CBB With Danny Z: Texas Tech's Improbable Upset, Iowa State's Terrible Week, And More
College basketball is just the best. I know I write that every week, but every week delivers. The past seven days have been no exception. Each day, something crazy happens on the hardwood, so much so that even my weekly column can't possibly include every story. But that's not going to stop me from trying!
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Have thoughts on college basketball that you want to share? Shoot me an email at dan.zaksheske@outkick.com or a tweet @RealDanZak.
Texas Tech scores unbelievable upset over Houston after losing their head coach and best player in the first four minutes
Sure, a Top 25 team beating a Top 10 isn't always considered a massive upset. But Texas Tech delivered an incredibly improbable upset over Houston last weekend and not just because the Raiders were ranked lower or because they were playing on the road.
No, the reason the Red Raiders' upset qualifies as one of the best of the college basketball season thus far is because referees inexplicably ejected Texas Tech's best player, JT Toppin, less than five minutes into the contest. The call was questionable, at best.
The call was so bad that Raiders' head coach Grant McCasland lost his mind and found himself ejected, as well.
Not only did Texas Tech lose its best player and head coach 3:50 into the game, but the technical fouls called on the team also led to six consecutive free throws for the Cougars and possession of the ball.
Tech had taken a one-point lead after a three-pointer by Elijah Hawkins, but following the three technical fouls, Houston emerged with a five-point lead. One might think that losing Toppin and McCasland might cripple the Raiders' hope of pulling off the road upset, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Tech managed to rebound and take a four-point lead into halftime. Still, Houston certainly wasn't going to lie down on its home floor and allow Texas Tech to cruise to victory. In fact, the Cougars appeared on their way to victory after taking a three-point lead with 49 seconds left.
Then, the Raiders missed a game-tying three-pointer and the Cougars had the ball with a three-point lead and 35 seconds left. However, Houston guard Milos Uzan missed the front end of a one-and-one, and gave Texas Tech the ball back with another chance to tie.
Houston failed to score on the final possession of regulation, sending the game to overtime.
Texas Tech Red Raiders players celebrate after hitting a game-tying three-point basket with seconds left on the clock against the Houston Cougars.
(Imagn Images)
Once again, Houston had the lead in the final 15 seconds, but once again, Texas Tech hit clutch shots. Chance McMillian hit two free throws to take the lead and the Raiders forced a Houston turnover on the final possession to cap off a remarkable upset victory.
College basketball is awesome.
What has happened to Iowa State?
Man, the Iowa State Cyclones were cruising through the early part of their schedule. They defeated Arizona State, 76-61, on Jan. 25 to improve to 17-2 on the season and were the #3 team in the country.
That 17-2 start included wins over two Top 10 teams (Marquette and Kansas) with one of the two losses coming against Auburn, one of the best teams in the country. In the loss to Auburn, ISU blew an 18-point lead.
The Iowa State Cyclones have lost three-straight games after a 17-2 start.
(Imagn Images)
But the wheels fell off after the win over Arizona State, and it started with the shot of the year by Arizona's Caleb Love, which we covered in last week's CBB With Danny Z.
Following the shocking loss to Arizona, Iowa State suffered back-to-back double-digit losses against Kansas State (80-61) and Kansas (69-52).
Iowa State went from a likely #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament to suddenly wondering if it is even a legit contender for a national championship as the season continues along towards March.
Ken Pom still believes, however, ranking Iowa State as the 10th-best team in the country as of Thursday. However, losing back-to-back games by 17+ points to unranked opponents puts serious question marks around the viability of this Cyclones team as a legitimate title contender.
John Calipari got the last laugh as he led Arkansas to an upset win on the road against his former school, Kentucky
Kentucky fans weren't happy to see John Calipari return to Rupp Arena as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, and they let him know immediately.
While Arkansas has struggled in Calipari's first season (they were 1-6 against SEC opponents prior to the Kentucky matchup), Kentucky hasn't exactly dominated under new head coach Mark Pope.
But, after beating #8 Tennessee on the road, the Wildcats appeared to have all the momentum heading into a showdown against their former head coach. However, as any sports fan knows, momentum is incredibly fickle.
The Wildcats found that out quickly against Arkansas, which defeated Kentucky with relative ease on the Cats' home floor – the Razorbacks had the lead at halftime and never trailed in the second half.
