College Basketball

Clemson basketball faced its toughest test of the 2025-26 schedule, and came within striking distance of a victory. The Tigers fell in a 90-84 loss to the 12th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the ACC/SEC Challenge, but the loss was not without its promise. For starters, Clemson (7-2) erased a 19-point deficit to claw ahead of Nate Oats’ high-scoring team in …

After the dismantling of Kentucky in Nashville, Tennessee, Gonzaga has jumped up three spots in the Associated Press Poll at No. 8. The Zags received 1,054 total points. In the NET rankings, coach Mark Few’s group ranks No. 4 amongst all college basketball programs. The Bulldogs are 2-1 in Quad 1 opportunities, 1-0 in Quad 2. Advertisement Gonzaga stands at …

Star Alabama guard Labaron Philon Jr. has officially been named as the SEC player of the week for the third time this season. Philon has been nothing short of elite throughout the first nine games of play. The talented sophomore is currently averaging 21.4 points per game while shooting an impressive 56.6% from the field, as Philon has continued to …

LAFAYETTE — This edition of the Ivy Tech Journal & Courier Male and Female Athletes of the Week for Dec. 2-6 focuses on the IU Health Hoops Classic and wrestling meets across the state of Indiana. But which among these athletes will earn the admiration from readers? Advertisement Here are the Ivy Tech Lafayette area Athletes of the Week nominees. …

The Wisconsin Badgers took a major step forward last week. After a somewhat disappointing start to the 2025-26 season, headlined by a blowout loss to BYU and a Thanksgiving tournament defeat at the hands of TCU, the team notched decisive wins over Northwestern and Marquette over the last seven days. The Northwestern win, first, saw backcourt starters John Blackwell and …

The Wisconsin Badgers still sit outside the USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll despite a strong week of results. The Badgers handled both Northwestern and Marquette decisively, righting their trajectory after a pair of recent disappointing results in nonconference play. Despite that strong form, headlined by 28 points per game from John Blackwell, the team is still just in …

The opening week of conference play in the Horizon League has officially passed (more on that here). The teams expected to be competing for the title looked good for the most part, and Detroit Mercy, for the week, emerged from the teams expected to be near the bottom of the conference and is tied atop the standings with Youngstown State. …

Arizona took over the top spot in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday, a reward for a perfect start to the season that includes a quartet of wins against ranked foes, including a lopsided victory over Auburn last weekend. Purdue, which had spent the past three weeks at No. 1, slid to sixth following its 81-58 …

The latest edition of the AP Top 25 Poll is out and the news is not so great for Florida basketball fans. Last week, the Gators came two points short of upsetting the Duke Blue Devils on their own court in Durham, but instead took a one-point loss. It was a very winnable game in the final minute after coming …

USC men’s basketball’s most recent game against Washington produced a result that the Trojans likely want to quickly forget about. Quincy Pondexter, Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates III returned to Los Angeles and beat USC 84-76 at Galen Center after the Trojans had an 18-point lead in the first half. Claude and Yates III combined for 38 points, Hannes Steinbach …

The past 24 hours or so we have seen an incredible rarity. Purdue, which had never been the No. 1 twam in the AP Poll for men’s basketball until just a few years ago, was at No. 1. Indiana, which had never before reached No. 1 in football and often had not been ranked at all, was No. 1 in …

Big Ten conference play is officially in full swing, but that doesn’t mean that only intra-conference games were played this week. Many teams played important non-conference games as well with some mixed results. With larger sample sizes for all the metrics at the NCAA Tournament Committee’s disposal, it’s time to break down the bracket once again. Michigan – No. 1 …

Auburn basketball escaped its challenging week with a 1-1 record by taking down NC State at home before losing to No. 3 Arizona on the road by 29 points. Keyshawn Hall and Kevin Overton powered the Tigers to a 10-point win over NC State last Wednesday, which helped the SEC earn another series victory in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Overton posted …

