TCU, Arizona, Houston headline this weekend's men's college basketball winners and losers

These are heady times for TCU athletics. The Horned Frogs took the football world by storm with a surprising run to the College Football Playoff championship game, and it turns out the Horned Frogs are pretty good on the hardwood as well.

Kansas rarely loses at home, so just winning in Allen Fieldhouse would have been one thing for TCU. Dominating the Jayhawks wire-to-wire was quite another as the Horned Frogs on Saturday handed KU its second worst home defeat in coach Bill Self’s tenure in Lawrence. Shahada Wells scored 17 points to lead a balanced effort from the Horned Frogs, who shot 54.4% for the game while holding the Jayhawks to just 39.0% shooting. It was a huge improvement over the Horned Frogs’ previous outing, a loss at West Virginia.

As for the Jayhawks, who also lost midweek to archrival Kansas State, they’re sure to fall from their No. 2 ranking in the polls. There’s a long way to go, of course, and KU is more than capable of going on another run to stay in the mix for a No. 1 seed, but there are no days off in the Big 12.

Here are some other winners and losers in college basketball after a busy weekend.

Winners

Arizona

The Wildcats picked up arguably the weekend’s other most important win with a 58-52 takedown of UCLA in Tucson. Arizona used its size advantage, effectively beating the Bruins at their own defensive game and ending their run of 14 consecutive victories. The win closed out a successful weekend at the McKale Center for the Wildcats, who also downed Southern California on Thursday night to snap a mini slump.

Alabama

The Crimson Tide ran their winning streak to eight with another comfortable win at Missouri. Alabama knocked down another 10 shots from three-point range, bringing its season total to 195 made treys.

Big Ten teams in the Hoosier State

It was a busy Sunday afternoon in the hoops hotbed. Purdue started fast then held on against Maryland to maintain its distance atop the crowded league and will undoubtedly return to the No. 1 spot in the polls. But Indiana’s hard-fought win against Michigan State might have been even more important. The Hoosiers pulled away from the Spartans in the second half for their third consecutive conference victory, and with several key players healthy again are beginning to look like the team observers pegged as the league favorite in the preseason.

Duke

The Blue Devils were glad to have Jeremy Roach back in action. He returned from a three-game absence with a toe injury to post 14 points and four assists to help Duke stave off Miami. After some up-and-down moments in January, the victory could serve as a catalyst for Jon Scheyer's team to make a run at the ACC title.

Virginia

Clemson still holds a one-game lead in the ACC standings, but nobody in the conference is playing better than the Cavaliers right now. UVa knocked down 15 three-pointers in Saturday’s road win at Wake Forest. The Cavs will be hard to beat in the conference going forward if they continue to shoot well to complement their signature defense.

New Mexico

The Lobos rebounded from their first two setbacks of the campaign in a big way, following up last weekend’s huge road victory at San Diego State with an overtime triumph at home against Boise State on Friday. Those results that should hold up as quadrant-one wins will serve New Mexico well with the Mountain West likely to receive multiple NCAA bids come March.

Saint Mary’s

The Gaels rolled past Santa Clara and sit alone atop the West Coast Conference. They’ll get to enjoy the perch for a few days, as they now have some time off before next Saturday’s trip to BYU.

Kentucky

The Wildcats nudged above the .500 mark in SEC play with their third consecutive win, handing Texas A&M its first conference loss in the process, as the three-guard lineup with freshman Cason Wallace running point again proved most effective for UK.

Losers

Houston

In the big picture, the Cougars losing 56-55 at home Sunday to unranked Temple won’t hurt much, notwithstanding Houston’s ample opportunities to pull it out. This result might, however, damage the team's case for a top seed when its resume is compared to candidates from stronger conferences. Incidentally, the Owls in addition to the Houston win own victories against Rutgers and Virginia Commonwealth but also losses to Wagner, Penn and Maryland-Eastern Shore.

Arizona State

The Sun Devils didn’t fair nearly as well as their Grand Canyon State rivals, dropping both their home contests to the Los Angeles schools this week after four consecutive Pac-12 victories. Saturday’s setback against Southern California could prove most damaging in a few weeks should both teams find themselves in bubble territory.

Oklahoma

After a lackluster performance against Oklahoma State, the Sooners came up short again over the weekend in a two-point loss to Baylor. That leaves OU at 2-5 in the Big 12 with four of the losses by combined 10 points. At 11-8 overall, the Sooners are in precarious territory with a difficult schedule still ahead.

Pittsburgh

The Panthers were among the ACC’s pleasant surprises early, but Saturday’s loss at home to a sub-.500 Florida State squad might be hard to overcome with limited opportunities for quality wins. Instead of being one game behind conference leaders Clemson, Pitt now is a pack of teams with three league losses.

Gonzaga

Technically, the Zags did get a win Saturday at Pacific. But the 99-90 result on the heels of a stunning home loss to Loyola Marymount did little to allay the concerns that this year’s defensively-challenged Gonzaga squad might not be built for a deep run in March.

Dayton

The preseason Atlantic 10 favorite Flyers fell out of first place with a damaging loss at George Washington. Dayton still has the league’s top NET ranking at 69, but the conference remains a long shot to get an at-large berth in addition to its automatic qualifier.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College basketball winners and losers: TCU, Arizona, Houston lead list