With a surprisingly close win against Virginia Tech and a dominating performance against Syracuse, the Blue Devils jumped to No. 3 in this week's poll:
Duke handles both Virginia Tech and Syracuse, moves up one spot:
In what was supposed to be an easy game for the Blue Devils, the Hokies challenged them from the tip, eventually losing to the then-No. 4 team in the nation 91-86 in overtime Wednesday. Leading at halftime by two, Virginia Tech looked well on its way to stunning Duke. However, strong second-half play from Jahlil Okafor and Quinn Cook—who combined for 26 points in the period—forced overtime. It was more of the same for Duke in the extra session, with Okafor and Cook leading the way to victory. The highly touted center totaled 30 points and nine rebounds in one of his best outings of the year.
Saturday, Duke looked every bit like the No. 4 team in the country with a resounding 73-54 victory against Syracuse. Justise Winslow shouldered most of the scoring load for the Blue Devils with 23 points—including three triples—which was a season-high for the freshman. Okafor put up another solid performance with 13 points and 14 rebounds, recording his 28th straight double-digit scoring game—an ACC freshman record. The victory was Duke’s ninth consecutive win and allowed the Blue Devils to move up one spot to No. 3 this week.
Unranked BYU shocks Gonzaga, snaps longest home win streak in nation
The game that allowed Duke to move up in the rankings was the BYU-Gonzaga thriller late Saturday night. The Bulldogs' quest for a perfect conference record was stopped short by the Cougars Saturday in the McCarthey Athletic Center. Gonzaga lost 73-70 and only got eight points from star guard Kevin Pangos. Pangos' supporting cast did its best to take up the slack left for them on the scoring end, but it was unable to outduel a balanced scoring attack from the Cougars. Junior guard Kyle Collinsworth scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds, propelling BYU to its 13th conference victory and 23rd overall.
Gonzaga crushed San Diego 59-39 earlier in the week, but that wasn’t enough to keep the Bulldogs from falling to No. 7 in the rankings.
Then-No. 14 Maryland upsets then-No. 5 Wisconsin in Big Ten Battle
On Tuesday, Maryland strengthened its tournament resume by beating Big Ten leader Wisconsin 59-53 at the XFINITY Center in College Park, Md. Senior star Dez Wells fed off the energy provided in the raucous environment and scored 26 points for the Terrapins, and fellow guard Melo Trimble poured in 16. For the Badgers, Frank Kaminsky led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds, but with only two points coming from Wisconsin's bench, the No. 5 team couldn’t keep up and suffered its third loss of the season and second in the Big Ten.
After losing to Maryland earlier in the week, the Badgers defeated Michigan State 68-61 Sunday, but was unable to avoid sliding one spot in the rankings to No. 6.
Kentucky remains perfect on the season
The Wildcats continued to roll this week in what is turning out to be a historic season in Lexington. No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 18 Arkansas 84-67 Saturday at Rupp Arena In Lexington, Ky., in a rare game against a ranked opponent for the Wildcats. Andrew Harrison and Trey Lyles each scored 18 points, and Willie Cauley-Stein added seven points and nine rebounds. The balanced scoring attack and staunch defense from the Wildcats had them up 42-26 at half, and they would take care of business the rest of the way, never letting the lead fall to fewer than 13.
Kentucky remained the unanimous No. 1 squad and has only unranked Georgia and Florida left blocking its path to an undefeated regular season.
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