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Virginia won with offense. Indiana won with defense. Duke and Kentucky lost to unranked opponents on the same day. Northern Iowa slayed a top-five giant for the second time in a month.
Yes, it was the most bizarre day yet in a college basketball season that already featured plenty of unusual outcomes. Here are eight takeaways from Saturday's action:
1. Duke's margin for error without Amile Jefferson is much smaller
After his team's 77-75 overtime loss to Pac-12 contender Utah on Saturday afternoon, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski offered a telling observation. "Our guys gave it their all, and they lost,” he told reporters in New York.
Seldom is Krzyzewski pleased with his team's effort after a loss to an unranked team, but Saturday was the exception. Top big man Amile Jefferson was sidelined with a broken foot, leading scorer Grayson Allen scored only seven points while battling the flu, yet the Blue Devils had a shot to win at the end of regulation and a shot to tie at the end of overtime.
What that suggests is Krzyzewski is reasonable about his team's shortcomings while Jefferson is out. Jefferson is the team's premier offensive rebounder and one of its two best interior defenders along with Marshall Plumlee. With Jefferson out for the next month and McDonald's All-American Chase Jeter still not ready for extended minutes, Duke's thin frontcourt is even more undermanned and Brandon Ingram has to play more minutes at the four or five.
Utah was able to take advantage of Duke's weakness in the paint as forward Kyle Kuzma scored 21 points and future NBA center Jakob Poeltl had 19 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out with 31 seconds left in overtime. The Blue Devils shot just 30 percent from the field in regulation and fell a bucket short in overtime.
2. Sleepover with the Caliparis didn't wake up Skal Labissiere
With Skal Labissiere coming off a nightmare game against Arizona State in which he registered neither a point nor a rebound in 13 minutes, Kentucky coach John Calipari came up with an interesting plan to try to help his prized freshman. Calipari invited Labissiere over to his house for a sleepover in hopes that a heart-to-heart chat and a home-cooked breakfast would help ease the pressure the 6-foot-11 big man was feeling.
Maybe the encouragement will pay off eventually for Labissiere, but it didn't seem to make much difference in Kentucky's stunning 74-67 loss to previously struggling Ohio State on Saturday afternoon. Again Labissiere got pushed around in the paint. Again Labissiere had loose balls ripped away from him. He finished with two points, five rebounds and misses in 6 of the 7 shots he attempted, none bigger than a point-blank shot that would've gotten the Wildcats within one point with three minutes to go.
While Calipari didn't sugarcoat how poorly his team played or how far it has to go to live up to its top-five ranking, it was interesting to see him go out of his way to praise Labissiere even after yet another performance that didn't seem to merit it. "Happy Skal did better," Calipari said. Then later he added, "I thought he made strides today."
Nobody is better at coaxing production out of prized freshmen than Calipari, but he'll need to get more from Labissiere to beat Louisville next Saturday or to win the SEC. Labissiere is averaging 3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in four games against major-conference opponents.
3. Butler can claim the title of Indiana's best team
Kellen Dunham could never shake free of reigning Big 12 defensive player of the year Rapheal Davis and missed all 12 shots he attempted. Kelan Martin struggled to get clean looks against Purdue's towering frontline and finished with just two baskets. On a night when Butler's two leading scorers were ineffective from start to finish, the Bulldogs were still good enough to hand a top 10 team its first loss of the season.
Butler hung on to defeat Purdue 74-68 because the Bulldogs played their best defensive game of the season and received scoring from unlikely sources. Roosevelt Jones tallied 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists because the Boilermakers could not keep him out of the lane. Andrew Chrabascz added 16 points because he was just a little bit too mobile for Purdue's big men.
The most worrisome aspect of the game for Purdue was that the Boilermakers couldn't generate much of anything off the dribble, especially during a 22-minute stretch midway through the game in which they only scored 16 points. Without dribble penetration, Purdue couldn't force the defense to rotate and couldn't generate any open 3-point looks.
Purdue had beaten every opponent it had faced so far this season by 12 or more points, but the Boilermakers saw their win streak end and fell to 0-5 in the Crossroads Classic. Butler improved to 4-1 in the Crossroads Classic and made a case for itself as a Big East contender and the state of Indiana's top team.
4. Iowa State's loss raises some red flags
Iowa State definitely has the firepower to beat anyone in the Big 12 this season, but I'm skeptical the Cyclones will win consistently enough to stay with fellow league title favorites Kansas or Oklahoma. The reason for that is a couple of red flags that have emerged in the wake of their first loss of the season, an 81-79 upset at the hands of in-state rival Northern Iowa.
