-up safety fortunately — and miraculously — saved a rambunctious crowd from blowing the lid proper off the Dunk.

Cooley needed to courageous taunts and chants of ranging vulgarity in some of the hostile environments since Chris Beard returned to Texas Tech and needed to take an in depth loss dwelling on high of it. It was an eye-opening visible that reminds us of two issues: faculty basketball is just the most effective, and Windfall followers are genuinely nuts. — Boone

Winner: King goes off for Iowa State

Iowa State ahead Tre King had made three 3-pointers all season getting into Saturday’s showdown with No. 7 Kansas. Towards the Jayhawks, he made a career-high 4 because the No. 23 Cyclones used a season-high 14 makes from past the arc to gas a 79-75 victory. King led all scorers with 21 factors because the Cyclones gained their seventh straight dwelling recreation in opposition to a ranked opponent and improved to 13-0 at Hilton Coliseum this season. This program went 0-18 in Massive 12 play in 2020-21 earlier than coach T.J. Otzelberger’s arrival. Three years later, Hilton Magic has returned, and the Cyclones are firmly within the league title hunt with two wins over top-10 league foes already on their resume. — Cobb

Loser: Kansas continues to stumble in Massive 12 play

If it looks like Kansas is taking extra Ls in Massive 12 play than it normally does, then … your spidey senses are tingling correctly. No. 7 Kansas dropped a roadie to No. 23 Iowa State 79-75 dropping KU to 16-4 on the season and to simply 4-3 in league play. That begin in-conference isn’t just weird, both: it is exceptional. KU’s by no means had a worse begin to convention play than 4-3 since Invoice Self took over this system in 2003. — Boone

Winner: UCLA knocks off crosstown rival USC

UCLA’s season hasn’t gone in line with plan, however they’ll have the satisfaction of claiming a win over crosstown rival USC in one of many last conferences as members of the Pac-12. The 65-50 win on the street on the Galen Heart provides the Bruins a small glimmer of hope that they will run the desk in March on the Pac-12 Event and steal a bid away from somebody. Whereas that seems extremely unlikely, they nonetheless get the achievement of successful a rivalry recreation. This marked the primary time since 2004 that UCLA and USC each got here into this recreation with shedding data. USC has been one of many largest disappointments in faculty basketball and now finds itself in sole possession of final place within the convention. — Salerno

Loser: Horns go down at BYU

Texas continues to be unwilling to brush off opposing crowds or gamers doing the “Horns Down” gesture. A bunch of BYU followers have been requested to take away shirts that spelled out H-O-R-N-S D-O-W-N (by BYU this time, however nonetheless!) and it comes days after coach Rodney Terry known as some UCF gamers “classless” after they did the gesture following an upset win. 

On the courtroom, Texas seemed sluggish and fell on the street to BYU 84-72 for its fourth Massive 12 loss already. If issues could not get any worse, BYU followers chanted “SEC, SEC, SEC” within the last moments. These are the form of video games Texas must win if it needs to remain off the bubble. — Salerno

Loser: Baylor blows large lead in 3OT loss to TCU

No. 15 Baylor led TCU by as a lot as 10 within the second half and by no means trailed after halftime. But, the Bears discovered themselves in additional time. Three of them, really. Within the Massive 12’s first triple-overtime recreation since 2019, TCU finally outlasted Baylor 105-102. Jameer Nelson Jr. led all scorers with 30 factors and scored the ultimate six for the Horned Frogs after Baylor took a 99-95 lead early within the third additional time. Shedding at house is all the time painful, particularly when it is available in triple additional time in opposition to an in-state foe inside your model new venue. — Cobb

Winner: Texas Tech runs the Massive 12

No. 20 Texas Tech rallied from a nine-point deficit over the ultimate 7:30 to stun No. 11 Oklahoma 85-84 on the street. It was solely the newest spectacular victory for the Purple Raiders (16-3, 5-1 Massive 12), who maintained solo possession of first within the nation’s most brutal league. The Purple Raiders additionally gained at Texas earlier this month, that means their last visits to each departing Massive 12 rivals will go down as triumphs. — Cobb  

Loser: Auburn fails (once more) to safe Quad 1 win

Bruce Pearl and his paper Tigers failed — as soon as once more — to safe a Quad 1 win on Saturday, falling 64-58 at Mississippi State. They’re, and stay, the one top-25 crew within the NET rankings to nonetheless not have a Quad 1 win on the resume.

