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Point-shaving scandal hits hoops
Nearly 20 schools named in charges of 26 players who conspired to fix games. The details and what's next. Plus: Gonzaga loses a start for up to 8 weeks, Dior Johnson drops 40 points again, we dive into all of Thursday's results and highlight what to watch this weekend.
Tristan Freeman
January 16, 2026
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Good morning. Except to everyone who’s scheming to “fix” college basketball games.
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1. 26 players ‘fixed and attempted to fix’ college games
College hoops had quite the gambling bombshell dropped on it.
Seventeen schools and 39 players were part of a point-shaving scheme over the previous two seasons, according to a federal indictment that was unsealed on Thursday. Of those players, 26 were charged to have “fixed and attempted to fix” 29 games.
Twenty of those players competed during the 2023-24 and or the 2024-25 seasons. More notably, four players have played in the last week.
Cottle was Conference USA’s Player of the Week just a few days ago, though the school issued a statement that he has been suspended from all team activities. Eastern Michigan did the same with Carlos Hart. The Atlantic 10 also issued a statement on the matter.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars were bet, according to the documents, including six figures in mostly mid-major battles. DePaul was the lone high-major program implicated. Many of the players involved in the alleged scheme were highlighted in various social media clips all day Thursday. That’ll be an ongoing thing.
The defendants are charged with bribery in sporting contests and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Five of the defendants are described as “fixers” who recruited players to participate and offered bribes anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000. The wagers on games included a $458,000 on a Towson-North Carolina A&T game, and several first-half spreads and covers.
Those “fixers” were charged with additional counts of wire fraud with a maximum sentence of up to 20 years.
The NCAA responded with president Charlie Baker renewing a call for new regulations and state laws to change high-risk prop bets.
"The Association has and will continue to aggressively pursue sports betting violations in college athletics using a layered integrity monitoring program that covers over 22,000 contests," Baker said. "We urge all student-athletes to make well-informed choices to avoid jeopardizing the game and their eligibility."
2. Gonzaga wins, but won’t have Huff for a while
Gonzaga’s Thursday game against Washington State was almost a secondary thought given the news that came out just before tip-off: Starter Braden Huff will miss the next 4-8 weeks with a knee injury.
Yes, that means there’s a chance he could be done for the season.
