Winners, losers from upset-filled Saturday across college basketball

Saturday’s slate of college basketball once again featured a slew of wild endings, upsets and rank-changing outcomes, as nine total teams lost at home over the course of the day — notably, four ranked teams in No. 1 Baylor, No. 5 USC, No. 10 Michigan State and No. 12 LSU.

With more and more top teams suffering unexpected losses, the 2021-22 college basketball season has grown increasingly different from last season, when a dominant Gonzaga team and a dominant Baylor team carved up the NCAA Tournament field en route to a national championship matchup. This year, the field seems as even as its ever been, with even the best teams in the nation looking vulnerable to suffer an unexpected upset.

As Selection Sunday inches closer, CBS Sports’ David Cobb put a bow on an eventful midseason Saturday by selecting the biggest winners and losers from the day.

Biggest winners and losers from upset-filled college basketball slate

Winner: Auburn

Auburn, which has never been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll in program history, could finally achieve such a status under Bruce Pearl. The Tigers fell behind the Ole Miss Rebels by 14 points in the first half, but the Tigers not only came back but also managed to cover an eight-point spread. Auburn won its 15th in a row with the win, moving their record to 16-1, including a perfect 5-0 SEC record.

Loser: Baylor

Baylor lost — again — and this one was worse than the three-point loss to a No. 19 Texas Tech Red Raiders team. On Saturday, Baylor lost by seven and fell to unranked Oklahoma State, 61-52. Baylor’s offense looked far from pretty in the loss, and though the Bears still boast an 8-2 record against Quad 1 an Quad 2 opponents, it won’t be easy sledding for the defending national champion to look the part.

Winner: Kentucky

Kentucky was a huge winner on Saturday for two reasons: first, it steamrolled Tennessee by a 107-79 final, and secondly — perhaps more meaningfully — Kentucky did so on the day a program legend passed away. Former head coach Joe B. Hall died at age 93, and the Wildcats responded with a record-breaking performance, their highest against a top-25 team since 1994 and their highest point total against Tennessee in program history.

Loser: Texas Tech

Texas Tech, coming off a huge win over the Baylor Bears, were unable to respond like the top-25 team they’re ranked as. Granted, the Red Raiders were playing their fourth game in eight days, but Kansas State offered Texas Tech a brutal wake-up call, pulling away by a 62-51 final. In the process, Texas Tech’s resume, which looked as strong as it has all season after the Baylor win, has dropped back down after the fact.

Winner: Arkansas

It wasn’t always pretty, but Arkansas got it done — and the Razorbacks did it without head coach Eric Musselman, who’s still recovering from shoulder surgery. Arkansas had a tough matchup in its first game without Musselman, but it managed to beat No. 12 LSU on the road, an impressive win for Keith Smart, an assistant that served as head coach for the first time in his career.

Winner: Texas A&M

Texas A&M has began to improve under Buzz Williams, while the Missouri Tigers have just kept free falling, and their downfall happened just one year after making the NCAA Tournament. Missouri looked on track to beat Texas A&M for much of Saturday’s contest, but the Aggies made a valiant second-half comeback; now, the Aggies are 15-2, with a perfect 4-0 record, and their skills will be put to a true test on Wednesday against No. 18 Kentucky.

Loser: West Virginia

The West Virginia Mountaineers had a chance to make noise on Saturday, and with the amount of upsets that took place, it seemed like the Mountaineers were next in a matchup against No. 8 Kansas. But that couldn’t have been further from the case; the Mountaineers got steamrolled by the Jayhawks, losing 85-59, and perhaps letting their true colors shine in the process.

Winner: Duke’s frontcourt

Paolo Banchero and Mark Williams continued to show their elite skillset side-by-side in Duke’s easy, 88-73 win over NC State on Saturday. The Blue Devils avoided a mid-week scare against Wake Forest, and now, they seem back on track as one of the nation’s best.

Winner: Oregon

The Oregon Ducks have shown plenty of ups and downs in the young 2021-22 season, but on Saturday, they made a roaring comeback. Shortly after the Ducks knocked off No. 3 UCLA in overtime on Thursday, they responded with another big win — this time, over USC, a game in which the Trojans never once held a lead.

Loser: Michigan State

Michigan State lost a physical battle on Saturday, as the Spartans were out-rebounded and out-hustled by the Northwestern Wildcats — and the scoreboard reflected that. Michigan State lost a game the Spartans should not have lost, and Tom Izzo seemed as disappointed as could be after the loss.

Winner: Portland Pilots

Portland had not won a basketball game in the WCC since the first positive COVID-19 case emerged in the United States, as CBS noted, and that finally changed with a blowout win over Pepperdine to move to 10-7 overall.

Loser: Louisville

Louisville started ACC play 4-0. Since then, it’s been all downhill, and the Cardinals looked mediocre once again on Saturday, losing to a middling Pitt team.

Winner: Marquette

Shaka Smart has returned to form at Marquette. The Golden Eagles began the season 5-0, with wins over multiple Power Five schools ,but then lost six of its next nine games. On Saturday, Marquette got back in the win column and in a big way, beating No. 20 Seton Hall.

Loser: Memphis

There hasn’t been much winning at Memphis under Penny Hardaway, save for the top-tier recruiting. The collapse continued on Saturday, and this one was more heartbreaking than the rest, as the Tigers lost on a buzzer-beater to the ECU Pirates.