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Wisconsin plays ‘villains,’ UNC and Iowa State fall and more college basketball thoughts

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Wisconsin plays ‘villains,’ UNC and Iowa State fall and more college basketball thoughts

With all the grumbling about the state of college basketball — and college sports as a whole, the product is still as good as ever. Tuesday’s action was another example of why, with four ranked teams losing on a chaotic night.

Let’s start in Lincoln, Neb., where Purdue held on for an overtime win.

Purdue’s rebounding buries Nebraska’s comeback

This was a much-needed big win for Purdue, the preseason No. 1 team nationally that had not defeated a ranked opponent in Big Ten play this season. The Boilermakers played in the first half at Pinnacle Bank Arena like a squad that can make a run to the Final Four.

Purdue bullied Nebraska from the first minutes — the Boilermakers led 14-1 — until the final seconds in overtime where they pulled out an 80-77 win. Oscar Cluff and Trey Kaufman-Renn combined for 33 rebounds, including 13 on the offensive glass. Cluff, the 6-foot-11 Australian, alone snagged 10 offensive boards, contributing to the Boilermakers’ 17 second-half points.

“We’ve played against bigger opponents,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said, “and we haven’t had anything close to this happen.”

Purdue out-rebounded Nebraska 54 to 37. The Boilers grabbed six offensive rebounds in overtime. And despite taking its first lead of the game in the final 90 seconds, Nebraska was climbing a steep hill in OT after it lost Rienk Mast.

The senior forward fouled out before Purdue finished with a 5-0 run.

For Nebraska, some of the shine is gone from a 20-0 start after three losses in four games. But each of the defeats came by single digits against top-15 opponents. Mast, who scored 18, has seemingly found his shooting stroke again after his illness last month followed a cold spell.

The Huskers remain in solid shape to win their first NCAA Tournament game (or games) next month. They showed resilience, aided by energy from a sellout crowd, in erasing a 22-point, second-half deficit.

Hoiberg’s team won’t play another team in the regular season with the stature and skill of Purdue. But look for Iowa, which has won six consecutive Big Ten games. The Hawkeyes and Huskers will match twice in the final three weeks of the regular season — up first next week in Iowa City. — Mitch Sherman

Wisconsin pops Champaign

In NCAA Tournament resume building, a high-end road win is more valuable than gold. After knocking off Illinois in overtime, 92-90, Wisconsin now has two of the very best road victories in the country. Earlier in league play, the Badgers won at Michigan, and they remain the only team to knock off the Wolverines all season.

To shock the Illinois faithful, the Badgers erased a 12-point second-half deficit and outlasted the eighth-ranked Illini through a grueling overtime period. Nick Boyd led the way with 25 points, while junior guard John Blackwell had 24, including a key triple in overtime

“We’re not quitters. We’ll be the villains,” Blackwell told the broadcast team after the game, grinning as he made the declaration. All his Badger teammates were gathered behind him during the interview, and Boyd whooped loudly at the idea of Wisconsin playing the villain role.

It was an impressive bounce-back performance for Wisconsin, which fell in crushing overtime fashion at Indiana on Saturday. Despite a rocky 9-5 start to the season, Greg Gard’s squad is now 17-7 and is close to punching its ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in the last eight years. The rigors of the Big Ten schedule present more challenges — like Michigan State coming to Madison on Friday night — but with two of the most valuable road victories in the country atop their resume, the Badgers have to be feeling good.

Illinois, meanwhile, takes a major hit to its Big Ten title hopes. The Illini are now two games back in the loss column from league leader Michigan, and though they get to host the Wolverines on Friday, Feb. 27, they will need help to even share the regular season crown.

Contextually, the loss is understandable. Veteran leader Kylan Boswell remains out due to a hand injury, and high-scoring wing Andrej Stojakovic was a surprise late scratch. That left Brad Underwood playing a limited rotation of just six players, particularly lacking in ball-handling and perimeter defense.

That put an even larger burden on freshman star Keaton Wagler, who answered the bell admirably. Coming off a disappointing effort at Michigan State over the weekend, Wagler racked up 34 points on 12-of-23 from the field and added seven assists to continue his push towards All-American honors. Once the Illini are fully healthy, they remain a legitimate Final Four and national title contender with Wagler at the helm. — Jim Root

UNC comes out flat as Miami gets statement win

Maybe first-year Miami head coach Jai Lucas knew something about this North Carolina matchup dating back to his time as an assistant with Duke. The Blue Devils went 5-2 against UNC while Lucas was on staff.

The Hurricanes (19-5, 8-3) secured their first-ranked victory of the season, beating the Tar Heels (19-5, 7-4) 75-66. They led throughout the entire game, much like Duke did Saturday against UNC. This time, there was no buzzer-beating ending. In fact, Seth Trimble, the hero from last game, was held without a field goal.

UNC looked out of sorts the whole game. They committed five live-ball turnovers in the first five minutes of the game. They shot 40 percent from the field and 30 percent from 3. The Canes beat them to loose balls and the offensive glass. It was just one of those lifeless games where everything the Tar Heels did was a step slow.

