Week of 1/15/24
What just happened? The week started off with a bang, as Nebraska knocked off number 1 Purdue, Iowa State best Houston, and Colorado State and BYU both lost. Craziness continued throughout the week, with Oklahoma, Kansas, and Tennessee all losing on Wednesday. Gonzaga lost on Friday, ending their poll streak. But the upsets had to continue into Saturday, as Oklahoma lost again, so did Houston, Kentucky, Arizona, and Texas. Because pretty much every team lost this week, there’s a lot of shakeups, but not too many teams fell that much.
One of those teams that didn’t lose is UConn, although they barely got by. They beat Xavier by 5, 80-75. UConn was severely out-rebounded, as they had 30 rebounds and Xavier had 42. They also forced Xavier to shoot 36% from the field on their home court. UConn came up with 11 steals and 7 blocks, 5 more than Xavier had in both stats. UConn never fell behind, as Xavier’s largest lead was just 1 point, which came early in second half. UConn’s largest lead was 14. UConn also took down Georgetown on Sunday, 80-67. Georgetown went 4-16 from 3, while UConn went 13-24. Alex Karaban scored 26 points, and is averaging nearly 15 points per game. Cam Spencer dropped 20 points, while Tristen Newton had 9. Both Spencer and Newton are averaging 15 points per game. UConn takes on Creighton and Villanova this week, two tough games. Following UConn are Kansas, Purdue, UNC, and Houston. I’ll start with UNC, as they’re one of the teams that didn’t lose at all this week. They took down NC State 67-54 on the road, before absolutely destroying Syracuse on Saturday, 103-67. RJ Davis dropped 22 against Syracuse, while Armando Bacot had 16 points and 11 rebounds. The Tar Heels also had 9 players come off the bench, with 7 of them scoring. After their rout of Syracuse, they play Louisville and Boston College. These are 2 winnable games for UNC, and with no losses in conference play yet, they have a very good chance to win the ACC. Kansas comes in at second, as they rebounded from a 65-60 loss to UCF on Wednesday to beat Oklahoma, 78-66. In the loss to UCF, they turned the ball over 18 times, leading to their loss. UCF capitalized on that, as they had 18 points off turnovers. Against Oklahoma, it was close in the first half, but KU pulled away in the second half. This time around, Kansas only turned the ball over twice. Their 3 stars, Kevin McCullar Jr, Hunter Dickinson, and KJ Adams Jr, all had 15 or more points. Adams had 15, McCullar had 21, and Dickinson had 24. Dickinson also had 14 rebounds, while Adams had 10 rebounds. Kansas takes on Oklahoma State and WVU this week, both on the road. After Purdue’s annual loss to an unraked team when they’re number 1, the second time that’s happened this season, they blew out Penn State. Purdue lost to Nebraska this time around, 88-72. Zach Edey was held to just 15 points and 7 rebounds, which aren’t season lows, but some of the lowest. After his breakout game against Illinois, Trey Kaufman-Renn played just 15 minutes, and dropped 0 points. He did a little better against Penn State, scoring 5 points in 16 minutes. His rebounds did go from 5 to 2, however. Mason Gillis led Purdue in scoring against Nebraska, with 16 points off the bench. Purdue’s top performers just didn’t show up against Nebraska, something that was the opposite against Penn State. Edey had 30 points and 20 rebounds, the first time he’s ever done that. Lance Jones had 14 points, while Fletcher Loyer had 11. All of Purdue’s bench players that scored, which were only 4, had either 7 or 8 points. Purdue takes on Indiana and Iowa this week. Knowing Purdue, they’ll probably lose 1 of these games, but hopefully they don’t. Houston came into the week at 14-0, but they’re leaving at 14-2. They fell to Iowa State on Tuesday, 57-53. Houston arguably played better than ISU, at least on paper. They turned the ball over just 4 more times. They had 5 more blocks, 1 less steal, more rebounds, and less assists. Both teams were bad from 3, while both teams shot 38% from the field. Houston had 3 different starters score under 10 points, while 2 of their 4 bench players didn’t score. The 2 other bench players had 3 and 2 points. Against TCU, Houston lost on a layup with 6 seconds left, and couldn’t score with the time left. Houston’s problems continued, as starter Ja’Vier Francis played 21 minutes, and took just 1 shot. LJ Cryer now has 2 straight games with 5 points, this time in 37 minutes. He shot 2-14 from the field and 1-7 from 3. Houston had 3 players have double digit points against TCU, compared to 2 against Iowa State. Houston is not playing their best basketball right now, which is a problem as they take on BYU and Texas this month. Houston plays Texas Tech and UCF this week.
