Last Night in College Basketball: Nebraska's Best-Ever Start Now 19-0

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Nebraska — Nebraska! — is 19-0

Indiana football is, rightfully, getting a ton of attention for going from being a program known for incessant losing to the clear-cut best team in the nation and national champions. Fellow Big Ten school Nebraska maybe hasn’t been quite as low in basketball as Indiana football was, but it also hasn’t had a major high yet, either. The program record for wins is 26. The Huskers have made it to March Madness just twice in this century, and eight times ever. Nebraska has never made it beyond the second round of the tourney, and has managed that much just once. It has been voted into the poll in just eight seasons, and heading into 2025-2026, its best-ever ranking was No. 8.

Things are different this year. Coach Fred Hoiberg, who already brought Nebraska to March Madness in one of those two seasons this century, is helming an undefeated, 19-0 team following a 76-66 conference win against Washington. It’s not an empty undefeated either, if there is even such a thing at this late stage of the season: the Big Ten is highly competitive, and the Cornhuskers have already defeated ranked Illinois and Michigan State teams, as well as potential tourney squads like Ohio State and those well-regarded by systems like the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) or KenPom’s team ratings. Nebraska is 8-0 in Big Ten play and 6-0 in Quad 1 matchups. It ranks a best-ever No. 7 in the poll, 8th in NET and 12th in KenPom’s ratings, thanks in large part to a stifling defense that’s also 12th in Division I.

Washington was a top-60 team in NET and top-50 in KenPom heading into Wednesday’s matchup, yet Nebraska limited the Huskies to 66 points and won by 10 despite getting all of 4 minutes out of freshman forward Braden Frager, who landed awkwardly on his ankle early and was removed from the game with a potential sprain.

The 6-foot-7 Frager hasn’t served as a starter, but he has averaged 22.4 minutes per game while scoring 12.2 points with 3.9 rebounds and shooting 53.7% for the season; going up against Washington without him is tenable, as it is against this weekend’s opponent, Minnesota, but against No. 3 Michigan, which is after the Gophers and is maybe the strongest competition the Huskers will face all season? Having Frager back healthy for that would be best.

Arizona gets in Cincinnati’s way

Cincinnati, fresh off of a massive upset of a reeling Iowa State team, faced off against unanimous No. 1 Arizona on Wednesday. Things did not go nearly as well for the Bearcats this time around against the undefeated Wildcats, though there was plenty to like in the first half. Arizona was ahead just 33-27 at halftime, and with 8:42 left in the game Cincinnati was down by 8, 52-44, following a couple of free throws from sophomore center Moustapha Thiam. Things unraveled from there, however: the Wildcats would outscore the Bearcats 25-7 the rest of the way, putting this one well out of reach.

Still, though! Keeping pace with a dominant No. 1 team for over three quarters of game time is something Cincinnati can build on. No one else has had the means to stop Arizona just yet, either, which is why it’s 19-0 despite facing the 36th-toughest schedule out of 365 schedules in men’s Division I basketball, per NET.

As for the Wildcats, four of its starters scored between 12 and 17 points, and the other, senior guard Jaden Bradley, had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, so it’s not like he was slouching. Freshman guard Brayden Burries had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards, plus 4 assists of his own. Junior center Motiejus Krivas scored a game-high 17 and just missed a double-double, finishing with 9 boards while logging an assist, steal and block each. Arizona: that’s a good basketball team. 

Iowa State’s losing streak ends with a 44-point bang

Without junior forward Addy Brown, Iowa State struggled to keep pace with opponents and dropped five-straight games after starting the year 15-0. Part of the problem has been that junior center Audi Crooks hasn’t been given as many opportunities to score in Brown’s absence, both because defenses can zero in on Division I’s leading scorer and because Brown hasn’t been there to feed her the interior passes that set her up to score in bunches. On Wednesday, though, Iowa State found at least a temporary solution: a huge game from junior guard Jada Williams.

Williams dropped a career-best 44 points on Cincinnati, which was also the most anyone in Division I basketball, men’s or women’s, managed on Wednesday. In addition, Williams also had 8 assists to lead D-I women, tied with Denver’s Coryn Watts — that made Williams responsible, at least in part, for 62 of Iowa State’s points in its 93-68 victory. She didn’t do it alone, however: Crooks scored "just" 24 points, but added 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks to the boxscore, while junior guard Arianna Jackson returned from a knee injury that had kept her sidelined since Jan. 7 to score 11 points with 8 rebounds in 31 minutes.

Now, Iowa State is no longer ranked after falling out of the poll this week, but the Cyclones don’t have to be down and out. This is still a 16-5 team that ranks 33rd in NET and is a menace when it’s healthy — if Iowa State can remain competitive enough for tournament consideration while Brown is out, then, when she’s back? Whatever seed is attached to the Cyclones is going to be less important than their being whole again.

Arenas finally debuts for USC

Alijah Arenas debuted for USC on Wednesday after significant delays. The freshman guard, son of former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, was put in a medically induced coma following a fiery car crash last spring, and somehow came out of it without suffering major injuries, but injured his knee over the summer and didn’t practice with USC until a month ago.

Arenas played 29 minutes and scored 8 points with 2 rebounds and 2 assists, while shooting just 3-for-15. On a normal night, that wouldn’t be much of a performance, but considering the circumstances Arenas playing at all is a huge win. Plus, two of those points were real pretty.

