The busiest day of college basketball season yet became the best of the season with buzzer beaters, late game drama, goal blasts and everything in between filling up an entire day at the Saturday blackboard.
So who were the winners and losers of the day? Well, it turns out that it . . . many of both categories. Five matches were ranked vs. ranked matches and a total of 19 ranked teams were involved. This led to some very good moments for many (Kansas and Gonzaga!), some bad moments for others (Indiana!), and some painful moments for a select few. (Looking at you, UCF!)
We’re still a few weeks away from kicking conference gaming into high gear across the country, but in places like Madison Square Garden in New York, John Paul Jones Arena in Virginia, and Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, where marquee matchups have been held , much was at stake . The NCAA tournament field isn’t set for another couple of months, but Saturday’s action will no doubt reverberate through the bracket next Sunday.
Let’s understand a little of the burdened Saturday with a look at some of the winners and losers from the biggest slate of the 2022-23 college basketball season yet.
Winner: Arizona’s offense keeps humming
The most interesting duel of the day took place between No. 6 Tennessee and No. 9 Arizona at the McKale Center, pitting the No. 1 on defense (Tennessee) against the No. 1 on offense (Arizona). It was the Wildcats who defeated the Volunteers 75-70, though Arizona had one of its worst shooting games of the season, finishing 5 of 24 from a 3-point range, third worst by team percentage. However, Arizona reached the free-throw line 27 times — including 15 trips to the charity strip in the second half — and converted on 24 of those attempts.
Arizona has been prone at times this season to relying too heavily on 3-point shooting and paying the price of living and dying, with its only loss coming to Utah after it hit a season-low 14.3% of had reached beyond the arch. But the balance this team is built with has been, on the whole, a brutal threat to opponents. In the frontcourt against the Volunteers, Oumar Ballo and Azuola Tubelis scored 37 points and 17 boards together. In backcourt, Courtney Ramey, Kerr Krissa and Pelle Larson combined for 38 points and 10 assists, their ability to play both inside and outside methodically dissecting the Vols’ dynamic defense.
Winner: Kansas (and its social media team!)
No. 8 Kansas took a sledgehammer to the Vegas line, effectively erasing pregame expectations by easily narrowing the 5.5-point spread in which it was favored in an 84-62 win over No 14 Indiana covered. That was the goods. Freshman Gradey Dick was nails with 20 points and five other KU players finished in double digits.
Then there was the Real Goods postgame, which came from KU’s social team. After the win, it fired off a tweet that mocked an Indiana tweet and added Kansas into the mix. Wild yet beautiful.
Loser: Indiana’s slide continues
After a 7-0 start to the season opener that ended with a win over then-No. 18 North Carolina, the Hoosiers have had a humbling month on the calendar, with the loss to Kansas marking their third loss in their last four games . All three of those losses were by 14 points or more, with Saturday’s 22-point lead being the widest of the season.
“It hurts because I thought the practice was really competitive this week,” said IU coach Mike Woodson. “We just weren’t in the game. Somehow I have to make this team understand that when you play against top teams you have to give yourself a chance.”
Indiana played early with careless errors and turnovers and committed 23 away. Guard play has been a bit shaky lately with Jalen Hood-Schifino coming in and out of the lineup injured, giving IU some room to improve. (He played 30 minutes but had a team high of five turnovers.)
“Twenty-three turnovers against a really good team, that’s 23 times that you don’t get a chance to hit the ball. And they came in heaps,” Woodson said. “That’s something we need to clean up because we’re not a big sales team.”
Winner: Zags announce they’re back
Earlier this season, Gonzaga was coming up as a contender with some nice wins — over Kentucky, over Xavier — and some tough losses (to Texas and Purdue by some, and to Baylor by a little). But Saturday felt like a grand reawakening for the Zags. In a (half) street environment, Gonzaga beat No. 4 Alabama — a team that has beaten the AP ranked No. 1 twice this season, most recently Houston last weekend — by a final margin of 100-90. It was the first time Gonzaga had scored 100 points against a top-five team and the first time since Duke in a 118-84 win in 2018 that a team had scored 100 points or more typically away, per Matthew Eisenberg.
Winner: Bama’s Brandon Miller shows his glory (again).
Just a week away from his lowest-scoring game of the season last weekend — an eight-point game in which he went 0-for-8 off the field against No. 1 Houston — Miller featured his most complete game of the season on Saturday Season. It was a loss, but it can’t overshadow the impact he’s had in keeping Bama alive against Gonzaga. He was active on defense, getting to his spots assertively on offense and electrically putting the basketball in the basket, which ended with 36 points — the most in a game by a Power Conference player this season.
