Jeff BorzelloFeb 5, 2026, 08:45 AM ETCloseJeff Borzello is a basketball recruiting insider. He has joined ESPN in 2014.Follow on XMultiple Authors
play2:29Highlight: No. 18 Vanderbilt takes down Ole Miss in fourth-quarter thrillerTyler Tanner leads the offense with 24 points while AK Okereke puts up 17 of his own to help the Commodores hold off the Rebels in the 71-68 win.
play1:04No. 25 Tennessee’s Nate Ament reflects on 28-point night vs. Ole MissAment explains the advice that Rick Barnes gave him during the game that helped him notch another big scoring night and discusses the Vols’ clutch play in close games.
Highlight: No. 19 Florida’s frontcourt dismantles No. 23 Alabama (1:45)The Gators get to the rim at will, racking up 72 points in the paint while committing just two turnovers to the Crimson Tide’s 18 in a 100-77 win in Gainesville. (1:45)
Highlight: No. 18 Vanderbilt takes down Ole Miss in fourth-quarter thrillerTyler Tanner leads the offense with 24 points while AK Okereke puts up 17 of his own to help the Commodores hold off the Rebels in the 71-68 win.
Tyler Tanner leads the offense with 24 points while AK Okereke puts up 17 of his own to help the Commodores hold off the Rebels in the 71-68 win.
No. 25 Tennessee’s Nate Ament reflects on 28-point night vs. Ole MissAment explains the advice that Rick Barnes gave him during the game that helped him notch another big scoring night and discusses the Vols’ clutch play in close games.
Ament explains the advice that Rick Barnes gave him during the game that helped him notch another big scoring night and discusses the Vols’ clutch play in close games.
The top of the men’s college basketball Power Rankings has remained pretty stagnant for weeks now. Arizona hasn’t lost all season; UConn hasn’t lost since Nov. 19; Michigan lost to Wisconsin on Jan. 10 but never dropped lower than No. 3; and Duke hasn’t lost since Dec. 20. Even Illinois, the newest member of the top five, is riding a 12-game winning streak and hasn’t lost since Dec. 13.
Before the next edition of the rankings, four of our top-five teams have road games against other top-25 teams on their schedules.
Arizona plays at Kansas on Monday; UConn heads to St. John’s for its toughest remaining regular-season game Friday; Duke goes down the road to rival North Carolina on Saturday for ESPN’s College GameDay matchup (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN); and Illinois has a prime-time showdown at Michigan State on Saturday night. And, lest you think Michigan has an easy road this week, the Wolverines have a pre-Super Bowl rivalry game at Ohio State on Sunday.
According to the BPI, UConn and Illinois are both underdogs, and Arizona should be favored by only 1.9 points.
Highlight: No. 18 Vanderbilt takes down Ole Miss in fourth-quarter thriller
No. 25 Tennessee’s Nate Ament reflects on 28-point night vs. Ole Miss
UConn has broken out of its mini slump. After a month of winning close games, the Huskies absolutely battered Creighton and Xavier in back-to-back games. Those were also their two most efficient offensive performances since the season opener, averaging 1.39 points per possession and 88.5 points per game. The biggest positive from the wins was their shotmaking. After making double-digit 3-pointers just four times all season, the Huskies have now done it in three straight games, including making 16 3s against Creighton (at a 51.6% clip) and 10 against Xavier.
As if Michigan needed another game-changing playmaker on its roster, freshman guard Trey McKenney has become a consistent contributor off the bench for coach Dusty May’s team. He played the final 16 minutes of the Wolverines’ comeback win over Nebraska, scoring the go-ahead basket with 44 seconds left to give Michigan its first lead of the second half. Three days later, against Michigan State, McKenney hit a pair of key 3s. He has now scored in double figures in each of his past four games, playing 21 minutes or more in three of those, and making multiple 3s in three of the four games as well.
Duke’s reliance on half-court efficiency — more specifically, efficiency around the basket — has been a focus all season, but it has really come to the forefront over the past few weeks. In their past five games, the Blue Devils are 343rd in possessions per game and also rank in the bottom 40 nationally in fast-break points, averaging just 5.6 points on the break. Moreover, in those five games, they made just 5.8 3s per contest. One might see all of this as potential trouble spots, but Duke’s offensive rating over the past five games according to CBB Analytics? No. 1.
