Three Top 10 NCAA basketball teams suffered big upset losses on Thursday, shifting late-season momentum to the sport's underdogs ahead of next week’s conference tournaments.
No. 3 Notre Dame fell 86-81 to No. 24 Florida State, marking the Irish's second straight loss since reaching No. 1 in the AP Poll on February 17th.
"Just really frustrated with our performance defensively tonight," Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey after last night’s game. "I didn’t think that we were locked in for four quarters."
No. 7 LSU and No. 8 UNC also saw tough results, with the Tigers falling in a narrow 88-85 overtime battle to No. 20 Alabama while the Tar Heels stumbled 68-53 to in-state rival No. 16 Duke.
Even No. 1 Texas faced some adversity, eking out a 68-64 win after unranked Mississippi State pushed the Longhorns to the brink.
All in all, as the hyper-competitive 2024/25 women's college basketball season draws to a close, building exhaustion, waning focus, and minutes management are inducing game-changing upsets — putting the country’s top teams firmly on notice.
Conference titles on the line in final NCAA games
While most of Thursday's upsets affect seedings further down conference tables, Notre Dame's loss puts the Irish in danger of losing the ACC tournament’s No. 1 seed right at the finish line.
Notre Dame now sits alongside No. 9 NC State atop the conference table, with the Wolfpack holding a potential tie-breaking head-to-head advantage over the Irish. The only way Notre Dame can now book the top ACC tournament spot is with a win over No. 25 Louisville plus an NC State loss against unranked SMU this Sunday.
Even more, Notre Dame could now lose their projected top-seeded entry into the 2025 NCAA tournament.
Along with the ACC trophy, regular-season titles in the SEC, Big 12, and Big Ten will now come down to weekend finales. The Big East's No. 5 UConn stands alone as the only major conference team to have already secured their title.
Similar to the ACC, the No. 1 SEC seed relies on a pair of Sunday games featuring the conference's two top contenders: No. 1 Texas and No. 6 South Carolina.
The Big 12 and Big Ten, however, finish the season with table leaders meeting in winner-take-all finals this weekend. The Big Ten title will be decided in Saturday's clash between No. 4 USC and No. 2 UCLA, before No. 10 TCU and No. 17 Baylor will battle for the Big 12 trophy on Sunday.
In the pair's first rounds earlier this season, USC and TCU emerged with wins over their respective conference foes.
How to watch top women's college basketball games this weekend
The country's best NCAA teams are all aiming to take care of conference business this weekend, pushing for top seeds and eyeing deep postseason runs.
Saturday's spotlight belongs to No. 4 USC and No. 2 UCLA, with the crosstown rivales' rematch determining the Big Ten title. USC tips off against UCLA at 9 PM ET, live on Fox Sports.
Then, Notre Dame kicks off ESPN's Sunday coverage with a decisive game against No. 25 Louisville at 12 PM ET.
Sunday's DI finale belongs to the Big 12, where No. 10 TCU takes on No. 17 Baylor at 6:30 PM ET, airing live on FS1.
For the second straight week, NCAA basketball saw its No. 1 team humbled, as top-ranked Notre Dame fell to No. 13 NC State in Sunday's 104-95 double-overtime thriller.
NC State’s guards led the pack, with sophomore Zoe Brooks topping the scoresheet with a 33-point, 10-rebound double-double. Wolfpack seniors backed her up with Aziaha James contributing 20 points and star Saniya Rivers posting a near triple-double.
"We just kept fighting. We wanted to win this game really bad, and we did everything we could to win," Brooks told reporters after the game.
NC State breaks 19-game Notre Dame winning streak
As for the Irish, senior guard Sonia Citron played hero at the end of regulation, draining a clutch three-pointer to force the first overtime period.
Unfortunately, however, Notre Dame couldn’t execute at the end to hold off the Wolfpack’s upset campaign. Despite sophomore star Hannah Hidalgo finishing the game with a team-leading 26 points, she began to fade down the stretch, eventually fouling out without a single overtime score contribution.
The loss snapped Notre Dame's 19-game winning streak, and will likely cost the Irish their No. 1 spot in this week’s AP Poll as a result — setting the stage for a possible fourth top-ranked team this season.
Parity takes the spotlight as NCAA basketball season wraps up
The last time four different DI women's basketball teams laid claim to the No. 1 spot in a single season was during the 2020/21 NCAA campaign. That's when South Carolina, Louisville, UConn, and eventual champions Stanford each spent time atop the AP Poll.
No season has featured more than four total No. 1 teams since the 1976 inception of the AP Top 25.
That said, the NCAA’s biggest defining factor this season has undoubtedly been parity, making each game — and poll spot — anyone's to grab.
With the win-or-go-home reality of March fast approaching, a number of talented teams are able to pull off upsets at any given time. Therefore, there's almost zero room for error left for title contenders, as a single mishap will send even top squads packing once the Madness tips off.
