On the heels of their dramatic overtime win against their rival, the Blue Devils stayed at No. 4 once again in this week's poll:
Duke beats North Carolina in overtime thriller, both teams stay put
In a battle between college basketball’s most heated rivals, Duke was able to force overtime after trailing by ten with less than four minutes left in regulation and beat the Tar Heels 92-90 Wednesday. The Blue Devils’ starting guards, Quinn Cook and Tyus Jones, each scored 22 points, with Cook converting on six of his nine attempts from behind the arc and Jones finishing crucial drives down the stretch. Duke’s offense appeared stagnant during most of the second half as Jones made uncharacteristic turnovers and Jahlil Okafor looked ineffective at times after rolling his ankle in the first half.
However, Duke’s defense of North Carolina’s high-powered backcourt kept the Blue Devils in the game despite the offensive drought, enabling the comeback that would ensue. Preseason ACC Player of the Year Marcus Paige scored just five points on eleven shots and highly-touted freshman guard Justin Jackson scored just two points on eight shots. After dismantling Clemson 78-56 Saturday without Okafor, Duke stayed at No. 4 in this week's poll. The Tar Heels bounced back Saturday against Georgia Tech and also stayed put at No. 15 this week.
Syracuse upsets Louisville as Chris Jones serves suspension
In a great ACC matchup that was widely overshadowed by the Battle of Tobacco Road Wednesday night, Syracuse upset then-No. 12 Louisville 69-59 at the Carrier Dome. Rakeem Christmas scored a game-high 29 points and shot 90 percent from the field, picking up the slack for sharpshooter Trevor Cooney, who scored just three points and made just one of his ten shot attempts. Head coach Rick Pitino’s Cardinals suffered its second consecutive ACC loss after a nine-point defeat at the hands of N.C. State. It will not be getting any easier for Louisville after it was announced that senior guard Chris Jones was dismissed from the team. Jones served a one-game suspension during the Syracuse game and returned to score 17 points against Miami on Saturday before being dismissed Sunday.
After a tumultuous week, the Cardinals fell five spots to No. 17 this week.
Kansas loses to West Virginia in clash of ranked Big 12 teams
Despite suffering from leg cramps throughout the second half, Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year Juwan Staten led the Mountaineers with 20 points, two of which came on a go-ahead layup with four seconds to play, to help West Virginia upset Kansas 62-61 Monday. The win was the 20th of the season for West Virginia, a feat that it had not achieved in the previous three seasons, and will do wonders for the team’s tournament case after previously losing three of its previous four games against ranked opponents. For the Jayhawks, freshman power forward Cliff Alexander continued to underwhelm, playing only six minutes and failing to score after being the third ranked recruit in the Class of 2014 by ESPN.
This week, Kansas stayed at No. 8 despite the loss and West Virginia moved up three spots to No. 20. No. 12 Iowa State, No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 19 Baylor are also Big 12 teams in the top 20.
Northern Iowa makes history after Utah slips up
For the first time in school history, the Panthers entered the top 10, sliding into the No. 10 spot behind Kansas and No. 9 Notre Dame. Northern Iowa has won 15 straight games in the Missouri Valley Conference and will face No. 11 Wichita State Saturday to decide the league's regular season champion.
The team that allowed the Panthers to move up was previously No. 9 Utah, which fell 69-58 Sunday at Oregon and fell four spots to No. 13 this week as a result.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.