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The urgency of late-season college basketball action is a special thing. On Wednesday night, a loaded slate of hoops delivered with two top-10 teams going down, a clutch buzzer beater on the road from the Pac-12 favorite and a separation among the teams at the top of the ACC.

It was the kind of tectonic shifts you would expect from a weekend game day, and we still have two Saturdays left in the regular season.

Villanova was previously unbeaten at home (13-0) as the No. 2 team in the country before its 74-66 loss to No. 22 Butler, and No. 10 Duke lost at Syracuse on a banked-in 25-foot buzzer beater. North Carolina edged Louisville in their top-10 clash in Chapel Hill, while Rick Pitino made headlines for his spat with a fan at halftime. Meanwhile, Kansas locked up its share of history and Oregon star Dillon Brooks delivered on the highlight of the night with a cold-blooded 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds remaining.

It was arguably one of the wildest nights in college basketball that we will see until March, when that urgency reaches a fever pitch in the NCAA Tournament.

In case you missed any of it, here’s five things you need to know:

Villanova’s broken streaks, explained: Butler did a lot to help its NCAA Tournament profile with another top-tier victory to overshadow the strange losses on the Bulldogs schedule. Villanova will still have a good shot at a No. 1 seed, but took a couple shots in the history books with the home loss.

  • Consecutive victories at The Pavilion (48)
  • Undefeated record for senior class at The Pavilion (was 45-0)
  • First home-and-home season sweep in Big East play since 2014 (Creighton)

Butler outscored Villanova 32-17 during the final 10 minutes and left an awfully compelling case on the table to think of them as a real threat to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. If Chris Holtmann can get his team up to beat Villanova twice, he can get a pair of victory in a weekend against anyone in the country.

Better buzzer beater? Dillon Brooks’ 3-pointer to beat Cal wasn’t exactly at the buzzer, but having his heart-stopper drop a couple of hours after John Gillon gutted Duke make the two shots indicative of the madness in store for college basketball’s final stretch. 

So you be the judge: which was better? 

Bill Self and Kansas lock up conference title No. 13: The pressure was on this season’s KU team from the start to win the program’s 13th consecutive Big 12 regular-season title, and player of the year candidate Frank Mason even admitted that no one in that locker room wanted to be a part of the team that stopped the streak. The streak has been going on so long that the current Kansas roster doesn’t know anything else.

That intensity, combined with a deadly backcourt and the superstar emergence of Josh Jackson, has been the power source for the Jayhawks’ incredible ability to close this season. In the past eight days, Kansas has stormed back from a late double-digit deficit against West Virginia and stole a victory from Baylor in Waco. Kansas has been playing with a purpose, and it just might be enough to carry them to another Final Four.

For now, it’s time to celebrate. Self and Kansas just matched UCLA’s run of 13 consecutive conference titles (1967-79). Self was in such a good mood after the postgame celebration at Allen Fieldhouse he was telling war stories at the podium. Like this one time when Brandon Rush missed curfew because the “club was cracking.”

Rick Pitino praised Justin Jackson as a Player of the Year candidate: One of the most fun storylines heading into the top-10 showdown between North Carolina and Louisville was the pairing of Justin Jackson and Donovan Mitchell on the same court. Both players have made huge leaps in 2017 -- Jackson’s as a junior and Mitchell as a sophomore --  and both have been mentioned as candidates for first All-ACC and ACC Player of the Year.

After the Tar Heels’ 74-63 victory, Louisville coach Rick Pitino stumped for Jackson not only as one of the best players in the ACC, but as one of the best in the country. Jackson tied Mitchell with a game-high 21 points, rained in four 3-pointers and had Pitino using “Wooden Award” when discussing his play this season.

North Carolina, meanwhile, extended its lead on Louisville and Duke in the ACC standings. The Tar Heels lead by two games with three remaining, and back-to-back road games against Pittsburgh and Virginia coming up next.

Bubble report: Syracuse got a huge boost, but there was plenty of key movements along the NCAA Tournament elsewhere. Providence badly needed a big road victory and got it at Creighton, while Minnesota also won on the road at Maryland. Angel Delgado dropped a double-double on Xavier in a huge victory for Seton Hall, a team sitting right on the edge of the cut line as February is winding down.

For more on the bubble, check out Jerry Palm’s Bubble Watch.