A new No. 1?

The end of Illinois’ run at a perfect season turned out to be just one part of a wild Sunday for the top three teams in the Associated Press’ college basketball poll.

Just hours after Ohio State handed the top-ranked Illini their first loss of the season, No. 3 Kentucky lost by the same one-point margin to Florida.

It took a game-closing 11-0 run for No. 2 North Carolina to beat No. 6 Duke by two points and avoid the top three all losing just days before the conference tournaments get under way.

Illinois (29-1, 15-1 Big Ten) was trying to become the second team in as many seasons to get to “Championship Week” without a loss. Ohio State reserve Matt Sylvester hit a 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds left to give the Buckeyes (19-12, 8-8) the 65-64 lead and the Illini’s Roger Powell Jr. wasn’t close with a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

“Everyone says a loss will help. We’ll find out,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “We’ll learn from it and move on.”

Saint Joseph’s was 27-0 last season when the top-ranked Hawks lost to Xavier by 20 points in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament. The loss didn’t derail their season by any means as they reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, losing to Oklahoma State in a thriller one game short of the Final Four.

Stanford also made a run at a perfect season last year, winning its first 26 before losing to Washington in the last game before the Pac-10 tournament. The Cardinal won the conference tournament, then were upset by Alabama in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Xavier’s coach in that game against Saint Joe’s was Thad Matta. He moved on to Ohio State this season, and, on Sunday, he ended another long run at perfection.

“I’d like to be the other team just one time,” Matta said with a laugh. “I’m living for the day I’m the No. 1 team and someone else is trying to do it to us.”

The last team to reach the NCAA tournament without a loss was UNLV in 1991. The last team to go undefeated in a season was Indiana in 1976.

Illinois is still the top seed in this week’s Big Ten tournament and it’s hard to imagine the Illini losing the No. 1 ranking or a No. 1 seed in the NCAA’s field of 65.

“I’d rather lose now than three weeks from now,” Weber said.

North Carolina freshman Marvin Williams converted a three-point play with 17 seconds left to cap an 11-0 run and give the Tar Heels a 75-73 win over No. 6 Duke (22-5, 11-5).

Sean May had 26 points and 24 rebounds to record his eighth straight double-double for North Carolina (26-3, 14-2), which won its first Atlantic Coast Conference regular season championship since 1993, the same year of its most recent national title.

Florida ended an eight-game losing streak to Kentucky as Anthony Roberson scored 21 points, including two free throws with 15 seconds remaining.

The Wildcats (23-4, 14-2 Southeastern Conference) had a chance to win it, but Kelenna Azubuike’s 3-pointer just before the buzzer bounced off the left side of the rim.

Like North Carolina, Kentucky had already sewn up the top seed in the conference tournament, but the loss to the Gators (20-7, 12-4) may wind up costing the Wildcats a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney.

There is no record of the top three teams all losing on the same day, although they have all lost in the same week several times. The last time it happened was in November 2003 when the top four – Connecticut, Duke, Michigan State and Arizona – all went down.

(4) Wake Forest 55, North Carolina State 53: Chris Paul hit a running shot at the buzzer to lift the Demon Deacons (26-4, 13-3 ACC) over the Wolfpack (17-12, 7-9) in Raleigh, N.C.

Paul finished with nine points and six assists for the Demon Deacons, who have won 10 of 11 games.

Ilian Evtimov scored 19 points to lead the Wolfpack.

Missouri 72, (7) Kansas 68: Thomas Gardner matched his career best with 23 points and Linas Kleiza tied his with 14 rebounds, helping the Tigers (15-15, 7-9) upset Kansas (22-5, 12-4) in Columbia, Mo., denying the Jayhawks the outright Big 12 title.

Wayne Simien had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Jayhawks, who were bumped to the second seed in the conference tourney behind co-champion Oklahoma.