There's never a good time to lose a player like Cole Anthony. But finding out the five-star freshman will be unavailable for the next four-to-six weeks the day before playing at Gonzaga has to be among the worst.
That's North Carolina's reality, though.
The Tar Heels enter Wednesday night's showdown with Gonzaga having lost three straight games -- and they're already 0-1 without Anthony thanks to Sunday's 68-64 loss to Wofford. That's among the reasons they're 12.5-point underdogs against Mark Few's Zags. And, frankly, it'll be surprising if the Tar Heels are able to keep things competitive because, as I explained during Tuesday's episode of the CBS Sports Eye On College Basketball Podcast, there's no reason to believe they'll score enough to hang around.
That said, don't ever forget, this is college basketball -- a sport that's already produced ridiculous results this season. We've watched Stephen F. Austin win at Duke as a 28-point underdog. We've watched Evansville win at Kentucky as a 25-point underdog. So, from a point-spread perspective, North Carolina winning at Gonzaga wouldn't be that shocking, relatively speaking. But, again, literally everything that's happened recently suggests the Tar Heels are about to extend their losing streak to four games.
Gonzaga is No. 2 in Wednesday's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. North Carolina is obviously unranked. And Kansas is No. 1 for the third straight morning. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday at Villanova.
Wednesday's Top 25 And 1
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | David McCormack scored a career-high 28 points in Saturday's 98-57 victory over Kansas City. The Jayhawks have won nine straight games since their season-opening loss to Duke. | -- | 23-11 |
| 2 |  | Corey Kispert finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 84-80 win at Arizona. The Zags have won 10 consecutive games on the road. | -- | 27-8 |
| 3 |  | Kaleb Wesson finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 80-48 victory over Southeast Missouri State. The Buckeyes' resume features three 25-point wins over top-40 KenPom opponents. | -- | 22-14 |
| 4 |  | Jordan Nwora finished with 26 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 99-67 victory over Eastern Kentucky. The Cardinals shot 63.0% from the field in the game. | -- | 8-24 |
| 5 |  | The Terrapins were held to 33.3% shooting from the field in Tuesday's loss at Penn State. Anthony Cowan was responsible for 12 of Maryland's 38 misses. | -- | 16-17 |
| 6 |  | Obi Toppin finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists in Tuesday's 71-58 victory over North Texas. Dayton's lone loss is an overtime loss to Kansas. | -- | 25-8 |
| 7 |  | Ashton Hagans scored 21 points in Saturday's 67-53 win over Georgia Tech. By beating Josh Pastner, UK coach John Calipari improved to 18-0 in games against his former assistants. | -- | 23-10 |
| 8 |  | Tre Jones finished with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists in Friday's 77-63 victory at Virginia Tech. The Blue Devils have won three straight since losing to Stephen. F. Austin. | -- | 27-9 |
| 9 |  | Francisco Caffaro came off the bench and scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds in Sunday's 56-47 win over North Carolina. The Cavaliers won with a season-low 16 made field goals. | -- | 23-11 |
| 10 |  | Payton Pritchard scored 19 of his 23 points after halftime in Saturday's 71-70 overtime victory at Michigan. The Ducks now own three wins over top-35 KenPom teams. | -- | 24-12 |
| 11 |  | Tyler Harris made three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points in Saturday's 51-47 win at Tennessee. Memphis snapped the Vols' 31-game winning streak at home. | -- | 22-10 |
| 12 |  | Zavier Simpson missed eight of his 11 field goal attempts in Saturday's 71-70 overtime loss to Oregon. The Wolverines are 1-3 since winning the Battle 4 Atlantis. | -- | 8-24 |
| 13 |  | J'Von McCormick finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists in Saturday's 67-61 win over Saint Louis. Auburn is one of four remaining undefeated teams but still looking for its first win over a top-65 KenPom opponent. | -- | 27-8 |
| 14 |  | MaCio Teague scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds in Tuesday's 53-52 win over Butler. The Bears won despite shooting just 22.2% from 3-point range. | -- | 24-11 |
| 15 |  | Nico Mannion missed 17 of the 20 shots he attempted in Saturday's 84-80 loss to Gonzaga. Arizona allowed the Zags to shoot 47.5% from the field in the game. | -- | 27-9 |
| 16 |  | Balsa Koprivica scored 15 points in 15 minutes in Tuesday's 98-81 victory over North Florida. Florida State owns three wins over top-25 KenPom opponents. | -- | 17-16 |
| 17 |  | Justin Moore came off the bench and got 16 points in Saturday's 78-70 win over Delaware. The Wildcats' two losses are to Ohio State and Baylor. | -- | 18-16 |
| 18 |  | The Vols missed 22 of the 26 3-pointers they attempted in Saturday's 51-47 loss to Memphis. Tennessee lost despite holding the Tigers to just five points in the first 12 minutes of the game. | -- | 27-9 |
| 19 |  | Isaiah Stewart finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds in Tuesday's 81-59 win over Seattle. The five-star freshman is averaging 18.0. points and 8.4 rebounds per game. | -- | 17-15 |
| 20 |  | Aaron Thompson finished with eight points and eight assists in Saturday's 66-41 win over Southern. Butler has won 57 straight non-league games at home. | -- | 18-15 |
| 21 |  | Malachi Flynn sank a 3-pointer in the final second Sunday to lift San Diego State to a 59-57 win over San Jose State. The Aztecs are 10-0 for the first time since the 2010-11 season. | -- | 26-11 |
| 22 |  | De'Riante Jenkins finished with 10 points and six rebounds in Sunday's 61-51 victory over Missouri State. The Rams have won eight consecutive games at home. | -- | 24-14 |
| 23 |  | Lamar Stevens finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's 73-71 victory over Alabama. The Nittany Lions have six wins over top-100 KenPom teams. | -- | 16-17 |
| 24 |  | Xavier Tillman scored nine points and grabbed 13 rebounds in Saturday's 72-49 win over Oakland. The Spartans are 4-1 in their past five games with the lone loss coming to Duke. | -- | 20-15 |
| 25 |  | Luka Garza finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds in Thursday's win at Iowa State. The Hawkeyes' resume features four top-65 KenPom wins and only one loss to a team unranked in the Top 25 And 1. | -- | 19-15 |
| 26 |  | Chris Clarke finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in Monday's 71-65 victory over Southern Miss. The Red Raiders have only lost once with Jahmi'us Ramsey, their leading scorer, in the lineup. | -- | 23-11 |
