Fights and Fires: College Basketball Got Weird

College football produces some unusual headlines, so many that we dedicated an entire 11 Personnel to the best ones from the last year. This weekend, college basketball said, “hold my beer.”

Georgia has been one of the biggest surprises of the SEC this year. Mike White‘s team is averaging 90.3 points per game, the third-most in college basketball. However, they’ve hit a bump in the road in SEC play. They lost three out of four games before hitting the road to Norman to play a struggling Oklahoma team.

The Dawgs should’ve taken care of business. Instead, things got weird.

The Lloyd Noble Center might be the worst arena in the SEC. It lived up to its reputation in an unusual way. Five minutes into the game, a popcorn machine caught on fire.

The Georgia-Oklahoma game had a brief delay due to an actual fire in the arena.

"We've got a full-blown fire going on right now!"

"A popcorn machine, it looks like!… Goodness gracious!"

Here's what the scene looked and sounded like on the SEC Network broadcast. 🏀🔥🎙️ pic.twitter.com/79inO4ZYLB

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 14, 2026

The sprinkler system activated and quickly put out the blaze, but the game was delayed for a few minutes to let the smoke clear. Folks at the Noble Center had some fun with it, playing “We Didn’t Start the Fire” during halftime.

“I looked up and thought, ‘This is just — add it to the list.’ I’ve never seen anything like it,” Porter Moser said after the game. “It was a huge flame.”

The popcorn wasn’t the only thing on fire in Norman. The Sooners got hot and stunned Georgia. Oklahoma trailed by two at halftime. In the second half, they shot 67.9% from the field, including 6-9 from three, to run away with a 94-78 victory.

Georgia will be limping to Rupp Arena, losers of five of their last six. Once firmly in the NCAA Tournament field, the Dawgs are on the bubble as one of the last four byes.

Another Winnable Game for Kentucky

Before the season started, the road trip to Auburn looked like a daunting task for Kentucky. In news that will shock no one, Steven Pearl’s Tigers are struggling. The first-year coach benched Keyshawn Hall, one of only five players in the league averaging more than 20 points per game, for disciplinary reasons. Without Hall, Auburn fell 88-75 to Arkansas for the Tigers’ fourth-straight loss.

Sign up for the KSR Newsletter to receive Kentucky Wildcats news in the most ridiculous manner possible.

A Rare College Basketball Brawl

Elsewhere around college basketball, a homecoming turned into a melee. Former Friar Bryce Hopkins returned to Providence and was greeted with a smack to the face. Duncan Powell took out Hopkins as he was leading the break in transition and things got ugly.

Tempers flare after Duncan Powell's foul on Bryce Hopkins.

The Providence forward was ejected following the play. pic.twitter.com/RvzoRpJKuR

— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) February 14, 2026

Powell was ejected for starting the fight, but St. John’s bore the brunt of the consequences. Providence also lost leading scorer Jaylin Sellers for the rest of the game, but the Red Storm had three players tossed for leaving the bench. It took officials 19 minutes to sort through the footage, which resulted in six total ejections.

But wait — THERE’S MORE!

Bryce Hopkins took another hard hit later in the second half, this time from Jameir Jones, and he was ejected for not making a play on the ball. St. John’s was able to escape the highly-charged atmosphere with a 79-69 win. Big East basketball lived up to its reputation at the Dunk.