Illinois rattled off its 12th straight win Wednesday, destroying Northwestern by 40 points in yet another remarkable offensive performance. The Illini have the nation’s most efficient offense, have scored at least 1.23 points per possession in each of their past seven games and have made double-digit 3s in 13 of their past 15 games. The combination of elite offensive rebounding and heavy 3-point volume makes their attack overwhelming at times. Over the course of their 12-game winning streak, they’ve been the best team in the country, according to BartTorvik’s metrics. And remember, they’ve won their past five games without Kylan Boswell, one of the better two-way guards in the Big Ten.
Since losing two straight in the middle of January, Iowa State has rattled off four consecutive wins, with three coming by at least 30 points. The most important development has to be the Cyclones’ offensive improvement. They’ve scored at least 1.33 points per possession in three of the four wins, while also making double-digit 3s in three games in that stretch. Iowa State ranks second nationally in 3-point percentage, making better than 41% of its outside shots, but it also ranks in the bottom third in 3-point attempt rate. If the volume begins to match the accuracy, the offense becomes that much more dangerous.
Nebraska suffered its first two losses of the season in a span of 10 days after opening the campaign with 20 straight wins. The Cornhuskers were without forwards Rienk Mast and Braden Frager against Michigan, though both returned in the game against Illinois. The shooting splits in each game are worth noting. In the first half against the Wolverines, the Cornhuskers shot 10-for-19 from beyond the arc. In the second half, they shot just 1-for-13. Against Illinois, they went 11-for-20 from 3 in the first half — and just 4-for-15 after halftime. While the offense as a whole is efficient, Nebraska simply doesn’t score enough inside the arc or from the foul line to survive when 3s aren’t falling.
Is Milos Uzan starting to round into form? After establishing himself as one of the best point guards in the country over the second half of last season — looking like a legitimate NBA player in the process — Uzan returned as a potential All-American. He didn’t quite live up to those expectations during the middle part of the season but has now scored in double-figures in five of his past six games after doing it just twice during an eight-game stretch in December and the first half of January. He has also been much better shooting the ball, knocking down 48.6% of his 3s in his past six games after shooting 26.4% in his first 16 games.
In the first three games of Big 12 play, Kansas went 1-2, with the lone win coming by 4 points over TCU after the Jayhawks gave up 100 points. Over that stretch, they were No. 248 in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to Bart Torvik. Teams were shooting 39.3% from 3 against them. In the six games since, Kansas is 6-0 — No. 3 in adjusted defensive efficiency over that span. The Jayhawks are keeping teams off the free throw line (No. 3 in free throw rate allowed), stifling them around the rim (No. 4 in 2-point defense) and restricting them to shooting 33% from beyond the arc.
Tyler Tanner, one of the season’s breakout stars, has been forced to shoulder more responsibility on the offensive end with Duke Miles out the past two games. And the sophomore point guard continues to perform at an incredibly high level since the Commodores’ three-game losing streak. In the three losses, Tanner averaged a respectable 16.0 points and 4.3 assists but shot 38.5% from the field. In the three wins since, Tanner is posting 22.3 points and 4.3 assists, shooting better than 49%, and contributing more on the glass.
After Sunday’s 23-point win over Alabama, the Gators have the most efficient offense and defense in the SEC at KenPom, by a fairly comfortable margin at both ends of the floor. Their 3-point shooting is likely to continue to be an issue all season, but they scored 100 points against Alabama, despite making just three 3s. They’re so incredibly dominant around the rim, ranking fifth nationally at CBB Analytics in paint points per game, first in offensive rebounds per game and second in second-chance points. The interior is also what propels their defense. Led by Rueben Chinyelu, Florida is second in defensive rebounding rate and ranks in the top 10 in 2-point defense and blocks per game.
Gonzaga was stunned on Wednesday in Portland, losing for just the second time all season and for the first time since the day before Thanksgiving. It was the biggest upset in a West Coast Conference game in the past 30 seasons, per ESPN Research. Portland entered the game at 3-8 in the conference, with losses in 10 of its past 13 games, but Gonzaga didn’t perform at either end of the floor — especially defensively, and especially in the second half. Portland shot nearly 70% after halftime. And here was the most eye-popping stat: Gonzaga, which entered the night leading the nation in paint points per game (47.1), was outscored in that area 40-26.
Michigan State has now lost two in a row after a 19-2 start, falling behind by sizable margins before surging back late — Michigan led by 18 late in the first half last Friday, while Minnesota was up 16 with four minutes remaining on Wednesday. While the offense was painful to watch for most of Michigan State’s loss to Michigan, it’s clear where the cracks are beginning to show. The best defense in the country at the end of January, the Spartans have now allowed at least 1.10 points per possession in three straight games after letting just one opponent hit that mark in the first 20 games of the campaign.