Jeff BorzelloJan 15, 2026, 09:00 AM ETCloseJeff Borzello is a basketball recruiting insider. He has joined ESPN in 2014.Follow on X
play0:23Brayden Burries gets the steal for a Koa Peat slamBrayden Burries snatches the rock from TCU and throws it ahead to Koa Peat for a beautiful dunk.
play1:25Wisconsin Badgers vs. Michigan Wolverines: Game HighlightsWisconsin Badgers vs. Michigan Wolverines: Game Highlights
play1:16BYU rallies back to defeat TCUAJ Dybantsa leads BYU with 25 points as the Cougars overcome a halftime deficit to win 76-70.
play1:44Highlight: Texas pulls away to upset No. 10 VandyMatas Vokietaitis records 22 points and seven rebounds as Tramon Mark scores 21 points as the Longhorns earn a win over the Commodores, 80-64.
play1:49Highlight: No. 19 Florida dominates the glass in blowout win vs. OklahomaThomas Haugh leads the way with 21 points while Rueben Chinyelu follows up with 19 points and 12 rebounds as the Gators outrebound the Sooners 43-31 in their 96-79 win.
play2:15Nate Ament relives win in double-OT madness vs. Texas A&MAment reflects on taking over late in the game while emphasizing the Vols’ perseverance and details the building momentum in Rocky Top after a bounce back win over the Aggies.
Kansas sends No. 2 Iowa State to first loss (1:23)Tre White leads all scorers with 19 points as Kansas blows out No. 2 Iowa State by 21 points. (1:23)
Brayden Burries gets the steal for a Koa Peat slamBrayden Burries snatches the rock from TCU and throws it ahead to Koa Peat for a beautiful dunk.
Wisconsin Badgers vs. Michigan Wolverines: Game HighlightsWisconsin Badgers vs. Michigan Wolverines: Game Highlights
BYU rallies back to defeat TCUAJ Dybantsa leads BYU with 25 points as the Cougars overcome a halftime deficit to win 76-70.
Highlight: Texas pulls away to upset No. 10 VandyMatas Vokietaitis records 22 points and seven rebounds as Tramon Mark scores 21 points as the Longhorns earn a win over the Commodores, 80-64.
Matas Vokietaitis records 22 points and seven rebounds as Tramon Mark scores 21 points as the Longhorns earn a win over the Commodores, 80-64.
Highlight: No. 19 Florida dominates the glass in blowout win vs. OklahomaThomas Haugh leads the way with 21 points while Rueben Chinyelu follows up with 19 points and 12 rebounds as the Gators outrebound the Sooners 43-31 in their 96-79 win.
Thomas Haugh leads the way with 21 points while Rueben Chinyelu follows up with 19 points and 12 rebounds as the Gators outrebound the Sooners 43-31 in their 96-79 win.
Nate Ament relives win in double-OT madness vs. Texas A&MAment reflects on taking over late in the game while emphasizing the Vols’ perseverance and details the building momentum in Rocky Top after a bounce back win over the Aggies.
Ament reflects on taking over late in the game while emphasizing the Vols’ perseverance and details the building momentum in Rocky Top after a bounce back win over the Aggies.
Michigan still has elite efficiency-based metrics, ranking No. 1 in the NET, at KenPom and at BartTorvik. And while the Wolverines have only four Quad 1 wins, they own a long list of blowout victories, including a 40-point one over Gonzaga — enough to fall only one spot.
Iowa State has one of the most impressive wins we’ll see from any team this season: a 23-point road rout at Purdue. The Cyclones also own victories over a couple of borderline Top 25 teams in St. John’s and Iowa. They still rank among the top five at KenPom but dropped out of that group in every other metric.
Now, Duke, Purdue and Nebraska each have cases to pass Iowa State in the rankings. (Vanderbilt could have made one if it, too, hadn’t lost its first game Wednesday night.)
The Blue Devils have outstanding résumé-based metrics, sit at No. 1 in ESPN’s BPI and own wins over Michigan State, Arkansas, Kansas and Florida. Their lone loss was by one point on a neutral court, against Texas Tech.
Nebraska has arguably the best résumé in the sport, ranking No. 2 in wins above bubble and No. 2 in ESPN’s strength of record. The Cornhuskers are also unbeaten. Yet they lag behind the others when it comes to their efficiency margin.
Brayden Burries snatches the rock from TCU and throws it ahead to Koa Peat for a beautiful dunk.
Wisconsin Badgers vs. Michigan Wolverines: Game Highlights
Wisconsin Badgers vs. Michigan Wolverines: Game Highlights
There won’t be many more impressive second-half offensive performances than Purdue’s against Iowa on Wednesday. The Boilermakers hit nearly 73% of their shots after halftime, missing just one from the field while making nine in the final 10:30. They also went 14 for 16 from the free-throw line in the final 20 minutes. And all of it was sparked by All-American point guard Braden Smith, who had 16 points and 4 assists in the second half.
