A Busy Day of Men’s College Basketball Brings Upsets, Statement Wins, and Star Performances
Conference Play Delivered on Saturday Across Men’s College Basketball
You hear it from every team in every conference. Conference play is a grind. While some conferences are stronger than others, the fact remains that once conference play begins, it is what you must take care of to get to March.
This week has already served up some upsets and hard fought battles across the college basketball world, and today was another exciting day in college basketball. There were some big performances that I observed, and I want to highlight a few here.
DePaul Breaks Through in the Big East
The DePaul Blue Demons came into today 0-3 in the Big East and needed to get in the win column against Xavier. It was a complete team win, as DePaul captured the 86-77 victory.
The Blue Demons finished with six players in double figures, led by CJ Gunn with 22 points and six rebounds. Layden Blocker tied his season high and added 18 points in 35 minutes, and Brandon Maclin doubled his season average with 13 points in 28 minutes off the bench. That was a career high for Maclin against a Big East opponent.
This was an important win early in the season to avoid falling to 0-4 in conference. Still more work to be done, and more opportunities ahead to build on. They will host Georgetown on Tuesday night to try and make it two in a row.
SMU Stuns No. 12 North Carolina
In the ACC, the SMU Mustangs hosted the No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels, who came in on a seven game winning streak at 13-1. SMU entered at 11-2, with both losses coming to Vanderbilt and LSU, but today was theirs.
Boopie Miller was unstoppable, and the Tar Heels could do nothing with him. Miller was 10 of 13 from the field for 27 points and added 12 assists. He made the offense go, both with and without the ball, getting others involved.
“He was terrific, to have 27 and 12 assists, only two turnovers. He handled the ball, most of the game. He was just one of the best performances I’ve seen for a guard like this to not only score that many points, but have 12 assists in one game. On this stage,” said SMU Head Coach Andy Enfield.
SMU finished with five players in double figures. Corey Washington added 23, B.J. Edwards had 15, Jaron Pierre Jr. scored 13, and Jaden Toombs added 12 off the bench in 19 minutes.
Washington was hot from beyond the arc, shooting a career high 5 of 7, and added six rebounds. He tweaked his knee in the first half, according to Andy Enfield, and still had a great second half as he scored nine of the first 11 points out of the break, including a pair of three pointers.
“He came out, made those threes, and a couple of defensive stops. So we need him in the game. He’s really improved his shooting, his perimeter shooting. He was shooting 84 percent from the foul line before today, but when he can make threes, he’s so valuable to us because he can spread the floor, and our guards are so good to find him,” said Coach Enfield
The Mustangs pulled off the Quad 1 upset victory, 97-83. It was their first win over a ranked team since an 85-83 win over No. 6 Houston on Feb. 9, 2022. Now they will travel to Clemson for a battle on Wednesday night. Clemson edged SMU last March in the ACC Tournament 57-54, but that Clemson team is no longer there.
UCF Takes Down No. 17 Kansas
In the Big 12, the UCF Knights started off conference play the right way as well. The No. 17 Kansas Jayhawks visited and left with a loss, falling to 10-4 on the season.
The game was pretty evenly matched numbers wise. UCF held the advantage in turnovers, as Kansas had 12 to UCF’s six. The Knights did a marvelous job protecting the ball against Kansas’ defense. Kansas came into the day averaging 5.4 steals a game, and today they forced three.
“You know we talked about the importance of taking care of the basketball and value and possessions and I thought we did a great job against a team that’s very active, they’re long,” said UCF Head Coach Johnny Dawkins.
“They’re one of the best defensive teams in the country, so I’m really happy with our guys in the way they handled the pressure and the way they took care of the basketball.”
Riley Kugel scored a team high 19 points for the Knights, followed by Themus Fulks with 16. Jordan Burks produced 14 and had one of the biggest shots of the game with 42 seconds to go, as Fulks found him for a corner three to break the 72 all tie. Big moment, big shot.
Fulks spoke on Burks after the game about his moment and the work he has put in.
“He worked so hard and I’m glad he finally got the opportunity to prove it. He has just been grinding. He’s an amazing teammate and me and Jamichael was telling him about the game, like, ‘your time is going to come. You’re going to get a big shot for us.’ And he did, and he was ready for the moment too, because of how much work he put in and I think it made us both just proud of him that he was able to step up and take advantage of that.”
The game was tight and Kansas made their runs. One of the biggest advantages on the day was UCF’s bench production. They outscored Kansas 18 to 5, and not only outscored their bench but out rebounded them as well. Devan Cambridge contributed eight points off the bench for UCF, knocking down six of seven from the free throw line. He also added eight rebounds.
This win is a big one for the program, and Coach Dawkins spoke on the importance of getting off to a good start, as well as playing to their standard.
“Well, it’s important to get off to a good start, and it’s more important about how we play, and what we talk about, we’re not just playing the opponent in front of us, we’re trying to play to our standards and we have certain things we want our guys to do well every night and we try to hold him accountable for that,” said Dawkins.
The 81-75 win improves UCF to a 12-1 overall record. Next, they will head out to Stillwater, Oklahoma for a meeting with 12-2 Oklahoma State on Tuesday night.
It is just the beginning of January, and 2026 has started with a lot of excitement in the game already. It will only get better. Stay tuned.
Big Performers From Around College Basketball 01/03/2026
Isaiah Evans, Guard, Duke: 28 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist
Darius Acuff, Guard, Arkansas: 29 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists
Jeremiah Wilkinson, Guard, Georgia: 31 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
Nils Machowski, Guard, Wofford: 37 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists
Zuby Ejiofor, Forward, St. John’s: 33 points, 15 rebounds, 3 blocks
Featured Image Credit: SMU Athletics; Quotes sourced from SMU Athletics and UCF Athletics.
