Inside College Basketball: Duke and Wisconsin Knock off Last Remaining Unbeaten Teams

There are no more undefeated teams in Division I men’s college basketball. They’re all gone.

Top-ranked Duke and unranked Wisconsin handed No. 4 Virginia and No. 2 Michigan their first losses of the season, respectively, in a pair of challenging road tests for the country’s last unbeaten teams.

Two other top-10 teams fell in the Big 12, while the SEC may have been home to the most entertaining game of the day.

Here are some of our reactions and takeaways from Saturday.

Michigan

And then there was one. Michigan’s loss at Wisconsin left Virginia as the only undefeated team in the country. The Wolverines had their worst offensive performance of the season as leading scorer Ignas Brazdeikis was held scoreless and second-leading scorer Charles Matthews had just five points.

Purdue

After an 88-80 loss to Notre Dame in the Crossroads Class on December 15, Purdue was 6-5 with a win over Maryland, which has aged nicely, but not much of a non-conference resume to speak of through mid-December. The Boilermakers have since won six of their last seven games with their only loss coming at Big Ten-leading Michigan State. That puts them at 12-6 (5-2 Big Ten) and in sole possession of fourth place in the conference after struggling through a challenging schedule in the first two months of the season.

Led by the ball-dominant Carsen Edwards, who’s taking 37.6 percent of Purdue’s shots when he’s on the floor this season, the Boilermakers have the nation’s sixth-most efficient offense that’s fueled by a low turnover rate, a high offensive rebound rate and the three-point shooting of Edwards and teammate Ryan Cline.

Indiana

After a 12-2 start to the season, including a 3-0 mark in Big Ten play, Indiana lost its fourth game in a row on Saturday at rival Purdue. The Hoosiers lost 70-55 – their second consecutive 15-point loss after being held to fewer than 60 points two games in a row after scoring more than 60 in each of their first 16 games.

Indiana is in the midst of its season-long pursuit of a consistent third scorer to join Romeo Langford and Juwan Morgan. Those players entered Saturday averaging 18.8 and 16.5 points per game, respectively.

Sophomore forward Justin Smith proved himself a worthy candidate with 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting against Purdue but Langford scored just four points on 2-of-10 shooting, marking the first time this season he has scored fewer than 13 points.

A team with aspirations of a top-four finish in the Big Ten, Indiana joins Nebraska and Ohio State as a four-loss team that has spent time ranked in the AP Top 25 but now finds itself in the bottom half of the conference standings.

The worst part for Indiana is that things might get worse before they get better. The Hoosiers are projected to lose three of their next four games – at Northwestern, versus Michigan and at Michigan State – according to kenpom.com. That would mean a 4-7 start in Big Ten play.

West Virginia

The Mountaineers are one of the leading candidates for the most disappointing team this season after debuting at No. 13 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll and the knee injury to leading scorer Sagaba Konate hasn’t helped.

But their season may have reached its peak on Saturday when they upset No. 7 Kansas in Morgantown.

West Virginia’s Jermaine Haley scored the game-winning layup after beating his man one-on-one. Lagerald Vick missed a game-winning three-pointer in the corner and Dedric Lawson’s put-back layup was also off the mark, giving the Jayhawks their second loss in Big 12 play.

West Virginia needed the win to climb back to .500 after losing five games in a row. At this point, the Mountaineers would have to win the Big 12 Tournament in order to reach the NCAA tournament for the fifth season in a row.

Alabama

The end of Tennessee versus Alabama wasn’t the paragon of late-game execution. Reigning SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams was called for an offensive foul with 11.3 seconds left in the game as the Volunteers held on to a 69-68 lead.

That gave Alabama the ball and guard John Petty, who scored 30 points off the bench, the chance to upset the third-ranked Volunteers. Petty ran off a screen from Dazon Ingram and he caught a pass from Kira Lewis on the left wing. Tennessee’s Admiral Schofield switched onto Petty after the screen and Petty was called for a travel as he pivoted, giving the ball back to the Volunteers.

Tennessee’ Lamonte Turner was fouled on Tennessee’s next possession, he made both free throws to extend the Vols’ lead to three and Lewis’ final heave was way off the mark.

Tennessee led by double digits for much of the first half but Alabama clawed back thanks to 10 threes, including five from Petty, and a strong showing on the offensive glass. The Crimson Tide’s costly turnover ended its hopes of a season-changing upset.

Alabama dropped to 11-6 (2-3 SEC) with the loss and the Crimson Tide is now projected to lose its next five games, according to kenpom.com.

Louisville

Louisville forward Jordan Nwora kept pace with Georgia Tech, as a team, for the first 25 minutes of the Cardinals’ win on Saturday. Nwora scored 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting as Louisville won 79-51.

He hit a jumper with 16:41 left in the game on an assist from Christen Cunningham, which gave Nwora 25 points, putting Louisville ahead 53-24. Georgia Tech’s Evan Cole answered with a dunk on the other end and through the 15:00 mark of the second half, the Yellow Jackets had 26 points to Nwora’s 25.

Kentucky

Even if the SEC standings tell a different story, Kentucky might be the second-best team in the conference behind Tennessee. The Wildcats had a gutsy, 82-80 road win at No. 14 Auburn on Saturday after leading by 17 points with 17 minutes remaining.

Auburn, fueled by 25 second-half points from guard Bryce Brown, mounted a furious comeback to take an 80-79 lead with 32 second remaining on a three by Jared Harper. Harper then fouled Kentucky’s Tyler Herro, who scored 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting and made two free throws to put the Wildcats up by one.

Harper’s running layup somehow rimmed out and Samir Doughty’s desperation heave at the buzzer was off the mark, leaving the Tigers just short of completing their comeback.

Led by 20 points apiece from freshmen Herro and Keldon Johnson, along with 17 points and seven rebounds from senior Reid Travis, the Wildcats were able to take Auburn’s best punch on the road, endure a questionable Flagrant 1 call against PJ Washington and execute down the stretch for a great win.

Kentucky’s trip to Auburn was the Wildcats’ second-toughest game left on their schedule, according to kenpom.com, and the fight they showed on the road showed this is a different Kentucky team than the one that lost at Alabama earlier in the month.

Duke

No Tre Jones, no problem. With its injured point guard sidelined with a shoulder injury, Duke protected its home court with a 72-70 win over previously undefeated Virginia, which was 47-3 in its last 50 games.

RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson combined for 57 of the Blue Devils’ points and they were able to win despite making just two three-pointers. Duke’s loss to Syracuse may force AP poll voters to drop the Blue Devils from the top spot in next week’s poll but their latest win, while shorthanded, proves that they’re every bit as good as any other team in the country that has a case for the No. 1 ranking on Monday.