Thursday was a bad night to be a ranked team on the road.
If you were, you lost.
Temple beat nationally ranked Memphis 88-81. Minnesota beat nationally ranked Michigan 84-81 in overtime. And, in the game of the night, on CBS Sports Network, Oregon State beat nationally ranked Gonzaga 97-89 in overtime.
Relatively speaking, it was a slow day in the sport (except for another Florida coach being accused of wrongdoing in a Title IX complaint). But it was super-fun with multiple buzzer-beaters — the biggest of which was Dawson Garcia's logo-3 that snapped Michigan's five-game winning streak and left Michigan State as the only Big Ten member with a perfect record in the conference.
Did you see Garcia's buzzer-beater?
If not, here you go:
DAWSON GARCIA WINS IT FOR MINNESOTA AT THE BUZZER 😱 @GopherMBB
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) January 17, 2025
(via @CBBonFOX)pic.twitter.com/HHLb0mDrxN
The three road losses to unranked opponents by Memphis, Michigan and Gonzaga caused the Tigers, Wolverines and Zags to drop to 17th, 20th and 24th, respectively, in Friday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Auburn remains No. 1 for the 10th consecutive day.
I'm sure none of the fanbases connected to the teams on the wrong sides of those results were pleased — but it must've been especially frustrating for Memphis fans, if only because it must've felt so familiar. Remember, Memphis started 15-2 last season and rose to 10th in the Associated Press Top 25 poll before losing too many games to too many bad teams in the American Athletic Conference and missing the NCAA Tournament. This season, the Tigers won 13 of their first 16 games and rose to 18th in the AP poll. All good. But then they went to Philadelphia on Thursday and lost to a Temple team that entered ranked 123rd in the NET.
So what comes next?
I'll be surprised if this season's team falls apart like last season's team fell apart, and for a variety of reasons, one of which is because the AAC that was already bad is undeniably worse. So my advice to Memphis fans would be to relax until this bad loss turns into a bad stretch because, in truth, it probably won't. That said, it is troubling — and just confusing — that Memphis is 13-4 against power-conference teams and 14-9 against AAC teams over the past two seasons.
That makes no sense.
So, yeah, I get why a loss at Temple would give Memphis fans flashbacks. But Penny Hardaway said late Thursday that he's not worried ... yet. To that, I'd say, same. But, sure, let's circle back in a couple of weeks and see where we're at then.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Chad Baker-Mazara finished with 20 points and two rebounds in Tuesday's 88-66 win over Mississippi State. The Tigers' next game is Saturday at Georgia. | -- | 22-2 |
| 2 |  | Curtis Jones finished with 25 points and six rebounds in Wednesday's 74-57 win over Kansas. The Cyclones' next game is Saturday at West Virginia. | -- | 19-5 |
| 3 |  | Kon Knueppel finished with 25 points and three assists in Tuesday's 89-54 win over Miami. The Blue Devils' next game is Saturday at Boston College. | -- | 20-3 |
| 4 |  | David Joplin finished with 30 points and four rebounds in Tuesday's 85-83 win at DePaul. The Golden Eagles' next game is Saturday against Xavier. | -- | 19-6 |
| 5 |  | Zakai Zeigler finished with 16 points and six steals in Wednesday's 74-56 win over Georgia. The Vols' next game is Saturday at Vanderbilt. | -- | 20-5 |
| 6 |  | Jaxson Robinson finished with 22 points and eight rebounds in Tuesday's 81-69 win over Texas A&M. The Wildcats' next game is Saturday against Alabama. | -- | 17-7 |
| 7 |  | Denzel Aberdeen was 1-of-5 from the field in Tuesday's 83-82 loss to Missouri. The Gators' next game is Saturday against Missouri. | -- | 21-3 |
| 8 |  | Labaron Philon was 0-of-8 from the field in Tuesday's 74-64 loss to Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide's next game is Saturday at Kentucky. | -- | 21-3 |
| 9 |  | Frankie Fidler finished with 18 points and four steals in Wednesday's 90-85 win over Penn State. The Spartans' next game is Sunday against Illinois. | -- | 19-5 |
| 10 |  | Jackson Shelstad finished with 17 points and eight assists in Sunday's 82-81 win at Penn State. The Ducks' next game is Saturday against Purdue. | -- | 17-8 |
| 11 |  | Cameron Matthews was 2-of-10 from the field in Tuesday's 88-66 loss at Auburn. The Bulldogs' next game is Saturday against Ole Miss. | -- | 17-7 |
| 12 |  | Hunter Dickinson was 3 of 10 from the field in Wednesday's 74-57 loss at Iowa State. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday against Kansas State. | -- | 17-7 |
| 13 |  | Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 19 points and six rebounds in Wednesday's 69-58 win at Washington. The Boilermakers' next game is Saturday at Oregon. | -- | 19-6 |
| 14 |  | Malik Dia finished with 23 points and 19 rebounds in Tuesday's 74-64 win at Alabama. The Rebels' next game is Saturday at Mississippi State. | 1 | 18-6 |
| 15 |  | Kylan Boswell finished with 22 points and seven rebounds in Tuesday's 94-69 win at Indiana. The Illini's next game is Sunday at Michigan State. | 1 | 17-8 |
| 16 |  | Solomon Washington was 1-of-6 from the field in Tuesday's 81-69 loss at Kentucky. The Aggies' next game is Saturday against LSU. | 1 | 19-5 |
| 17 |  | Colby Rogers was 2-of-9 from the field in Thursday's 88-81 loss at Temple. The Tigers' next game is Sunday at Charlotte. | 3 | 20-4 |
| 18 |  | Alex Karaban finished with 19 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 68-60 win at Georgetown. The Huskies' next game is Saturday against Creighton. | 1 | 17-7 |
| 19 |  | Roddy Gayle Jr. was 0-of-6 from the field in Thursday's 84-81 loss at Minnesota. The Wolverines' next game is Sunday against Northwestern. | 1 | 19-5 |
| 20 |  | J'Wan Roberts finished with 22 points and three rebounds in Wednesday's 70-54 win over West Virginia. The Cougars' next game is Saturday at UCF. | 1 | 20-4 |
| 21 |  | John Tonje finished with 17 points and four rebounds in Tuesday's 70-68 win over Ohio State. The Badgers' next game is Saturday at USC. | 1 | 19-5 |
| 22 |  | Caleb Grill finished with 22 points and three rebounds in Tuesday's 83-82 win at Florida. The Tigers' next game is Saturday against Arkansas. | 1 | 17-6 |
| 23 |  | Blue Cain was 2 of 9 from the field in Wednesday's 74-56 loss at Tennessee. The Bulldogs' next game is Saturday against Auburn. | 1 | 16-9 |
| 24 |  | Khalif Battle was 4-of-13 from the field in Thursday's 97-89 loss in overtime at Oregon State. The Zags' next game is Saturday against Santa Clara. | 4 | 18-7 |
| 25 |  | RJ Luis Jr. finished with 19 points and three rebounds in Tuesday's 63-58 win over Georgetown. The Red Storm's next game is Saturday at Seton Hall. | -- | 21-3 |
| 26 |  | Jaden Bradley finished with 13 points and six assists in Tuesday's 81-70 win over Baylor. The Wildcats' next game is Saturday at Texas Tech. | -- | 17-7 |