No. 8 Auburn is 16-4 general, 5-2 in SEC play and considered extremely within the metrics at each KenPom (No. 7) and BartTorvik (No. 3), but it surely has a lackluster resume on the high — hardly the kind of downside you’d count on for a crew that up till this week has seemed like the category of the SEC. — Boone

Winner: Cadeau helps UNC keep excellent in ACC

UNC freshman guard Elliot Cadeau picked a terrific day to have the efficiency of his younger profession. The previous five-star prospect scored 16 factors and dished out six assists in a 75-68 win on the street in opposition to Florida State. The Tar Heels are the final Massive Six college to have an ideal file in convention play and Cadeau deserves credit score for serving to North Carolina enhance to 9-0 in ACC play for the primary time since 2001. — Salerno

Winner: Love shines in Arizona‘s win over Oregon

The Caleb Love expertise is like no different. The previous North Carolina star has had his justifiable share of memorable moments whereas additionally having video games to neglect. The previous was on show within the Wildcats’ assertion win over Oregon when Love scored a career-high 36 factors to assist his crew get again to the highest of the Pac-12 standings. Love stays the X-Issue on the roster that may elevate the Wildcats to the Remaining 4. At this level on this season, he must be one of many favorites to win the Pac-12 Participant of the 12 months and Saturday might go down as his signature second this season. — Salerno

Loser: Louisville‘s state of affairs will get even worse

Virginia waltzed into the KFC Yum! Heart and flat-out embarrassed Louisville, a crew that has proven all season it wants completely no help this season in doing so, with a 69-52 beatdown because the Cardinals fell to 6-14 general and 1-8 within the ACC. The visiting Cavaliers raced out to a 41-13 halftime benefit — Louisville’s third-largest halftime deficit in program historical past — earlier than coasting the remainder of the way in which to the end line.

The ultimate rating did not inform the story of what a lopsided beating it was for Virginia nor what a humiliation it was for Louisville, which at this level is simply enterprise as traditional. The Cardinals simply seemed disinterested — and that went each for gamers and for coaches this time, with a video surfacing throughout a timeout displaying that assistant coach Nolan Smith showing extra engaged with timeout leisure than his crew’s planning.

Not good. — Boone

Winner: Florida‘s Handlogten has profession day

Florida squandered a 21-point lead within the second half and wound up in additional time in opposition to Georgia earlier than escaping with a 102-98 win. The large lead would by no means have existed within the first place if not for the efficiency of middle Micah Handlogten. The Gators’ 7-foot-1 middle exploded for a career-high 23 factors and 17 rebounds on 10-of-13 taking pictures. His seven offensive boards fueled Florida’s 12-3 edge in second-chance factors. The offensive output was notably beautiful since Handlogten was averaging simply 5.8 factors in UF’s first six SEC video games. Included in his memorable day was his first made 3-pointer since Dec. 19. It got here in ridiculous style. — Cobb

Loser: No 3-pointers for Indiana in loss to Illinois

Indiana is not a superb 3-point taking pictures crew and hasn’t pretended to be one usually this season. However the Hoosiers’ lack of perimeter firepower reached new depths in a 70-62 loss at No. 10 Illinois. The Hoosiers (12-8, 4-5 Massive Ten) completed 0 of 9 from past the arc, marking the primary recreation for the reason that 2009-10 season that Indiana didn’t make a single 3-pointer. IU took a 49-42 lead with 12:43 remaining, however an limitless procession of bricks adopted because the Illini (15-5, 6-3) closed the sport on a 28-13 run. The Hoosiers have misplaced 4 straight. — Cobb

Winner: Richmond ends Dayton’s successful streak 

Richmond took down No. 16 Dayton 69-64 in a big-time Atlantic 10 battle, ending the Flyers’ successful streak at 13 video games. That left McNeese State with the nation’s longest successful streak because the Cowboys notched their thirteenth win in a row by thrashing New Orleans earlier 102-65. It has been a spectacular turnaround for McNeese below first-year coach Will Wade, who was suspended for the primary 10 video games of the season due to violations dedicated at LSU. The Cowboys have not precisely been enjoying the nation’s hardest schedule — a win over the Mississippi College for Ladies is included within the tally — however there’s a minimum of some meat on the bone. Wins over Michigan and upper-half Solar Belt groups Louisiana and Southern Miss recommend that McNeese might have some bracket busting potential come March. — Cobb

The final one-loss crew within the nation is not any extra. Cornell delivered an 83-68 win over its Ivy League rival to maneuver right into a first-place tie with Yale atop the convention. The Massive Purple used a 30-5 first-half run to construct a lead and by no means seemed again to knock off Princeton because the reigning convention champions fell to 13-2 and 3-1 within the the Ivy League. The extremely anticipated rematch is ready for the second-to-last recreation of the season on March 2 and it might very nicely be for (a minimum of a share) of the Ivy League common season title.  — Salerno

Loser: Ohio State‘s street woes proceed

One of many worst road-losing streaks amongst Massive Six convention colleges continues. Ohio State dropped its 14th consecutive recreation on the street in an 83-58 loss to Northwestern. The final time Ohio State gained a recreation on the street was New 12 months’s Day of final year– a whopping 391 days for the reason that Buckeyes beat an opponent on the street. For a crew that got here into the season with aspirations of getting again to the NCAA Event, these losses definitely will not assist their case. Ohio State sits at 13-7 general and 3-6 within the Massive Ten. Ohio State’s subsequent alternative to snap the streak will come on Feb. 2 in opposition to Iowa. — Salerno