Last Night in College Basketball: Texas Tech Scores Upset Over Vulnerable Arizona

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. 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. Texas Tech hands Arizona its second-straight loss Texas Tech beat Arizona 78-75 on the road in a thrilling overtime battle, giving the Wildcats their second loss in as many games after starting the season 23-0. Red Raiders junior forward JT Toppin added a performance to his Naismith Player of the Year case, with 31 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the field to go with 13 rebounds for his 16th double-double of the season. Toppin is just the second Big 12 player to ever log a double-double with at least 30 points against a team ranked No. 1 in the poll. Pretty specific, sure, but also pretty impressive. Point guard Christian Anderson had a chance to win the game in regulation for Texas Tech, but couldn’t get a clean look, and the game needed an extra period. Toppin would hit what would prove to be the game-winner with 1:18 left in overtime, a hook shot from eight feet out. Arizona could only muster another two points with what time remained, and Texas Tech got the upset. [Men’s College Basketball Rankings: Arizona Falls, Texas Tech Makes Massive Jump] The Wildcats were without star freshman Koa Peat for the second half and overtime because of a lower leg injury. The exact nature of the injury isn’t known just yet, with everything in the testing phase to the point it’s unclear if Wednesday’s matchup against BYU is on or off the table. Peat scored just 2 points in 11 minutes while pulling down one rebound and logging an assist — senior forward Tobe Awaka ending up filling in for Peat during much of the game, and he had more than an admirable effort by logging a team-high 16 points — tied with freshman guard Brayden Burries — and 12 rebounds in 37 minutes. Despite spreading the scoring around, however, Arizona couldn’t pull off the win: Texas Tech had a number of notable scorers, too, and also had Toppin taking over the game to push the Red Raiders to victory. South Carolina downs LSU in SEC showdown The biggest game on the SEC schedule this weekend was between No. 3 South Carolina and No. 6 LSU, and it did not disappoint. The Gamecocks would win, 79-72, by responding to a tough first quarter with a 25-point second — South Carolina would not outscore LSU by much the rest of the way, but just kept adding little by little to finish 7 points up. With just 45 seconds left on the clock, the Tigers actually had a shot to go ahead, but senior guard Flau’jae Johnson missed a pair of free throws instead, and the Gamecocks went on a short 6-0 run to make sure the opportunity didn’t present itself again. To Johnson’s credit, she led LSU in scoring with 21 points and was second on the team in rebounds with 8, behind senior forward Amiya Joiner — Joiner pulled down 13, with the duo putting LSU ahead in the rebounds battle, 46-37. Despite grabbing more boards and scoring more points off of turnovers — 12 to 6 — LSU just couldn’t snap its losing streak against South Carolina, which has now won 18 in a row against the Tigers. The main issue was the deep ball: South Carolina had an accurate — but not overwhelming — day from 3, shooting 8-for-17, but LSU struggled to connect from range, going just 2-for-12. The additional boards merely helped the Tigers stay even in the paint with the Gamecocks, not put them ahead, and the result was a loss. It’s not a terrible loss for LSU in some ways: South Carolina is dominant, and the Tigers hung on, proving they belong. However, it does keep LSU in fifth in the SEC on a weekend where the team in front of it, Tennessee, also lost: the first four teams in the conference get a double-bye to the quarterfinals in the SEC tournament, which means as of now LSU has one more hurdle in front of it to clear. As for South Carolina, this marked coach Dawn Staley’s 500th win as the Gamecocks’ head coach. She took over in 2008, and has brought South Carolina to three national championships, four title games and three additional Final Fours in that stretch, beginning in 2015. Iowa State downs Kansas No. 9 Kansas ended No. 1 Arizona’s undefeated season last week, and did it without star freshman Darryn Peterson in the lineup. You would think that would mean the Jayhawks were in line to similarly put a hurting on No. 5 Iowa State — especially since the NBA hopeful forward was back and starting for Kansas against the Cyclones, but two things: that’s why they play the games, and Iowa State is no pushover. The Cyclones are ranked No. 5 for a reason, and all. And they reminded Kansas and everyone watching of that in this game, in which Peterson was held to 10 points on 3-for-10 shooting without a single rebound, assist, steal or block. Senior guard Melvin Council Jr. led the Jayhawks with a mere 15 points in a 74-56 loss to Iowa State, which held Kansas to 37% shooting. The Cyclones, meanwhile, shot 11-for-30 from 3, and had five players reach double-digits in scoring. They also converted the Jayhawks’ 13 turnovers