John Blackwell scored 26 points and Nick Boyd added 22 points and six assists as the Wisconsin Badgers held on to stun No. 2 Michigan 91-88 at Ann Arbor, Mich., to end the Wolverines’ unbeaten campaign.
Aleksas Bieliauskas made five 3-pointers and scored 17 points and Braeden Carrington had 12 points and nine rebounds for Wisconsin (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten), which ended its four-game losing streak against Michigan. The Badgers overcame a 14-point, first-half deficit.
Elliot Cadeau scored 19 points and Morez Johnson Jr. added 18 for Michigan (14-1, 4-1), which was one of six unbeaten teams in the nation entering Saturday. Yaxel Lendeborg scored 14 points and Nimari Burnett added 10.
The Wolverines missed their last five shots and eight of the last nine. Despite the poor shooting down the stretch, Michigan had a chance to force overtime, but Roddy Gayle Jr. missed a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left.
No. 1 Arizona 86, TCU 73
Koa Peat scored 20 points, Jaden Bradley and Anthony Dell’Orso added 17 points apiece and the top-ranked Wildcats earned a Big 12 road victory over the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth, Texas.
Arizona (16-0, 3-0 Big 12) is chasing the program’s best start since it went 21-0 to open the 2013-14 season. The Wildcats have been in dominant form, winning the last 11 games by at least 13 points. Saturday was the closest margin of victory since a 71-67 victory over then-No. 3 UConn on Nov. 19.
Tanner Toolson finished with a team-high 20 points off the bench for TCU (11-5, 1-2). Jayden Pierre and Brock Harding added 11 points apiece and David Punch finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
No. 3 Iowa State 83, Oklahoma State 71
Joshua Jefferson scored 19 points and Milan Momcilovic added 18 as the Cyclones defeated the visiting Cowboys in Ames, Iowa.
The Cyclones (16-0, 3-0 Big 12) added to the best start in school history and remained one of five unbeaten teams in the country. The Cowboys (13-3, 1-2) were led by Parsa Fallah with 21 points and 11.
Oklahoma State played without its second-leading scorer Vyctorius Miller, who was sidelined with an injured ankle. The Cyclones forced the Cowboys into 15 turnovers as they led throughout the entire second half.
No. 4 UConn 72, DePaul 60
Make it a dozen wins in a row for the Huskies, who got 16 points and seven rebounds from Braylon Mullins in a victory over the Blue Demons in Hartford, Conn.
Alex Karaban contributed 15 points and Silas Demary Jr. 14 as UConn (16-1, 6-0 Big East) improved to 9-1 at home and beat DePaul (10-7, 2-4) for the second time this year while ending the Blue Demons’ two-game winning streak.
Layden Blocker scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead DePaul, which has lost 22 consecutive games to the Huskies – the Blue Demons’ most recent and only win in the series coming on Jan. 31, 2007. CJ Gunn chipped in 11 for DePaul.
No. 5 Purdue 93, Penn State 85
Braden Smith registered a double-double of 26 points and 14 assists, as the Boilermakers defeated the Nitanny Lions in West Lafayette, Ind., extending their winning streak to seven games.
Purdue (15-1, 5-0 Big Ten) avenged last year’s upset loss to Penn State (9-7, 0-5) when it was a top-10 team. Fletcher Loyer added 17 points, and C.J. Cox chipped in 16.
Freddie Dilione V paced the Nittany Lions with 25 points on 10-for-20 shooting. He has scored at least 23 points in three of the past six games.
No. 6 Duke 82, No. 24 SMU 75
Isaiah Evans scored 21 points while hitting clutch second-half 3-pointers as the Blue Devils fended off the short-handed Mustangs for a victory at Durham, N.C.
Cameron Boozer compiled 18 points and seven rebounds, Patrick Ngongba II posted 17 points and Cayden Boozer notched 12 points as Duke (15-1, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) recovered from an early double-figure deficit.
For SMU (12-4, 1-2), Jaden Toombs had 15 of his 23 points in the first half, B.J. Edwards finished with 20 points and Corey Washington and Jaron Pierre Jr. each had 11 points. The Mustangs committed 21 turnovers without their point guard and leading scorer Boopie Miller.
No. 7 Houston 77, Baylor 55
Emanuel Sharp scored 17 points, 11 of them in the second half, as the Cougars continued their recent dominance over the Bears with a resounding win in Waco, Texas.
Houston (15-1, 3-0 Big 12) opened the second half with a 19-5 burst and was never challenged through the final minutes, winning its ninth game in a row and expanding its nation-leading road victory streak to 16 consecutive contests.