For all the increased emphasis Steve Prohm placed on defense entering the season, the early improvements Iowa State made may not be sustainable. Iowa scorched the Cyclones from behind the arc and hurt them on the offensive glass in a one-point loss earlier this month. Then Northern Iowa shot 58 percent from the field and 59.1 percent from behind the arc against Iowa State on Saturday night thanks largely to Paul Jesperson's outside shooting and Wes Washpun's ability to blow by his defender and create off the dribble.
Also alarming for Iowa State? A glaring lack of depth. The Cyclones have no big man to spell Jameel McKay off the bench, meaning he has to play extended minutes in close games as a result of his prowess protecting the rim and on the glass. And with Naz Mitrou-Long announcing he will sit the rest of the season and apply for a redshirt, Iowa State only goes seven deep as reserve guards Deonte Burton and Hallice Cooke are the only two bench players in the rotation.
5. Brice Johnson is bleeping dominant when properly motivated
North Carolina was trailing by double figures in the first half against UCLA, Kennedy Meeks was unavailable due to injury, yet fellow starting big man Brice Johnson couldn't get off the bench. What gives Brice? "I kind of used some bad language, and coach was really pissed off at me for it, so he sat me for it," Johnson told reporters in Brooklyn, drawing a chuckle for using more salty language in the process. "It put a fire under my butt. When I got back in there, I was ready to go."
The Tar Heels rallied to beat UCLA 89-76 largely because Johnson was brilliant after he returned. He scored 13 points in the final seven minutes of the first half to get North Carolina even by halftime and then added 14 more in the second half to help the Tar Heels pull away. In all he finished with 27 points on 11-for-12 shooting and added nine rebounds, outplaying a pretty good UCLA frontcourt all by himself.
If Johnson can be that sort of threat on a regular basis, that can only help a North Carolina team that isn't lacking for weapons. Marcus Paige is a dynamic perimeter scorer, Kennedy Meeks is a proven back-to-the-basket scorer and Justin Jackson is the team's best NBA prospect, but Johnson adds another dimension.
6. Georgetown's new slogan: Mid-majors celebrate here
If I were a mid-major coach in need of a road game next season, Georgetown would be the first school I'd call. Not only would I get a nice payday for playing the Hoyas in Washington D.C., history suggests there's also a pretty fair fair chance I come away with a win too.
The latest small-conference program to celebrate at Georgetown's expense is UNC Asheville, which won 79-73 on Saturday to drop the Hoyas to 6-5 so far this season. Georgetown had previously lost to Radford and Monmouth already this season and to the likes of Northeastern and Florida Gulf Coast in recent years.
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera's 2-for-10 shooting certainly didn't help Georgetown against UNC Asheville, but the bigger longterm concern for the Hoyas is their defense. Centers Bradley Hayes and Jessie Govan both are vulnerable on ball screen defense, which is forcing the rest of the defense into help situations and exposing their inability to rotate out to shooters fast enough. Either Georgetown needs to clean that up or they're going to have a hard time rallying to make the NCAA tournament, let alone contending with the likes of Villanova, Butler and Xavier in the loaded Big East.
7. Wichita State may need to win its conference tournament
After squandering a seven-point lead with five minutes to go in regulation in an overtime loss to Seton Hall, Wichita State may now have only one path to an NCAA bid: Winning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. The injury-plagued Shockers are now 5-5 with losses to the Pirates, Tulsa, USC, Alabama and Iowa.
Other programs from stronger conferences can overcome a poor start by stacking quality wins during league play, but Wichita State doesn't have that luxury. The Shockers will only play two teams the rest of the season rated higher than 141st in the KenPom rankings, Northern Iowa and Evansville.
Wichita State will finish non-conference play with two potential quality wins, one against Pac-12 contender Utah and the other against talented but erratic UNLV. The Shockers could still reenter the at-large picture with a dominant showing during league play, but it would probably take something like 16-2 or 17-1 just to earn consideration. And even then, with likely only a couple RPI top 50 wins on their resume, there might not be any guarantees.
8. Kay Felder may be the nation's most underrated player
Here's what Washington coach Lorenzo Romar had to say about Oakland star Kay Felder on Saturday: "The last guy that played in this building that looked like that plays for the Celtics now."
Felder was worthy of that comparison to former Washington guard Isaiah Thomas after he led Horizon League contender Oakland to a 97-83 victory in Seattle. The 5-foot-9 junior scored a career-high 38 points on 14-for-27 shooting, repeatedly blowing by Andrew Andrews, Dejounte Murray and anyone else in purple and gold who had the misfortune of trying to guard him.
The huge night from Felder was hardly a fluke either. He's averaging 24.6 points and 8.9 assists so far this season, both among the top five nationally. He'll have a chance to showcase himself on a national stage on Tuesday night when Oakland visits top-ranked Michigan State.
