The No. 1 men’s college basketball team in the country has fallen.
The Arizona Wildcats, ranked No. 1 in USA TODAY’s coaches poll, were toppled, 82-78, by the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks after they mounted a second-half comeback to give the Wildcats their first loss of the season 24 games in.
Kansas — without potential top NBA draft pick Darryn Peterson for the 11th time this season — trailed by three at halftime and found themselves down by as many as 11 at the 17-minute mark. They responded with a 9-2 run over the next two minutes to come within three points of Arizona before taking the lead on a Flory Bidunga layup with nine minutes to go.
Bidunga led the Jayhawks in both scoring (23 points) and rebounds (11). The sophomore big man also had a critical block with 17 seconds left in the game on Koa Peat’s layup attempt to protect a three-point lead. Tre White sealed the win by draining a pair of free throws in the final five seconds.
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