Xavier beat UC in the Crosstown Shootout on Friday. This is becoming so routine as to barely qualify as news, but I figured you’d want to remember it. That win was big for the fanbase, the city, and the program. It was an awesome game and will forever be remembered for Tre Carroll’s frenetic circuit of the Cintas in the …

Another game, another big victory for the North Carolina Tar Heels. UNC pulled away from the Georgetown Hoyas in Sunday afternoon college basketball action, outscoring them by 17 points in the second half, en route to an 81-61 blowout. After needing a late, second-half comeback against Kentucky on Tuesday, North Carolina (8-1) left no doubt on the court Sunday. Caleb …

One I’ve written plenty about how the MAAC was the most competitive league in college basketball last season during conference play in terms of volume of close games. I wrote an entire story on late-game heroics in the conference during my first season on the beat for Mid-Major Madness. But this weekend felt different than what I’m used to from …

It has been a dream start to Year 2 of the Dusty May regime for Michigan Basketball. His Wolverines are 8-0 overall and kicked off Big Ten play with a resounding 101-60 victory over Rutgers. It was the fourth — yes, fourth — instance that Michigan has won by 40 or more points this season. There was also the 30-point …

In Sunday’s ACC Action, UNC beat Georgetown 81-61, UNLV nipped Stanford 75-74, Hofstra knocked off Pitt 80-73 and SMU survived Texas A&M in overtime, 93-80. UNC put the Julian Alexander unis away for the Dean Smith era throwback uniforms but didn’t have too much trouble with Georgetown as they did in 1982. It was close at halftime with the Tar …

Nebraska men’s basketball (9-0) faced another test this season on Sunday against in-state rival Creighton (5-4). For the second year in a row, the Huskers made a statement win, taking down the Bluejays 71-50. This makes it 13 straight wins for Nebraska, dating back to last season, and just the fifth time in school history the Huskers achieved that mark. …

The Jacksonville University women’s basketball team keeps stacking victories. It’s now reached historic proportions. The Dolphins won twice last week to run their winning streak to five games and improve to 7-1 for the season, their best start for the first eight games since 2021-22 when they were 6-2 after a 2-2 start (then went to 7-2). Jacksonville University point …

When playing a neutral-site game, it’s tough dealing with the opposing team fans taking over the arena, booing you endlessly. But it’s much worse when that booing is coming from your own fan base. That was the case in Nashville on Friday, Dec. 5, when Big Blue Nation was disgusted with what it witnessed. It took Kentucky nine minutes to …

WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue basketball’s worst offensive performance of the season, courtesy of Iowa State’s defensive clinic, infected the other end of the floor as well. The most damning statement after the Boilermakers’ 81-58 loss was not one of the characterizations of its magnitude. Matt Painter dropped several folksy descriptions of his team’s undoing, referencing “intestinal fortitude,” a “smorgasbord” of …

Gonzaga returned to the Kennel on Sunday for an early December tune-up on the heels of a stretch that had already delivered a 40-point collapse to Michigan and a 35-point correction against Kentucky. As expected, the Zags handled business at home, pummeling the Ospreys of North Florida, 109-58. Up next comes UCLA, Oregon, and a narrowing runway of nonconference opportunities …

The Illinois women’s basketball team opened conference play in dominating fashion on Saturday, taking down the visiting Indiana Hoosiers by a score of 78-57. It was a one-sided affair from the opening tip to the final buzzer, with Indiana only leading in this game for a total of 37 seconds. But once freshman forward Cearah Parchment hit her first three-pointer …

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – The USC Trojans defeated the Washington Huskies, 59-50, at Galen Center on December 7, 2025 and The Sporting Tribune’s Amber Rodriguez was there to capture the following images. USC guard Malia Samuels (10) dribbles during a Big Ten college basketball game against the Washington Huskies, Sunday December 7, 2025 in Los Angeles. Amber Rodriguez – The …