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Yes, it was the most bizarre day yet in a college basketball season that already featured plenty of unusual outcomes. Here are eight takeaways from Saturday's action:
1. Duke's margin for error without Amile Jefferson is much smaller
After his team's 77-75 overtime loss to Pac-12 contender Utah on Saturday afternoon, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski offered a telling observation. "Our guys gave it their all, and they lost,” he told reporters in New York.
Seldom is Krzyzewski pleased with his team's effort after a loss to an unranked team, but Saturday was the exception. Top big man Amile Jefferson was sidelined with a broken foot, leading scorer Grayson Allen scored only seven points while battling the flu, yet the Blue Devils had a shot to win at the end of regulation and a shot to tie at the end of overtime.
What that suggests is Krzyzewski is reasonable about his team's shortcomings while Jefferson is out. Jefferson is the team's premier offensive rebounder and one of its two best interior defenders along with Marshall Plumlee. With Jefferson out for the next month and McDonald's All-American Chase Jeter still not ready for extended minutes, Duke's thin frontcourt is even more undermanned and Brandon Ingram has to play more minutes at the four or five.
Utah was able to take advantage of Duke's weakness in the paint as forward Kyle Kuzma scored 21 points and future NBA center Jakob Poeltl had 19 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out with 31 seconds left in overtime. The Blue Devils shot just 30 percent from the field in regulation and fell a bucket short in overtime.
2. Sleepover with the Caliparis didn't wake up Skal Labissiere
With Skal Labissiere coming off a nightmare game against Arizona State in which he registered neither a point nor a rebound in 13 minutes, Kentucky coach John Calipari came up with an interesting plan to try to help his prized freshman. Calipari invited Labissiere over to his house for a sleepover in hopes that a heart-to-heart chat and a home-cooked breakfast would help ease the pressure the 6-foot-11 big man was feeling.
Maybe the encouragement will pay off eventually for Labissiere, but it didn't seem to make much difference in Kentucky's stunning 74-67 loss to previously struggling Ohio State on Saturday afternoon. Again Labissiere got pushed around in the paint. Again Labissiere had loose balls ripped away from him. He finished with two points, five rebounds and misses in 6 of the 7 shots he attempted, none bigger than a point-blank shot that would've gotten the Wildcats within one point with three minutes to go.
While Calipari didn't sugarcoat how poorly his team played or how far it has to go to live up to its top-five ranking, it was interesting to see him go out of his way to praise Labissiere even after yet another performance that didn't seem to merit it. "Happy Skal did better," Calipari said. Then later he added, "I thought he made strides today."
Nobody is better at coaxing production out of prized freshmen than Calipari, but he'll need to get more from Labissiere to beat Louisville next Saturday or to win the SEC. Labissiere is averaging 3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in four games against major-conference opponents.
3. Butler can claim the title of Indiana's best team
Kellen Dunham could never shake free of reigning Big 12 defensive player of the year Rapheal Davis and missed all 12 shots he attempted. Kelan Martin struggled to get clean looks against Purdue's towering frontline and finished with just two baskets. On a night when Butler's two leading scorers were ineffective from start to finish, the Bulldogs were still good enough to hand a top 10 team its first loss of the season.
Butler hung on to defeat Purdue 74-68 because the Bulldogs played their best defensive game of the season and received scoring from unlikely sources. Roosevelt Jones tallied 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists because the Boilermakers could not keep him out of the lane. Andrew Chrabascz added 16 points because he was just a little bit too mobile for Purdue's big men.
The most worrisome aspect of the game for Purdue was that the Boilermakers couldn't generate much of anything off the dribble, especially during a 22-minute stretch midway through the game in which they only scored 16 points. Without dribble penetration, Purdue couldn't force the defense to rotate and couldn't generate any open 3-point looks.
Purdue had beaten every opponent it had faced so far this season by 12 or more points, but the Boilermakers saw their win streak end and fell to 0-5 in the Crossroads Classic. Butler improved to 4-1 in the Crossroads Classic and made a case for itself as a Big East contender and the state of Indiana's top team.
4. Iowa State's loss raises some red flags
Iowa State definitely has the firepower to beat anyone in the Big 12 this season, but I'm skeptical the Cyclones will win consistently enough to stay with fellow league title favorites Kansas or Oklahoma. The reason for that is a couple of red flags that have emerged in the wake of their first loss of the season, an 81-79 upset at the hands of in-state rival Northern Iowa.
