Skip to main content
Join

College Basketball Wednesday: Winners and Losers From All the Action

channels4_profileby: Field of 68 Staff01/29/26TheFieldOf68

There’s never a dull night in college basketball, and Wednesday provided us with some great games and standout performances.

Here’s the Field of 68’s winners and losers from the slate:

WINNERS

DILLON MITCHELL — Ever since Rick Pitino went with a bigger starting lineup of Ian Jackson, Oziyah Sellers, Dillon Mitchell, Bryce Hopkins and Zuby Ejiofor against Butler, St. John’s has racked off seven straight wins by an average of 13.4 points.

The Johnnies (16-5, 9-1 Big East) have seemed to turn the corner and are looking more and more like the team we thought they’d be preseason. The key? Senior forward Dillon Mitchell, who had 14 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks to help St. John’s dominate Butler, 92-70 on Wednesday.

“I’m having so much fun watching Dillon Mitchell play,” Pitino said postgame. “I don’t think I’ve said that too many times in my 52 years of having fun watching a person play… He really knows how to play. It’s not like having another point guard on the floor. It’s like having another coach on the floor, which is great. If he didn’t screw up four or five years ago and would have come to me a little sooner, it would’ve been a lot better.”

Pitino added Mitchell has really evolved as a point forward because of their “inadequate ability” at that position.

“He’s evolved into something special because of that,” Pitino said.

JP ESTRELLA — Tennessee now has back-to-back road wins against NCAA Tournament teams after holding on to defeat Georgia in overtime, 86-85. This game had a wild finish with Georgia hitting a layup to send it to overtime, and then mistakenly hitting another in the extra period instead of a 3-pointer as time expired.

Point guard Jakobi Gillespie (21 points, six assists) and freshman wing Nate Ament (19 points, six rebounds) both played well for the Vols, but it was big man JP Estrella who perhaps had the biggest hand in the win. He tallied 19 points and was dominant on the glass with seven offensive rebounds, contributing five of Tennessee’s 24 second-chance points in the overtime frame alone.

If the Vols (14-6, 4-3 SEC) can handle Auburn at home on Saturday, they’ll likely be back in the top 25 come Monday.

HOUSTON’S FRESHMEN — Freshman point guard Kingston Flemings backed up his 42 point vs. Texas Tech loss with 27 points as Houston grabbed a win at TCU, 79-70. The other five-star freshman, Chris Cenac, was also sensational with eight points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

The broadcast mentioned head coach Kelvin Sampson challenged Cenac after the Texas Tech game, where he was mostly a non-factor, to be a menace and more active on the glass. The freshman big man responded in a big way.

KEYSHAWN HALL — The Auburn wing walked into halftime with six points on 1-of-6 shooting, but he was simply unguardable in the second half, tallying 25 points across the final 20 minutes to push Auburn past Texas in The Jungle, 88-82.

“I’m going to tell you this: he’s one of college basketball’s premier players,” Texas head coach Sean Miller said postgame.

Auburn has won four-straight games, and the Tigers are continuing to improve game after game. But one piece is still missing.

“Tahaad [Pettiford] continues to struggle,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said postgame. “He’s probably shooting 18% in conference play and we’re still 14-7, 5-3. If he can find a way to flip a switch… things can really change for us.” 

FLORIDA — The Gators (15-6, 6-2) defeated South Carolina 95-48 in Columbia. That’s a 47 point win, the largest by any SEC road team over the last 50 years and Florida’s most lopsided SEC road win in school history.

SETON HALL/WISCONSIN COMEBACKS — Seton Hall (15-6, 5-5 Big East) was down 13 points to Xavier from the jump and 10 points at halftime but used a 23-3 run in the second half to spark an 86-68 comback victory. Wisconsin (15-6, 7-3 Big Ten) was also down 20 at one point to Minnesota but stormed back in the second half to win 67-63 and avoid a bad home loss.

TOP OF THE AMERICAN — Three teams won to stay tied atop the American standings. South Florida was relentless on the glass with 27 second chance points, winning 97-83 at Tulane. Charlotte (picked last preseason), held on to beat Temple, 80-76, continuing its remarkable start to conference play. Tulsa held serve at home against North Texas, 82-66. The American conference race will be fun to monitor.

