1 Baylor and No. 5 USC, the remaining undefeated Division I men's basketball teams suffered defeats on Tuesday night.
Baylor's 21-game winning streak, which began last season, was broken in a 65–62 loss to No. 19 Texas Tech in Waco, Texas. This result came shortly after USC fell to Stanford, 75–69.
The Red Raiders have been battling injuries and COVID-19 challenges in recent weeks. But Kevin McCullers, who missed his team's last two games due to an ankle injury, returned to score 12 points off the bench against the Bears and was one of five double-digit scorers for Texas Tech. Adonis Arms stepped up and led the team with 14 points.
"My ankle... I didn't know if I would play until the start," McCullers said after the game. "The coach said just be ready."
Texas Tech again played without leading scorer Terrence Shannon Jr (14.3 points per game), who missed the sixth game in a row due to a back injury.
"Just a lot of determination and patience and character," said coach Mark Adams. "So proud of him and blessed to be his coach."
According to ESPN Stats and Information Research, Baylor was the first defending champion to become the last remaining unbeaten team in college basketball since the Dukes in 2001–02.
The Bears quickly scored the first nine points of the game and took a 15-point lead late in the first half before things started for Texas Tech, which reduced its deficit to five at the break.
"You have to give a lot of credit to Texas Tech. I think the first 15 minutes we did a great job, and then in the last five minutes of the first half they got great runs and got the pace," said Baylors coach Scott Drew. "And then in the second half he carried that momentum."
Baylor entered ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi's projections as the No. 1 overall seed in Tuesday night's game. Lunardi later tweeted that Bear would remain No. 1 overall.
Stanford's 75-69 win over USC was held up in a nearly empty arena due to COVID-19 protocols. The Cardinals were held up for nearly three weeks, but returned after defeating a top five USC team in their first game since December 23. Harrison Ingram and Spencer Jones scored 21 points for Stanford, marking their first top-five win since 2007.