Duke's top-10 showdown at Notre Dame carried a lot of weight around the ACC and nationally with the final week of the regular season for most teams upon us:
The second-to-last week of the regular season for most teams got off to a quick start, with No. 4 Notre Dame downing No. 10 Duke 63-50 in South Bend, Ind., Monday night. The Blue Devils had no answer for Fighting Irish guard Jewell Loyd—who had 21 points, six rebounds and five assists—and were held without a 3-pointer for the first time to this season, a good recipe for their third ACC loss of the season. The win was Notre Dame's 11th straight and the loss was Duke's first in its previous seven games. Sunday against N.C. State, the Blue Devils were unable to bounce back and were stunned 72-59 thanks to 12 Wolfpack 3-pointers. Duke began the week in the hunt for a top seed in the ACC tournament, but now seems destined for no better than a No. 4 seed after two losses this week.
Another important conference matchup occurred Thursday, this time in the SEC, when No. 15 Texas A&M prevailed 81-69 at No. 11 Kentucky. All five Aggie starters scored in double figures to allow Texas A&M to move to 9-4 in the SEC—into a tie for third with No. 14 Mississippi State and LSU four games behind No. 2 South Carolina and No. 6 Tennessee—and drop the Wildcats to 8-5 in league play.
There was an upset in the Big Ten Saturday when No. 13 Iowa was crushed 100-82 by Ohio State, which went 11-of-20 from 3-point range and had 20 assists in the big win. The Hawkeyes also fell 93-80 to Minnesota earlier in the week. No. 5 Maryland continued leading the way in the conference by winning its 18th straight game of the season to clinch at least a share of the regular season conference title.
No. 16 Princeton continued its pursuit of an undefeated season as the only unbeaten team in Division I women's basketball, demolishing Dartmouth 70-31 Friday. The Tigers then prevailed 78-57 against Harvard Saturday to move to 25-0 and 9-0 in the Ivy League.
No. 1 Connecticut, No. 3 Baylor and No. 7 Oregon State continued cruising and maintaining control in their respective conferences, avoiding the upsets that have hurt many perennial powers so far this season.
ACC game to watch: No. 8 Louisville at No. 4 Notre Dame, Monday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.; No. 10 Duke vs. No. 17 North Carolina, Sunday, March 1, 3 p.m.
Rivals in rank: No. 6 Tennessee at No. 2 South Carolina, Monday, Feb. 23, 9 p.m.
Upset alert: No. 18 Stanford at No. 7 Oregon State, Thursday, Feb. 26, 9 p.m.
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