If anyone was going to beat No. 1 Massachusetts this season, it figured to be George Washington.
The Colonials made it four straight victories over UMass on Saturday when Vaughn Jones scored 21 points to hand the Minutemen their first loss of the season, 86-76.George Washington (18-5, 11-2 Atlantic 10) has won its last four games against Top 10 teams and two in a row at the Mullins Center; no other visitor has won here even once.
"It's probably more amazing that we can't play that way against everybody," Colonials coach Mike Jarvis said of the enigmatic stat. "If we could, we'd be undefeated."
The last unbeaten team in Division I, UMass (26-1, 14-1) lost its chance to become the first undefeated national champions since Indiana in 1976. Since 1979, only UNLV in 1991 was even able to make it as far as the NCAA tournament without a loss.
"The good news is, there is no pressure now. It's play ball. The pressure's gone," said UMass coach John Calipari, who watched the last 30 minutes on TV in the locker room after drawing his second technical foul with 10:31 left in the first half.
"Twenty-six and one is still pretty darn good. And we're still a terrific basketball team."
The victory strengthens the Colonials' case for an NCAA tournament bid, which eluded them last season despite an 18-win season.
"Beating the No. 1 team in the country is what every team in America wants to do," guard Shawnta Rogers said. "To beat the best, you're going to get noticed."
GW led by as much as 55-32 with 16:36 remaining before UMass began to whittle away. It was 71-53 with 5:12 left in the game when UMass scored eight consecutive points, getting a four-point play from Carmelo Travieso to cut the lead to 10.
UMass cut it to 73-64 with 2:36 left before Kwame Evans hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to make it a 12-point game. It was 84-76 after another 3-pointer by Travieso, but by then there were only 14 seconds left.
Travieso finished with 23 points and Marcus Camby scored 18 with eight rebounds to lead UMass. J.J. Brade had 16 points for GW and Alexander Koul scored 14 before fouling out.
No. 2 Kentucky 94, Florida 63
At Gainesville, Fla., Kentucky didn't waste its long-awaited shot at No. 1, as Antoine Walker had 20 points and 11 rebounds in leading the Wildcats to a victory over Florida.
The Wildcats, No. 1 at the start of the season, were beaten 92-82 by UMass in the second game of the season. Since then, they have beaten every team but two - Indiana and Georgia - by at least 10 points.
No. 5 Kansas 77, Kansas St. 66
At Manhattan, Kan., Jacque Vaughn scored 20 points and seemed to stop every Kansas State rally with a timely 3-pointer as No. 5 Kansas beat the Wildcats to clinch the final Big Eight championship.
Kansas (23-2, 11-1 Big Eight) closes out the Big Eight era winning five of the last six titles. The Big Eight becomes the Big 12 next year with the addition of Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech and Texas A&M.
No. 9 Texas Tech 75, Texas 58
At Austin, Texas, Tony Battie had 22 points and nine rebounds Saturday as No. 9 Texas Tech ended eight years of frustration at Texas with a victory that clinched the final Southwest Conference regular-season title for the Red Raiders.
Virginia 67, No. 10 Wake Forest 49
At Charlottesville, Va., Chris Alexander had one of his best games in his last appearance at University Hall, frustrating Tim Duncan all night in helping Virginia to a victory against No. 10 Wake Forest.
Alexander held Duncan, his All-American counterpart, to 15 points on 6-for-20 shooting and blocked two shots.
No. 11 Georgetown 67,
No. 20 Boston College 64
At Landover, Md., No. 11 Georgetown, its home invincibility under threat, rallied from an eight-point deficit by holding No. 20 Boston College to two field goals over the final 8:15 in a lackluster victory. Allen Iverson led the Hoyas (23-5, 12-4 Big East) with 16 points.
No. 13 Arizona 84, Oregon St. 60
At Tucson, Ariz., a three-point play by Ben Davis started No. 13 Arizona on a 9-0 run in the first two minutes of the second half, and the Wildcats went on to rout Oregon State.
Arizona (21-5, 10-4 Pac-10) beat the Beavers for the 13th straight time. Oregon State (3-21, 1-14) lost its school-record 13th in a row overall.
No. 15 Syracuse 77, Pittsburgh 60
At Syracuse, N.Y., J.B. Reafsnyder scored 12 of his career-high 18 points during a 20-6 second half run as No. 15 Syracuse overcame poor shooting in the first half for a victory over Pittsburgh.
Syracuse, rebounding from a stinging one-point loss at Seton Hall, defeated Pittsburgh for the 10th straight time, sending the Panthers (9-15, 4-12 Big East) to their seventh consecutive loss and 12th in their last 13 games.
Florida St. 84,
No. 17 North Carolina 80
At Chapel Hill, N.C., Florida State's yo-yo season hit a monumental upswing as the Seminoles knocked off No. 17 North Carolina less than two weeks before the start of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
Illinois 91, No. 18 Iowa 86
At Champaign, Ill., Richard Keene scored 25 points, including two free throws with 2.6 seconds left, as Illinois survived a white-knuckle comeback bid by No. 18 Iowa. More stunning than the victory was Illinois coach Lou Henson's announcement afterward that he would retire after this season.
No. 22 Iowa St. 78, Missouri 74
At Columbia, Mo., Dedric Willoughby scored 25 points and ignited a second-half rally with four 3-pointers in less than four minutes as No. 22 Iowa State beat Missouri.
No. 24 Stanford 71, Washington 56
At Stanford, Calif., Andy Poppink had 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead No. 24 Stanford to a victory over Washington.
No. 25 Wis.-GB 73, Butler 66
At Green Bay, Wis., Ben Berlowski scored six of his 23 points in the closing seconds of overtime as No. 25 Wisconsin-Green Bay beat Butler for its 22nd straight victory.