Fatigued after a long night of basketball-watching and writing, I’ll try to keep tonight’s edition of “The Nights in Hoops” brief despite a full slate of action.

The biggest story of the night was the fall of the last of the unbeatens. Virginia Tech went to Winston-Salem and knocked off Wake Forest, 78-71, built primarily around good 2-point shooting (19-for-29, 65 percent) and 37 free-throw attempts. Despite making just 22 of those freebies, the Hokies were able to come away with the victory. The 2-point performance was especially notable against Demon Deacons team that entered the game 10th in the nation at 2-point defense (40.4 percent).

With that win, Seth Greenberg’s team is now 3-1 in conference, a start that helps to mitigate the effects of a very poor non-conference performance. Losses to Georgia and Seton Hall will continue to weigh down the Hokies, but in such a good league, a positive conference record should get VaTech one of the six or seven bids the ACC is likely to receive.

Canes continue to flourish in conference: A lot of people forgot about Miami after a couple of disappointing results at home to Ohio State and Clemson, but the Hurricanes continue to play well, and the latest evidence is Stan Heath’s team’s 75-69 win over Florida State. Miami is now 3-2 in conference and comfortably positioned to be the fifth of the ACC teams to get an NCAA bid.

In other ACC action, UNC throttled Clemson, 94-70, in a second straight positive performance. The combination of Deon Thompson, Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne Ellington pounded the undersized Tigers inside, making 18-of-27 2-pointers. Meanwhile, the defense forced 16 Clemson turnovers and held the Tigers to just 15-of-46 shooting inside (32.6 percent). Danny Green’s three blocks surely helped that cause. It’s Clemson’s second straight loss, but a home game with Georgia Tech on Sunday should help Oliver Purnell’s team get healthy.

UConn ends Nova’s streak: In the Big East, the Connecticut Huskies buckled on defense in the second half against Villanova to win, 89-83. In a rough-and-tumble, up-and-down game, UConn’s ability to get to the foul line (31-of-39) and A.J. Price’s scorching night from the field (29 points on 92.3 eFG) proved to be the difference.

In Piscataway, Louisville stayed undefeated and kept Rutgers winless in conference with a 78-59 win. The Cardinals’ defense was stifling thanks to a 44.7 eFG and 16 Rutgers turnovers. Terrence Williams continued to star with 23 points (9-of-14 shooting) to go with 11 rebounds and four steals.

Night of stunners in Big Ten: Along with Northwestern’s shocker in East Lansing, Wisconsin lost a second straight overtime game — this time in Iowa City — where the Iowa Hawkeyes fought back to win, 73-69. Iowa’s 18-point advantage from the foul line sticks out from this box score, especially considering the Hawkeyes’ penchant for staying on the perimeter. Wisconsin’s NCAA Tournament propositions suddenly look far cloudier — and the Big Ten looks like the nation’s most balanced conference.

Gamecocks get a big W: Zam Frederick’s buzzer-beating layup in Columbia sent Florida to its first defeat since Dec. 7. Despite the gap between Florida (60.0 eFG) and South Carolina (45.8) in shooting, Darrin Horne’s team got the win thanks to eight fewer turnovers and seven more free-throw attempts.

In a battle between perhaps the best two teams in the SEC West, LSU pulled away in the second half for an 81-57 win over Mississippi State. The nation’s top shot-blocker, Jarvis Varnado, had zero blocks in a game where the Tigers also destroyed Varnado’s Bulldogs on both backboards. The two key players I discussed in my SEC breakdown, Tasmin Mitchell and Marcus Thornton, scored 55 of LSU’s 81 points and only needed 31 field-goal attempts to get those points. Xavier comes to Baton Rouge on Saturday, giving Trent Johnson and the SEC another opportunity for a signature non-conference victory.

Elsewhere in the SEC, Jodie Meeks had 31 in Kentucky’s 73-64 win over Auburn, and Mikhail Torrance’s 24 helped Alabama sneak past the snakebitten Ole Miss Rebels, 76-73.

Mizzou nabs a big win: The showdown matchup in the Big 12 on Wednesday was in Stillwater, where two teams trying to confirm its early-season performance met up. In one of the season’s fastest paced games (up at 89 possessions), the Missouri Tigers used six double-figure scorers to get past Travis Ford’s Oklahoma State Cowboys, 97-95. The difference, in as much as there was a difference in this game, came inside, where Mizzou took advantage of OSU’s small stature to make 31-of-53 2-pointers (58.5 percent).

In Manhattan, Kan., LaceDarius Dunn had 33 points, including 9-of-12 from deep, in Baylor’s 83-65 win over Kansas State. The Bears have bounced back well since their loss at Texas A&M last Thursday with wins over OSU and KSU. In Norman, Oklahoma pulled away from Nebraska in the second half of a 72-61 win, behind 27 points and 18 rebounds from Blake Griffin. The Huskers don’t have the personnel to deal with a player like Griffin.

Sun Devils stay hot in intrastate rivalry: Arizona shot just 31.9 percent eFG, and James Harden had a game-high 21 points in another Arizona State win. Jeff Pendergraph added 11 points and 14 rebounds in the victory. This game — unlike the one in Los Angeles on Saturday — did not have an especially slow pace that made the offenses look deceptively bad. Russ Pennell’s team did indeed play bad offense, average about 0.7 points per possession in a 65-possession game.

Outside the big boys: One of the notable results beyond the major six conferences was in Philadelphia where Saint Joseph’s needed overtime to get past Duquesne, 99-98. It was SJU’s second overtime win in four games as the Hawks move to 4-0 in Atlantic 10 play. In the Colonial, Northeastern bounced back from a loss at Hofstra to defeat the league’s last unbeaten team, George Mason, 58-57. Matt Janning had 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting in the big win for the Huskies.

A few other results to note: UNLV went to Brigham Young and won, 76-70. It’s the second loss in Provo in less than a month after the long home winning streak for the Cougars. Wink Adams had 22 points and Also, Wichita State beat its second straight MVC power at home, toppling Illinois State, 64-58.

Games to watch on Thursday: I’ll be in Newark for Providence’s trip to Seton Hall. This is a huge one for the Friars’ NCAA Tournament hopes, as a win would move Keno Davis’ team to 5-2 in conference with the chalk of the schedule upcoming. The Pirates are likely to play a lot of zone, so PC will have to find a way to get Jonathan Kale and Randall Hanke touches against SHU’s small frontcourt.

In other games of note, West Virginia travels to Georgetown, Butler will get a home test from Wisconsin-Green Bay, and the Pac-10 gets locked and loaded, highlighted by USC’s trip to Seattle to play Washington.