NCAA Week Ahead: UConn, Purdue Running 1-2

Not only are there no more undefeated teams in the country, Princeton is the only remaining one-loss squad. Detroit Mercy and Mississippi Valley State are the only winless teams. Minnesota (15-3) has the best mark against the NCAA basketball spread.

Nationally ranked Illinois got leading scorer Terrance Shannon back after a judge granted a temporary restraining order that allowed him to return to the court. Shannon had 16 points in his first game back.

The Purdue Boilermakers are still listed by the college basketball futures odds with the best odds of +850 of winning the national title. Arizona and Houston are the closest challengers at +1000.

UConn Takes Care of Business

After moving into the top spot in the Associated Press for the first time since 2009, UConn had a couple of challenging games as the top-ranked team in the nation.

First up was a home matchup with a Creighton team that had won six of the previous seven games against the Huskies. UConn used a suffocating defensive effort to hold Creighton to 48 points in a 14-point win.

Things got interesting when the Huskies hit the road to face Villanova. Tristen Newton hit a pair of free throws with four seconds to play to put the Huskies up by four points. Villanova’s Mark Armstrong hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make the final 66-65 as the Huskies remained in a tie with Seton Hall for first place in the Big East standings.

Several Ranked Teams Take a Tumble

While UConn took care of business, not all the top teams were as fortunate.

Things got interesting on Tuesday when No. 9 Baylor, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 16 Utah State, No. 19 Texas Christian and No. 24 Iowa State all lost.

No. 10 Memphis squandered a 20-point lead in a 74-73 loss at home against USF on Thursday.

Baylor lost again on Saturday and then No. 3 Kansas and No. 7 Duke both lost to unranked teams as many of the division races got a little more interesting.

The biggest underdog to win last week was IUPUI going to Purdue Fort Wayne as a 17-point underdog and coming home with the 85-79 win.

West Virginia was a 10-point underdog at home in its 91-85 win over Kansas. Georgia Tech (+11.5) won at Clemson early in the week.

Other double-digit underdogs to win outright include Louisiana-Monroe winning at Old Dominion, Pittsburgh stunning host Duke 80-76 as a 12-point underdog and Towson (+11) topping Charleston.

A Look at the Polls

UConn and Purdue stayed at No. 1 and No. 2 in the Associated Press poll. The Huskies received 44 first-place votes with Purdue picking up the other 17.

North Carolina, Houston, and Tennessee each move up a spot to round out the top five with Kansas falling from third to seventh. Duke and Baylor are among the other teams to take a tumble in the polls.

POLL ALERT: UConn and Purdue remain atop a jumbled AP Top 25 after Kansas loses; No. 25 New Mexico moves into rankings.

Full poll: https://t.co/ZJG5mgWZhI pic.twitter.com/BDPuytEpdJ

— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) January 22, 2024

Auburn went from 13th to eighth and Illinois jumped up four spots to No. 10.

Game of the Week

Kansas Jayhawks at Iowa State Cyclones

• Saturday, Jan. 27, 1:30 p.m. ET (CBS)

The last time the Jayhawks headed to Ames, Iowa, it was the host Cyclones coming away with the 68-53 win. Kansas won the previous three matchups at Iowa State.

The Jayhawks and Cyclones head into the week among the five teams at 3-2 in Big 12 play and a game behind Texas Tech and Kansas State in the Big 12 standings.

Each of the last six games between Kansas and Iowa State landed under the total.

Kansas is led by one of the most prolific 1-2 duos in men’s college basketball with Kevin McCullar putting up 20 points per game and Hunter Dickinson averaging 19.3 points and 11.3 rebounds.

Iowa State’s top scorer, Tamin Lipsey, missed the Cyclones’ last game due to a shoulder injury.

Player of the Week

Dalton Knecht, Tennessee

Knecht had a season-high 39 points in a win against Florida to post his second straight 30-point game. He followed that up by scoring 25 points versus Alabama.

In his last four games, he is averaging 32 points on 53% shooting. In the two games last week, Knecht was 17-for-17 from the foul line.

Team Of the Week

UConn Huskies

UConn has had its hands full with Creighton since returning to the Big East and that made the double-digit win over the Blue Jays all the more impressive.

The Huskies nearly became the latest No. 1-ranked team to suffer a road loss to an unranked team. UConn escaped with a one-point win over Villanova.

The Huskies were also able to work 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan back into the rotation.

Clingan was injured in a loss at Seton Hall and missed five straight games. Clingan played 39 minutes in the two games and had 12 points and 12 rebounds in the two wins.

Nationally Televised Top 10 Games

• Wake Forest at No. 3 North Carolina, Monday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
• Cincinnati at No. 7 Kansas, Monday, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN)
• No. 6 Kentucky at South Carolina, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET (SEC Network)
• No. 9 Arizona at Oregon State, Thursday, 11 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network)
• Kansas State at No. 4 Houston, Saturday, noon ET (ESPN)
• No. 7 Kansas at No. 24 Iowa State, Saturday, 1:30 p.m. (CBS)
• No. 3 North Carolina at Florida State, Saturday, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN)
• No. 9 Arizona at Oregon, Saturday, 5:30 p.m. ET (FOX)
• No. 5 Tennessee at Vanderbilt, Saturday, 6 p.m. ET (SEC Network)
• No 6 Kentucky at Arkansas, Saturday, 6 p.m. ET (ESPN)
• Xavier at No. 1 UConn, Sunday, noon ET (FS1)
• No. 2 Purdue at Rutgers, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)

Questions Of The Day