Category: NCAA Basketball

Kingston Flemings had 15 points and five assists, Joseph Tugler added 13 points and six rebounds and No. 8 Houston pulled away in the second half for a 69-60 win over Middle Tennessee State on Monday night. Emanuel Sharp scored 10 points before leaving with 8:53 remaining in the second half after taking a hard fall on the floor on a drive. Houston (12-1) won its sixth straight game and 13th straight game at home.

Freshman reserve Meleek Thomas scored a career-high 28 points and No. Arkansas beat James Madison 103-74 on Monday night. Thomas shot 8 of 16 from the floor and 6 of 10 from 3-point range.

Morez Johnson Jr. had 24 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 2 Michigan to a 112-71 victory over McNeese State on Monday night. The Wolverines (12-0) are off to their best start since they opened the 2018-19 season 17-0, a school record. It’s just the fourth time Michigan has won its first 12 games.

Jeremy Fears Jr. scored a career-high 21 points and added 11 assists for No. Michigan State as the Spartans overcame a sluggish start to beat Cornell 114-97 on Monday night. Coen Carr had 19 points and six rebounds, and Trey Fort scored 14 points.

Marcus “Smurf” Millender scored 14 points and No. Georgia rallied in the second half to beat Long Island University 89-74 on Monday night. Georgia (12-1) took its first lead — at 48-47 — on Justin Bailey's 3-pointer early in the second half.

Michigan basketball game: The Wolverines led 7-0 within a minute as Morez Johnson Jr. poured in a team-high 24 points against McNeese.

Freshman Jack Benter came off the bench to hit six 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 20 points, and Fletcher Loyer added 19 points to lead No. 5 Purdue to a 101-60 rout of Kent State on Monday night. Trey Kaufman-Renn had a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds. Braden Smith had 12 points and eight assists for the Boilermakers (12-1) in their nonconference finale.

Tyler Tanner scored the first five points of the game and finished with 23 as 11th-ranked Vanderbilt never trailed and routed New Haven 96-53 Monday night. The Commodores came into their nonconference finale the Southeastern Conference's only undefeated team and one of only six still unbeaten. Jalen Washington added 21 points off the bench for Vanderbilt.

Alex Condon scored 17 points, Rueben Chinyelu notched his seventh double-double of the season and No. 22 Florida capped its nonconference schedule with a 94-72 victory against Dartmouth on Monday night. The defending national champion Gators (9-4) built a 32-point lead in the second half and cruised from there despite allowing the Big Green (5-7) to make 12 shots from 3-point range. Florida had five players score in double figures and closed 2025 with a fourth consecutive victory, the last one coming in the program’s first meeting with Dartmouth.

Jake Davis hit five 3-pointers and finished with 15 points and Keaton Wagler had 11 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds as No. 20 Illinois closed out its non-conference schedule with a 90-55 win over Southern on Monday.

Bennett Stirtz scored 22 points as No. 25 Iowa finished the nonconference part of its schedule with a 90-62 win over UMass Lowell on Monday. Iowa (11-2), which moved into The Associated Press Top 25 last week for the first time since the third week of the 2022-23 season, is off to its best start since the 2020-21 team opened 12-2. The Hawkeyes went 10-1 in nonconference play.

Oluchi Okananwa scored a career-high 28 points, and seventh-ranked Maryland scored the first 14 points Monday in a 97-59 rout of Wisconsin in its Big Ten home opener. The Terrapins (14-0, 2-0) overwhelmed the Badgers (9-4, 1-1) with their size advantage and secured a 51-28 rebounding advantage. Yarden Garzon and Addi Mack both had 15 points for Maryland, which has won each of its 11 home games by at least 16 points.

Michigan keeps hold of the No. 1 spot in the USA TODAY Sports men's basketball poll and Duke rises in the final rankings of the 2025 calendar year.

Tom Izzo and No. 9 Michigan State basketball have one final nonconference game against Cornell on Monday, Dec. 29, before Big Ten play resumes.

As 2025 ends and conference play begins, it's time to assess who has put themselves in a great spot to make the Final Four.