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| A LOOK BACK: THE WEEK THAT WAS
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January 8, 2006
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Jonathan, SCS.com Editor
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Contact Jonathan
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 Conference play is now officially underway all across the country, and the first full week of action did not fail to disappoint. In addition to a few left over non-conference battles like Texas's win at Memphis, there was plenty of great league action as well. Six of SCS.com's top eight ranked teams lost at least once this week, the lone exceptions being Duke and Florida. Top-ranked Connecticut fell on the road at Marquette, while third-ranked Villanova was defeated by West Virginia. Below is a complete look at the past week's highlights.
MONDAY
Texas finally snapped out of their slump, going on the road and knocking off Memphis on Monday ... Duke rolled all over Bucknell, while Western Kentucky pulled out a home victory over Virginia and UAB topped VCU ... A big night in the Missouri Valley saw Missouri State beat Drake, Northern Iowa defeat Illinois State, Bradley upset Creighton, and Southern Illinois take down Wichita State.
TUESDAY
Perhaps the biggest shocker of the season thus far saw Marquette slam SCS.com's #1 ranked team in America, the Connecticut Huskies, by 15 points on Tuesday ... Also on Tuesday, Georgia Tech picked up a huge win over Vanderbilt, while Indiana knocked off Michigan and Texas A&M's unbeaten season came to an end at Pacific ... Other action had Kentucky surviving a two-point scare from UCF, Oklahoma scratching out a three-point win at SMU, and Iona making a huge comeback on the road to win at Fresno State.
WEDNESDAY
Though national championship night in college football, Wednesday saw a number of interesting games played on the hardwood as well: George Washington picked up a big A-10 win at Temple, Clemson ended its skid against Florida State, and Pittsburgh remained unbeaten with a double-OT victory over Notre Dame ... Other Wednesday action saw Xavier come from behind at St. Joseph's, Syracuse down UTEP, Cincinnati take care of DePaul, and Fordham upset Dayton.
THURSDAY
There were three huge games on Thursday, one each in the Big East, Big Ten, and Pac-10: Villanova went on the road and led the entire game in a defeat of Louisville; Illinois and star guard Dee Brown fought hard and held off Michigan State in Champaign; and UCLA picked up a very impressive win on the road at Arizona ... Other Thursday action saw Wisconsin knock off Iowa, California take care of Oregon, Southern Illinois win on the road at Indiana State, Hawaii pull their second big upset of the year, this time over Nevada, and Northern Iowa pick up a huge victory away from home at Wichita State.
FRIDAY
The only real game of significance on Friday had Manhattan winning at Iona.
SATURDAY
The most major results of note from Saturday: Kansas absolutely crushed Kentucky in Lawrence, while Marquette nearly came away with their second big win of the week but lost a tight one to Cincinnati ... One of the biggest upsets of the day was Miami's huge 14 point home win over Maryland, and if that wasn't big enough for you, then maybe Washington State's road victory at in-state rival Washington was ... Iowa's victory over previously unbeaten Illinois was also a major upset Saturday ... In-state action saw North Carolina pull away from NC State and defeat the Wolfpack ... Indiana topped Ohio State by two, giving the Buckeyes their first loss of the sesaon, while Connecticut survived a scare from LSU and came out on top by one.
Other important Saturday action by conference: ACC - Virginia over Clemson; Atlantic 10 - Charlotte earned a big win at Dayton; Big East - DePaul topped Notre Dame and Louisville got back on track at Providence; Big XII - Texas A&M took down Texas Tech, Missouri got past Oklahoma State, Nebraska pulled a last-second upset of Oklahoma, and Iowa State avoided the upset attempt of Kansas State; Horizon - UW-Milwaukee picked up a nice over Butler; MAC - Northern Illinois and Buffalo battled back and forth all day, but in the end, the Huskies came out on top in overtime; Missouri Valley - Northern Iowa picked up a big league win on the road at Missouri State; PAC-10 - UCLA survived on the road at Arizona State by one point, while Oregon State pulled off a huge win on the road at California; SEC - Florida remained unbeaten on the road at Georgia, Mississippi pulled an upset at Alabama, and Mississippi State held off Arkansas by two.
SUNDAY
West Virginia gave Villanova their first loss of the season on Sunday, while Duke remained unbeaten with a victory on the road at Wake Forest Sunday night ... Wisconsin pulled away in the second half and destroyed Michigan State in the Big Ten, while other ACC action saw Georgia Tech hang on for their second league win of the year, this one over Boston Collegee ... Other Sunday action saw St. Joseph's slip past Temple, Tennessee top South Carolina, and Creighton, Southern Illinois, and Wichita State all pick up big MVC victories.
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