Following the chaotic top 5, there’s another chaotic group of 5 teams. Tennessee is at the top at 6, with Duke, Kentucky, Arizona, and Baylor following them. Because some many teams lost, Tennessee moves back just 1 spot with their loss to Mississippi State. They did also beat Georgia, which contributes to them sliding back a spot. In their loss to Mississippi State, they relied heavily on Dalton Knecht and Zakai Zeigler. Knecht led the team in scoring with 28, along with 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Zeigler had 26 points and 7 assists. Outside of Knecht and Zeigler, no player had 10 or more points. They had 4 total bench points compared to Mississippi State’s 33. When only 2 players are putting up points for your team, you virtually have no chance at winning. They improved on this against Georgia, but only by a little. Knecht carried the team, with 36 points in 34 minutes. Zeigler and Jonas Aidoo were both in the double digits, and Tennessee got a better spark off the bench. However, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi could not make a shot. The same thing was true against Mississippi State. Against Georgia, Vescovi shot strictly three’s, making 2 of 5. Vescovi went 1-4 against Mississippi State. James shot 2-9 against Georgia, and 1-8 against Mississippi State. He shot 0-3 from deep, and he now has 3 straight games with that stat line, as he did the same against Ole Miss. Those 2 are in major shooting funks, and they need to break out of it soon, as Tennessee plays Florida and Alabama this week, two tough teams. Following Tennessee is Duke and Kentucky. Duke moves up 3 spots, beating both Pitt and Georgia Tech this week. They beat Pitt by 20, and GT by 5. Georgia Tech is one of the teams to beat Duke this year, so its no surprise that this game was close. Kyle Filipowski led the way for the Blue Devils against Georgia Tech with 30 points and 13 rebounds. Tyrese Procter had 17, while Jeremy Roch had 18. These 3 have all had big games in Duke’s 8 game winning streak, which has skyrocketed them back up to the top of the rankings. As for Kentucky, they were upset by Texas A&M on Saturday. They lost 97-92 in overtime, which was not a good period. Aaron Bradshaw played just 6 minutes, as he had 4 personal fouls, and Justin Edwards played 22. This led to 2 different bench players, Ugonna Onyenso and Reed Sheppard playing 30+ minutes. Tre Mitchell nearly played the entire game, as he played 44 out of a possible 45 minutes. In his 44 minutes, Mitchell recorded 8 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists. Kentucky was dominated on the glass, as Texas A&M had 54 rebounds, 25 of them being offensive rebounds. Kentucky did have a win earlier in the week, beating Missouri 90-77. That win helps Kentucky stay at 8 in the rankings. Following those 2 are Arizona and Baylor, who had wildly different weeks. I’ll start with Baylor, who beat BYU and Cincinnati this week. Against BYU, Baylor turned the ball over just 5 times, while BYU had 14. Baylor had 18 points off turnovers, while BYU had 4. Baylor stepped up on defense, which led to their win. Against Cincinnati, Ja’Kobe Walter scored all 14 of his points in the second half for Baylor to win by 3. He also led Baylor in points. He was tied with Langston Love. Baylor faced their toughest game of their Big 12 schedule so far against Cincy, and now take on Kansas State and Texas this week. Arizona played just 1 game last week, losing to Washington State 73-70. Caleb Love led the way for Arizona with 28 points, but only one other player had double digit points. That was Oumar Ballo, who had 11 points and 14 rebounds. Zona took 72 shots, making 25 of them, while Wazzu took just 56. They made 26. Arizona out-rebounded Washington State, but Wazzu dominated them in all other stats. Arizona’s largest lead was just 3 points, while Washington State’s was 11. It was a road game for Arizona, with none of their losses coming at home. They’ve now lost 3 of their last 6, but have an easier week this time with USC and UCLA. Arizona doesn’t play another ranked opponent for the rest of the season, but with the way that they’re playing right now, they’re probably lose a few more games.
