With Xavier off the undefeated list, we’re down to three teams still without a single loss this season: Oklahoma, South Carolina and SMU, with the Gamecocks yet to play a single SEC game.
The Sooners are 12-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12 following their 87-83 win over Iowa State. Oklahoma were number three heading into this week, Iowa State number 11. It wasn’t easy – The Cyclones led for most of the second half and had a chance to win the game with 5.8 seconds on the clock, but Monte Morris missed the potential game winning shot, leading Oklahoma to rebound and hit a couple from the line to seal things for good. Buddy Hield scored 22 points, Ryan Spangler added 20, and it’s hard to believe Oklahoma can go through an extremely deep Big 12 unscathed.
SMU are in a different situation, playing an easier conference. They beat South Florida 72-58 to make it 2-0 for them in the American Conference, with three different players scoring 13 points. They’re ranked 17 for a reason, and the only ranked team they have on their schedule at the moment is Cincinnati (#22, 11-4) on the final game of the regular season.
South Carolina have yet to play their SEC game. They started 2016 with a 86-76 win over Memphis, which should propel the Gamecocks above the number 24 they’re currently at. Sindarius Thornwell scored 18 points to lead the way and Michael Carrera added 16. However, we’ve yet to see anything from South Carolina to suggest this is going to be a special year for them and that they’re going to be in the picture come March and April.
As for other top ranked teams? Michigan State won their first Big Ten game of the season by beating Minnesota but they won’t be number one when the rankings come out. Kansas destroyed Baylor to make a case for a bump from number 2, Maryland are 2-0 in the Big Ten by dominating Northwestern, Virginia won against Notre Dame, Xavier Bounced back from the loss to Villanova by beating #9 Butler, North Carolina improved to 2-0 in the ACC by beating Georgia Tech and Kentucky opened their SEC season by easily beating Ole Miss.
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