Unrivaled’s second annual 1-on-1 tournament will continue Friday with the single-elimination second round and quarterfinals. By the night’s end, the 16 remaining competitors will be whittled down to four. Those still alive after Friday will be guaranteed a share of the $300,000 prize pool, which includes a $200,000 grand prize. Those who are knocked out will bow out empty-handed.
Unlike last year’s inaugural event, there weren’t many upsets in the first round on Wednesday. Seven of the top eight seeds advanced, including all four No. 1 seeds: Kelsey Mitchell, Paige Bueckers, Allisha Gray and Breanna Stewart. The only top-eight seed who lost was Rhyne Howard, who was upset by Vinyl BC teammate Rae Burrell.
As a reminder, the 1-on-1 tournament is single-elimination until the finals, which will be a best-of-three series. Games through the semifinals are played to 11 points, by 2s and 3s, or 10 minutes, whichever comes first. In the finals, the games will be to eight points, by 2s and 3s, or 10 minutes, whichever comes first.
2026 Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament: First-round results, bracket, rules, schedule and how to watch
Jack Maloney
Here’s how to watch the remaining action:
Where to watch Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament
Second round and quarterfinals
- Friday, Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m. ET — TNT / truTV / HBO Max
Semifinals and championship
- Saturday, Feb. 14, 6 p.m. ET — TNT / tru TV / HBO Max
Before the games resume, CBS Sports’ experts Lindsay Gibbs and Jack Maloney filled out their brackets and predicted a champion.
Unrivaled 1-on-1 predictions
Lindsay Gibbs
Second round
- No. 5 Veronica Burton over No. 1 Kelsey Mitchell
- No. 2 Kelsey Plum over No. 7 Natisha Hiedeman
- No. 1 Paige Bueckers over No. 4 Arike Ogunbowale
- No. 3 Jackie Young over No. 2 Chelsea Gray
- No. 1 Allisha Gray over No. 8 Saniya Rivers
- No. 6 Sonia Citron over No. 7 Rae Burrell
- No. 1 Breanna Stewart over No. 4 Aliyah Boston
- No. 6 Shakira Austin over No. 2 Aaliyah Edwards
Quarterfinals
- Kelsey Plum over Veronica Burton
- Paige Bueckers over Jackie Young
- Allisha Gray over Sonia Citron
- Shakira Austin over Breanna Stewart
Semifinals
- Paige Bueckers over Veronica Burton
- Shakira Austin over Allisha Gray
Championship
- Paige Bueckers over Shakira Austin
Ultimately, I’m heavily basing my picks off of what we saw in the first round and gut instinct, which as Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart told our Jack Maloney, is a key part of 1-on-1!
Veronica Burton stole the show on Wednesday night with her 11-0 sweep of Courtney Williams, and I think she will carry that form into the second round and quarterfinals, where she’ll upset the Kelseys (Mitchell and Plum). But ultimately, the versatile and hyper-competitive Paige Bueckers will take her down. Meanwhile, I have a somewhat surprising finalist from the bottom half of the bracket: Shakira Austin.
Austin looked great in one of the most competitive first-round matches, upsetting Dearica Hamby 12-10. The forward is on a tear — in her last six Unrivaled games, she’s averaging 22.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per game, making her one of the hottest players in the league. She hasn’t made a 3-pointer yet this season, but she is capable of hitting them. And last year we learned that bigs are hard to take down in this contest. I have Austin upsetting last year’s finalist Aaliyah Edwards in the second round, league co-founder Stewart in the quarters and No. 1 seed Allisha Gray in the semis, before ultimately falling to Bueckers in the championship round.
Of course, I would not be shocked if every single one of these predictions is incorrect! That is the magic of Unrivaled’s 1-on-1 tournament, there is so much talent on the court and all it takes is 30 seconds of hot shooting for an upset to occur.
Jack Maloney
Second round
- No. 5 Veronica Burton over No. 1 Kelsey Mitchell
- No. 2 Kelsey Plum over No. 7 Natisha Hiedeman
- No. 4 Arike Ogunbowale over No. 1 Paige Bueckers
- No. 2 Chelsea Gray over No. 3 Jackie Young
- No. 1 Allisha Gray over No. 8 Saniya Rivers
- No. 7 Rae Burrell over No. 6 Sonia Citron
- No. 1 Breanna Stewart over No. 4 Aliyah Boston
- No. 2 Aaliyah Edwards over No. 6 Shakira Austin
Quarterfinals
- Veronica Burton over Kelsey Plum
- Arike Ogunbowale over Chelsea Gray
- Allisha Gray over Rae Burrell
- Breanna Stewart over Aaliyah Edwards
Semifinals
- Veronica Burton over Arike Ogunbowale
- Breanna Stewart over Allisha Gray
Finals
- Breanna Stewart over Veronica Burton
As we saw in the opening round, when Burton shutout Courtney Williams without even giving up possession, she was way under-seeded. Her size and defensive ability is a real problem in 1-on-1, and she’ll have the strength advantage over Mitchell and either Plum or Hiedeman.
Ogunbowale is one of the best 1-on-1 players in the world, and is coming off a final four appearance in last year’s event. While she will be at a size disadvantage against the other guards in her bracket, her experience and offensive brilliance will be enough to upset Bueckers and get her back to the final four.
Gray received a bye to the second round due to withdrawals, so she has not competed yet, and will have a tricky second-round matchup against defensive ace Rivers. However, Gray has the clear offensive advantage there, and is better on both sides of the ball than Citron and Burrell, who were two of the few players to pull off first-round upsets.
Stewart notably got shut out in the first round by Edwards last year, and while she reported earlier this week that she only has small goals, she clearly wants to redeem herself. She has a tough road, but her versatility should be enough to get her through to the semis with a rematch victory over Edwards.
In the final four, Ogunbowale will finally meet her match in Burton, who has the defensive capability to slow down her offense, and the size and physicality to bully her on the other side of the ball. Stewart, meanwhile will continue her redemptive run by overpowering Gray in the first forward vs. guard showdown.
Burton’s Cinderella run will end in the finals, when Stewart will prove too much. As we saw last year, the forwards have a significant advantage in this format, and Stewart will join her co-founded Napheesa Collier as an Unrivaled 1-on-1 champion.
