College basketball scores, winners and losers: Big 12 flexes muscle vs. SEC to
Chaos reigned supreme across the college basketball landscape as seven ranked teams fell to unranked teams in a shakeup Saturday of stupendous proportions.
No. 2 Alabama was the (unfortunate) poster child of such chaos as the Crimson Tide — No. 3 in scoring margin among power conference teams headed into the weekend — got flattened by Oklahoma by 24 points on the road in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
But Alabama wasn’t the only team to find itself on the losing side of a blowout in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge as No. 12 Iowa State also slipped up on the road, falling 78-61 to Missouri.
Here’s how the final SEC/Big Challenge played out:
SEC/Big 12 Challenge
Big 12 wins 7-3
| West Virginia 80, No. 15 Auburn 77 | Recap |
| Oklahoma 93, No. 2 Alabama 69 | Recap |
| Texas Tech 76, LSU 68 | Recap |
| Missouri 78, No. 12 Iowa State 61 | Recap |
| Mississippi State 81, No. 11 TCU 74 | Recap |
| No. 17 Baylor 67, Arkansas 64 | Recap |
| No. 4 Tennessee 82, No. 10 Texas 71 | Recap |
| No. 5 Kansas State 64, Florida 50 | Recap |
| No. 9 Kansas 77, Kentucky 68 | Takeaways |
| Oklahoma State 82, Ole Miss 60 | Recap |
Elsewhere, Big East-leading and 13th-ranked Xavier also got pounded by unranked Creighton.
Oh, [Billy Mays voice] but wait, there’s more!
Monmouth — which had the fewest wins of all Div. I teams entering Saturday — defeated North Carolina A&T by 15 points as a double-digit underdog. Meanwhile, No. 18 Charleston — which had the most wins of all Division I teams entering Saturday — lost in a stunner to Hofstra, ending what was the longest winning streak in college basketball at 20 games.
That’s but a sampling of the madness that arose in college basketball from a wild day. Here is a look at the others with some of the day’s biggest winners and losers.
Winner: Tennessee gets hot
No. 4 Tennessee’s defensive reputation is well-known — the Volunteers rank No. 1 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency at kenpom.com — but their offense has been a source of concern at times this season. In an 82-71 win over No. 10 Texas, offense carried the day. The Vols shot 55.6% from the floor led by a career-high 27 points from Olivier Nkamhoua and 22 from Zakai Ziegler. The win marked a bit of revenge for Tennessee, which dropped a 52-51 thriller at Texas last season as coach Rick Barnes returned to the school where he spent 17 seasons. The Longhorns have struggled to find consistency since Barnes’ tenure ended while the Volunteers appear destined to be a No. 5 seed or better in the NCAA Tournament for a fifth time in Barnes’ eight season with the program.
Winner: Kansas dominates offensive glass
No. 9 Kansas beat Kentucky at its own game in a 77-68 win inside Rupp Arena as the Jayhawks used an 11-0 advantage in second-chance points to snap a three-game losing streak. Kentucky entered the game ranked No. 5 nationally in offensive rebounds per game at 14 while Kansas ranked No. 145 in the same category at 10.7 per game. With the Jayhawks relying on an undersized center in KJ Adams Jr. and the Wildcats boasting one of the game’s top rebounder in Tshiebwe, it seemed UK would have an obvious…
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