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Texas Tech answers the bell, Florida returns to top of SEC and more college basketball thoughts

January 18, 2026
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By Brendan Marks, Lindsay Schnell and Justin Williams

All-America candidate JT Toppin scored 27 and No. 15 Texas Tech ended the game on a sizzling 32-10 run over the final nine and half minutes, coming back from a 9-point deficit to top No. 11 BYU 84-71 in Lubbock, handing the Cougars their first loss in Big 12 play.

Texas Tech and BYU played the marquee, prime-time game on a college basketball Saturday featuring upsets, buzzer-beaters and the reemergence of the defending national champion. There was plenty of action before the Red Raiders and Cougars met, though that matchup was arguably the weirdest of the day — mostly because the first 20 minutes was remarkably different than the second 20.

After a dizzying number of lead changes and ties in the first half, Tech (14-4, 4-1 Big 12) took a slim 32-31 edge into the break. It seemed like the teams would keep trading punches. Instead, each went on its own stunning run: Midway through the second half, BYU reeled off a 16-2 spurt behind Robert Wright III, giving the Cougars a 61-52 lead with 9:25 to play. Wright scored 22 of his 28 points in the second half.

But Tech answered with a game-changing run of its own, going 7-for-7 from the field to end the game, including a banked 3 from Toppin with 5:29 to play that gave Tech the lead for good. Four Red Raiders scored in double figures, including Toppin, who also grabbed 12 rebounds, snagged two steals and blocked a shot. Christian Anderson added 22 points, hitting four 3s.

The game was billed as a matchup between Toppin, one of the best veterans in college hoops, and AJ Dybantsa, one of top freshmen in the country and a contender for the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Toppin was terrific, but Dybantsa struggled in the second half, scoring just 2 points and taking only six shots. He finished with 13 points on 6-of-17 shooting, his lowest scoring output of the season.

Both teams are looking up at No. 1 Arizona (18-0, 5-0) and No. 7 Houston (16-1, 4-0) in an impressive top of the Big 12. But both could be looking at top-four seeds in March. The Athletic’s NCAA Tournament projection last week had BYU as a No. 3 and Texas Tech as a No. 5; the Red Raiders are now poised to move up.

Saturday marked only the third time this season BYU (16-2, 4-1), which averages almost 88 points per game, has been held to 71 points or less. The teams meet again in their regular-season finale on March 7 in Provo, Utah.

Here’s what else caught our eye Saturday.

Your new SEC front-runner? Florida

Don’t look now, but the reigning national champions might have their mojo back.

The No. 19 Gators won their third consecutive ranked game on Saturday, outlasting No. 10 Vanderbilt 98-94 in Nashville to (temporarily) climb to first on the SEC leaderboard.  The star for UF Saturday was Princeton transfer guard Xaivian Lee, who had his best game yet in a Florida jersey … despite the team forgetting to pack his usual No. 1 jersey, forcing him to wear a leftover No. 99.

But after Lee’s 20-point, six-rebound, zero-turnover performance — including a stepback 3-pointer with 43.9 seconds left that proved to be the game-winner — there’s no way the Princeton transfer can go back to his normal number. It was the most points Lee has scored in an SEC game, and ties his season high against a high-major foe.

The Commodores, meanwhile, have lost back-to-back games after their program-best-tying 16-0 start. Vanderbilt trailed most of the first 25 minutes before a 9-0 run midway through the second half turned Saturday’s contest into a back-and-forth affair. Star Commodores guard Duke Miles fouled out with 4:14 left to play, putting an outsized burden on sophomore Tyler Tanner to complete the Vanderbilt comeback.

Tanner — who continued his All-America-caliber campaign with 20 points and five assists — almost did it, too. But after Lee’s stepback 3 gave UF a 1-point lead, Vanderbilt forward AK Okereke turned the ball over on the team’s subsequent possession, and Tanner, who slid into the front row of sideline seats for the loose ball, couldn’t save it. Tanner got one more look at tying the game with under 10 seconds left, when coach Mark Byington opted to let Vanderbilt play out the possession instead of calling a timeout, but Tanner’s last-ditch layup attempt — a tough look over UF guard Boogie Fland — clanked off the rim.

