Bizarre night in college hoops sets up thrilling regular-season finale

The GIST: Notre Dame’s aforementioned loss was the biggest upset of a wild Thursday, but last night featured all sorts of bizarre score lines as teams careen towards the postseason. Look out, the wheels are coming off.

Huge blowouts dominate the night: A stunning seven games featuring top-25 teams ended in landslides last night. No. 15 Kentucky and No. 16 Duke both notched big upsets over No. 11 Tennessee and No. 8 UNC respectively, but it was No. 13 Oklahoma who ran up the score the most in their 89–65 spanking of Florida. Holy moly.

• One of the few games that wasn’t a smackdown, surprisingly, was No. 1 Texas’ distressingly narrow 68–64 win over Mississippi State, which was neck-and-neck until the very end. Toss in No. 7 LSU’s overtime 88–85 loss to No. 20 Alabama, and you have one weird night on the hardwood.

No. 5 UConn becomes first Power 5 team to clinch: The Huskies stomped No. 22 Creighton 72–53 to secure the regular-season Big East title, along with the all-important No. 1 seed (plus a first-round bye) in next week’s conference tournament, bringing with it an easier path to a March Madness auto-bid.

• Notre Dame could’ve clinched their conference crown last night, but now, they’re tied with No. 9 NC State for the lead in the ACC.

• It’s a similar scene in the SEC, where Texas and No. 6 South Carolina are in a deadlock for the regular-season crown. But things are even spicier in the Big Ten and Big 12…

Two winner-take-all matchups ahead: Tomorrow holds a rematch made for Hollywood as No. 2 UCLA seeks redemption against crosstown rival No. 4 USC at 9 p.m. ET on FOX. The Trojans handed UCLA their only loss of the season back on Galentine’s Day, but it’s not just revenge on the line: The winner will also clinch the Big Ten regular-season ’ship. And the winner for Best Drama is…

• And in the Big 12, No. 10 TCU (where Sedona Prince is still a starter, BTW…) and No. 17 Baylor will duke it out to break their tie for the regular-season title Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on FS1. Clear your cal now, you’re booked and busy all weekend.