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SATURDAY’S SNACKS: Butler, Louisville, North Carolina earn wins over top-15 teams

Florida State v North Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, NC - JANUARY 14: Theo Pinson #1 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts during the game against the Florida State Seminoles at the Dean Smith Center on January 14, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 96-83. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

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SATURDAY’S THINGS TO KNOW

The struggles continued for No. 7 Duke as they had another game to forget in a road loss at No. 14 Louisville. Anas Mahmoud had the best game of his career for the Cardinals and Duke struggled to defend ball screens. CBT’s Rob Dauster has four takeaways from this one including one on Duke being a total mess.

Two more of the ACC’s best teams also did battle on Saturday as No. 11 North Carolina handed No. 9 Florida State its first loss in conference play. Three more takeaways from Dauster on this one as he goes more into detail on Joel Berry’s outstanding game.

The Big East also had a big game on Saturday afternoon that saw No. 12 Butler hold on to beat No. 15 Xavier for a home win. Kelan Martin continued his sluggish Big East start, but a freshman guard is continuing to emerge for the Bulldogs. Here’s more on the Bulldogs and their very strong NCAA tournament profile.

Coming off of a blowout loss at the hands of West Virginia, No. 1 Baylor managed to go into Manhattan and knock off No. 25 Kansas State, 77-68. At the same time Baylor was winning that game, the No. 10 Mountaineers had to come back to knock off a Texas team that was playing without their best player.

No. 19 Virginia was able to outlast Clemson for an ACC road win as senior London Perrantes buried the key go-ahead three in the final two minutes. While this was a solid win for the ‘Hoos, this loss is potentially devastating for Clemson’s tourney hopes.

STARRED

Lonzo Ball, UCLA: The Bruins struggled as their legs gave out on them, but Ball still managed to post 15 points, eight assists, six boards and five steals in an 83-82 win at Utah. The Bruins swept the Mountain school.

Alec Peters, Valparaiso: The senior scored 19 of his 30 points in the second half to help the Crusaders beat Cleveland State. Peters also added nine rebounds on the day as he’s now over 2,100 career points.

Jack Gibbs, Davidson: The senior guard poured in 30 points and added seven rebounds in Davidson’s big Atlantic 10 win over VCU. Gibbs played all 40 minutes of Saturday’s game and was 9-for-19 from the floor with four three-pointers.

Tucker Haymond, Western Michigan: It was a career afternoon for the senior guard as Haymond had 35 points to lead the Broncos over Kent State for a MAC win. The career-high effort came on 12-for-18 shooting for Haymond.

THE REST OF THE TOP 25


  • It didn’t come easy, but No. 2 Kansas overcame an off-shooting night to get past Oklahoma State as Frank Mason had 22 points.
  • No. 3 Villanova had a strong outing from guard Donte DiVincenzo (19 points) as the Wildcats won on the road at St. John’s.
  • Some hot shooting sparked No. 6 Kentucky past Auburn as freshman Malik Monk tallied 24 points.
  • Marcus Foster had 21 points to lead No. 8 Creighton to a rout over Truman State.
  • No. 10 West Virginia survived with a two-point road win over Texas in the Big 12. Teyvon Myers led with 16 points.
  • It took another close win but No. 20 Notre Dame was able to hold on for a road win at Virginia Tech. Steve Vasturia paced the Irish with 20 points.
  • This one needed overtime, but No. 23 Florida outlasted Georgia as Canyon Barry finished with 27 points and seven rebounds.
  • Penn State used a big second-half run to push past No. 24 Minnesota. This is the type of loss that could come back to haunt the Gophers as they held a 10-point halftime lead. Mike Watkins had 15 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Nittany Lions.

NOTABLE


  • Miami cruised past Pitt for an easy ACC win. The Hurricanes were led by Davon Reed as he finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. The win was also a milestone for Jim Larrañaga as he notched his 600th career victory.
  • Dayton stayed in the Atlantic 10 race with a road win at Duquesne. Charles Cooke led the way for the Flyers with 19 points.
  • Providence handed Seton Hall another bad loss for its NCAA tournament resume in Big East play. Kyron Cartwright led the Friars with 20 points and eight rebounds.
  • Georgetown held off UConn in an old-school rivalry game. The Hoyas trailed by six at half before rallying as L.J. Peak had 21 points and eight rebounds.
  • After the bad road loss at Illinois, Michigan bounced back with a Big Ten win over Nebraska as Moe Wagner led with 23 points.