Duke, Illinois basketball’s wire-to-wire losses make for college basketball first in at least 20 years

David Banks-Imagn ImagesDuke, Illinois basketball’s wire-to-wire losses make for college basketball first in at least 20 years appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.Tuesday night in college basketball saw multiple ranked teams in big-time games. Top-ranked Florida visited Florida State, while Kansas and Kentucky faced off in a top-25 clash. Meanwhile, third-ranked Illinois faced off with Texas Tech, losing 84-78. Second-ranked Duke also had a ranked matchup, squaring off with fifth-ranked Michigan State. Duke fell to Michigan State 79-73.The losses for Illinois and Duke marked some history, setting a first in college basketball in the last 20 years, per Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.“No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Illinois both fell Tuesday, with each trailing all 40 minutes. Per CBS Sports research, tonight marked the only time in *at least* the last 20 seasons that saw two top-three men’s CBB teams lose wire-to-wire on the same day,” Norlander posted on X, formerly Twitter.Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (free trial)Duke struggled to shoot early in the game as they were down 15-6 nine minutes into the game. Michigan State built multiple large leads, but Duke kept making it close before the Spartans would extend the lead again. The largest lead of the game for Michigan State was 14, while they held the lead for 98 percent of the game and Duke never had a lead. The Blue Devils shot just 33 percent from the field in the 79-73 loss.Meanwhile, Texas Tech won the tip and scored 16 seconds into the game against Illinois. Illinois would never take the lead. Unlike Duke, Illinois shot well in the game. They shot 50 percent, as compared to the 40 percent from Texas Tech. Still, the Red Raiders outrebounded Illinois 43-32, with 18 offensive rebounds. Further, Illinois shot just 42 percent from the free-throw line, as they lost 84-78.Both teams will hope to learn from the difficult game and apply it when they face each other. Duke will host Illinois on November 17.Related: Kansas star Tyran Stokes flashes No. 1 pick bona fides in ‘personal’ demolition of KentuckyRelated: Duke’s Jon Scheyer gives Michigan State its flowers after close loss