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 the last night in college basketball.
Florida bounces back with blowout win
Florida won the men’s national championship last season, taking down Houston in the final, but the 2025-2026 campaign kicked off on a much different note, as the Gators lost to No. 13 Arizona in an upset, 93-87. On Thursday, they faced off against North Florida, and easily evaded putting together a losing streak: Florida dominated, 104-64, and evened their record at 1-1.
Junior forward Alex Condon led all scorers with 25 points in just 26 minutes, while also snagging 10 rebounds, logging 4 assists and blocking 3 shots. The Australian big didn’t have the only double-double of the game, either, as teammate Micah Handlogten, playing off of the bench for 19 minutes, picked up his second in a row thanks to 17 points and 13 rebounds – he had a single assist, block and steal to go with those, too.
Oh, and Florida had some real big news, too.
The tallest player in college basketball history debuted
The college basketball world has been waiting for 7-foot-9 Olivier Rioux. On Thursday, he finally introduced himself with his on-court debut. He played just two minutes in Florida’s win over North Florida. But after exercising a red shirt last year, it’s nice to know he’s available if called upon. And fans will certainly call for him in blowout games like this one.
McGill scores 38 in huge game
The men’s team at Florida wasn’t the only one in action on Thursday, and they also weren’t the only Gators to find success. The women’s team took on Chattanooga, and actually won by 42 points, compared to the men’s 40-point W. Sophomore guard Liv McGill played 40 minutes for the Gators and made the most of them, scoring 38 points – Thursday’s high across all Division I games – while just missing a triple-double: McGill also had 10 assists and 8 rebounds, while also logging 7 steals. She took more than half the shots for the entire starting lineup – 26 compared to 23 for the rest of the fivesome – but also shot 50% on the evening, so, you know, it worked for everyone involved.
McGill is currently leading the SEC in both points and assists per game through two, and is shooting far more often than she did as a freshman for Florida, when she averaged 14.5 shots per game. It’s early and all, but maybe she’s breaking out after putting together a solid freshman campaign.
LSU dismantled Southeastern Louisiana
You can’t find a much more balanced attack than what LSU had going on Thursday. There was plenty of opportunity to share, since the No. 5 team in the nation was facing Southeastern Louisiana in what might be the most lopsided win of the young college basketball season. LSU was leading 61-6 at halftime, and played a game that looked basically this clip again and again throughout to make it that way.
The aim of this isn’t to pick on Southeastern Louisiana, though – LSU is ranked where they are for a reason, and that’s going to be a problem for the vast majority of their opponents all season long – but to take a look at how the Tigers used this blowout as an opportunity to spread the ball around and show off their depth. The leading scorer for the night in a 115-26 win was senior guard Flau’Jae Johnson, who put up 17 while pulling down 5 rebounds and dishing out just as many assists. She played just 19 minutes, and only one starter, junior guard Mikaylah Williams, even got to 20. The bench had their chance to shine, and accounted for 58 of LSU’s 115 points, as well as 26 of their 55 rebounds, 10 of their 25 assists and 12 of their 19 steals.
If there was a specific star of the game who stands out, it’s not Johnson, but sophomore forward Kate Koval. Though she scored 16 points – one fewer than Johnson – she had a game-high 9 rebounds and a block, and went 7-for-8 shooting.
Serving it up
No. 20 Auburn took on Merrimack at home, and that resulted in not just a convincing 95-57 victory, but also this pair of quick passes that ended with a dunk.
The dunk was delivered by 7-foot center Emeka Opurum, in his debut – he would score 11 on the night in 19 minutes while collecting 4 rebounds. The biggest night in anyone from the game came from senior guard and transfer Keyshawn Hall, though, as he torched Merrimack for 25 points and 14 rebounds in 26 minutes.
It was a one-sided affair, as the score suggests, but even more than that really: just one player from Merrimack made it to double-digits in scoring, and that was junior guard Ernest Shelton, who accounted for 23 of the Warriors’ 57 points, while also leading the team in rebounds and steals in just his second game.
UCLA’s starters get it done
If LSU’s win was a team-wide effort and Florida’s W was powered extensively by Liv McGill’s unstoppable performance, UCLA’s 87-50 dub over UC Santa Barbara was somewhere in between. It wasn’t just one player who stole the show, but the bench was basically nonexistent in their help: the starters did all the lifting, heavy or otherwise.
Charlisse Leger-Walker was the lone Bruins starter to not reach double-digits in points, but she had 7 assists, 3 steals and 3 rebounds to go with her 8 points. Lauren Betts also was on the low side scoring, with a dozen points, but pulled down 7 boards and dropped 6 dimes while blocking a pair of shots. Gianna Kneepkens scored 20 with 3 rebounds and 3 assists a piece, Kiki Rice also reached 20 and added 8 rebounds and 3 assists to that figure while Gabriela Jaquez led the Bruins with 21 points, with 6 rebounds and a single block, assist and steal each to go with those.
On Leger-Walker’s sixth assist of the game, she reached 400 for her career, which UCLA made a point of recognizing.
The win was also a victory for UCLA’s coach, Cori Close, over her alma mater. There’s no mercy for your former school in college basketball, whether as a player or a coach.
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