Even with this week’s losses, Vanderbilt (16-2, 3-2 SEC) should be fine long-term and still has a chance to win the SEC, especially if it gets guard Frankie Collins back from injury soon. But for Florida (13-5, 4-1), Saturday’s win was proof that the Gators, who suffered a series of close losses in nonconference play, can close out a tough win. — Brendan Marks

Miami (Ohio) stays undefeated

The dream season continues for the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks, who became the first team to reach 19 wins this season, and did so in dramatic fashion. Miami is one of only three remaining unbeatens (Arizona, Nebraska) in Division I.

The streak was on a razor’s edge in a 105-102 overtime victory against Buffalo on Saturday. Senior guard Peter Suder drilled a game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds of OT to give the RedHawks the win, with Suder hitting the home crowd at Millett Hall with Steph Curry’s signature “goodnight” celebration.

That came after Miami needed a last-second tap-out and 3-pointer to tie the game at the end of regulation, with Eian Elmer draining the triple as time expired.

“When we hit adversity, we just get tighter as a team,” said Suder, who led all scorers with 37 points, including 7-of-10 from beyond the arc. “That’s our special power, that’s why we’re so good.”

Thus far, it hasn’t been quite enough for Miami and coach Travis Steele to crack the Associated Press Top 25 poll — they were essentially No. 29 in last week’s poll, based on votes received. But that could change Monday as the wins continue to stack. The program was last ranked in the Top 25 in the 1998-99 season, when Miami reached the Sweet 16 led by senior guard Wally Szczerbiak.

Already the best start to a season in program history, the RedHawks matched the best start in Mid-American Conference history with Saturday’s win, and can take sole possession of that honor on the road at Kent State on Tuesday as Miami aims for 20-0. — Justin Williams

Sencire Harris and Cincinnati led by as many as 17, earning a much-needed win over Iowa State after a rough start. (Dylan Buell / Getty Images)

No. 2 Iowa State drops a second straight

A tough week continued for No. 2 Iowa State, dropping a second straight on the road after a 16-0 start to the season.

The Cyclones lost 79-70 at Cincinnati on Saturday, coming on the heels of Tuesday’s 84-63 shellacking by Kansas. A hot start to the second half fell short for Iowa State (16-2, 3-2 Big 12), which trailed by 4 at the half and fell behind by as many as 17 in the second half. Milan Momcilovic led all scorers with 34 points on 8-of-14 shooting from 3-point range, scoring 26 in the second half with a late surge of triples. But it wasn’t enough for a Cyclones team that made only one other 3-pointer for the game and made just 17 of 27 from the free-throw line.

It was a similar story to the Kansas loss, when Iowa State got down as many as 26 and shot just 37 percent from the field. Joshua Jefferson finished with 16 points and nine rebounds against the Bearcats, but was just 4-for-12 from the field and the only Cyclone other than Momcilovic to score in double digits. Point guard Tamin Lipsey had 7 points on 3-for-7 shooting.

Cincinnati scored 20 points off 12 Iowa State turnovers and had just eight turnovers of its own, led by 19 points from guard Day Day Thomas. Saturday’s upset was the biggest win of head coach Wes Miller’s four-plus seasons at the helm, with Bearcats fans storming the court after the final buzzer. It was Cincinnati’s first win over a top-two-ranked opponent since defeating No. 2 Syracuse in the 2012 Big East tournament, and the first home win over a top-two opponent since a 1967 victory over Louisville.

It’s been a rough season for the Bearcats (10-8, 2-3), and Miller’s job status will remain under heavy scrutiny the rest of the way, but the team has won two in a row in conference play, with another marquee opportunity at top-ranked Arizona on Wednesday.

Iowa State had impressive non-conference wins over Purdue, St. John’s and Iowa during that 16-0 start, but is now two games behind Arizona in the conference race and have probably fallen off the No. 1 seed line. The Cyclones will look to get back on track at home against UCF on Tuesday. — Williams

UNC’s defense in shambles after 0-2 West Coast swing

If North Carolina’s winless West Coast trip has made anything clear, it’s that the Tar Heels have serious defensive issues.

