By Avry Jones
Photo: Vanquish The Foe
Tuesday evening, February 18th, 2025, will be remembered as a night of stunning upsets in men’s college basketball. Three top-ranked teams— #23 Kansas, #7 Texas A&M, and #9 Texas Tech—fell to their underdog opponents, shaking up the rankings and thrilling fans nationwide.
#23 Kansas loses by 34 points to unranked BYU Cougars
Richie Saunders scored 22 points to lead BYU to a 91-57 victory over number 23 Kansas Jayhawks. Trevin Knell and Mawot Mag added 15 and 13 points respectively to help BYU win their third straight.
The Jayhawks were down by 20 points at the end of the 1st half and trailed by as many as 38 points in the 2nd half. Kansas had a chance to close the gap after BYU went six minutes without scoring. However, the Cougars regained a double-digit lead behind a flurry of 3-pointers. Efficient shooting and relentless defensive pressure powered the Cougars to victory.
#7 Texas A&M falls by 16 points to #21 Mississippi State Bulldogs
Josh Hubbard scored 25 points, and reserve Claudell Harris Jr. added 15 points, with the majority coming in the 2nd half on Tuesday night to win against Texas A&M Aggies. The Bulldogs began the 2nd half with a 14-3 run to grab control to their first win this season over a top-10 opponent. Although 2.5 points favored Mississippi State, its fans celebrated by storming the court after the upset.
The Aggies had a 1-point lead at the end of the 1st half, but Hubbard opened the 2nd half scoring with a 3-pointer, and Mississippi State never trailed again as free-throw shooting helped the Bulldogs stay ahead as the team finished 17 of 20.
The Aggies suffered their most significant loss in league play this season. However, they won four of their first six SEC road games. The Aggies were hurt by turnovers with 19, and they shot just 35.8 % from the field. Previously, the Bulldogs had tough losses to top-10 SEC opponents Kentucky, Alabama, and Florida. The Bulldogs look to keep this momentum when facing Oklahoma.
#9 Texas Tech loses nail-biter to unranked TCU Horned Frogs
Noah Reynolds scored 16 points, including the last 7 points for TCU, as the Horned Frogs beat 9th-ranked Texas Tech 69-66. Reynolds’ turnaround jumper with 11.6 seconds left was the first field goal in more than four minutes for the Horned Frogs and put them ahead 68-63 before Chance McMillian hit a long 3-pointer for the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
After Reynolds made the second of his two free throws with four seconds left, Texas Tech had a chance to tie it. But JT Toppin had his 3-point shot blocked by David Punch and rebounded by Reynolds.
Darrion Williams had 21 points to lead the Red Raiders, who had won nine of their previous ten games to move into the top 10 for the first time in three years. Texas Tech missed a chance to regain a share of second place in the Big 12 conference, with #19 Arizona winning against Baylor on Monday night.
Takeaways
The upsets of Kansas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech carry a lot of implications as conference tournaments are coming up soon. Teams, especially ranked teams, want an advantage by having a high-caliber play against unranked opponents and ranked adversaries. Significant momentum going into the conference will help a team’s chances for conference tournament victories and possibly high ranks during the national champion tournament. Still, underdog teams loved to play spoiler every single year.
