9 ranked teams played on the road during the midweek and those teams went 6-3.

There’s also some context that should be added to this number. The ranked teams to lose on the road this midweek were struggling #20 Louisville at #6 Duke, #5 Nebraska down 2 key pieces at #3 Michigan, and #12 Purdue in a rivalry game at Indiana. In context, that 6-3 road mark for ranked teams is pretty damn impressive, and it took a major effort from many of these teams to pick up these coveted wins.

You Take Any Win You Can Get On The Road in Conference Play is a long held college basketball adage that exists, frankly, because it’s true. Tuesday night provided us three great examples of this in the form of Michigan State-Rutgers, Virginia-Notre Dame, and Arkansas-Oklahoma. Michigan State had their worst performance of the season on the road at Rutgers, but Jeremy Fears simply willed his team to overcome an 8 point deficit in the last 4 minutes. Virginia trailed by 20 in the first half at Notre Dame and needed a Sam Lewis 3 late in overtime to keep the game alive. Arkansas trailed by 13 at Oklahoma before settling into a back and forth affair in the second half. The home teams in these three games are now a combined 4-19 in the month of January, but that did not stop any of them from giving a ranked opponent their best punch on Tuesday night. That’s why conference road games are so treacherous. Anyone can get it at any time in any way from anyone. Notre Dame’s Cole Certa was averaging single digit points before exploding for 34 on Tuesday (more on this later). The road is all about weathering the unexpected in ways that you may or may not be prepared for.

There’s also the road games when you know you are walking straight into a hornet’s nest, and that’s what Arizona did on Monday night. They did the reverse of the three aforementioned road teams, doing the punching until just barely making it to the bathroom before shitting their pants at the end of the game. Those games are “meet the moment” tasks Arizona did just that for the first 36 minutes, and then again on the final possession.

Conference road wins are worth their weight in gold and should be cherished. Even if it comes in an overtime struggle-fest against KenPom #156.

Time for the Things…

1. Brayden Burries

I said during the game Monday night that Brayden Burries was making himself some damn money, and that was before he made the play of the game on the defensive end. Simply put, the kid was awesome in a hostile environment against a good backcourt. I mentioned that Arizona was punching early, that first punch was almost entirely Burries with 13 points before the under 12 tv timeout. He played an extremely tough game on both ends of the floor. Offensively, it was a showcase of toughness to get to the paint, play off of two feet, and make plays from there. To see a freshman guard have the maturity to play under control and off of two feet is very impressive. That’s how he got to the free throw line 14 times (he was 13-14 in THAT environment, very impressive as well).

The last play defensively was impressive by Burries, not only because he blocked the shot, but because of the recognition of clock, score, and what Rob Wright’s realistic options were once he got to the paint. Look at where Burries is when Wright picks up the dribble.

Thanks to a great swipe by Jaden Bradley to slow Wright slightly and the situational awareness to Burries to fully sell out into a help assignment that is not his, he covers major ground to get the game saving block.

That’s an elite level diagnosis and play by Burries to keep his team undefeated. Impressive stuff.

2. St. Louis

Steph Blurry, Cream Abdul-Jabbar, Milk Chamberlain, Larry Nerd will be back in the hearts of America in about a month, once the country remembers he exists and realizes what team he plays for. Robbie Avila hit a 3 off a pick and pop with 3 seconds left to give the St. Louis Bilikens the win over George Washington on Tuesday night. Everyone loved the 2023-24 Indiana State team because of Avila and their fun offense. Well, St. Louis is basically that exact team on Mark McGwire level horse steroids. Like that Indiana State team, SLU has a very balanced scoring offense with Avila stirring the drink as both a scorer and a passer. They have five guys averaging double figure points with two more averaging 9 a night. It does not get more balanced than that.

Avila led the way against George Washington with 23 points, 7 boards, and 5 assists. I know people will see a 3 point win over George Washington and shrug their shoulders, but that team is #66 at KenPom. It’s no slouch.

This shot, THIS SHOT, is the only thing standing between St. Louis and a zero in the loss column. Josh Schertz made 2024 Indiana State a fun little story, but he has made 2026 St. Louis a killing machine.