The 2024/25 NCAA basketball season is down to its 10 final days of competition, with conference tournament seeding hanging in the balance as top teams try to build up some March Madness momentum.
Proving that nothing is guaranteed, two teams suffered upset losses on Thursday night.
In the ACC, No. 11 Duke fell to unranked Louisville 70-62. Though senior guard Jayda Curry led both the Cardinals and the game with 24 points, Louisville's victory came largely from the free throw line, where the Cards snagged 22 points but the Blue Devils only banked four.
The Big Ten followed suit, when unranked Indiana downed No. 8 Ohio State 71-61. Fueled by double-digit performances from four different Hoosiers, Indiana took an early lead and never relented, outshooting and out-rebounding the Buckeyes to hand them their fourth loss on the season.
NCAA conference titles take center court in decisive weekend matchups
While some teams are stumbling at the finish line, others have a shot at clinching conference hardware this weekend.
With a two-win lead on the ACC table, No. 1 Notre Dame has the chance to lock down the conference's regular-season title on Sunday, when the Irish will take on second-place No. 13 NC State.
The consequential clash has earned Raleigh a visit from ESPN’s College Gameday, with the pre-game show slated to build upon last weekend’s success in South Carolina with another high-stakes matchup.
Meanwhile in the SEC, No. 7 LSU’s season is also on the line. Unlike the Irish, however, the Tigers are simply trying to keep their dwindling conference title hopes alive, facing a must-win game against No. 14 Kentucky on Sunday.
To claim the SEC’s No. 1 seed, LSU would also need both No. 2 Texas and No. 6 South Carolina to stumble in their regular-season home stretch.
Beyond conference titles, the regular season’s wind-down can provide insights into how far teams can run into the postseason, as any upsets this week could spell busted brackets — or unexpected surges — come March.
How to watch Sunday's Top 15 NCAA basketball games
No. 1 Notre Dame will tip off the ranked Sunday action against No. 13 NC State at 12 PM ET, with live coverage of the ACC titans airing on ESPN.
Then at 4 PM ET, No. 7 LSU will try to steal a road win over No. 14 Kentucky, with ESPN also airing the decisive SEC meeting.
With NCAA basketball tipping off this week, early season upsets and hard-fought wins are already humbling some of college's top-ranked programs.
No. 19 Florida State fell to unranked Illinois 83-74 on Thursday despite 27 points from junior guard Ta'Niya Latson and a 22-point, 14-rebound double-double from senior forward Makayla Timpson. Behind 20-point performances from both Makira Cook and Adalia Mckenzie, the Fighting Illini took a 10-point first-quarter lead that they never relinquished.
Also on Thursday, No. 25 Indiana lost to unranked Harvard 72-68, with the Crimson dropping 21 first-quarter points to the Hoosiers' mere seven to put Indiana on their heels. The Big Ten squad mounted a comeback to force overtime, but between Harvard guard Harmoni Turner's 24 points and Indiana's 27 turnovers, the Ivy Leaguers took the win back to Cambridge.
Proving that ambitious non-conference schedules can be both risky and rewarding, No. 1 South Carolina, No. 3 USC, and No. 5 UCLA all narrowly fended off upsets in their respective season openers earlier this week.
Ultimately, even though recruitment and transfer opportunities can consolidate talent at the league's top, parity in college basketball has never been more widespread — and the 2024/25 competition's just starting.
Final Four rematch headlines NCAA weekend lineup
Continuing the non-conference drama this weekend will be Sunday's 2024 Final Four rematch between No. 1 South Carolina and No. 9 NC State.
Last April, the Gamecocks resoundingly defeated the Wolfpack 78-59 in their NCAA semifinal before finishing the 2023/24 season as undefeated national champions.
Former South Carolina transfer Saniya Rivers will once again star for the Wolfpack, though sophomore guard Zoe Brooks was NC State's leading scorer with 21 points in their season opener against East Tennessee State on Tuesday.
As for the Gamecocks, they relied on junior forward Chloe Kitts to lead the scoring in their 68-62 opening win over unranked Michigan on Monday. In narrow victory, the reigning champions trailed for all but 32 seconds of the first half. Of course, the struggle highlighted the fact that South Carolina is still figuring out how to respond to missing Chicago Sky rookie Kamila Cardoso in the paint.
Sunday will also feature another ranked matchup, as No. 11 Duke visits No. 18 Maryland. Though both teams enter the weekend undefeated, Duke faces a particularly tough non-conference schedule this season, capped by a December 5th date with South Carolina.
How to watch women's college basketball games this weekend
Duke and Maryland tip off Sunday's action at 1 PM ET, airing live on FS1. Then at 3 PM ET, South Carolina visits NC State, with live coverage on ESPN.
Elizabeth Kitley delivered big on Sunday, helping No. 13 Virginia Tech upset previously undefeated No. 3 NC State with a last-second layup.
