NCAA basketball: 8 teams up, 6 teams down in this week’s men’s college hoops rankings

Conference play is now in full swing after a loaded second weekend of January that saw a stunner in the Big Ten, a buzzer-beater in the Southland, and some big-time moving and shaking in the Big Ten and the SEC.

Let’s get to the biggest winners and losers from the weekend that was in men’s college hoops.

Winner: Wisconsin

There hasn’t been a better or more surprising win this season than the one Wisconsin was able to pull off Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor.

Playing as 19.5-point underdogs against a Michigan team that, entering the weekend, ranked as the second-best team of the Ken Pom era (which goes back to 1996-97), the Badgers hit 15 threes and dropped 54 second half points to pull off an absolute stunner over the No. 2 team in the country. The win dramatically bolstered the NCAA Tournament chances for a Wisconsin team that entered the game having already taken five losses.

Loser: Michigan

Obviously.

Six teams entered the weekend with undefeated records. The Wolverines are the only ones starting this week with a blemishes loss column.

There’s certainly no cause to panic in Ann Arbor, but Saturday’s loss would have been a little bit easier to digest if Michigan hadn’t also been pushed to the brink by Penn State just four days earlier. Pretty much every metric that tracks college basketball still has the Wolverines ranked as the best team in the sport, but the second week of January was the first time that Dusty May’s squad has looked assailable.

Winner: Miami of Ohio

I know, I know, I know … “Miami was a university when Florida belonged to Spain.” My older brother went there, so I’m allowed to say it. That’s the way this works.

The unbeaten Redhawks became the first team to reach 17 wins in 2205-26 with an 87-73 road win over a Toledo team that had been 3-0 in the Mid-American Conference and looked like one of Miami’s biggest obstacles on the road to an undefeated regular season.

These dudes can absolutely light it up from the outside, and while they’ve certainly become a fun regular season story, the sport needs them on the biggest stage come March.

Loser: Arkansas

There’s no shame in losing a conference road game to a likely NCAA Tournament team. There’s at least a little shame in losing a conference road game to a likely NCAA Tournament team by 22.

Auburn’s Keyshawn Hall scored 32 points and did pretty much whatever he wanted to against Arkansas in a 95-73 win for an Auburn team that had lost four of its last six entering the weekend.

What did John Calipari tell his team following its first lopsided defeat of the year?

“That ain’t us,” Calipari said. “I’m burning the tape. Let’s move on. Get on the bus fast. This stuff happens. We had no chance today … That wasn’t my team.”

Winner: Illinois

Illinois won its fifth consecutive game with an impressive road victory over No. 19 Iowa on Sunday. The Illini led by as many as 17 points in the second half before holding on for a 75-69 triumph.

After losing five straight games to Iowa from 2018-20, Illinois has now won 10 of the last 11 in the series, including five straight, and two in a row on the road in Iowa City. Freshman Keaton Wagler built continued making the case that he’s one of the more underrated members of the vaunted class of 2025, notching 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in the contest. His 7 points in the midst of Iowa’s huge late second half run were the biggest reasons Brad Underwood’s team was able to improve to 4-1 in Big Ten play.

Loser: Chicago State

There are approximately 1 billion ways to polish off a victory when you’re leading by two, have possession of the ball and there are just 0.1 seconds to play. There are maybe, I don’t know, three ways to lose.

Credit(?) to Chicago State on finding one of those.

Literally, all the inbounder has to do is hand the ball to a Stonehill player, and Chicago State still wins the game. Taking a timeout in that situation, even if you have 50 of them, is absurd. Just throw the ball in literally anywhere on the court, and the game ends. Instead, the Cougars drop to 2-15 overall in 0-4 in Northeast Conference play.

Winner: Nebraska

Every time it looks like the Cornhuskers might be ready to turn back into a pumpkin they do something that makes you think they might be capable of doing more than just winning the first NCAA Tournament game in program history this season.

Nebraska overcame a 16-point second half deficit to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 20 games with an 83-77 road win over Indiana on Saturday. Jamarques Lawrence scored a career-high 27 points and Rienk Mast added 13 points and 6 rebounds for Frdd Hoiberg’s team.

The 2025-26 Huskers already have the best start in school history and are 5-0 in Big Ten play for the first time since 1965-66, and now they have the highest AP ranking (No. 8 as of Monday’s poll) in the history of the program. There’s never been a better time to be a Nebrasketball fanatic.