into 19 points, and at one point led by 24 points. While Kansas narrowed the lead somewhat, it still lost by 19 points and tied for the fewest points it has scored this season, as well as the fewest it’s managed with Peterson playing — he sat against UConn back in December, in a 61-56 defeat. Iowa State is now tied with Kansas and Texas Tech for third in the Big 12, at 9-3, with the three behind a suddenly vulnerable Arizona and No. 3 Houston. As the first six teams in the conference get a bye in the Big 12 tournament, keeping ahead of BYU and West Virginia — both 7-5 — matters. Megan Nestor 28 rebounds North Texas found one hell of a rebounder when it recruited Megan Nestor out of Wayland Baptist University for her senior season. Nestor had a 34-point, 31-rebound game against Texas Southern on Dec. 6, but has been far from a one-off performance: she leads Division I women’s basketball with 14.4 rebounds per game. Just two other players — UTRGV’s Charlotte O’Keefe and UC-Davis’ Megan Norris — are even averaging at least 13 rebounds. Nestor also passed both third and second for single-season rebounds at North Texas in the same game, then grabbed another dozen after that. Nestor pulled down her second-highest total of the year on Sunday against Tulane, in a 10-point, 28-rebound double-double. Nestor had an assist and 3 steals on top of that, and hit a perfect 6-for-6 from the stripe. Unsurprisingly, the Mean Green dominated the boards, 45 to 28, and ended up winning 56-47. North Texas just cannot shoot — it’s 170th of 363 teams in shooting percentage, at 40.5% — but it’s also 21st in rebounds per game at 42.2, thanks to Nestor’s dominance. Nebraska gets needed rebound W Nebraska is still playing some great basketball, but the Big Ten is relentless this year, leading to three losses for the Huskers in their last five games — coming up on Michigan, Illinois and Purdue can cause that kind of issue. However, Nebraska took advantage of a lighter matchup against Northwestern, and came out dominant in the second half, scoring 40 of its 68 points there to beat the Wildcats by 19. Junior forward Pryce Sandfort led all scorers with 29 points on 10-for-21 shooting with 6 rebounds, and the team as a whole shot 44% from 3. There were two good signs here besides Sandfort’s performance that Nebraska has to hope can keep up: for one, its defense shut down Nick Martinelli, who scored 11 points on 4-for-12 shooting in 35 minutes — Martinelli is averaging 22.1, good for eighth in Division I men’s basketball — and foul trouble was at a minimum. Northwestern isn’t Michigan or Illinois or Purdue, but Nebraska has had far too many fouls mixed into its defensive pressure of late, and will need to continue to both apply that pressure and avoid being whistled constantly if the Huskers are to thrive in the Big Ten tournament and beyond. On that last note, Nebraska’s win allowed it to stay in fourth in the conference, and in line for a double-bye for the Big Ten tourney. With both Wisconsin and Michigan State a game back at 10-3, every win matters — and Nebraska is now in the softer part of its schedule after facing a February gauntlet. Iowa and UCLA are no pushover while USC is 7-7, but getting to play Penn State and Maryland in between should help with sticking in the top four. Marquette gets boost in loss to UConn Marquette lost to No. 1 UConn on Saturday, which should not come as a surprise. However, the Golden Eagles forced the Huskies into their most competitive game in some time. Marquette limited UConn to just 13 first-quarter points, its lowest total of the season, and even when the Huskies started to take things in a familiar direction and ended up ahead by 21 points, the Golden Eagles didn’t fall apart like other Big East opponents have this season, and instead kept UConn’s overall scoring low and cut the final score down to a 16-point defeat. That might not sound that impressive until you remember that UConn’s average margin of victory in conference play this season heading into this game was 42.3 points, and that the Huskies downed Marquette 89-53 the last time the two played. Further proof that this loss was a positive for Marquette — as far as a defeat can be a positive, of course — was that Golden Eagles moved up from 65th to 62nd in the NCAA Evaluation Tool despite losing. UConn is undefeated, and has been laying waste to its opponents in and out of conference — Notre Dame and Tennessee both suffered the most lopsided defeats against UConn in the history of those longtime rivalries, for instance, and the Lady Vols are even ranked. Marquette limited UConn’s scoring in the first quarter, then came out with a strong second half to keep pace with a Huskies’ squad that had adjusted to a defense centered around making life difficult in the interior with its size. With the conference tournament coming up, and only so many at-large bids likely to be coming the Big East’s way, performances like this one can get the attention of the selection committee beyond what UConn, Villanova and Seton Hall have managed to this point. As for UConn, it’s