I mentioned momentum for a reason; suddenly, Arkansas has ALL of it. After beating Kentucky, the Razorbacks weren't satisfied. They went into Texas and collected ANOTHER road upset (they entered as 6.5-point underdogs) over an SEC rival.
Suddenly, Arkansas is very much in the NCAA Tournament picture. While they remain outside the 68-team field right now (next four out), according to Fox Sports college basketball expert Mike DeCourcy, they weren't even in the discussion last week.
As for Kentucky, that negative momentum after the Arkansas loss continued right in its next game. They lost on the road at Ole Miss by 14 points, at one point trailing by 27 (!!). While Kentucky is still very much in position to secure a high seed in the NCAA Tournament, there are questions now surrounding the Wildcats.
Dick Vitale FINALLY expected to return to college basketball
In the very first edition of CBB With Danny Z last month, I was happy to report that Dick Vitale – the voice of college basketball, and I won't hear any arguments to the contrary – was set to return to the sidelines after a nearly two-year absence due to his battle with cancer.
Unfortunately, Vitale suffered a non-cancer-related setback and his return was delayed by a month. However, according to ESPN, the long-awaited return of Dickie V. is set for this weekend. I think – and hope – that I speak for all college basketball fans when I say, "We can't wait to see you on the hardwood this weekend, Dick."
Bad beat of the week…
Pitt basketball managed to, somehow, be involved in the two worst beats of the week. The first came against Wake Forest, who were 3.5 or 2.5-point favorites depending on the book. Either way, Pitt covered with this insane finish.
Then, against Virginia on Monday night, Pitt was dominated as 13-point home favorites. That wasn't the bad beat part, though. No, the bad beat came for those who bet on the OVER in that ACC contest. The total was set to 130.5, which appeared like it was going to cash easily. After all, with 1:51 remaining in the game, Virginia led 73-57 (130 total points). OVER bettors needed one point in (just under) two minutes. But that didn't happen.
The final 1:51 featured three missed shots, Virginia getting an offensive rebound on its final miss, the Cavaliers running out the shot clock and then the Panthers accepting defeat by running out the final 14 seconds without attempting another field goal.
Some of OutKick's great college basketball coverage this past week…
- Auburn's Chad Baker-Mazara Solidifies Himself As The Most Immature 25 Year Old In College Basketball
- Arizona-Arizona State Rivalry Game Gets Testy, Ends In Headbutting & Ejections
- Notre Dame Coach Shares Wild Text He Received From A Fan During A Game
Roundball roundup…
Doug Gottlieb tracker…
The Green Bay Phoenix increased their school-record losing streak to 19-straight games after losing to Oakland last Thursday and then to Detroit Mercy on Saturday.
In addition, not only is Green Bay terrible at winning games, they don't cover the spread, either. They actually started the season 4-1 ATS. Since then, though, the Phoenix are an abysmal 3-14-2 (18%) ATS in their past 19 games.
Green Bay is currently the 345th ranked team in the country (out of 364 schools), according to Ken Pom. The Phoenix, who are 2-22 on the season and 0-13 in Horizon League play, next take the court on Saturday at Purdue Fort Wayne.
Oh, and in case you're wondering how Gottlieb is spending this week in between games, we have an answer for you. Is he preparing for his next opponent? Trying to figure out how to turn around this disastrous season?
Nope, he's in New Orleans doing his radio show leading up to the Super Bowl.
It's not always the top teams that produce the best games…
The game log shown doesn't even factor in how SFA sent the game to OT in the closing seconds of regulation. The Jacks trailed by three with nine seconds left. New Orleans elected to foul and SFA made the first, missed the second, got the offensive rebound, got another foul called and made both free throws to tie the game with two seconds left, eventually leading to overtime. One of the wildest games of the 2024-25 college basketball season.
Find someone who loves you as much as college basketball teams love blowing massive leads…
Indiana lost at Wisconsin… again. And, I really mean AGAIN.
There's something really satisfying about reverse slam dunks…
There's also something oddly satisfying about a player making a shot while being defended by… the referee?
This is objectively hilarious…
And, since I know you're wondering, Alcorn State upset Grambling State 60-53.
St. John's isn't getting an entire section dedication like it did last week, but in the interest of not upsetting my buddy Geoff Clark, here you go…
I lied, because I also have to include this legendary on-court interview answer by SJU head coach Rick Pitino
Well, that's it for me this week. Want to see something included in next week's "CBB With Danny Z"? Shoot me an email at dan.zaksheske@outkick.com or a tweet @RealDanZak.