With Houston and Kansas, the top-two teams in last week’s poll, both falling at home (and No. 3 Purdue barely escaping) over the weekend, college basketball has officially ratcheted up a notch as we enter the final week of January.
The Cougars’ loss was the fifth by the top team in the nation and the second by Houston alone. North Carolina also had a pair earlier in the season, and Purdue had its own slip-up earlier this month after four consecutive weeks at No. 1. The Boilermakers are back on top of the AP latest poll, but, as you’ll read, they’ll have a lot of work to do to be there a week from now.
This week’s slate has plenty of important games and features what should be one of the best Saturdays of the season. The Big 12/SEC Challenge will provide a brief respite from conference play for several of the nation’s top teams, but it’s no break from top-level competition. Couple that with several big games elsewhere, and it’s a crucial week before we flip the calendar to February. Without further ado…
This week’s top games
No. 9 Kansas at No. 17 Baylor (Monday, 9 p.m. on ESPN) — With the NFL no longer playing on Saturdays or Mondays, college hoops takes center stage. That starts tonight with Kansas taking on Baylor. The Jayhawks have lost two straight and only had a trio of three-game losing streaks under Bill Self since 2003-04. Avoiding their fourth will be no easy task.
Baylor has been more up-and-down this season than in the past three campaigns, but Scott Drew’s squad seems to be figuring things out during a four-game winning streak. The Bears have found more balance offensively, with three different leading scorers — Adam Flagler, Keyonte George and LJ Cryer — in their last three games and the Big 12’s best offensive efficiency. Defense, though, has been the key: The Bears are down to 67.5 PPG allowed over their last four after allowing 87.3 in their first three conference…
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