By: Spencer McCraw

If Tuesday night was any indication for what’s to come in college basketball, then Wednesday did nothing but prove to us how hectic these next two months will be. Out of the seven top-25 teams that played, only three (UVA, Marquette, and Auburn) held their ground against lower-ranked opponents. Let’s see what happened to the rest of the bunch.

UConn drops fifth game over their last six 

After the first week of the season, I asked a simple question about the Huskies: “What’s going on in Storrs, Connecticut?” After they started 14-0 and are now sitting at 15-5, I think it is necessary to ask that question again. What’s going on in Storrs, Connecticut?

It seems to me that this team plays the role of the hunter much better than they do the hunted. Sure, they’re a deep team, but they don’t really do one thing better than anybody. At the beginning of the season, this was a team that won by playing harder than their opponents.

They would out-rebound, create turnovers, and get out on the break to get easy shots. These opportunities would add up and the next thing you know, and they’re up by 15 – completely demolishing their opponents (they beat Alabama by 15)!

Now teams are giving the Huskies a taste of their own medicine. Teams are using their five man as a decoy with Adama Sanogo and are thus finding opportunities with their power forward in order to expose freshman forward Alex Karaban – who has been less than stellar with defending the post: look no further than St. Peter’s transfer KC Ndefo going for 14 and eight last night. 

UConn has to take a good, long look in the mirror and try to figure out what type of team they will be for the rest of the year. They are currently sitting at no. 15, but will likely fall to no. 22 – or even out of the top-25 – after all of these bad losses. They host Butler on Sunday in a big-time, must-win game. 

DePaul hands Xavier their first loss since December 

Sean Miller has his Musketeers sitting at no. 8 – one of the hottest teams in the country. Even with last night’s 73-72 loss to DePaul, Xavier still has one of the best resumes in all of college basketball. Before Wednesday night, they had three losses – all coming to top-12 teams at the time and by a total of 13 points.

Xavier were winners of 11 in a row, but a loss like this was bound to happen.

Xavier came into Wintrust Arena not ready to face off against a scrappy DePaul program. Xavier only shot 20% from three, while DePaul went an efficient 45%. The issue for Coach of the Year candidate Sean Miller was guard Souley Boum – who went for only four points on an abysmal one of 12 from the field. Boum has been the most consistent scorer for Miller, as he’s scored in double digits in all but two games (including last night) all year.

For a team that has serious depth issues, Boum not being able to provide on the offensive end really hurt them. The depth issues will be something to keep an eye on going forward. Xavier hosts Georgetown on Saturday. 

Enough about Xavier, though, let’s give credit to Tony Stubblefield – who had DePaul ready to play. Umoja Gibson showed how good he really is, as he went for 22 points and five assists in a massive game. This is a big momentum game for the Blue Demons, as they can take what they did well in this game and translate it to other Big East contests going forward.

Let’s see if they can keep humming against no. 22 Providence on Saturday. 

Other Headlines:

• Arkansas falls to 1-5 in SEC play, as Missouri gets revenge on their home court
• Mountaineers break the hearts of the Horned Frogs – who have now lost three of their last four
• Oklahoma State outlasts Oklahoma 72-56
• Nebraska hands Ohio State their fifth straight loss