Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer January 9, 2024, 11:59 p.m. ET
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- Graduated from the University of Delaware.
With the college football season ending on Monday, college basketball took center stage on Tuesday – and its top two teams suffered immediate upsets at the hands of unranked opponents.
No. 1 Purdue lost at Nebraska 88-72, while No. 2 Houston lost its first game of the season at Iowa State 57-53.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, it was the first time since February 6, 2016 that the top two teams in the AP men's college basketball poll lost to unranked opponents on the same day, and it was only the eighth time in the History of the survey.
The Boilermakers entered Tuesday on a seven-game winning streak, including victories over Arizona, Illinois and Alabama. But Nebraska matched shot for shot in the first half, ending the opening period with a 13-0 run and leading by 11 at halftime.
Purdue cut Nebraska's lead to one within the first six minutes of the second half, but the Cornhuskers immediately responded with a 14-2 run to take their largest lead of the game with 11:53 left. Purdue didn't get closer than six points the rest of the game, and Nebraska ended the game on an 11-2 run.
“That was the difference in the game,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Nebraska’s halftime lead. “We had a few good battles there in the second half until we were within single digits, and once we got it to two, then they pushed it back to double digits.”
The Cornhuskers shot 14 of 23 from 3-point range as a team, with seven players taking a shot from behind the arc. Keisei Tominaga led the way with 19 points, while Rienk Mast had 18.
It was Nebraska's first win over an AP No. 1 team since February 6, 1982 and the fourth such win in program history. The first took place on March 3, 1958 under coach Jerry Bush, grandfather of current coach Fred Hoiberg.
“It doesn’t get much bigger than this, the No. 1 team, the reigning national player of the year,” Mast said. “I just see it as a challenge and luckily the shots went in right from the start and gave the team a little spark so everyone started to believe.”
Tuesday marked the fourth time in the last two seasons that a No. 1-ranked Purdue team lost to an unranked opponent. Last season, the Boilermakers fell to Rutgers and Northwestern. They lost again at Northwestern earlier this season.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Purdue is only the second team in AP Poll history to lose multiple games as a No. 1 seed against unranked opponents in consecutive seasons, the other being North Carolina in 1985-86 and 1986-87 .
Earlier in the night, Houston became the last team in men's college basketball to lose a game this season, falling to Iowa State in the Cougars' first road conference game as a member of the Big 12.
Kelvin Sampson's team was quickly introduced to “Hilton Magic” as the Cyclones jumped out to a 14-0 lead and forced 12 turnovers in the first half.
“I don’t know if it was so much Iowa State. It was us,” Sampson said. “We were just, I don’t know what. I wish I had.”
Iowa State led the entire first half, but a 7-0 Houston run with 10:48 left forced a 41-41 tie. Neither team led by more than five points the rest of the way, with Houston taking its only lead of the game on a Jamal Shead jumper with 3:17 left.
With the game tied 53-3 in the final minute, Iowa State University freshman Milan Momcilovic caught the ball down the left baseline, turned and hit a contested fadeaway over two Houston defenders to give the Cyclones a lead of two points. Momcilovic would end the game with two free throws with ten seconds left.
“It was important that we came out and set the tone for the game,” Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger said after the game. “We talked about how we have to strike first, we have to be the attacker, we have to be the team that sets the tone. And I think we set the tone straight away. “Certainly there were points in the game where it was like, 'It almost felt like we were hanging on, but I think our guys were able to dig deep.' I think it set the tone and was the aggressor, and then it was just a group of guys that are really connected and have determination.”
The losses at Purdue (14-2) and Houston (14-1) open the door for No. 3 Kansas (13-1) to return to No. 1, where the Jayhawks opened the season. Bill Self's team, which received two first-place votes in this week's AP Top 25 poll, plays at UCF on Wednesday night before hosting No. 9 Oklahoma on Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.