Loser: DePaul is put into overdrive
Three days after the 11-game loss at Duquesne, things got worse for DePaul as the Blue Demons lost 83-45 in the Northwest. The Wildcats outplayed DePaul 44-19 in the second half and forced 22 turnovers as the Blue Demons fell to 6-6. Though he acknowledged injuries played a role in the team’s poor play, athletic director DeWayne Peevy released a surprisingly scathing assessment of the program’s performance after the 38-point loss.
“I’m very disappointed with our performance in the last two games,” Peevy wrote in the first of a series of tweets. “Blue Demon Nation deserves better. I know today wasn’t what we hoped for and I understand if you are frustrated and upset. I also want to thank you for your continued support and passion for our team.”
Peevy’s outspoken assessment of the program does not bode well for Blue Devils coach Tony Stubblefield, who is 21-22 in his sophomore season with DePaul.
Winner: Houston is recovering
Just a week after they gambled away a 15-point lead at home to Alabama in the second half that cost them the program’s first No. 1 since the 1982-83 season, No. 5 Houston snagged an excellent redemption opportunity by he beat No. 2 Virginia 69-61 on the road. Five players reached double digits for the Cougars, led by five-star freshman Jarace Walker with 17. Walker scored 13 goals in the second half and finished the game with seven rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal. The Cougars helped on 17 of 25 baskets thrown and handled Virginia’s notoriously solid second-half defense without too much trouble and were particularly solid on the stretch in a hostile environment.
Loser: UCF loses in heartbreaking fashion
Missouri led by 14 points in the second half but needed a miracle on the buzzer to beat UCF 68-66. Deandre Gholston over time turned a 3-pointer from about 10 feet behind the arc, but only after D’moi Hodge slipped and fell with the basketball, essentially rolling it to Gholston. It was an absolutely heartbreaking finish for the Golden Knights after a 3-pointer from Jayhlon Young ended the goal with seven seconds remaining. If Young’s jumper had fallen, UCF would have been given a four-point lead. Instead, the door stayed open and Missouri took advantage of the miraculous closing sequence.
Winner: North Carolina gets late exploits
North Carolina starters Caleb Love, RJ Davis and Armando Bacot each surpassed 20 points against No. 23 Ohio State while Leaky Black took on challenging defensive duties. Fifth starter, Pete Nance, was relatively quiet except when his team needed him most. Nance hit a turnaround jumper off a side inbounds pass from Black when time was up usually. Nance’s miraculous success sent the first game of the CBS Sports Classic into overtime, which the Tar Heels won 89-84.
Ohio State led most of the game and even had a 14-point lead at one point late in the first half. But after Nance’s shot on target, UNC dominated overtime by holding Ohio State on just 2 of 7 shots in overtime.
Loser: Kentucky flounders
Kentucky’s non-conference summary to this point is highlighted by a win over Michigan and losses to Michigan State, Gonzaga and now UCLA. The No. 16 Bruins smothered Britain’s offense with a 63-53 win in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday that dropped the No. 13 Wildcats to 7-3. Aside from defeating the Wolverines in London on December 4, there is nothing significant on the Wildcats’ resume. Given the struggles in Michigan, even that win is only mildly impressive.
Were it not for an offensive second-half blast from freshman Chris Livingston, the Wildcats might have been blown out by the Bruins. From the looks of it, they went 4:31 scoreless in the final as star center Oscar Tshiebwe made just 4 of 12 shots from the floor and went 0-4 from the free-throw line.
Winner: Purdue stay tuned
Purdue led Davidson by just a point with 11:30 left and never led by double digits in the second half, but the No. 1 Boilermakers held on to a 69-61 win over the Wildcats. Zach Edey led with 29 points and 16 rebounds for Purdue, who will have a strong chance of staying at No. 1 after just a week last season after winning it for the first time in program history had claimed.
But if UConn has anything to say about it, the Boilermakers could relinquish the top spot even after winning both games this week if enough of the AP Top 25 voters who voted for Virginia last week cast their votes for first place change the huskies instead of the boilermakers.
Winner: UConn dominates again
No. 3 UConn improved to 12-0 with another dominant win as the Huskies opened the Big East game with a 68-46 win over Butler on the road. All of UConn’s 12 wins this season have been in double digits, including victories over power conference opponents Oregon, Alabama, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Florida and now Butler.
With No. 2 Virginia losing, the No. 1 Boilermakers narrowly surviving against Davidson and UConn dominating again, it stands to reason that the Huskies could challenge Purdue for No. 1 when the new AP Top 25 is released on Monday. Adama Sanogo led Saturday with 27 points and 14 rebounds for the Huskies.