The top 15 rounds out with Memphis, Marquette, Wisconsin, Auburn, and Illinois. Memphis took care of business this week, with two 100-point games in wins over UTSA and Wichita State. Their winning streak is now up to 10 games, with 3 ranked wins in the process. Memphis did have to go to overtime with UTSA, but they still shot 53% from the field and 48% from three. Against Wichita State, Memphis shot 65% from the field and 63% from three. Memphis is third in the American in field goal percentage and are tied for second in 3-point percentage this season. David Jones, who leads Memphis in scoring with 21 points per game, shoots 45% overall and 36% from deep. His points per game are tenth in the country. He’s also Memphis’ leader in rebounds, with 6.7 rebounds per game. Memphis takes on USF and Tulane this week, and the Tulane game especially should give them some trouble. Next up are the 2 Wisconsin teams, Marquette and Wisconsin. Marquette lost again, this time falling to Butler, 69-62. On their home court, Marquette shot 16% from 3-points land. Although Marquette turned it over less and got more rebounds, Butler shot a lot better than Marquette. That loss marks Marquette’s second straight loss, and their 3rd loss out of their last 5 games. That also means that Marquette is 2-3 in Big East play, sixth in the conference. They beat Villanova today, but that game doesn’t count towards their ranking. They also take on Saint John’s later this week. Those are both very tough games for Marquette, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they lose. The Big East is stacked this year, and I don’t think Marquette has what it takes to win the conference this year. Wisconsin beat Ohio State and Northwestern this week, scoring 71 in both games. Max Klesmit led the way in both games, scoring 24 against Northwestern and 18 against Ohio State. He shot 5-7 from 3 against Northwestern, and 2-4 against Ohio State. He doesn’t do to much other than score, but he still played very well. Following Wisconsin is Auburn, and then Illinois. I’ll start with Illinois, who were upset at home on Sunday to Maryland, 76-67. Illinois was dominated in the paint. They had 26 points in the paint and Maryland had 52. Illinois had a 7-man rotation, with the 2 bench players scoring just 8 points, but they did have 7 rebounds. They did, however, shoot a combined 2-11 from the field and 0-3 from deep. Illinois starters didn’t shoot well either, as they shot 19-53. Illinois shot 33% as a team, while Maryland shot 46%. Illinois barely beat Michigan State earlier in the week, 71-68. They take on Michigan and Rutgers this week. Auburn has had a fast rise to the top, beating Texas A&M and LSU last week. They beat A&M by 10 and destroyed LSU 93-78. Chad Baker-Mazara led the team in scoring against LSU with 19 points. He also had 3 assists and 2 rebounds. Auburn takes on Vanderbilt and Ole Miss this week, which depending on what Ole Miss team shows up, it could be a challenging week for the Tigers.
Then come Utah State, Creighton, Oklahoma, TCU, and BYU. Utah State has had an interesting season, as they’re 16-1, but they’ve only played 1 ranked team. That was Colorado State, who were ranked 13th at the time. Utah State won that game 77-72. However, USU also had close wins over teams like Santa Clara, Akron, and San Francisco. Utah State’s only loss came to Bradley in the second game of their season. Last week, Utah State beat Wyoming and UNLV. They play New Mexico and Fresno State this week. They play Colorado State again later this season, where they could very well be ranked again when these two teams meet. They also play SDSU twice this year. Right now, though, Utah State is in a good spot to win the Mountain West. After a rough patch this season, Creighton has rebounded, and they’ve now won 4 straight games. They upset Providence last week, which reentered them into the polls. They beat DePaul and Saint John’s this week. Against Saint John’s Creighton did not play their best game on offense, shooting 22% from 3, but late free throws from Trey Alexander gave them the win. They now take on the new number 1, UConn, on Wednesday, and Seton Hall on the 20th. Although they will probably lose to UConn, we’ve seen the number 1 team go down many of times before, especially this season, so you can never count Creighton out. Oklahoma only fell 6 spots in the AP Poll after 2 losses this week, while they fell 9 in my rankings. Those 2 losses were to TCU and Kansas. Although both teams are now ranked, you have to play good against great teams. This extends to earlier this season when they got blown out by UNC. They did beat UNC this season, along with Arkansas and Providence, who were both once ranked. They also beat Iowa State, who are now ranked. But what I’m really talking about is the top teams. Their loss to TCU looks even worse