Bearcats, Badgers, and Cavaliers Upset in College Hoops

There were four games involving ranked teams in college basketball on February 12th, and three games ended in upsets. The exception was #10 UCLA; the Bruins beat Oregon State 78-60. If the hapless Beavers (0-13 in the Pac-12, 4-22 overall) had won it would have been big news.

In a game involving two ranked teams, #11 Cincinnati took its 15 game winning streak to Dallas and faced #25 SMU. The Bearcats edged the Mustangs 66-64 in Cincinnati back on January 12th; SMU had not lost since then. This one was tied at 28 at half time, then Cincinnati pulled into a 40-31 lead less than four minutes into the second half. But the Bearcats went cold after that, scoring just 10 more points in the game while the Mustangs surged past them for a 60-51 victory.

Northwestern is vying for its first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which sounds incredible. The Wildcats went to Madison to take on the #7 Wisconsin Badgers, who have been having a hard time scoring lately but have been playing well enough defensively to get by. Northwestern took a page out of that book and held the Badgers to shooting just 38% from the field while getting 25 points from guard Bryant McIntosh as Northwestern ended Wisconsin’s eight game winning streak, beating the Badgers 66-59. Northwestern improved to 19-6 overall and 8-4 in the Big Ten, and that first ever berth in the Big Dance is looking more and more likely.

In the most exciting game of the day, #12 Virginia played in state rival Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. This one went into two overtimes before Seth Allen hit a jumper with 3.2 seconds left to score the winning points as Virginia Tech upset the Cavaliers 80-78.

It’s a tight race in the ACC; Virginia, Duke, and Louisville all trail front running North Carolina by one game, while Florida State is a half game back. Notre dame and Syracuse are a game and a half back, while Virginia Tech, Miami, and GeorgiaTech are three behind.