Perfect Seasons Slip Away in a Flash

The day started with four and ended with one, proving again how difficult it is to go undefeated in a college basketball season.

One by one Saturday they fell. First it was No. 4 Virginia in an 81-74 loss to North Carolina State. No. 5 Oklahoma State followed with a 70-61 loss to Texas and No. 21 Miami obliged in a 76-75 loss to Connecticut.

That leaves No. 1 Duke (12-0) as the nation’s lone Division I unbeaten team and the only chance this season to duplicate the 1975-76 Indiana team, which finished 32-0 and was the last team to complete a perfect season.

There have been plenty of contenders since then. The closest have been the 1978-79 Larry Bird-led Indiana State (33-1) team, which lost to Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the championship, and the 1991 Nevada Las Vegas (34-1) team, which lost to Duke in the championship.

UNLV also made a run in 1986-87, finishing 37-2 and losing its first game Jan. 17, 1987, at Oklahoma, 89-88.

The 1990s brought several challenges from two-loss teams, including Massachusetts, which was 26-0 before losing Feb. 24, 1996, to George Washington and finishing the season 35-2.

The 1996-97 Kansas team was 22-0 before a 96-94 loss at Missouri on Feb. 4, 1997. The Jayhawks (34-2) ended on a disappointing note with a Sweet 16 loss to Arizona.

The 1991-92 Duke team (34-2) and the 1998-99 Connecticut team (34-2) took undefeated seasons into February, but both ended up with championships.

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Unlikely hero: It had been nearly seven years since Mississippi State defeated a top-10 opponent at home, but with time winding down and trailing by three against No. 6 Kentucky it didn’t appear the Bulldogs put the ball in the right player’s hands.

Mario Austin, a 6-foot-9 sophomore center who hadn’t made either of the two three-point attempts he had tried in his career, stood as Mississippi State’s hope with seven seconds left in regulation.

With little alternative, Austin launched and made a three-pointer from the top of the key to tie it and then made five free throws in overtime to seal the Bulldogs’ 74-69 victory at Starkville.

Even Austin admitted he was the last player his team wanted shooting its game-tying shot.

“It was luck,” he said. “I didn’t have much time to think about it.”

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Vertical limit: Georgia football player Fred Gibson, who joined the basketball team Wednesday after the Bulldogs’ loss in the Music City Bowl, entered the 82-69 victory against Vanderbilt with 2:39 left to the chant of “We want Fred” from the fans. He made three free throws and had five points.

Gibson doesn’t have his basketball legs yet, though. On a breakaway after his steal in the final minute, he was forced to lay it in after not jumping high enough for the dunk.

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Merely mortal: Dajuan Wagner isn’t the typical freshman and he proved that by leading Memphis in scoring in 12 of its first 14 games, including 32 against Old Dominion.

But like most young superstars, Wagner finally showed he’s mortal by enduring his first single-digit scoring game of his career, getting nine points in Memphis’ 75-53 victory against Southern Mississippi.

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Performance of the day: Henry Domercant scored 38 points, 19 in each half, as Eastern Illinois rallied from an 18-point deficit in the final 9:19 to beat Southeast Missouri, 84-74.

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Performance of the weak: La Salle’s Rasual Butler, the nation’s second leading scorer at 24.7 points a game, had only four in a 77-57 loss at Richmond.

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Home Cooking

No. 11 Boston College had the nation’s fifth-longest current home-court win streak end at 25 games Saturday in a 77-74 loss to Pittsburgh. The Eagles’ previous home loss also came against Pittsburgh, on Feb. 23, 2000. The longest current Division I home win streaks:

School: Streak

Michigan State: 53

Detroit: 35

Utah State: 31

Brigham Young: 28

Illinois: 25

Georgia State: 24

Fresno State*: 23

Gonzaga: 19

* Not including Saturday night’s game