Five top 25 NCAA men’s basketball teams fall to lower-ranked or unranked opponents

December 19, 2022
This weekend was one for upsets, with five Top 25 men’s teams falling to lower-ranked or unranked opponents on Saturday, and one on Sunday.
CollegeBasketball
 Five top 25 NCAA men’s basketball teams fall to lower-ranked or unranked opponents
SOURCE: TWITTER/UNC_BASKETBALL

The GIST: With the holidays just around the corner, the NCAA’s hoopers began decking their halls with ranked upsets and scores that simply sleigh. Here’s who made the elves of today’s poll drops check their list twice.

The men: This weekend was one for upsets, with five Top 25 men’s teams falling to lower-ranked or unranked opponents on Saturday, and one on Sunday. Due in part to No. 4 Alabama’s 21 turnovers and inability to sink threes, No. 15 Gonzaga and the mustached maestro Drew Timme rolled over Bama’s ranked-foe riptide 100–90.

  • But the most shocking stocking stuffer? The unranked UNC Tar Heels, who, after forward Pete Nance’s buzzer-beating fadeaway jumper to end regulation, stomped on No. 23 Ohio State to take the 89–84 overtime dub.

The women: The gals’ weekend went a bit more as expected, with No. 21 Arkansas snagging one of only two upset victories by beating No. 16 Creighton 83–75 on Saturday. With that W, the Razorbacks maintained their perfect 13-0 record and will likely see a jump in today’s poll.

  • The team who lost their undefeated status? No. 6 Virginia Tech. After a slow start with nine measly first-quarter points scored by the Irish, No. 5 Notre Dame got their sh!t together in the latter half of the game to overtake the Hokies 63–52 yesterday.
  • Yesterday also brought blowouts, with No. 1 South Carolina, No. 4 Indiana and No. 16 Oregon taking down their (admittedly inferior) adversaries by at least 63 points each. Sheesh.

What to watch: Unwrap some holiday hoops’ gifts tomorrow. Catch the No. 21 Arkansas gals try to extend their perfect season against the formidable one-loss No. 16 Oregon Ducks at 4 p.m. ET on FloHoops, then see if the fellas of No. 2 Virginia can bounce back from their first defeat when they face No. 25 Miami at 8:30 p.m. ET on ACCN.