AJ Dybantsa leads BYU with 25 points as the Cougars overcome a halftime deficit to win 76-70.
Keaton Wagler checked in at No. 18 in ESPN’s latest NBA mock draft — a remarkable rise for an unranked four-star recruit coming out of high school. But with the way the freshman is playing lately, it’s hard to see him not moving comfortably into the lottery once the process is over. After scoring 22 points against Northwestern on Wednesday, Wagler is now averaging 19.3 points and 4.7 assists and shooting 44.4% from 3-point range in Big Ten play.
The Gators might be back. Since losing by two at Missouri on Jan. 3, the reigning national champions have run three straight SEC opponents off the floor. They beat Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma by an average of 18.7 points, scoring an average of 93.0 points in the process. Boogie Fland’s emergence has been important; he has put up 19.0 points and 6.0 assists in their past two games. And Rueben Chinyelu has been dominant down low, averaging 18.0 points and 14.0 rebounds over his past two games.
Highlight: No. 19 Florida dominates the glass in blowout win vs. Oklahoma
Nate Ament relives win in double-OT madness vs. Texas A&M
Of the Arizona freshman duo, Brayden Burries received most of the attention to end the 2025 calendar year. Since the start of Big 12 play in early January, however, Koa Peat has taken back the headlines. Peat was terrific in Wednesday’s rivalry win over Arizona State, finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds (in the second half, he had 16 points, 5 boards and 2 assists while shooting 7-for-7 from the field). In four Big 12 games, Peat is averaging 19.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists. He might never top his 30-point career debut, but he’s back to his most productive self.
UConn extended its winning streak to 13 games by hanging on to beat Seton Hall on the road Tuesday, but the Huskies have showed potential flaws along the way. They succumbed to the Pirates’ pressure defense in the second half, turning it over 17 times — and that’s not necessarily a new issue, either. BYU sparked its attempted comeback against UConn in November by forcing turnovers, and as Lukas Harkins of Basket Under Review pointed out this week, the Huskies had turned it over on 19.5% of possessions in their past seven games heading into the week.
Prior to the start of January, Isaiah Evans had one 20-point game in his college career. He quadrupled that number in the first 10 days of 2026: 28 points at Florida State, 23 against Louisville and 21 SMU. His streak ended on Wednesday against California, though he still finished with 17 points. He has also made at least four 3s in each of those past four games, averaging 22.3 points while shooting 40% from 3-point range. Providing consistent perimeter balance to Cameron Boozer’s interior dominance will be key moving forward.
Nebraska continues to win in different ways, erasing a 16-point second-half deficit to defeat Indiana on Saturday before turning around and beating Oregon by 35 on Tuesday. But the stimulus of the Cornhuskers’ offense continues to be the 3-point shot. Indiana took a nine-point lead as Nebraska missed seven straight 3s spanning both halves, but the Huskers came back by hitting six of their next eight 3s. Against Oregon, they made 17 3s, including five straight from late in the first half to early in the second half to turn a tied score into a 15-point lead in four minutes of game action.
In a career filled with dominant seasons, Graham Ike could be trending toward his strongest yet. While he put up more points and rebounds in 2021-22 at Wyoming, Ike is averaging the most points (17.8), rebounds (8.6) and assists (2.6) of his three seasons at Gonzaga. He has the best offensive rating and true shooting percentage of his career. And he has taken his game up a notch in WCC play, shooting 72.5% inside the arc in five conference games thus far, most recently finishing with 34 points and 11 rebounds against Santa Clara.
Houston is really starting to tighten it up on the defensive end of the floor. After allowing Arkansas and Middle Tennessee to each score more than one point per possession at the end of nonconference play, the Cougars have locked things down since Big 12 play began. They held West Virginia to 48 points on Tuesday — including just one 2-pointer in the first half — after limiting Baylor to 55 points this past Saturday. Their four conference opponents so far have scored just 0.9 points per possession.
BYU will take a 13-game winning streak into a massive showdown on Saturday at Texas Tech, where the Cougars will look for a true statement win to solidify their position in the top 10. They’ve beaten several Top 25 teams up to this point — including Villanova, Clemson and fringe team Miami — but a win in Lubbock would immediately go to the top of the résumé. Will Tech have an answer for AJ Dybantsa? His 25-point performance against TCU marked his 10th straight 20-point game, although his record-setting nine-game streak of 20 points and 50% field goal shooting came to an end.
After hitting double-figures six times in his first 12 games of the season, Jeremy Fears Jr. has now scored at least 14 points in five straight games — including Tuesday’s career-high 23 points against Indiana. His assist numbers haven’t dropped off, either. He had 10 in the win over the Hoosiers and was responsible for 18 of the Spartans’ 27 field goals via points or assists. Over the five-game stretch, Fears is averaging 17.6 points and 8.0 assists while turning the ball over just 12 times total.