now, as they upset Houston on Saturday, but I’ll get to that later. Kansas and UNC are both in top 5, so if Oklahoma can’t even show up, that’s going to be a problem if they make it to the tournament. They did show up in the first half against Kansas, as it was just 1-point game at half. However, Kansas outscored Oklahoma 40-29 in the second. Because the Big 12 is stacked as well, OU is going to have a tough time. They play Texas twice, Kansas and Iowa State again, and play Houston, Baylor, BYU, and Texas Tech once this year. That’s going to be tough for Oklahoma. They take on West Virginia and Cincinnati this week. As for TCU, they had one of the best weeks for a college basketball program that we’ll ever see. They had upsets over 2 top 10 teams, and they were rewarded with entering the rankings at 19. The beat Oklahoma 80-71 and Houston 68-67. They got the major advantage of both of those games being at home. Emanuel Miller led the way in both games, with 27 points and 9 rebounds against Oklahoma and 13 points against Houston. TCU had a lead as big as 17 against Oklahoma, but it was only 7 against TCU. The Horned Frogs shot 53% from three, while Houston shot 22%. Although Houston had 12 more points in the paint than TCU, Houston had 10 more fouls than TCU, which led to some players sitting out longer than they should’ve. TCU’s only loss in conference play was to Kansas, but they played them extremely close, losing by just 2, 83-81. After playing 3 straight top 10 teams, TCU has outscored them 229-221. They take on Cincy and Iowa State this week. Although both teams are good, with Iowa State being ranked, TCU should take care of both teams. The Iowa State game is at home, where they haven’t lost this season. Following TCU is another Big 12 team, that being BYU. BYU got their first ever Big 12 win on the 13th, beating UCF 63-58. This did come after a loss to Baylor, 81-72. UCF had a tough time shooting, as they shot 29% from the field. BYU didn’t shoot insanely well, but they didn’t shoot badly. Against Baylor, BYU turned the ball over 15 times to Baylor’s 5. BYU takes on Iowa State and Texas Tech, 2 ranked teams, this week. It’s going to be tough for them, and I expect at least 1 one loss.
The teams to finish the top 25 are Ole Miss, FAU, Dayton, Iowa State, and Texas Tech. Ole Miss has only 1 loss this season, getting blown out by Tennessee, 90-64. They’ve rebounded from that loss with wins over Florida and Vanderbilt. The specifically blew out Florida, 103-85. Ole Miss had 7 different players come of the bench, all though 3 of them just played a minute. Outside of those players, Ole Miss had a combined 17 points, coming from just 2 different players. All of the starters played well except for Moussa Cisse, who got in foul trouble and played just 11 minutes. Jaemyn Brakefield led the way with 28 points, and he also had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Matthew Murrell had 23 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. Ole Miss also blew out Vandy, winning by 13. The Rebels take on LSU on Wednesday before a tough game with Auburn on Saturday. As for FAU, they also rebounded after a loss, as they lost to Charlotte on the sixth. They beat Tulane by 1 and then took care of business against UAB. Johnell Davis played amazingly well against UAB, scoring 30 points, and pulling down 8 rebounds, both leading the team. FAU plays Wichita State and UTSA this week. Dayton entered the rankings this week at 23, while they are 21 in the AP Poll. Dayton has beaten some good teams this year, beating Saint John’s and SMU. Their 2 losses this year both game in their first 5 games, as they fell to Northwestern and Houston. Dayton beat UMass and Duquesne last week, and play Saint Louis and Rhode Island this week. Against Duquesne, DaRon Holmes II scored 33 points to go along with 12 rebounds, leading the Flyers to the win. Seeing how Dayton is the only ranked team in the A-10 and also the only team getting votes from the conference, they’re probably going to win the conference and get an automatic bid to March Madness. Following Dayton is a pair of Big 12 teams, Iowa State and Texas Tech. I’ll start with Iowa State, who upset Houston and also beat Oklahoma State. Against Houston, Iowa State had less rebounds and shot worse from three, but they drew more fouls, which led to them shooting 22 free throws. They also had less turnovers. Iowa State’s largest lead has 12, while Houston never led. Hopefully Iowa State can channel the energy from this game into the rest of their season. As for Texas Tech, they beat Oklahoma State as well, and they also came back to beat Kansas State for their ninth straight win. They take on Houston next and BYU after. It’s going to be a tough week for Texas Tech. All four of Texas Tech’s next games are against ranked opponents, and 3 of them are on the road.