For all the increased emphasis Steve Prohm placed on defense entering the season, the early improvements Iowa State made may not be sustainable. Iowa scorched the Cyclones from behind the arc and hurt them on the offensive glass in a one-point loss earlier this month. Then Northern Iowa shot 58 percent from the field and 59.1 percent from behind the arc against Iowa State on Saturday night thanks largely to Paul Jesperson's outside shooting and Wes Washpun's ability to blow by his defender and create off the dribble.
Also alarming for Iowa State? A glaring lack of depth. The Cyclones have no big man to spell Jameel McKay off the bench, meaning he has to play extended minutes in close games as a result of his prowess protecting the rim and on the glass. And with Naz Mitrou-Long announcing he will sit the rest of the season and apply for a redshirt, Iowa State only goes seven deep as reserve guards Deonte Burton and Hallice Cooke are the only two bench players in the rotation.
5. Brice Johnson is bleeping dominant when properly motivated
North Carolina was trailing by double figures in the first half against UCLA, Kennedy Meeks was unavailable due to injury, yet fellow starting big man Brice Johnson couldn't get off the bench. What gives Brice? "I kind of used some bad language, and coach was really pissed off at me for it, so he sat me for it," Johnson told reporters in Brooklyn, drawing a chuckle for using more salty language in the process. "It put a fire under my butt. When I got back in there, I was ready to go."
The Tar Heels rallied to beat UCLA 89-76 largely because Johnson was brilliant after he returned. He scored 13 points in the final seven minutes of the first half to get North Carolina even by halftime and then added 14 more in the second half to help the Tar Heels pull away. In all he finished with 27 points on 11-for-12 shooting and added nine rebounds, outplaying a pretty good UCLA frontcourt all by himself.
If Johnson can be that sort of threat on a regular basis, that can only help a North Carolina team that isn't lacking for weapons. Marcus Paige is a dynamic perimeter scorer, Kennedy Meeks is a proven back-to-the-basket scorer and Justin Jackson is the team's best NBA prospect, but Johnson adds another dimension.
6. Georgetown's new slogan: Mid-majors celebrate here
If I were a mid-major coach in need of a road game next season, Georgetown would be the first school I'd call. Not only would I get a nice payday for playing the Hoyas in Washington D.C., history suggests there's also a pretty fair fair chance I come away with a win too.
The latest small-conference program to celebrate at Georgetown's expense is UNC Asheville, which won 79-73 on Saturday to drop the Hoyas to 6-5 so far this season. Georgetown had previously lost to Radford and Monmouth already this season and to the likes of Northeastern and Florida Gulf Coast in recent years.
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera's 2-for-10 shooting certainly didn't help Georgetown against UNC Asheville, but the bigger longterm concern for the Hoyas is their defense. Centers Bradley Hayes and Jessie Govan both are vulnerable on ball screen defense, which is forcing the rest of the defense into help situations and exposing their inability to rotate out to shooters fast enough. Either Georgetown needs to clean that up or they're going to have a hard time rallying to make the NCAA tournament, let alone contending with the likes of Villanova, Butler and Xavier in the loaded Big East.
7. Wichita State may need to win its conference tournament
After squandering a seven-point lead with five minutes to go in regulation in an overtime loss to Seton Hall, Wichita State may now have only one path to an NCAA bid: Winning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. The injury-plagued Shockers are now 5-5 with losses to the Pirates, Tulsa, USC, Alabama and Iowa.
Other programs from stronger conferences can overcome a poor start by stacking quality wins during league play, but Wichita State doesn't have that luxury. The Shockers will only play two teams the rest of the season rated higher than 141st in the KenPom rankings, Northern Iowa and Evansville.
Wichita State will finish non-conference play with two potential quality wins, one against Pac-12 contender Utah and the other against talented but erratic UNLV. The Shockers could still reenter the at-large picture with a dominant showing during league play, but it would probably take something like 16-2 or 17-1 just to earn consideration. And even then, with likely only a couple RPI top 50 wins on their resume, there might not be any guarantees.
8. Kay Felder may be the nation's most underrated player
Here's what Washington coach Lorenzo Romar had to say about Oakland star Kay Felder on Saturday: "The last guy that played in this building that looked like that plays for the Celtics now."
Felder was worthy of that comparison to former Washington guard Isaiah Thomas after he led Horizon League contender Oakland to a 97-83 victory in Seattle. The 5-foot-9 junior scored a career-high 38 points on 14-for-27 shooting, repeatedly blowing by Andrew Andrews, Dejounte Murray and anyone else in purple and gold who had the misfortune of trying to guard him.
The huge night from Felder was hardly a fluke either. He's averaging 24.6 points and 8.9 assists so far this season, both among the top five nationally. He'll have a chance to showcase himself on a national stage on Tuesday night when Oakland visits top-ranked Michigan State.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!Follow @JeffEisenberg