The top-two teams in the nation going down on Wednesday headlined a wild day in college basketball, but another ranked team quietly fell amid an upset-heavy night where five top-20 teams lost.
Creighton (6–3) shocked a previously 7–0 and No. 1-ranked Kansas squad 76–63 as junior guard Pop Isaacs put up 27 points for the Blue Jays. Ninth-ranked Duke (6–2) ended No. 2 Auburn’s 7–0 start with an 84–78 victory behind Blue Devils freshman guard Cooper Flagg’s 22 points.
Sixth-ranked Iowa State (6–1) ended No. 5 Marquette’s eight-game win streak to start the season with an 81–70 win behind Cyclones senior guard Keshon Gilbert’s 24 points. Connecticut (6–3), ranked No. 25, beat No. 15 Baylor (5–3) in a 76–72 win as Huskies freshman forward Liam McNeeley led his team with 17 points.
None of Wednesday’s winners against ranked teams won by more than Mississippi State (7–1) in a 90–57 demolition of No. 18 Pittsburgh (7–2). The Bulldogs took off with a 6–0 run to start the game and built a 22-point lead by halftime at 47–25, and MSU never slowed down in a dominant second half.
MSU’s biggest scorer, junior guard KeShawn Murphy, came off the bench with a game-high 20 points, and he tallied seven rebounds and a blocked shot. Sophomore guard Michael Nwoko likewise posed problems for the Panthers with a double double of 18 points and 11 rebounds plus three blocked shots.
The Bulldogs blocked six shots overall and out-rebounded the Panthers 49–27. Pitt mustered a 31.3 percent shooting clip, sophomore guard Jaland Lowe had the only double-digit scoring game among the team’s starters with his 19 points.
The Panthers certainly weren’t top-25 pretenders either with wins over Power Five teams such as Ohio State (5–3) and West Virginia (5–2) plus a win over mid-major power Murray State (5–2). Pitt’s only other loss occurred in an 81–75 defeat against a No. 11 Wisconsin squad (8–1) on Nov. 25.
MSU could climb into the top-25 with the win amid the team’s first victory over a ranked opponent this season. The Bulldogs’ previous notable wins include Utah (6–1), SMU (7–2), and UNLV (4–3), and the team bounced back from an 87–77 loss to Butler (7–1) on Nov. 29.
Pitt will need to regroup against Virginia Tech (3–5) on Saturday to stay in the top 25 poll.
