Ranked Teams Tumble Across College Basketball as Iowa State, Vanderbilt, Tennessee All Suffer Losses
Why So Upset?
It was another Saturday in the college basketball world, and that meant more upsets and good games in the Top 25. There were eight total upsets on the day, and while some weren’t huge upsets, they still count due to this thing we call rankings. Below are a few of the scores and quick info from situations I find intriguing.
Cincinnati 79, No. 2 Iowa State 70
Iowa State has now lost two straight after running off to a 16-0 record. One of the most deflating upsets of the day for Iowa State’s sake, due to Milan Momcilovic’s career-high 34-point effort with eight three pointers. However, it was not enough as Cincinnati forced 12 turnovers and turned them into 20 points.
Day Day Thomas led the Bearcats with 19 points on 8 of 18 shooting from the floor. Cincinnati finished with four players in double figures, and Baba Miller cleaned the glass with 12 rebounds. Miller averages just under 11 rebounds per game.
No. 19 Florida 98, No. 10 Vanderbilt 94
This game was up and down from the jump, with a lot of tempo. Vanderbilt jumped out early, but Florida went on a 17-2 run to a double-digit lead. The Commodores made the run to get back to a one-point lead at halftime. The game flipped back and forth all the way to the end, but Florida’s Xavian Lee hit a three pointer with 45 seconds left, and Florida kept the lead to pull off the win.
Vanderbilt has now dropped two straight, and things don’t get any easier as they will face No. 17 Arkansas on Tuesday in Fayetteville. Vanderbilt has to get back to the grind and find a way to win on the glass again. They have been outrebounded 82-50 in the last two games.
Kentucky 80, No. 24 Tennessee 78
Kentucky is on a mission to make sure they don’t go out in humiliating fashion. Saturday’s win over Tennessee made it the second consecutive game they have come back from a huge deficit. The Wildcats were down by 18 in the second half to Auburn on Wednesday and won. Tennessee had them down by 17 today in the second half.
Denzel Aberdeen had a dominant second half, scoring 18 of his 22 points to lead Kentucky back. He shot 7 of 11 from the field and 3 of 6 from three. Kentucky’s bench was very helpful with 36 points. Collin Chandler was big from beyond the arc with 12 points, all from three. Kentucky has now won three in a row and will host the Texas Longhorns Wednesday night.
Tennessee hasn’t won back-to-back games since conference play began. Alabama is up next Saturday. Maybe this bye week is coming at a much-needed time.
California 84, No. 14 North Carolina 78
The Tar Heels are not having a good time on the west coast and will be glad to get back home. They suffered their second consecutive loss, as they also dropped a game at Stanford earlier in the week. The Golden Bears just went to work, and they held a 20-point lead during the game until UNC made a run. They also never trailed in the game and were hot from beyond the arc with 14 of 26 from three.
John Camden scored a game-high 20 points, shooting 4 of 8 from three. Justin Pippen and Dai Dai Ames added 19 each.
We are seeing across men’s and women’s basketball alike, conference play is where the real deal is taking place. There are upsets just about every day, and some of the teams that were hot to start out are beginning to fall on some rough patches in the last week or two. January has been a blast so far, and I can only imagine how things will be through the end of the season.
Featured Image Credit: Cincinnati Athletics