now won 43 in a row, moving it from a tie with 2011-2012 Baylor and 2022-2023 South Carolina into another tie with 2023-2025 South Carolina for the seventh-longest streak in Division I women’s basketball history. Another W would give UConn sole possession of 7th, and Pat Summitt-led 1996-1998 Tennessee is next up with 46-straight wins. Villanova, Providence and Georgetown stand in the way of that feat. A 46-point performance wasn’t enough Prairie View A&M’s Donate Horne scored more points than anyone else in Division I basketball this weekend, men’s or women’s, by dropping 46 points on Southern. The problem for both the senior guard and his fellow Panthers, however, is that no one else stepped up to help. He shot 14-for-25 for 46; the rest of his teammates managed 11-for-32 and 36. While Prairie View A&M went to the line 32 times and sank 25 free throws, half of those trips were Horne, and he had 14 of the makes. Plus, the Panthers fouled enough to give the Jaguars 33 chances at the stripe, and they made 25 free throws of their own to counter Prairie View A&M’s. The result was an 87-82 loss instead of an upset powered by a huge game, and Southern moving into a tie for second in the SWAC with 8-4 Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Fairfield wins rematch with Quinnipiac The last time that Quinnipiac and Fairfield faced off this season, it was the first matchup of two teams that were at least 10-0 in conference play, and Quinnipiac won in convincing fashion by shutting down the Stags’ Division I-leading 3-point game. The Bobcats played a physical defense that made it impossible for Fairfield to get good looks, and its leading-scorer juniors, guard Kaety L’Amoreaux and forward Meghan Anderson, were limited to 18 points and 2-for-11 shooting from 3 combined; the two had averaged a 35.7 points and 5.5 made 3s per game before the matchup. That tactic did not surprise Fairfield the second time around, or, at least, the Stags adjusted in the second half. While Anderson was once again limited, this time to 7 points on 2-for-7 shooting and a single trey, L’Amoreaux played all 40 minutes and led all scorers with 30 points while hitting 4 of 8 3-pointers. Fairfield scored 48 points in the second half, and would win 75-63, evening up the season series and putting the two teams back into a tie for first in the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference. That matters for more than the usual reasons: Quinnipiac keeps being projected as the likely conference tournament winner and recipient of the MAAC’s automatic bid to March Madness, but Fairfield is a top-50 team in NET while Quinnipiac is outside of the bubble by the same metric. The tourney might well be the only way for either team to get in, but with strong enough showings the rest of the way and in the conference tournament, maybe the MAAC sneaks a second team in. One game at a time, though, and Fairfield won the last of those. BYU suffers major loss in win While No. 22 BYU managed to defeat Colorado 90-86 in overtime, the win came at a cost. Senior guard Richie Saunders tore his ACL less than a minute into the game, ending his season. It’s a huge blow for Saunders, of course, and just as devastating to the Cougars’ chances this year: Saunders was averaging 18.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game with an eFG% of 59.3%, good for third in all three categories, with the last of those even putting him ahead of star freshman AJ Dybantsa. To keep it going, Dybantsa and Robert Wright III are going to need to keep having huge games. That’s what happened against Colorado, at least, with Dybantsa scoring 20 points with 13 rebounds and 8 assists, narrowly missing a triple-double, while Wright had a game-high 39 points with 5 rebounds and 4 assists, with 6 of those points coming in OT. Michigan dispatches Michigan State Sophomore guards Olivia Olson and Syla Swords were a problem for Michigan State on Sunday, as the Michigan duo put up a combined 47 points with 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. The Spartans were ahead 21-15 after the first quarter, but then the Wolverines had a dominant 26-9 second and didn’t slow down from there offensively — Michigan would end up winning 86-65 despite Michigan State’s strong start. With No. 8 Ohio State losing to No. 20 Maryland in a come-from-behind victory for the Terrapins, Michigan picked up a full game in the Big Ten standings, and are 13-2 behind undefeated UCLA. The first four teams in the conference get a double-bye in the Big Ten tournament, and Michigan is two wins and two losses up on fifth-place Minnesota, despite the Golden Gophers’ surge that has them winners of eight-straight. Michigan State is 9-6, tied with Maryland thanks to the Terps’ W, as well as Washington, and 2.5 games up on 7-7 Illinois, which is the first team in the conference lined up to miss the single-round bye, as well. It’s not panic time for the Spartans, no, but their situation is nowhere near as cozy as that of the Wolverines, thanks in no small part to losing to Michigan both times out this season.