With the college football season ending Monday, college basketball took center stage Tuesday and immediately saw its two best teams suffer upsets at the hands of unranked opponents.
No. 1 Purdue fell at Nebraska, 88-72, while No. 2 Houston lost its first game of the season at Iowa State, 57-53.
According to ESPN Stats and Information research, Tuesday night was the first time since Feb. 6, 2016 that the top two teams in the AP Poll lost to unranked opponents on the same day and only the eighth time in the AP poll story.
The top-ranked Boilermakers entered Tuesday riding a seven-game winning streak, including wins over Arizona, Illinois and Alabama. But Nebraska matched them shot for shot in the first half and finished the opening period on a 13-0 run to lead by 11 at halftime.
Purdue cut Nebraska’s lead to one in the first six minutes of the half, but the Cornhuskers immediately responded with a 14-2 run to take their largest lead of the game with 11:53 left. Purdue didn’t get closer than six points the rest of the game and Nebraska finished the game on an 11-2 run.
The Cornhuskers shot 14 of 23 from 3-point range as a team, with seven different players taking shots from behind the arc. Keisei Tominaga led the way with 19 points, while Rienk Mast scored 18 points.
It was Nebraska’s first victory over an AP No. 1 team since February 6, 1982 and the fourth victory over an AP No. 1 team in program history. The first of those victories came on March 3, 1958 under head coach Jerry Bush, grandfather of current head coach Fred Hoiberg.
Tuesday marked the fourth time in the last two seasons that a No. 1-ranked Purdue team lost to an unranked opponent. Last season, the Boilermakers fell to Rutgers and Northwestern. Earlier this season, they lost again at Northwestern.
Purdue becomes just the second team in AP poll history to lose multiple games at No. 1 to unranked opponents in consecutive seasons, the other being North Carolina in 1985-86 and 1986-87, according to research from ESPN Stats and Information.
Earlier in the night, Houston became the latest men’s college basketball team to lose a game this season, falling to Iowa State in the Cougars’ first road conference game as a member of the Big 12.
Kelvin Sampson’s team quickly learned of the “Hilton Magic” as the Cyclones took a 14-0 lead and forced 12 turnovers in the first half.
Iowa State led the entire first half, but a 7-0 run by Houston forced a 41-41 tie with 10:48 remaining. Neither team led by more than five points the rest of the game, and Houston took its only lead of the game on Jamal Shead’s jumper with 3:17 left.
With the game tied at 53 in the final minute, Iowa State freshman Milan Momcilovic caught the ball along the left baseline, spun and made a contested shot over two Houston defenders to hit the the Cyclones a two-point lead. Momcilovic would ice the game with two free throws with 10 seconds left.
“It was important for us to come out and set the tone of the game,” Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger said after the game. “We talked about we have to throw the first punch, we have to be the aggressor, we have to be the team that sets the tone. And I think we set the tone right away. Certainly, there were points in the game where I almost felt like We were holding on, but I think our guys were able to dig deep. I think it was setting the tone and being the aggressor, and then it was just a group of guys who are really connected and had resolve.”
With Purdue (14-2) and Houston (14-1) losing, the door opens for No. 3 Kansas (13-1) to return to No. 1, where the Jayhawks opened the season. Bill Self’s team, which received two first-place votes in this week’s AP poll, plays at UCF on Wednesday night before hosting No. 9 Oklahoma on Saturday.
