It was as if college basketball knew the football season was over and they needed to make a big splash to get people’s attention. On Tuesday evening, one day after Michigan won the national championship over Washington, college basketball treated fans to a pair of historic upsets with No. 1 Purdue falling to Nebraska while No. 2 Houston fell to Iowa State.
There have been 648 all-time instances of the top two teams each playing an unranked opponent on the same night, and only eight times where both teams lost.
We’ll start with No. 1 Purdue, who is now 14-2 on the season but just 3-2 in Big Ten play after losing to Northwestern back in December. The Boilermakers and in particular Zach Edey were flustered by Nebraska’s pesky defense, with the reigning National Player of the Year only managing 15 points and seven rebounds on 6-10 shooting.
Although Purdue was able to knock down 13 three-pointers on 39.4% shooting, it was the Cornhuskers who dominated offensively – making 14 threes on a blistering 60.9% shooting and racking up 88 total points in their first win over a No. 1 team in 41 years.
Meanwhile, Houston took their first loss of the year in just their second-ever Big 12 regular season contest, falling 57-53 to an Iowa State team that is now 12-3 on the year and should find themselves ranked next week.
The Cyclones held Houston to just 38% from the field and 26.9% (7-26) from distance. Starting guards LJ Cryer and Jamal Shead were a combined 2-14 from three and 7-24 from the field while turning the ball over a whopping eight times.
Iowa State’s offense wasn’t great, but they went 18-22 from the free throw line and a strong game from sophomore Tamin Lipsey (14 points and four rebounds) was enough to pull off a major victory and prove this team deserves more respect going forward.
The madness may not be over as No. 3 Kansas, No. 4 UConn, and No. 5 Tennessee are all in action on Wednesday evening, and they all face tough road contests in conference play against Central Florida, Xavier, and Mississippi State, respectively.