The layup came off of a cross-court inbound pass from Cayla King, leaving less than a second left for NC State to respond and avoid the upset. But the Wolfpack were unable to deny the Hokies of their victory.
ELIZABETH KITLEY HITS THE GAME WINNER 🚨 @HokiesWBB pic.twitter.com/UkawwYeH2U
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) January 7, 2024
Kitley finished with 27 points for Virginia Tech, who rallied from a 13-point deficit in the second half for their seventh-straight win. It was also their 19th straight win at home.
“I think we’ve gone over that play multiple times in practice,” Georgia Amoore said, calling the play “Old Faithful.” “And you know, Cayla has great vision and great accuracy with that pass, and I knew that it’s worked before. So, I was very, very confident.”
“Coach [Kenny] Brooks is really good in those situations, and he had something in his back pocket,” Kitley said. “Cayla had an absolute dime of a pass and it ended up working out for us.”
The Hokies’ coach said the team “needed” the win after two early season losses to ranked opponents.
“We just kind of like dug in and said, ‘Hey, we’re not trying to prove anybody wrong,” Brooks said. “We’re just going to continue to prove ourselves right,’ and that worked for us last year, and it continues to work for us.”
“It came down to just willing yourself to win,” he added. “A game like that, a win like that, is like feeding a monster because I think people are going to continue to come back.”
For the Wolfpack, it was their first loss this season. It also leaves just three undefeated teams left in women’s college basketball: No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 UCLA and No. 6 Baylor.
“I think the heartbreaking thing is we have a lot of respect for their program, and you’re two seconds away from beating them on the road,” NC State coach Wes Moore said. “That’s heartbreaking. As a coach, you think I could have done something different, and we’d have won that game.”
Just 11 teams remain undefeated in NCAA women’s basketball.
Pac-12 rivals UCLA and USC are among them, with both likely to remain so heading into their Dec. 30 meeting. Before that top-10 contest, No. 2 UCLA will face Hawaii at 4 p.m. ET Wednesday, and No. 6 USC will go up against Long Beach State at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday.
USC is led by freshman phenom JuJu Watkins, who has five 30-point performances through nine games. Her 26.8 points per game is second among all scorers, behind only Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. UCLA also features a star-studded roster, including sophomores Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice.
The undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks remain the unanimous No. 1 pick in the AP Top 25. Their next game against a ranked opponent comes on Jan. 25 against No. 7 LSU.
The full list of teams undefeated as of noon ET on Dec. 20 includes:
- No. 1 South Carolina (11-0)
- No. 2 UCLA (10-0)
- No. 3 NC State (11-0)
- No. 5 Texas (11-0)
- No. 6 USC (9-0)
- No. 10 Baylor (9-0)
- No. 18 Marquette (11-0)
- No. 23 Washington (11-0)
- No. 25 TCU (11-0)
- West Virginia (10-0)
- Oregon State (9-0)
In the 2022-23 season, South Carolina went undefeated until the Final Four, when the Gamecocks lost to Iowa. Just nine teams have gone undefeated en route to a national championship: Texas (1985-86), Tennessee (1997-98), Baylor (2011-12) and UConn (1994-95, 2001-02, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2013-14, 2015-16).
A number of teams this season have just one loss so far, including Iowa (11-1) and LSU (11-1).
No. 2 UConn basketball was upset by an unranked NC State team on Saturday evening, 92-81. The last time the Wolfpack beat the Huskies came in the 1998 Elite Eight.
NC State junior Saniya Rivers stood out as the player of the match, draining 33 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for her squad. Rivers also drew fouls throughout the game, and she shot 10-14 from the free-throw line.
UConn head coach Gino Auriemma told his NC State counterpart Wes Moore that the Wolfpack team is “10 times better than last year,” as CT Insider’s Maggie Vanoni reported after the game.
“Everything they did was better than ours. … They were just on top of their game more than I remember. We got our asses beat plain and simple,” Auriemma said.
The Huskies made a palpable offensive effort, with two of their starters bagging over 20 points — Paige Bueckers dropped 27, while Aaliyah Edwards contributed 21. Bueckers was playing in her second game since her return from an ACL injury.
However, UConn struggled on the defensive end of the court. Four out of five Husky starters were in foul trouble by the end of the game, racking up at least four fouls, with Nika Mühl fouling out.
“We weren’t mature enough to handle it,” Auriemma said of his team.
UConn grabbed 11 fewer rebounds than NC State, with 29 to the Wolfpack’s 41. NC State cashed in on 12 points off rebounds and 12 second-chance points.
“We’ve got a sh— attitude towards rebounding … and that’s got to change,” Auriemma said.
With UConn’s loss to NC State and No. 1 LSU’s season-opening loss to Colorado, the top two teams in the preseason AP Top 25 have lost before the second AP poll for the first time in at least 25 years, according to ESPN.