On Saturday, days after allowing Stanford to score 95 points in regulation, No. 14 UNC trailed Cal wire-to-wire in a 84-78 loss, the team’s third in four games. When you’re defending like UNC has of late, that’s what can happen. The Bears — who had only shot above 40 percent from 3 in four games all season — became the fourth straight team to make at least 14 3s against North Carolina, and did so at a 53.8 percent clip, their second-best mark all season.

The Tar Heels (14-4, 2-3 ACC) have allowed each of their last four opponents — SMU, Wake Forest and the ACC’s two West Coast schools — to score at least 81 points and shoot above 50 percent from the floor.

Coach Hubert Davis tweaked his starting lineup — inserting freshman guard Derex Dixon, who finished with 14 points and four of UNC’s nine made 3s, over the struggling Kyan Evans — in an attempt to stabilize his team, and went zone for stretches of the first half in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding.

But with UNC’s ball screen coverages in shambles, and miscommunications putting the team’s rotations a step behind, nothing could prevent the Tar Heels from dropping two winnable games that could knock them out of the AP poll when it’s updated on Monday.

North Carolina still did enough in the nonconference, beating Kansas at home and Kentucky in Rupp Arena, to remain in the NCAA Tournament field — for now. It entered the week as a No. 4 seed, meaning it had margin for error.

But at this rate, questions about this season’s trajectory — and Davis’ future as head coach — are going to get louder if UNC doesn’t solve its defensive woes. — Marks

Will Wade’s first season at NC State has been up and down. (Jaylynn Nash / Imagn Images)

As for NC State … welcome to the bubble

For all of first-year coach Will Wade’s blustery postgame comments this season — in defense of his NC State team at large and specifically transfer forward Darrion Williams — the first-year Wolfpack coach struck a different, more somber tone Saturday after his team’s Quad-4 home loss to Georgia Tech (11-8, 2-4 ACC)

“You lose a home game like this, it’s hard to recover from,” Wade said after the 78-74 defeat. “Our resume wasn’t great to begin with, but the best part of our resume was, we didn’t have any bad stuff on it. It was pretty clear. We didn’t have any Quad-1 wins, but we didn’t have any (Quad) 3 or 4 losses, either. … Now the best part of our resume is blemished.”

NC State (12-6, 3-2) has only one win over a top-50 KenPom team (VCU at home in November) and has struggled to find consistency in Wade’s first season. NC State was only a 10-seed and one of the “last four byes” entering the week. And for the first time all year, Wade didn’t sound especially convinced that the Wolfpack would figure out how to respond.

“I can’t guarantee that’s going to happen. I can’t guarantee it with this group,” Wade said. “I don’t know. I wish I could. But I’m not sure. Hopefully we do.”

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that this season’s ACC is so improved that NC State still has ample Quad-1, resume-building opportunities. The Wolfpack still have seven games against teams ranked in the top 50 of the NET.

“We’re going to have to punch above our weight class a couple times here,” he said, “to get this thing back where it needs to be.” — Marks

No big men, no problem

Despite playing without one of the best frontcourt duos in college hoops, No. 9 Gonzaga beat Seattle University 71-50 at Climate Pledge Arena, concluding a stressful week for GU. The commanding win came just two weeks after Seattle took Gonzaga to overtime in Spokane.

Saturday’s win wrapped up an injury-riddled week for the Zags. On Thursday, Gonzaga confirmed that Braden Huff, the nation’s leading field-goal scorer, would miss four to eight weeks with a left knee injury, putting him at risk of missing the rest of Gonzaga’s season. Then on Saturday, Graham Ike, Huff’s frontcourt mate, walked out to pregame warmups wearing a boot on his right foot, the result of an injury suffered Thursday at Washington State. Ike is officially day to day. Before Thursday, Huff and Ike were both averaging 17.8 points per game.

Despite Huff and Ike’s absence, Gonzaga outscored Seattle 40-24 in the paint and dominated the Redhawks on the boards, 44-24. Spanish sensation Mario Saint-Supery, a freshman guard, scored a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-6 from 3.

The Bulldogs (19-1, 7-0 WCC) entered the week projected as a No. 3 seed in our NCAA Tournament field, and despite the injuries, took care of business. — Lindsay Schnell




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