Men’s college basketball, women’s college basketball – there’s no shortage of college ball, every night.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help you figure out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in college basketball.
Peterson plays 35, Jayhawks get ranked W
There was some concern over another round of Darryn Peterson missing time with a leg injury, this time from cramps that possibly resulted from his tweaked ankle that kept him out of practices before Kansas’ showdown with BYU over the weekend. With the No. 11 Jayhawks facing No. 13 Texas Tech on the road on Monday, the quick turnaround time for Peterson — a freshman guard who is likely to be one of the top-3 picks in the NBA Draft this spring, but who had played in just 11 games this season due to a variety of leg maladies — was a genuine worry. He had to exit against the Cougars early, barely playing in the second half, and logged just 20 minutes on the day — would a similar fate befall him against the Red Raiders?
The concern was merited, but it wasn’t necessary last night, at least. Peterson wasn’t as explosive as he had been against BYU, and his shot was a little off, too, but he scored 19 points in 35 minutes — that second number is the most important one, given how his season has gone to this point. It took 14 shots and a 6-for-8 showing from the line to get those 19 points, but they all ended up mattering in a 64-61 win over Texas Tech.
Peterson also hit a 23-foot 3-pointer with 1:01 left in the game to tie things up at 61, and then a second 3 about half-a-minute later to give the Jayhawks the lead — he was 3-for-7 from deep on the night, but certainly picked the right time to start hitting them.
Despite Texas Tech hitting 12 3-pointers, it shot just 32% overall and lost the battle in the paint to Kansas, 26-14. The Red Raiders are going to have to shoot better than that to beat a team like Kansas, which got the W even without Peterson anywhere near his best.
North Carolina holds off Syracuse
With under 10 minutes to go in the game, sophomore guard Jonathan Powell put UNC up by 32 points, 72-40, against Syracuse with a corner 3.
The game seemed well in hand, but over the next 15 minutes the Orange would come alive. While the Tar Heels still scored another 15 points, Syracuse’s offense erupted for 37. The problem was that existing 32-point deficit, though: even with the outburst, North Carolina picked up a 10-point win, 87-77, as Syracuse’s defense didn’t quite keep up with its offense the rest of the way, giving UNC too many opportunities to score — that the Orange had to keep fouling toward the end didn’t help, either, as the Tar Heels picked up their last five points from the line after Syracuse had cut the lead to 82-75.
This was still a good W, but it was a better one before the defensive collapse. And it’s also a bit worrisome for UNC, given that its defense has vanished a few too many times this season. If the likes of Cal and Stanford and Syracuse can score at will for entire games, what’s going to happen when UNC faces an actual offensive juggernaut?
UNC barely escapes NC State
It wasn’t just UNC’s men that had a win that still raised eyebrows on Monday, as the women’s team also had its issues. The No. 25 Tar Heels would defeat unranked NC State, 61-59, but not until they came back from blowing a 10-point lead that had been established within the first minute of the fourth quarter. Still, UNC held off the Wolfpack despite a late push that brought the score from 59-50 to 59-57 in the course of about 90 seconds after giving up back-to-back driving layups and then a 24-footer.
Nyla Harris would save the day for the Tar Heels — the senior forward sank what would prove to be the game-winning free throws with 20 seconds left, and then senior guard Indya Nivar rebounded her own missed free throw in the final seconds of the game to keep NC State from recovering and getting a chance to score.
This was UNC’s first win on the road against NC State in six tries, dating back to the 2018-2019 season, and while it was a little ugly at times — the Tar Heels were outrebounded, missed over one-third of their free throws and were outscored in the paint, 36-26 — in the end a W is a W. And it’s not like the Wolfpack is an easy team to beat: the two are pretty close together in the NCAA Evaluation Tool, or NET, with UNC 21st and NC State 28th.
NC State had its own issues in defeat, but Khamil Pierre looked great. The junior forward scored 14 points while being the reason that UNC was outrebounded: Pierre pulled down a game-high 15 boards, which was also tied for the Division I nightly lead in both men’s and women’s basketball. She’s leading the ACC in rebounds per game at a career-best 11.9, which also puts her fifth in Division I women’s basketball — she’s a huge part of why the Wolfpack is where they are in NET, even if they aren’t ranked like UNC.
Joyce Edwards goes off
No. 3 South Carolina downing Texas A&M 71-56 was a team effort, but Joyce Edwards was the catalyst. The sophomore forward scored a game-high 28 points in 33 minutes on 9-for-12 shooting, and also went 10-for-12 from the free throw line. Edwards logged a double-double thanks to another game-high — 11 rebounds — and had 4 assists as well as a steal and a block, too. With the bench not providing much in the way of scoring and senior guard Raven Johnson doing just about everything but shoot well — she went 2-for-11 from the field but pulled down 7 rebounds while dishing out 8 assists and added a steal and 2 blocks as well — Edwards’ outing let the Gamecocks paper over its scoring issue.
