Two of the four ranked teams in action Tuesday night were dealt losses, including the 11th-ranked Runnin' Rebels.
Check out the full college basketball scoreboard for all of the evening's final scores.
The Virginia Cavaliers got off to a stellar start in the ACC, but they're currently slipping. They lost their second consecutive game and their third out of four in conference on Tuesday night, falling to the Clemson Tigers on the road. Virginia is now just 6-5 in the ACC, while Clemson is 5-6.
Mike Smith was held to just 13 points, while second-leading scorer Joe Harris managed just two points in 21 minutes off the bench. The Cavaliers turned the ball over 18 times to Clemson's nine, and the Tigers forced 14 steals on the night. Virginia was very ineffective from behind the arc, shooting just 3-16 from three-point range.
The two teams went into halftime tied, but Clemson's defense stepped up and helped them pull away late in the second half. Devin Booker, Tanner Smith and Andre Young all scored in double-digits for Clemson and the trio all shot better than 50 percent from the floor.
For more on the two teams, check out Virginia Cavaliers blog Streaking The Lawn and Clemson Tigers blog Shakin The Southland.
The Alabama Crimson Tide looked like they could be on their way to a massive road victory in the first half of Tuesday night's game against the Florida Gators, but Billy Donovan's team played a much better second half en route to a 61-52 victory. Patric Young put up a game-leading 19 points on 9-12 shooting, while Erik Murphy scored 14 and was an impressive 4-8 from behind the arc.
Florida didn't get a single point from their bench and was out-rebounded by the Tide, but their visitors couldn't find a consistent go-to scorer when their offense wasn't working, and they turned the ball over 17 times. Andrew Steele led the Tide with 11 points.
Alabama is 16-9 overall and 5-6 in the SEC, and is in need of an extremely strong finish in the SEC to keep themselves into the at-large bid discussion.
For more on the two teams, check out Florida Gators blog Alligator Army and Alabama Crimson Tide blog Roll Bama Roll.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers hosted the No. 6 Ohio St. Buckeyes on Tuesday night in Big Ten play. The Buckeyes put up a big first half and coasted to the easy 10-point win. Following the 78-68 victory, Ohio State is now 10-3 in the Big Ten, with an overall record of 22-4. The loss drops the Gophers to 5-8 in the conference, with an overall 17-9 record.
The Buckeyes posted 40 points in the first half while holding Minnesota to just 28 and never looked back. OSU guard William Buford led all scorers with 24 points, also picking up eight rebounds and five assists. Jared Sullinger also contributed 23 points and eight rebounds to the winning effort.
The leading scorer for the Gophers was forward Rodney Williams, who finished with 21 points and nine rebounds. Julian Welch had 11 points and nine assists.
The Buckeyes will play their next game on Saturday, February 18, when they visit the No. 19 Michigan Wolverines. Minnesota will also have their next game on Saturday, when they travel to face off against the Northwestern Wildcats.
For all news and information regarding the Ohio State Buckeyes, please visit Along the Olentangy. For updates and perspective on the Minnesota Golden Gophers, head on over to The Daily Gopher. For wall-to-wall coverage of college hoops, check out SB Nation's dedicated NCAA basketball hub.
No. 11 UNLV Vs. TCU: Horned Frogs Shock Rebels In OT, 102-97
Coming into Tuesday night's contest, the UNLV Rebels had lost just two games in the Mountain West Conference. Both losses were on the road, both came by just two points, and both came against teams with winning records. Something very similar happened in Tuesday's loss to the TCU Horned Frogs, but this wasn't a simple case of getting matched by a good team on the road. TCU had to come from 18 points down in the second half to force overtime, where they won 102-97.
UNLV first took an 18-point lead with just under 15 minutes remaining, but TCU didn't exactly come storming back at that time. They started chipping into the lead very slowly, with UNLV making baskets to extend it again, over and over. It wasn't until 5:54 remaining in the second half that the Horned Frogs got the lead under double digits for good. That was when things got interesting; Garlon Green's basket that made it 81-73 at 5:54 remaining was the first of four consecutive TCU baskets.
Mike Moser put UNLV up 85-83 with 2:47 remaining before Amric Fields tied the game. Incredibly, with over two minutes remaining in regulation, neither team would score again as they headed to overtime.
Overtime was a back and fourth affair in which TCU put on a clinic, improbably scoring 15 points in five minutes en route to a big victory. Hank Thorns was TCU's big star with a career high 32 points. He was an incredible 8-12 from behind the arc. TCU also got a major contribution out of their bench, which kicked in 33 points. UNLV shot 53 percent from the floor, but was out-rebounded significantly and had five more turnovers than their opponents.
For more on the teams and MWC basketball, check out Mountain West Connection.
Feb 15 8:01a by Kevin McCauley - 0 comments