But give credit to Lucas and the Hurricanes who rolled out a great defensive game plan. They played a matchup zone to start the defensive possession, and after 10 to 15 seconds on the shot clock, they would shift into a man defense.

The initial zone stymied the Tar Heels’ ball movement, and when they entered the ball into the interior, the Hurricanes would pick up a man while still showing help on Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesar postups. Wilson was on a tear coming into the game, scoring 20-plus points in six of their previous seven games. He scored 12 points on 4 of 10 shooting. His post-up touches were out of rhythm and pushed out farther than usual.

Wilson exited the game in the second half and went back to the locker room with an injury. He was able to return but had a wrap on his left hand.

Four players for the Hurricanes scored in double figures. Malik Reneau scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Big man Ernest Udeh Jr. was active on the glass and finished multiple lobs. Tre Donaldson and Shelton Henderson didn’t have the most efficient games, but their relentless downhill pressure opened the offense up for everyone else.

Joe Rexrode slated Miami in the First Four in his latest Bracket Watch. The Canes have one of the easier ACC schedules and don’t have to face Duke. With a manageable slate ahead, Lucas could find his team in ACC title contention and definitely out of the First Four.

North Carolina has some great wins on their schedule, from Duke to its early-season Kansas win. However, they’re piling up a few suspect losses. After the Miami defeat, they’ve now fallen to Stanford, Cal and SMU. The Miami game might be a classic letdown game after an emotional rivalry win, but the Tar Heels still have Duke, Clemson and Louisville to close conference play. — Matthew Ho

BYU: The best second-half team in college basketball?

It has been a rough stretch for BYU. The Cougars faced the teeth of the Big 12 schedule, and the gauntlet chewed them up and spit them out. Entering Tuesday night, BYU had lost five of six games, with four of those losses coming against conference powerhouses Texas Tech, Arizona, Kansas and Houston.

One of the Cougars’ biggest problems has been their slow starts. They have gotten down big over and over this season — to UConn and Clemson in non-conference, to Arizona and Kansas recently. In each of those games, though, they clawed all the way back, displaying tremendous resolve after the halftime break.

As a result, BYU has jarringly extreme differences in its effectiveness between the first and second halves. The numbers below come from Hoop-Explorer.com, and they show the difference between BYU in the first half (on top) and in the second half (on the bottom) against top 100 opponents:

Data courtesy of hoop-explorer.com

In the first half, when adjusted for competition, BYU plays like the 63rd-best team in the country and struggles offensively. That completely changes in the second stanza, as the Cougars evolve into the country’s best team thanks to a supernova inferno offense that is all but unguardable.

That happened again on Tuesday, with the Cougars trailing Baylor by as many as 12 points in the first half. They eventually tied it up at halftime, 41-41, and once again, they hit the jets in the second half. The Cougars racked up 59 points (1.568 points per possession) and ultimately won, 99-94. Star freshman AJ Dybantsa poured in 36 points, while former Baylor guard Rob Wright added 30 for the Cougars in his return to Waco. A gargantuan effort from Bears’ freshman Tounde Yessoufou — 37 points, six rebounds — fell by the wayside.

That road win lets BYU come up for air, and a home date with Colorado on Saturday should further aid their recovery attempts. BYU must find a way to play the full 40 minutes, or the subsequent schedule — traveling to Arizona, hosting Iowa State — will put BYU right back into a rut. — Root

Iowa State’s late meltdown

This was an ugly one for both sides to finish off Tuesday’s slate. No. 5 Iowa State went 42 percent from the field, 22 percent from 3 and 25 percent from the free throw line (on eight attempts). TCU was not much better, shooting 40 percent from the field, 28 percent from distance and 65 percent from the line, but they also got to the line 23 times. The teams combined for 32 turnovers.

The Cyclones led most of the game and had a 55-50 advantage with under three minutes remaining, but then they inexplicably went scoreless the rest of the game to lose 62-55. The Horned Frogs scored the final 12 points of the game. Turnovers and missed free throws hurt the Cyclones down the stretch, while TCU’s Jayden Pierre assisted on a dunk and then flipped up a push shot. Then, with the shot clock winding down, he drained a dagger 3 over the top of Joshua Jefferson on a switch.

The win was TCU’s first top 5 win since beating No. 2 Houston on Jan. 13, 2024.

The Horned Frogs are 4-6 in Quad 1 games, including two top-10 wins in Florida on a neutral court and against Iowa State. They also have another Quad 1 win against Wisconsin, which looks better now, especially after the Badgers’ win over Illinois. They only have one more ranked game in their last seven and have sneakily put together a compelling tournament resume.

Iowa State still has only three losses this season. The Cyclones will see a drop in the next AP top 25. However, this win was an important one to pick up as they have a brutal schedule to end the regular season. Their next game is against Kansas on Saturday (who they previously lost to by 21 points), followed by Houston and BYU. After playing Utah, ISU has back-to-back games against Texas Tech and Arizona.

The Cyclones played well below of what they’re capable of. They shot abnormally badly on pretty good looks. They’re one of the best shooting teams in all of Division I at 40.7 percent (fourth in the country), so shooting 23 percent is definitely an outlier. The free throw discrepancy combined with the turnovers is a losing formula against any team you face, especially the opponents they have coming up. — Ho

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