3. Oliver Rioux

Florida beat the absolute piss out of South Carolina on Wednesday night. For the Gators the surest sign that they have obliterated you is getting 7’9 Olivier Rioux into the game for a couple of minutes. Sure, he put up a 2 trillion, but it’s mesmerizing to watch the tallest player in the history of recorded college basketball go up and down the floor for a couple of possessions. He checked into the game for 7’1 Micah Handlogten and towered over him like he was talking to his point guard about the last pick and roll possession. It’s so captivating to watch a human that large move that even the South Carolina fans were fired up for him to check on, despite their team trailing by eleventy billion.

Jordan Kaye @jordankaye_23 Biggest cheer of the night comes when 7-foot-9 Olivier Rioux checks in. Even the South Carolina fans/cheerleaders were pumped 3:57 AM • Jan 29, 2026 5 Retweets 48 Likes Read 2 replies

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4. Cole Certa

I would not have put Cole Certa on any quirked up/sawed off white boy watchlists heading into the season, but in Notre Dame’s loss to Virginia he put out a notice that he should’ve been considered.

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Look at the absolute unmitigated gall with which he takes that shot. Sure, he was having a career night that would carry into the overtimes. Sure, this was the 4th of 5 3 pointers he would hit in the game. To catch the ball, realize the defender is giving you a touch of space at the NBA line, take a beat, and put it in his eye with 30 seconds left in a 1 point game is such a “fuck you” shot that deserves flowers even in a losing effort. I called it the Heat Check of the Year so far and it definitely takes some juice to take and hit that shot. Cole Certa, you are officially a sawed off white boy.

5. Michigan’s back-off

If you’ve followed along with Basketball Things or have followed me on the internet this season you know I have talked at length about strategies for fouling up by 3. On Nebraska’s last possession on Tuesday night against Michigan I said the following.

This was the ensuing play

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There’s a lot going on with this play. First, Fred Hoiberg smartly runs a play to eliminate the foul up 3 by running a shooter, Pryce Sandfort, towards the ball off a screening action that puts him near the 3 point line. He is completely covered (as Fred expected) so he finds the inbounder, Jamarques Lawrence, sneaking to the top of the key for a 3 point look. Great set. The other thing happening here is you can clearly see Elliot Cadeau initially reach to foul Sandfort on the first dribble. You can almost see the gears in Cadeau’s brain turning as he goes from foul mode to “oh shit if I reach he’s gonna go into his shot!” This is great coaching by Dusty May. He clearly had instructed his team to foul, but only if they were 10000000% sure they could get the ball handler before he went up for a 3. A sideline inbounds with 10 seconds left is such a ridiculously hard place to give a foul up by 3, because you are just begging a shooter to go up with the ball as he sees the reach coming. This out of bounds play was one of my favorite coaching mini chess matches of the season so far, as both teams executed and countered very well.

6. Do SEC teams need a 3 here?

Speaking of late game 3 pointers, both Georgia and Texas needed late 3s on Wednesday night and well… neither of them took a 3.

Let’s start with Georgia. Their final possession starts with 15 seconds left down by 3. It’s obvious as soon as they cross halfcourt that Tennessee, of course, is in a No 3s defense. Georgia runs the clock down to about 3 seconds left, passing along the perimeter, until Smurf Millender goes inside the arc and is essentially waived along to the basket by the Tennessee defense. If I was Mike White in this situation, I’d use 2 point are to my advantage. I’d get a ball handler, like Millender, in there with around 8 seconds left while running a screen action outside the arc for a pitch out. Millender then could almost make an uncontested pass for a likely heavily contested shot. Is that ideal? Of course not, but it gives you a better chance to win than what they did.

With Texas down by 6, Dailyn Swain hammered home a dunk with 7 seconds left at Auburn. This dunk, allowed by Auburn’s No 3s defense, effectively ended the game for Texas. While it was pretty nasty, it turned a 2 possession game with 7 seconds left into a 2 possession game with 7 seconds left.

Wednesday night in the SEC was every “they don’t need a 3 here” announcers’ dream. They got to watch two teams take a 2 instead of a 3, but take too much time in doing so that they could still criticize the shot. For those guys, the spin is not that Georgia and Texas should’ve taken 3s, but rather that they needed to get the 2 more quickly. Simply put, when the clock is under 8 seconds you should try to do the thing that eliminates as many possessions as possible. Math is hard, I know.