Loser: Alabama

Despite having four losses entering the weekend, it was easy to see why many people still viewed Alabama as an upper tier national title contender. The Tide’s four losses had all come to teams ranked in the top six on KenPom (Purdue, Arizona, Gonzaga and Vanderbilt), and they owned impressive wins over Illinois, St. John’s Clemson and Kentucky.

Saturday’s 92-88 home loss to Texas rightfully has some folks looking sideways at Nate Oats’ team.

“We’ve got to be better,” Oats said after the game. “It seems like every time we play opponents, their backcourt has their way with us. (Vanderbilt’s) Tyler Tanner had 29 points, Jordan Pope had 28 today and he was averaging 12 going in and ended up with 28. We have to get significantly better on defense, starting right at the top. I have to look at what we’re doing, what our matchups are, what our gameplan is. We have to get some players out that have some pride. I think we gave up 16 points in the first half off straight isolation plays. I have to get the right combination of guys out there with a little bit of a defensive mentality.”

Alabama was an 11.5-point favorite over a Texas team looking for its first SEC win.

Winner: Miami (of Florida)

You’re welcome, Oxford.

There’s been a lot of talk about the resurgent ACC so far this season, but very little of that talk has surrounded the Miami Hurricanes. That probably needs to change.

Following Saturday’s 91-81 win over Georgia Tech, first year head coach Jai Lucas has the Hurricanes at 14-2 overall and a perfect 3-0 in league play. The team’s only setbacks? A pair of very understandable neutral court losses to BYU and Florida back in November.

Indiana transfer Malik Reneau would be a First Team All-ACC performer if the season ended today, and Michigan transfer Tre Donaldson is the star lead guard that every team needs to have in order to make some noise in March. Jim Larrañaga was a Hall of Fame coach who simply wasn’t built for college basketball’s brave new world. Lucas is. They may not be Final Four good (maybe not even second weekend good) just yet, but those days are coming.

Loser: Baylor

Look, no one’s going to grill you for losing at home to Houston. Pretty much everyone in the Big 12 loses at home to Houston.

Losing at home to Houston by 22 to fall to 0-3 in conference play? Yeah, that’s cause for concern.

Scott Drew turned down a handful of the biggest jobs in college basketball over the last few years to stay in Waco and solidify his legacy as being the main figure in the history of Baylor men’s basketball. Now, I think there’s some legitimate concern about how successful the final chapters of his tenure are going to be. The Bears have no real notable wins to write home about at the moment, and have been pretty clearly outclassed in all three of their league performances to date.

Winner: Vanderbilt

It wasn’t the sexiest game of the SEC’s weekend slate, but Vandy’s 84-73 win over LSU improved the Commodores to 16-0, matching the best start in school history. Tyler Tanner continued to build on his All-American case with a 20-point, 3 assist, 3 steal performance.

Vandy will be a road favorite over Texas on Wednesday before hosting Florida for a high-profile showdown on Saturday.

Winner: Northwestern State

Shot of the weekend? That belongs to Micah Thomas from Northwestern State.

The Demons erased a 14-point second half deficit to stun Texas A&M Corpus Christi and move to 3-4 in Southland Conference play.

Winner: Florida

Florida’s chances of repeating as national champions aren’t dead just yet.

The Gators gave their most complete performance of the season in a 91-67 beatdown of No. 21 Tennessee on Saturday. Boogie Fland produced his best game as a Gator to date, scoring 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go along with 5 assists and 4 steals.

The metrics still believe that Florida is a contender, and the world can see that the Gators still have perhaps the best frontcourt in all of college basketball. If Fland, Xaivian Lee and Urban Klavzar can give them consistent quality over the season’s final two months, there won’t be a team in the country UF won’t at least have a shot against come March.

Loser: Kansas

Darryn Peterson is playing and producing, but Kansas still appears to be on its way to a third consecutive disappointing campaign.

Following Saturday’s 86-75 loss to West Virginia, the Jayhawks fell to 11-5 through 16 games for just the third time under Bill Self, and to 1-2 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2005-06.

“We suck right now,” Self said after the game. “But it’s right now. Everybody goes through ebbs and flows in the season. The last three games we haven’t played well. We’ve got to flip it.”

The Jayhawks, who set the record for most consecutive appearances in the AP top 25 poll back in 2020, fell completely out of the poll on Monday.