In the end, USC would be upset by Northwestern, 74-68, thanks largely to the performance of senior forward Nick Martinelli, who extended his streak of scoring at least 20 points in a game to 10 with 22 on 8-for-20 shooting. As FOX Sports’ Michael Cohen noted earlier this week, Martinelli has shined for an inconsistent Northwestern this season, but on Wednesday the Wildcats picked up the dub.

What a game from Tuhy

You see a 44-41 boxscore from a college basketball game and you think, "surely nothing incredible happened here." In the case of American vs. Colgate from Wednesday, you would be wrong. Charlotte Tuhy happened for American and against Colgate, and it did not end well for the Raiders.

The freshman forward has dominated the boards this year, averaging 10.8 per game to lead the Patriot League, and on Wednesday had her 11th game of the season with at least 10 rebounds when she pulled down 17. She also scored 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting, which means that yes, in addition to the 17 rebounds Tuhy also scored half of American’s points for the game. Oh, and she also had 5 blocks to go with it, which is a lot even without consideration for this being a 3-point win.

Non-Tuhy Eagles shot 9-for-40 overall and were 1-for-20 from beyond the arc. She had 17 of American’s 45 rebounds and 5 of its 6 blocks. What a performance from the freshman, who has been the real bright spot in an otherwise poor season for American.

Texas Tech lost again

How quickly things can go awry. Texas Tech was undefeated this season until losing to Kansas State, 65-59, last time out. In the Lady Raiders followup against BYU, they lost again thanks to abysmal shooting: BYU won, 73-61, with Texas Tech shooting just 33% overall and 26% from 3-point range.

Of Texas Tech’s 57 shots, 41 of them came from the trio of junior guard Jalynn Bristow, senior guard Bailey Maupin and senior guard Snudda Collins: they went 12-for-41, or 29%, while also sinking 4 of 17 from 3. If not for making 17 free throws, Texas Tech would have been routed.

Granted, Texas Tech’s defense has been the reason for its success this year far more than its offense — the Lady Raiders Defensive Rating is 19th among all D-I teams, while their Offensive Rating is 43rd. That D didn’t show up in full force against BYU either, however, as the Cougars shot 47% overall and 44% from deep.

The Lady Raiders did outrebound BYU, but the Cougars converted turnovers into 24 points to Texas Tech’s 15 while also turning the ball over less often, and BYU stole the ball more often, too, 13 to 9. Texas Tech did block 10 shots, with Bristow picking up 6 of those along with 11 rebounds, but that mostly makes you realize this could have gone even worse for the Raiders.

There’s no need to dramatize here and suggest the sky is falling, but Texas Tech is now 6-2 in conference play after being undefeated overall two games ago, and in a tough Big 12. The ship has to be righted sooner than later, is all.

UCLA routed Purdue

On Tuesday, UCLA’s men’s team shocked No. 4 Purdue with a huge upset victory with major Big Ten implications. UCLA’s women’s team couldn’t upset Purdue in its own matchup, given these Bruins are one of the very best teams in the nation, but at least they played like it. No. 3 UCLA crushed the Boilermakers, 96-48, on both sides of the ball.

UCLA shot 54% as a team and 59% from deep, sinking 13 3-pointers in a game where every starter scored between 14 and 25 points. Senior guard Gabriela Jaquez led the way with 25 points on 10-for-11 shooting — including a perfect 3-for-3 from 3 — and added 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. Both senior guard Kiki Rice and senior center Lauren Betts had double-doubles, with 15 points and 10 rebounds for the former and 16/10 for the latter — they also both had 5 assists each, as well as 3 steals, while the 6-foot-7 Betts added 3 blocks, too.

The Bruins are 8-0 in conference play, sitting atop a talented Big Ten. UCLA is 2nd in NET behind UConn, first in Offensive Rating and fourth in Defensive Rating. The Bruins are a monster that lost to Texas, yes, but before UCLA was at full strength, too. This is a team full of talented seniors, and it’s making its opponents pay.

Creighton beats Xavier at the buzzer

It’s been a tough season in the Big East this year, but it’s not like this is a conference devoid of talent. Teams like Creighton still have a real shot at making some noise in 2025-2026, but need to play well in conference play for that to happen. Xavier nearly upset the Bluejays and sent that dream spiraling on Wednesday, with senior forward Tre Carroll dropping 29 points to make life difficult for Creighton. But the Jays responded with their own team-wide success shooting, hitting 54% of their shots and keeping pace with a very-game Xavier team that scored 54 second-half points.

The one that sealed the deal went through with less than a second left on the clock: sophomore guard Austin Swartz pulled in his own rebound, and then sent another shot up that did go in to make it 94-93 Creighton. 

And with 0.6 seconds left on the clock, the Musketeers still nearly came back to win, anyway: the inbounds made it all the way across the court, and the tip-in attempt found the rim. Alas, it did not go through, and Creighton held on. 

What a game, though. Creighton is 6-3 in the Big East, fourth in the conference, putting them in position for a conference tourney bye. There is still time for the likes of St. John’s, Villanova and Creighton to salvage the Big East’s reputation this year, alongside a UConn team that’s already ranked No. 2 in the country, but it’ll take a whole lot more winning than has been experienced so far.