No. 1 Duke Avoids an Upset Trend

Top-ranked Duke and No. 2 Stanford met tough road challenges and No. 3 Saint Joseph’s continued to roll, but it was a tumultuous Saturday for many top 25 teams.

Eight Top 25 teams suffering defeats to unranked teams, three of them at home.

No. 4 Louisville lost at home to Marquette; No. 5 Kentucky lost at Vanderbilt; No. 8 Cincinnati lost at home to Charlotte, No. 12 North Carolina was beaten at Clemson; No. 15 Kansas fell at Iowa State; No. 21 Purdue lost to Ohio State at home; No. 22 Florida lost at Tennessee; and No. 24 South Carolina was defeated at Mississippi.

No. 1 Duke 82, No. 14 Georgia Tech 74 -- The Blue Devils (18-1, 7-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) extended their winning streak to 15 games by holding off the Yellow Jackets (16-4, 4-3) at Atlanta.

Duke took the lead for good on Luol Deng’s free throw with 3:13 left, and J.J. Redick followed with a three-point basket that increased the lead to 72-68.

B.J. Elder made two free throws with 2:52 left to get Georgia Tech within a basket, but the Yellow Jackets missed their next five shots.

Marquette 77, No. 4 Louisville 70 -- Steve Novak made eight three-point baskets and scored a career-high 30 points, and the Golden Eagles (13-5, 4-3 Conference USA) ended the Cardinals’ 16-game winning streak.

Travis Diener had 17 points and seven assists, and the Golden Eagles (13-5, 4-3 Conference USA) ended No. 4 Louisville’s 16-game winning streak.

Vanderbilt 66, No. 5 Kentucky 60 -- Dan Cage made a three-point basket with 2:18 left that gave the Commodores (14-4, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) the lead for good at Nashville.

The Wildcats (14-3, 4-2) ended their 10-game road winning streak in the SEC. The last time they lost away from Rupp Arena in the SEC was Feb. 27, 2002, in Memorial Gym to Vanderbilt.

No. 6 Connecticut 63, Boston College 58 -- The Huskies (17-3, 5-1 Big East), who had dropped from first in the nation by losing two of their previous four games, took a 60-53 lead on a basket by Josh Boone with 23 seconds left at Boston. Rashad Anderson clinched the victory with two free throws with 4.1 seconds left. Craig Smith’s three-point attempt for the Eagles (13-7, 2-5) bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

Charlotte 86, No. 8 Cincinnati 83 -- Curtis Withers made two free throws with 45 seconds left to clinch the win for the 49ers (13-5, 5-2 Conference USA), their first in 10 tries in Cincinnati.

Nick Williams of the Bearcats (15-2, 6-2) tried to tie the game as the final buzzer sounded, but his three-point shot hit off the back of the rim.

No. 11 Mississippi State 73, Auburn 68 -- Shane Power made four free throws in the final 19 seconds at Auburn, Ala., to give the Bulldogs (18-1, 7-1 SEC) their best league start since the 1962-63 team went 8-1. The Tigers’ Nathan Watson followed his own miss to make it 69-68 with 21 seconds left, and Marco Killingsworth promptly fouled Power after the inbound pass. Power made both free throws and added two more with three seconds left.

Clemson 81, No. 12 North Carolina 72 -- The win at Clemson, S.C., was the biggest for the Tigers (9-10, 2-6 ACC) since defeating then-No. 1 North Carolina, 75-65, in February 2001.

The Tar Heels (13-5, 3-4) have yet to win a conference road game this season. Rashad McCants led them with 26 points.

No. 18 Oklahoma State 70, No. 13 Texas Tech 66 -- Star guard Tony Allen scored 20 points, including 12 of 14 free throws, and played tough defense on Red Raider star Andre Emmett to lead the Cowboys (15-2, 5-2 Big 12) at Stillwater, Okla.

The Cowboys (15-2, 5-1 Big 12) are on a five-game winning streak, putting them into a three-way tie for first place in the conference with Kansas and Texas.

Allen’s smothering second-half defense on Emmett, the league’s leading scorer at 21.5 points a game, that clinched the victory. Emmett finished with 15 points, but didn’t score a basket in the final 16 minutes.

Iowa State 68, No. 15 Kansas 61 -- The Cyclones (13-4, 4-2 Big 12) trailed by 11 points in the first half and by nine early in the second half at Ames, Iowa, before storming back to end a five-game losing streak to the Jayhawks (13-4, 5-1).

No. 16 Texas 69, Texas A&M; 59 -- The Longhorns (14-3, 5-1 Big 12) didn’t allow a basket in the final 12:41 and beat the Aggies (7-10, 0-6) on the road for the 10th consecutive time.

Texas shot only 28.2% in the first half, but was able to overcome its poor offense with the second-half defensive performance.

The Longhorns have won 29 of their last 32 games against the Aggies, who have lost six in a row.

No. 19 Wake Forest 91, Virginia 78 -- Justin Gray scored 26 points in a nearly flawless shooting performance at Winston-Salem, N.C., to lead the Demon Deacons (13-4, 4-3 ACC) past the Cavaliers (12-6, 2-5).

Gray made his first four shots of the game, including three three-point baskets, to spark the Demon Deacons to an early lead.

In all, he made seven of 10 shots, including five of eight three-pointers, and seven of eight free throws.

Virginia missed all 12 of its three-point attempts, had 19 turnovers and was 16-of-27 from the free-throw line.

No. 20 Syracuse 76, Virginia Tech 64 -- Gerry McNamara scored 26 points and Hakim Warrick had 15 points and seven assists to lead the Orangemen (14-3, 4-2 Big East) at Syracuse.

It was a nice rebound for the Orangemen (14-3, 4-2 Big East), who had lost two straight, including an embarrassing 66-45 setback at home last week to No. 7 Pittsburgh. The Hokies (8-10, 1-6) lost their fifth straight.

Ohio State 65, No. 21 Purdue 59 -- Terence Dials dunked over Ivan Kartelo and converted the three-point play in the final minutes, leading the Buckeyes (10-10, 2-5 Big Ten) over the Boilermakers (14-6, 4-3) at West Lafayette, Ind.

Tennessee 65, No. 22 Florida 63 -- The Volunteers (11-6, 3-4 SEC) blew an eight-point lead early in the second half but never let the Gators (13-5, 4-3) get too far ahead at Knoxville, Tenn.

Tennessee took the lead for good with 1:33 left on Justin Albrecht’s two free throws.

Mississippi 79, No. 24 South Carolina 68 -- The Gamecocks entered the game at Oxford, Miss., with one of the top defenses in the Southeastern Conference. That did not stop Justin Reed, who scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Rebels (11-7, 3-4 SEC) to their seventh consecutive home victory over South Carolina (18-3, 5-2).