No matter what, Saturday's slate of men's college basketball games was going to be good.
Miami (FL)'s stunning upset over No. 2 Duke culminated those expectations.
But the excitement on Saturday wasn't all due to the the thriller in Durham. A plethora of upsets had preceded it. First, No. 14 Texas fell to Oklahoma State. Missouri followed in Oklahoma State's footsteps, scoring an upset of its own with a win over No. 15 Alabama. Then it was No. 6 Kansas falling to No. 25 Texas Tech. Shortly after, San Diego State walloped No. 20 Colorado State by 30 points.
The Big 12 then saw a third upset take place on Saturday when Oklahoma stunned No. 11 Iowa State.
Even No. 21 LSU got in on the fun, taking down No. 18 Tennessee.
Let's take a look at how each upset happened.
Miami (FL) goes on the road and stuns No. 2 Duke
Not many teams can go into Cameron Indoor Stadium and hang with Duke bucket-for-bucket. Even less can go in and win.
Miami (FL) did both on Saturday, taking down the Blue Devils, 76-74.
It was a battle throughout, but in the end, it was Miami's Charlie Moore converting on a layup as he was falling to the floor to cut the Duke lead to 74-73. After Moore missed the ensuing free throw from getting fouled, Kameron McGusty scored to make it 75-74 and Miami never looked back.
Moore finished the night with 18 points, three rebounds and two assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Check out the full recap on Miami's big win over No. 2 Duke
The Hurricanes finished with 52 points in the paint, which is exactly how they kept up with the Blue Devils from start to finish.
Oklahoma State holds No. 14 Texas to 51 points
Texas entered Saturday's game averaging 72.1 points per game. Oklahoma State didn't seem to care about that, holding the No. 14 team in the country to 51 on Saturday, beating the Longhorns, 64-51.
Offensively, the Cowboys were led by junior guard Keylan Boone, who exploded for 17 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Bryce Williams came in with 11 points, two assists and three rebounds.
SCOREBOARD: Follow all games from Saturday
Because of the Cowboys' huge defensive afternoon, they earned a massive Big 12 win early in conference play.
Missouri drops 92 points to edge out No. 15 Alabama
While Oklahoma State-Texas was a defensive standoff, Missouri and No. 15 Alabama went punch-for-punch in a shootout. In the end, it was Missouri taking down the Crimson Tide, 92-86, at home.
Junior forward Kobe Brown entered Saturday averaging 14.2 points per contest. He blew that number out of the water against Alabama, scoring 30 and adding 13 rebounds, as he led the Tigers to the win. Guard Jarron Coleman pitched in with 18 points of his own while guards DaJuan Gordon and Javon Pickett added 15 each.
On the Alabama side, guard Jahvon Quinerly led his squad with 19 points while guard Jaden Shackelford contributed 17.
Missouri improves to 1-1 in SEC play. Alabama suffers its first conference loss of the season, falling to 2-1.
No. 25 Texas Tech takes down No. 6 Kansas, 75-67
Oh, look: Another Big 12 upset.
Super-senior forward Bryson Williams went off Saturday afternoon, dropping 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists to lead Texas Tech to a 75-67 victory over No. 6 Kansas.
Also pitching in for the Red Raiders was guard Clarence Nadolny. He entered Saturday averaging 3.4 points per game, but the junior dropped 17 on the Jayhawks.
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Kansas received big days from Ochai Agbaji and Jalen Wilson. Agbaji dropped 24 points while Wilson added 20. Other than those two, however, the Jayhawks didn't get enough production to squeak past the Red Raiders.
San Diego State crushes No. 20 Colorado State by 30
San Diego State has a very good basketball team, but a 30-point win over undefeated No. 20 Colorado State? That was stunning.
Guard Matt Bradley led the Aztecs to the 79-49 win, scoring 26 points and seven rebounds. Chad Baker added 14 points, Lamont Butler posted 11 and then Aguek Arop and Keshad Johnson added 10 each.
Colorado State had a rough day all around, but especially offensively. The Rams shot 27.9 percent from the field and 15.0 percent from beyond the arc. The only notable players for the losing side was Isaiah Stevens putting up 19 points and David Roddy scoring 17.
After Colorado State's loss, just two teams remain undefeated in DI men's basketball.
Oklahoma stuns No. 11 Iowa State
Three is an important number when it comes to Oklahoma's 79-66 win over No. 11 Iowa State.
For starters, that's three (3!) Big 12 upsets on the day. Then, this win for the Sooners is their third win against a top-15 team this season. The first two came against Arkansas and Florida.
As for this game, Oklahoma had guard Umoja Gibson leading the way offensively with 20 points. Elijah Harkless chipped in with 15 and center Tanner Groves added 14.
This was an abnormal game on defense for the Cyclones, as they entered Saturday averaging only 56.9 points against.
Iowa State did get quality production from Tyrese Hunter and Izaiah Brockington. Both dropped 20 points each, however it wasn't enough to power their squad to victory.
No. 21 LSU holds off No. 18 Tennessee's comeback
This one was less of an upset than the games mentioned above, but No. 21 LSU's 79-67 win over No. 18 Tennessee was impressive.
What was especially impressive was the way in which the Tigers held off the Volunteers' comeback. Midway through the second half, a Tigers win looked imminent — they led 65-49. But then the Volunteers went on a run through the final eight minutes, cutting the deficit to only five points at a score of 71-66.
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LSU responded great when the pressure was fully on. The Tigers outscored Tennessee, 8-1, in the final two minutes to secure the win.
Tari Eason led the way for LSU offensively, scoring 24 points and adding 12 rebounds.
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