Winners and Losers in men's college basketball Kansas defeats Baylor and sends a strong message

winners and losers in men's college basketball: Kansas makes a big statement by thrashing Baylor Kansas made a case for being the best team in the Big 12, which has been the standard for college basketball the entire season. Just a few hours after Texas struggled against last-place Oklahoma, the No. 7 Jayhawks defeated No. 9 Baylor to make a statement.

With four minutes left, Kansas completed a stunning 34-point swing, taking an 80-63 lead and eventually clinching an 87-71 victory after trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half. After the victory, Kansas and Texas, both 10-4 in the Big 12 standings, are tied for first place.

Baylor is open from 9 to 5. Baylor made nine 3-pointers in the first half to lead 45-32 at the half, but KU's 55-point flurry after the break was too much for Baylor to overcome. In the second half, Kansas made 63.3% of its shots overall and 50% of its long-range attempts.

The biggest three-pointer was made by Gradey Dick, whose trey at 14:29 gave Kansas the advantage permanently. Jalen Wilson had 21 points, 13 rebounds, and one steal, and four other Jayhawks scored 14 points or more. Dajuan Harris recorded a total of 14 points, nine assists, and just one turnover.

Kansas committed just four errors throughout the entire contest. The Jayhawks are at the top of the list of Saturday's biggest winners and losers thanks to their excellent ball handling and stirring comeback. Given the conference they're attending, that makes sense.

Winners Large 12 The top four seeds in each region if the tournament began tomorrow were revealed in the NCAA Selection Committee's preview of its top 16 seeds on Saturday morning. Although Alabama was the overall No. 1 seed, the Big 12, which had five teams with a seed of 3 or higher, came out on top. Kansas, the projected top seed in the West Region, led the conference (the defending champions, the Jayhawks, have been a 1-seed 15 times).

With six teams currently ranked in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and a potential eight teams in the tournament, the Big 12 has been the best conference in the nation all season. These teams will be relieved to see a fresh face in the NCAA tournament, and considering how difficult their regular season is, don't be surprised if many of them continue to play well into March. In the end, these teams exude toughness and are battle-tested.

Kentucky Are the Wildcats tired of hearing all the talk about potentially missing the tournament or being on the bubble? Based on their thrashing of No. 11 Tennessee in Rupp Arena, it certainly appears to be the case. You would never know that Tennessee defeated No. 1 Alabama earlier this week based on how each team performed.

In addition to outrebounding Tennessee, 40-32, by scoring four players in double figures, Kentucky also harassed the Vols on defence, forcing them into a poor shooting performance. That's one approach to winning over the selection committee again. At least on Saturday, Kentucky looked like a team that belongs in the NCAA tournament and passed the eye test with flying colours. Are the Wildcats able to continue? Indiana In the final 13 minutes of their game against tenacious Illinois on Saturday, the No. 15 Hoosiers overcame a 48-39 deficit.

With 30 seconds left, Jalen Hood-Schifino made two free throws to give Indiana the lead and ultimately a 71-68 victory. With the victory, Indiana had won 15 straight home games. Trayce Jackson-Davis also scored 26 points for the Hoosiers, passing coach Mike Woodson to become the fifth-highest scorer in school history. He also pulled down 12 rebounds.

State of Kansas Talk about a stunning comeback victory. With an eight-point deficit at the half, No. 14 Kansas State capitalized on 15 Iowa State errors to score 19 points and defeat the No. 18 Cyclones 61-55. In the second half, the team shot 44.4% from the field, 45.5% from 3-point range, and 91.7% from the foul line.

With 20 points, six rebounds, and five assists, Markquis Nowell led KSU. Purdue Despite losing three of their previous four games, the No. 3 Boilermakers still have an impressive resume, which the selection committee recognized by giving them the top seed in the East Region on Saturday.

Perhaps that will give Purdue more confidence when it faces Ohio State (11-15, 3-12 Big Ten) on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Losers\sTennessee When a team loses a conference game to an unranked or lower-ranked opponent, a lot of people jump to the wrong conclusions.

Despite being upsetting, those defeats are frequently exaggerated because no one scouts you as well as your conference. In spite of this, the Vols struggled on Saturday in Lexington, losing 66-54 while shooting a dismal 37.3% from the field and 22.2% from beyond the arc. Even at the foul line, they were brutal, making just 28.6% of their attempts. Although Tennessee only lost by 12 points, the final score was misleading because the Wildcats led by double digits the entire game and likely could have won by 30 points if they had desired.

Since 2011–12, Tennessee hasn't been swept by Kentucky in the regular season. Dame de Paris What a miserable year Mike Brey had last year as a coach. The Irish suffered their fifth straight road defeat by five points or less on Saturday when they lost 57-55 to No. 6 Virginia.

Dane Goodwin of Notre Dame had a good chance to score the game-winning basket, but his open 3-point attempt was off. The Irish are a pitiful 0-8 on the road and only 10-17 overall.

Oklahoma With 6.8 seconds left in overtime and the Longhorns missing one of their two free throws, the Sooners had a chance to defeat No. 5 Texas in Austin, but Sam Godwin missed a close shot, and the Sooners lost. It's rare to have the chance to defeat a top-five team, and the Sooners' confidence would have greatly benefited from it given that OU is currently last in the Big 12 standings.  (“Men’s College Basketball Winners, Losers: Kansas Makes Big Statement With Rout of Baylor”)