The first weekend of 2026 saw most college basketball teams play their first or second conference game of the season. While No. 6 Duke survived a scare against Florida State during a 91-87 win on the road, other blue bloods weren’t as fortunate.
Kentucky dropped to 9-5 on the season and began SEC play with a 89-74 loss to No. 14 Alabama on the road. Last year, the Wildcats opened conference play with a statement win over (eventual) national champion Florida in one of the best games of the season. The Wildcats were riding a four-game win streak before falling to the Crimson Tide.
In the Big 12, No. 17 Kansas saw star freshman Darryn Peterson return to the lineup against UCF. However, Peterson logged just five minutes in the second half and his team was on the wrong side of an 81-75 loss to the Knights. Almost two years ago to the day the Knights upset the Jayhawks in their first conference win as a member of the Big 12.
No. 12 North Carolina has been playing like one of the best teams in college basketball lately, but fell flat in its first conference loss to SMU. The 97-83 setback to the Mustangs snapped a seven-game winning streak dating back to a win over Kentucky in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from the weekend.
Loser: Another slow start dooms Kentucky
Slow starts sunk Kentucky in early-season losses to Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina and Gonzaga. And a slow start Saturday (surprise!) at Alabama to open its SEC slate – in which it trailed by as many as 21 points in the first half (!!) – again doomed the Wildcats in an 89-74 defeat.
It was a major step back for Kentucky after it closed out the 2025 calendar year with four consecutive wins and seemed to be trending up, with two of those wins coming against St. John’s and Indiana. The Wildcats simply never found their groove in this one, and despite a late push, the game’s result was never in doubt.
Troubling for UK (in addition to the loss, which is not all that troubling in a vacuum) is the way in which it succumbed to the Tide. It lost the rebounding battle to a Bama team that has been soft on the boards much of the season and let Bama assert itself in precisely the way it wanted to: by letting Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway dictate the terms and pick them apart from 3-point range. That’s top-of-the-scouting-report priorities Kentucky should’ve had a better plan for. Instead it’s back to the drawing board after a humbling defeat. — Kyle Boone
Winner: Baylor’s December free agent makes debut
Sure, Baylor (10-3) lost 69-63 at TCU, but James Nnaji, the newest player on the Bears’ roster, pretty clearly had a very good day on a personal level. He made history, for starters. He’ll forever be referenced and remembered as the first former NBA Draft pick to play in men’s college basketball. Leading up to the game, Scott Drew speculated Nnaji might only play a few minutes in his debut. He overshot the target. Nnaji was playable enough to stay on the court for 16:17 out of 40 minutes of a fairly competitive game that saw Baylor chasing throughout.
Nnaji finished with five points, four rebounds, one assist, two turnovers and four fouls. He’s rough around the edges, but that was the expectation; Saturday was Nnaji’s first five-on-five action since the summer. He had a back issue that kept him out of competition, and all things considered, he was a plus on the floor. For Drew and Baylor, which only had eight healthy players, the depth was a welcomed update to the team’s reinforcements. We’ll see how he adapts in the weeks ahead. Whether Nnaji’s addition to the roster is worth even one additional win is far from a certainty.
Winner: Providence rallies to stun St. John’s
Stefan Vaaks erupted for 15 of his 16 points in the second half to spark Providence to a potentially season-turning win over St. John’s. The once-slumping Friars trailed 15-3 before they could blink and at one point trailed by as many as 13 points. They had to survive an unbelievable 33-point, 15-rebound Zuby Ejiofor performance. And yet, Providence surged off the mat to erase a 10-point deficit in the final seven minutes of regulation. — Isaac Trotter
Winner: Arkansas’ Acuff shines in SEC debut
Arkansas freshman Darius Acuff turned in a memorable SEC debut, scoring a career-high 29 points to lead the No. 18 Razorbacks to an 86-75 win over No. 19 Tennessee. Acuff produced Arkansas’ first seven points, scored a big bucket just before halftime and then popped off for 19 in the second half. In the process, he thoroughly outplayed Tennessee’s Nate Ament, who was the only SEC freshman to finish ahead of Acuff in the final 247Sports recruiting rankings.
