The start of conference play saw more unbeaten teams fall, leaving just three left around the country:
Duke stays at No. 2 for fifth straight week
The Blue Devils returned from their holiday break and cruised to three easy wins, downing a feisty Toledo squad 86-69 thanks to strong second-half defense, using another big second half to rout Wofford 84-55 and shutting down Boston College en route to an 85-62 win in the ACC opener Saturday. Although Kentucky has had a stranglehold on the No. 1 spot in the AP Poll all season, Duke has been very impressive in its own right and has won 13 straight games by double-digits to open the season.
The Blue Devils face road games against Wake Forest and N.C. State this week, with contests away from home against No. 3 Virginia, No. 5 Louisville, No. 13 Notre Dame and a dangerous St. John's team looming large later this month.
Big East chaos in first full week of conference play
The Big East standings received a major shakeup this week as Seton Hall upset two favorites, then-No. 6 Villanova and then-No. 15 St. John's. Saturday, the Pirates got 20 points from star guard Sterling Gibbs and a go-ahead layup from freshman Khadeen Carrington in overtime to hand the Wildcats their first loss of the season 66-61. After falling from the ranks of the unbeaten, Villanova fell two spots in this week's AP Poll and will have to wait to give head coach Jay Wright his 300th win at the school.
Gibbs also sparked Seton Hall's upset of the Red Storm Wednesday by pouring in 25 points and eight assists in the Pirates' 78-67 victory. The junior and teammate Jaren Sina combined for nine 3-pointers and the duo's long-range shooting proved to be too much for St. John's, which fell in its conference opener.
Things did not get better for the Red Storm, as they fell 73-69 to Butler Saturday in a close contest despite getting 31 points from explosive scorer D'Angelo Harrison. Sharpshooter Kellen Dunham had 28 points to lead the Bulldogs to a critical road win after dropping their conference opener to Villanova and Butler was able to take advantage of the absence of second-leading scorer Rysheed Jordan, who left St. John's to deal with personal and family issues before the game.
After all the craziness, the Red Storm fell down to No. 24 in the poll after letting opponents do too much damage from the perimeter and only two teams—Seton Hall and DePaul—made it through the first full week of conference games unscathed.
Another unbeaten goes down
After Villanova's loss left four unbeaten teams left in college basketball entering Saturday night's games, No. 24 Colorado State shot just 32.7 percent from the field and fell 66-53 at New Mexico late that night. The Rams had played a pretty soft schedule in their first 14 games and survived some close calls, but were exposed against the Lobos, who were led by freshman guard Sam Logwood and his 15 points off the bench.
Colorado State's loss leaves the top three teams in the nation—Kentucky, Duke and Virginia—as the only unbeatens left in college basketball. The Rams fell out of the poll as a result of their defeat.
Huskies continue slide
Washington started the season 11-0 and knocked off two then-top-15 squads in San Diego State and Oklahoma, but has now lost three straight games to unranked teams by eight points or less. The Huskies fell 62-57 to Stony Brook last Sunday before dropping their first two conference games on the road 81-75 at California and 68-60 Sunday in overtime at Stanford. The Huskies will look to rebound quickly, but fell out of the AP Poll this week after being ranked 21st last week. Washington was ranked 13th two weeks ago.
South Carolina stunner
The Gamecocks knocked off a top-10 team for the first time in five years by shocking then-No. 9 Iowa State 64-60 Saturday at the Barclays Center in New York. Sindarius Thornwell had five points in the final two minutes and a key steal to help head coach Frank Martin record what could be a momentum-building win for the program. The Cyclones went just 1-of-18 from 3-point range in defeat and will look to regroup before opening conference play Tuesday. Iowa State fell to No. 17 in this week's poll.
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