Now, South Carolina was never truly in trouble here, as it led for 92% of the game, but that was the case thanks to Edwards’ stellar performance. Things look a lot different if she is struggling to shoot like the bench or Johnson, especially with sophomore forward Adhel Tac and sophomore guard Maddy McDaniel — both starters — combining for three shots from the field. Edwards scoring 14 of her 28 in the fourth quarter alone did a lot of the heavy lifting, as well.
South Carolina is now 22-2 overall and 8-1 in SEC play, with the lone loss coming against the now-No. 5 LSU Tigers. It’s a dangerous squad that still managed to win by 15 points on an off night against a top-90 opponent, but South Carolina still does need to figure out how to keep those off nights from happening.
A 36-point effort
Your scoring leader for Monday’s games hails from Incarnate Word: senior guard Davion Bailey scored 36 points for the Cardinals against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and good thing, too. For Incarnate Word, at least — it won, 71-69, upsetting the Islanders and causing a little chaos in the conference standings in the process. Texas A&M Corpus Christi is now 8-6 and tied for fourth with New Orleans, instead of moving into a tie for third with Nicholls, and that’s from losing to a team that was 4-9 and ranked 274th in NET. Basketball!
Just one other Cardinals player scored double-digits, with senior guard Tahi Staveski just getting there with 10 points. The bench, combined, had another 10 points, while the other three starters produced 15 total. Bailey was responsible for much more than half of the Cardinals’ points, directly or via assist, as in addition to the 36 he dropped on the Islanders he also had 3 assists to go with 3 rebounds and 2 steals.
What’s a little wild is that it’s not like Incarnate Word was struggling to shoot otherwise, as non-Bailey players shot 13-for-28. Bailey was 11-for-20 from the field with another 10 free throws on top of that, however, so he just kept getting the ball. If it ain’t broke, you know?
And 15 rebounds from Obanla
As mentioned before, Khamil Pierre was tied for the nightly D-I lead in rebounds with 15. She was tied with Maryland Eastern Shore’s Zion Obanla, who in addition to his 15 rebounds had 19 points on 7-for-13 shooting, as well as an assist and steal each. The Hawks would end up losing to North Carolina Central, 65-63, but it’s tough to pin that on Obanla’s performance.
The senior guard actually hasn’t been much of a rebounder this year, which makes the 15 stand out: it’s his first season in D-I ball, as he previously played for Division II Claflin University and at a couple of community colleges before that. With Claflin in 2023-2024, he led the team in total rebounds with 171, and the 6-foot-8 guard then averaged 6.5 per game the following season. In 2025-2026 with Maryland Eastern Shore, he has scored 10.2 points per game and pulled down 5.4 boards, which isn’t bad by any means but does make that 15 pop off the screen.
Obanla turned a corner in mid-December, though, as he’s averaged 7.4 rebounds per game over his last eight, while also scoring 14.5 points per game — he’s scored at least 10 and as many as 20 during every game of that run. His minutes have, understandably, also gone up during this stretch, from 17.9 to 24.8 per game.
Even with the earlier struggles and relative lack of minutes, Obanla is leading the MEAC in shooting percentage on 2-point attempts, at 64.1%. A pretty good first season in D-I ball, yeah?
Ole Miss shuts down Auburn
Auburn doesn’t have the best offense going, but it’s a pretty solid one. The Tigers rank 105th in Offensive Rating out of 363 teams thanks to averaging nearly 96 points per 100 possessions. Auburn has also shot over 40% on the season from the field, but you would not know that based on its performance against No. 13 Ole Miss.
The Rebels made life difficult for the Tigers, limiting them to 32% shooting overall and a 1-for-14 performance from beyond the arc. Auburn isn’t a good 3-point team by any means, as it ranks 254th in shooting percentage there at 28.9%, but that’s over four times the level of success the Tigers had against Ole Miss from deep. The bench had an especially difficult time, as, combined, it shot 1-for-14, including whiffing six times from 3.
Not only did Auburn miss its shots, but it missed opportunities for second-chance points: Ole Miss outrebounded the Tigers, 51 to 23, with 34 of those coming on the defensive side. Just a thorough beatdown here, that resulted in a 71-45 dub for the Rebs, and a bit of a surprise just because the Tigers are a team on the bubble. Maybe a little less so after this one, though.