BELMONT — The Bruins (19-3, 9-2 Missouri Valley) had a scare at Valparaiso but held on to win 78-77. They sit in sole possession of first place in the conference. Illinois State winning at Murray State 70-65 was also a notable result from Wednesday. The Racers (16-6, 8-3), who sit in second place, have now lost three-straight, and the Redbirds (15-7, 7-4) aren’t far behind.

NAVY — The Midshipmen’s 58-50 win over Boston keeps them in sole possession of first place in the Patriot League at 16-6, 8-1.

LOSERS

TEXAS — Losing in The Jungle is nothing to be ashamed of, but when you’re on the bubble like the Longhorns (12-9, 3-5 SEC), every game is magnified. And once again, fouling issues emerged as a problem for Sean Miller’s bunch

“They were 22-for-28 from the free throw line in the second half,” Miller said postgame. “It’s almost impossible to do in a college game, but I give [Auburn] a lot of credit. They put our guys in a position to foul and we fouled the shit out of them.”

“We had zero answers. If you get to the free throw line 28 times in a half, that’s total dominance. And that’s how it felt… Our defense, it has to get better, individually, collectively. And we’re going to stay at it.” 

WEST COAST BUBBLE TEAMS — It wasn’t a good night for west coast teams traveling east. USC fell at Iowa, 73-72. California dropped at Floria State, 63-61. And Stanford lost at Miami, 79-70.

California and Stanford were both in our consensus first four out on Monday’s bracketology show. The Bears (15-6, 3-5) can’t afford any bad losses, and Florida State is ranked 114 in the NET. Not good. Stanford’s loss will be a Quad 1, but the Cardinal were up three with 7:42 remaining left and let a chance to pick up a quality win slip away.

As for USC (15-6, 4-6), the Trojans were down 17 with 9:30 remaining and stormed all the way back just to suffer a heartbreaking loss. Iowa coach Ben McCollum was perplexed, as were the rest of us, at USC’s decision to foul up one with seconds remaining. It was a perplexing loss, and right now, the best resume wins for USC are Seton Hall and Wisconsin. That’s not necessarily needle-moving come Selection Sunday.

BAYLOR — The Bears (11-9, 1-7 Big 12) have pretty much eliminated themselves from at-large NCAA Tournament contention after falling at Cincinnati, 67-57. Baylor is also off to its worst start in conference play since 2006.

MATT MCMAHON — LSU’s athletic director said not too long ago if the Tigers miss the tournament, they’ll have to “reevaluate” the head coaching position. After getting blown out at home by Mississippi State, 80-66, it’s going to be hard for LSU (13-8, 1-7 SEC) to make the Big Dance.

OTHER NOTABLES

TOP TEN INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES

  1. Keyshawn Hall (Auburn) — 31 pts, 3 rebs, 2 ast, 3/6 3FG, 14/17 FTs
  2. Kingston Flemings (Houston) — 27 pts, 5 rebs, 5 ast, 8/16 FG
  3. Budd Clark (Seton Hall) — 24 pts, 7 rebs, 4 ast, 4 stls, 8/16 FG
  4. Baba Miller (Cincinnati) — 18 pts, 17 rebs, 3 ast, 1 blk, 6/12 FG
  5. Dillon Mitchell (St. John’s) — 14 pts, 13 rebs, 4 ast, 3 blks, 7/13 FG
  6. JP Estrella (Tennessee) — 17 pts, 9 rebs, 8/12 FG, +13 in 31 minutes
  7. Kam Woods (USC) — 33 pts, 3 rebs, 3 ast, 4 stls, 12/17 FG
  8. Dailyn Swain (Texas) — 30 pts, 7 rebs, 4 ast, 10/16 FG, 4/7 3FG
  9. Buddy Simmons (St. Bonaventure) — 31 pts, 1 reb, 2 ast, 2 stls, 8/11 FG
  10. Mostapha El Moutaouakkil (Jacksonville State) — 31 pts, 5 rebs, 4 ast, 4 stls, 10/18 FG

Subscribe to The Field of 68 on YouTube

Subscribe to The Field of 68’s Daily Newsletter

Follow The Field of 68 on X

Watch The Field of 68 on TikTok

And like The Field of 68 on Instagram

You may also like