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Super(fresh)men
In a season where freshmen regularly stand out, Saturday was a remarkable day for its individual performances. We break it down. Plus: There were notable road wins, a wild day in the Big East, a Saint Louis team not enough people are discussing, and much more from a packed weekend.
Samuel Lance
January 26, 2026
Good morning! Hope you stayed warm over the weekend.
Let's get to the news.
1. We need more superlatives for these freshmen
We’ve known this freshman class is elite for a some time now, but Saturday may have proved this is THE best group the sport’s ever seen.
That’s not hyperbole. For the first time ever, three freshmen scored 40+ points in the same day. Others had great games too, but they went mostly under-the-radar because of some all-time performances.
Here are five ridiculous freshman outings we saw on Saturday:
Illinois guard Keaton Wagler: 46 points, 4 assists, 13/17 FG, 9/11 3FG in an 88-82 win at No. 4 Purdue.
BYU forward AJ Dybantsa: 43 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 15/24 FG, 4/5 3FG in a 91-78 win vs. Utah.
Houston guard Kingston Flemings: 42 points, 6 assists, 2 steals, 15/26 FG, 4/9 3FG in a 90-86 loss at No. 12 Texas Tech.
Duke forward Cameron Boozer: 32 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 11/20 FG, 3/8 3FG in a 90-69 win vs. Wake Forest.
Arkansas guard Darius Acuff: 31 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 13/19 FG, 4/7 3FG in an 85-81 win vs. LSU.
Wagler had the most historic night of the bunch, dropping the most points in AP Poll history over a top-10 opponent on the road and setting the Mackey Arena scoring record for a visiting player. (Here’s a deeper dive into his day for On3.com subscribers). But all of them had monster days.
Both Dybantsa and Flemings set their program’s respective freshman scoring records. Acuff set a new career-high in points. And then Boozer was, well, Cam Boozer. And all of that doesn’t even include Nate Ament’s 29-7-3 performance in a win vs. Bama.
It’s going to be an amazing March.
2. Saturday was for freshmen … and road wins
As Matt McCall says, winning is hard, especially on the road in a power conference. However, two teams picked up statement wins away from home with several others following suit over the weekend.