Acuff has yet to score fewer than 16 points against a high-major opponent and is looking like an early contender for SEC Player of the Year. A year ago, the Razorbacks had to grapple with unmet expectations and injuries surrounding freshman guard Boogie Fland. This time, coach John Calipari appears to have hit the lottery. — David Cobb
Loser: Peterson returns, but Kansas falls to UCF
The good news: Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson is back. The bad? Kansas was on the wrong side of an upset loss to UCF. Peterson looked incredible in the first half against the Knights and scored 23 points before halftime. However, Peterson logged just five total minutes in the second half and scored just three points. Peterson subbed out around the 10-minute mark and did not return for the rest of the game. The ceiling of Kansas’ roster without Peterson is significantly lower. — Cameron Salerno
UCF upsets No. 17 Kansas in return of Jayhawks star freshman Darrryn Peterson from hamstring injury
Cameron Salerno
Loser: UNC defense collapses in ugly road loss to SMU
North Carolina entered the weekend with the second-best defense among ACC programs, allowing 96.6 points per 100 possessions, per KenPom data. It left the day searching for answers in an area it has otherwise been brilliant in after surrendering a season-high 97 points in a 97-83 defeat to SMU.
SMU converted 1.426 points per possession in the win – a stunning 142.6 points per 100 possession pace – and found little resistance in its third consecutive outing of 97 or more points. The Mustangs finished 14 of 27 from 3-point range, had 23 assists to only seven turnovers and never trailed in the second half. — Boone
Winner: Texas Tech is flying high offensively
With premier perimeter marksmen Chance McMillian (43.3% on 5.3 attempts) and Kerwin Walton (39.6% on 4.3 attempts) departing from a team that ranked in the top 50 nationally in made 3-pointers per game (10) and percentage (36.7%), Tech needed some hired guns. It found them in the form of UNC Greensboro transfer Donovan Atwell, freshman Jaylen Petty and Santa Clara transfer Tyeree Bryan. The trio combined to go 12 of 23 from deep in a 102-80 win over Oklahoma State.
The Red Raiders tied a season-high with 17 made 3-pointers against the Cowboys as four TTU players drilled 3+ treys apiece. When you surround an interior star like JT Toppin with that type of shooting, you get an elite offensive team. That’s what Texas Tech (11-3, 1-0 Big 12) is on their way to becoming after an uneven start to the season. Toppin led the way with 23 points and 14 rebounds, which left Oklahoma State with no choice but to pick its poison defensively. — Cobb
Loser: Pitt veers toward rock bottom
An 80-46 win over Penn State on Dec. 21 sent Pitt into Christmas on a high note after a rocky start that included home losses to Quinnipiac and Hofstra. But any hope of the Panthers maintaining that momentum dissipated in a 73-68 loss to Clemson on Saturday. The Panthers are now (7-8, 0-2 ACC) and careening toward irrelevance once again.
This program won 20+ games in consecutive seasons back in 2023 and 2024, finishing 26-14 in the ACC during that span under eighth-year coach Jeff Capel. The Panthers even reached the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament and signed a strong freshman class that year, which featured top-100 guards Bub Carrington and Jaland Lowe. But Carrington turned out to be a one-and-done star, and Lowe transferred to Kentucky after last season. With more talent heading out than coming in, this struggle was all-too predictable. — Cobb
Winner: Villanova might be second best in Big East
UConn is the king of the Big East for now, but Villanova looks solidified to be No. 2 after improving to 3-0 in the league with an 85-67 road win over Butler. Balance is everything for Kevin Willard’s group. All five starters (Academe Lewis, Matt Hodge, Bryce Lindsay, Tyler Perkins and Duke Brennan) cracked double figures. With lone losses to BYU (very good!) and Michigan (confirmed amazing!), Villanova looks primed to rise above St. John’s, Seton Hall and the rest to be UConn’s stiffest challenger. — Trotter
Loser: NC State’s 3-point defense goes MIA vs. UVa
NC State’s 3-point defense had been flirting with disaster for large chunks of time this season, and Saturday turned out to be judgment day. Entering the day, the Wolfpack had allowed 9.5 unguarded catch-and-shoot 3s per game. That ranked 291st nationally. Virginia capitalized on those clean looks from the jump. Sam Lewis and Malik Thomas combined for seven triples in the first half alone of UVA’s runaway 76-61 victory over NC State. Virginia totaled 13 triples and improved to 12-2 overall and 1-1 in ACC play. — Trotter
Winner: Georgia off to historically great start after OT win
On a day in which defense was optional (but, largely, nonexistent) it should come as no surprise that No. 23 Georgia – which has the highest-scoring offense in college basketball – came through down the stretch by relying on its offense in a 104-100 overtime win over Auburn.
The Bulldogs outscored the Tigers 12-8 in the extra period, which included two made 3-pointers and two made free throws in the final 110 seconds to seal the win. UGA finished the day 11 of 29 from 3-point range and 25 of 35 from the free-throw line.
The win moved UGA to 13-1 on the season, marking its second-best start in program history and best start to a season since 1931. — Boone
