College basketball weekend winners and losers: Arizona headlines busy Saturday

It wasn’t exactly a memorable two days of college basketball. There were no earth-shattering upsets, no crazy buzzer-beaters, and no tripping controversies.

There were, though, two games between top 20 teams, one of which produced the most consequential result of the weekend. And up and down a crowded Saturday slate, there were plenty of teams that pulled out significant victories or slumped to damaging defeats, and plenty of players who stood out as individuals.

Here’s a look at the biggest winners and losers from the weekend in college hoops:

WINNERS

Arizona — A whirlwind 24 hours for the Wildcats began when the NCAA notified the program that Allonzo Trier’s latest drug test had come back negative. It ended with Trier on the court for the first time this season, and with Arizona outscoring UCLA, which is about as tough a task as there is in college basketball. The Wildcats are the new Pac-12 favorites.

Baylor — The Big 12 has a stronger, more balanced and more fluid second and third tier than any other conference, which makes almost every single road trip a treacherous one. Baylor had one of those trips this weekend, at resurgent TCU. The Bears were only 2-point favorites. Yet they came away with a quietly impressive 62-53 win, and further distanced themselves from that disastrous night in Morgantown two weeks ago.

Duke’s bench — The Blue Devils had an ugly first half against Miami. They scored 0.69 points per possession, and trailed 36-25 at halftime in an extremely physical game. To open the second period, Jeff Capel, coaching in place of Mike Krzyzewski, made the bold decision to go with three reserves — Frank Jackson, Matt Jones and Marques Bolden — in place of usual starters Grayson Allen, Luke Kennard and Harry Giles. The move couldn’t have worked out better. Those three, and Jones in particular, led Duke on a 22-1 run to open the half. The bench guys combined for 17 of the 22 points, and Jones himself contributed 11 on 3-for-3 from deep and 4-for-4 from the field. The second unit, playing alongside Amile Jefferson and Jayson Tatum, changed the game, and Duke went on to win 70-58.

Wisconsin’s big three — The Badgers trekked west for a rivalry game at Minnesota, and came away with a 78-76 overtime victory thanks to their three most talented players. Ethan Happ was the best of the three, and his stat line was dizzying: 28 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 blocks. Nigel Hayes also had a nice game, and then Bronson Koenig, who had been quiet in the second half, drilled two go-ahead three-pointers in overtime, the second of which put Wisconsin ahead for good with 44 seconds left.

Indiana’s backcourt — The Hoosiers have been decimated by injuries; OG Anunoby is out for the season, Juwan Morgan has missed the past two games, and Collin Hartman has missed the entire season after undergoing knee surgery in September. Without those three, the onus has been on the backcourt to carry the Hoosiers, and for the second straight game, James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson have done that. Three days after his buzzer-beater to defeat Penn State, Blackmon Jr. put up 33 on just 16 shots to lead Indiana to a crucial 82-75 win over Michigan State.

Marcus Keene — He’s 5-foot-9, he leads Division I in scoring, and he became the first D-I player to score 50 points since 2013 in Central Michigan’s 101-92 victory over Miami (OH).

Iowa State — With Jordan Woodard back from injury, Oklahoma is suddenly part of that aforementioned class of dangerous Big 12 teams. That’s why Iowa State’s 92-87 double-overtime win in Norman was notable. It’s not a résumé win because the Sooners were so bad in non-conference play, but it was nonetheless important for a Cyclones team.

LOSERS

West Virginia — Can the Mountaineers win games if they don’t win the turnover battle? They haven’t shown the ability to do so in Big 12 play, and didn’t Saturday at Kansas State.

Florida — The Gators’ loss at South Carolina on Wednesday was understandable; their 68-66 loss to Vanderbilt at home was just the opposite. Florida’s résumé prior to Saturday had been built on avoiding bad losses. So much for that.

Texas Tech — There are many ways to state your case for the NCAA Tournament. Losing to Oklahoma State — the same Oklahoma State that was previously winless in the Big 12 — at home by 19 is not one of them.

Texas A&M clock operators — Georgia had the ball down one in College Station with the shot clock turned off. With 5.6 seconds to play — poof! — off went the game clock too. It got stuck at 5.6 as Georgia tried to find a potential game-winning shot. The Bulldogs eventually did, and Yante Maten was fouled a few feet from the rim. But after the refs recognized the clock problem and reviewed the play, they ruled that the clock would have hit zeros before the foul had it not malfunctioned. Georgia felt hard done by, but, by rule, it was the correct decision. The doesn’t excuse the clock issue, though, which was apparently the result of a “belt pack malfunction” — whatever that means.

In the end, Georgia, a bubble team, was the real loser here.

Clemson — There are a lot of reasons to think Clemson is actually a pretty good team. The Tigers were a possession away from beating full-strength North Carolina a few weeks ago, are a top 40 KenPom team, and had six top-100 non-conference wins, including a road victory at South Carolina. The overtime loss to Carolina, however, was the first of six losses in a row. The latest came Sunday, at home against Virginia Tech. Brad Brownell’s team will have opportunities in the loaded ACC, but at 1-6 in conference play, they’re now playing catch-up.

NC State — Wake Forest and NC State played what was essentially an NCAA Tournament elimination game Saturday in Raleigh, even in early January. And the Wolfpack, despite having a future lottery pick at point guard, fell flat at home in a 93-88 loss. They’re 2-5 in the ACC, are underwhelming for the second-straight year, and Mark Gottfried’s seat is sizzling.

Washington — Speaking of teams with superstar point guards who play embarrassing defense… Washington gave up 94 points to Utah, and is now 9-10 on the season. How, you ask? This defensive possession probably gives you a pretty good idea:

No. 15 Noah Dickerson’s “help” defense is as laughably bad as it gets.