Baylor’s Cameron Carr led all scorers with 18 points, and Tounde Yessoufou added 11 for the Bears (10-5, 0-3), who have dropped three straight games.
No. 9 BYU 89, Utah 84
Richie Saunders recorded 24 points and a season-high 14 rebounds to help the Cougars down the Utes at Salt Lake City.
Robert Wright III added 23 points and six assists while AJ Dybantsa had 20 points for BYU (15-1, 3-0 Big 12), which won its 12th consecutive game.
Terrence Brown scored 25 points and Don McHenry added 21 for Utah (8-8, 0-3), which suffered its fourth straight loss. James Okonkwo collected 13 rebounds for the Utes.
No. 10 Nebraska 83, Indiana 77
Jamarques Lawrence scored a career-high 27 points and the Cornhuskers overcame a 16-point deficit in the second half to remain undefeated, beating the Hoosiers in Bloomington, Ind.
Nebraska (16-0, 5-0 Big Ten) extended its school-record win streak to 20 games by outscoring Indiana 50-28 over the final 17:42. Rienk Mast scored 13 points, Pryce Sandfort had 12 and Braden Frager added all 11 of his points in the final six minutes for the Cornhuskers.
Lamar Wilkerson scored 32 points in a losing effort for the Hoosiers (12-4, 3-2). Indiana also received 17 points from Tucker DeVries, who had to sit for seven minutes in the second half during which his team was outscored by 12.
No. 11 Vanderbilt 84, LSU 73
The Commodores built a first-half cushion to help survive a second-half shooting slump and remain undefeated with a win over the Tigers in Nashville, Tenn.
Tyler Nickel scored 19 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for Vanderbilt (16-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference), while Tyler Tanner scored 20 points, Duke Miles had 17, AK Okereke added 12 and Jalen Washington delivered 11. The Commodores pulled off the victory despite missing 13 straight shots during a stretch early in the second half. They shot 26.7% in the second half, going 1-of-15 from 3-point range while surviving foul trouble to starters Miles and Devin McGlockton.
Max Mackinnon scored 27 points to keep LSU (12-4, 0-3) in the game, while Marquel Sutton added 13 points. The Tigers played without point guard Dedan Thomas, who leads them in minutes (30.3), scoring (16.2 points) and assists (7.1).
Texas 92, No. 13 Alabama 88
Jordan Pope racked up 28 points, including six made 3-pointers and four key free throws in the final seconds, as the Longhorns held on to upset the Crimson Tide in a slugfest in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Texas (10-6, 1-2 SEC) led by 13 points with 13:04 to play before Alabama rallied to tie the game at 74 on a free throw by Aden Holloway with 5:41 remaining. The Longhorns built their lead up to 85-80 with two minutes to play before the Crimson Tide (11-5, 1-2) closed to within a point with a minute to go. Four Pope free throws in the final 11 seconds prevented Alabama from completing the comeback.
Labaron Philon Jr.’s 21 points led the Crimson Tide, who lost their second straight outing and had a 23-game winning streak at home over unranked teams snapped.
No. 14 Texas Tech 73, Colorado 71
After spending most of the game in comfortable control, the Red Raiders had to withhold a late Buffaloes comeback bid to get the win in Boulder, Colo.
Colorado’s Barrington Hargress forced up an off-balance 3-point attempt with 1.7 seconds left that was off the mark, allowing Texas Tech to survive after coughing up most of a lead that ballooned to 24 points in the second half. The Red Raiders (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) steered through second-half foul trouble, with four starters ending the game with four fouls, including J.T. Toppin, who had to sit and watch for most of the Buffaloes’ rally.
Toppin scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Texas Tech, and Donovan Atwell had a team-high 17 points. For Colorado, freshman Isaiah Johnson was at the heart of the Buffaloes’ second-half about-face. Held scoreless in the first half, he pumped in a game-high 21 points after the break, bolstered by 13-for-13 shooting from the free-throw line. Hargress added 17 points.
Auburn 95, No. 15 Arkansas 73
Keyshawn Hall scored 32 points and KeShawn Murphy had 16 points and 10 rebounds as the Tigers cruised to a win over the ranked Razorbacks for their first SEC win.
Hall was 11 of 14 from the field, 4 of 5 from distance, and had five assists. Elyjah Freeman added 13 points and Kevin Overton scored 10 for Auburn (10-6, 1-2 SEC), which bounced back from late losses to Georgia and Texas A&M in its previous two. The Tigers shot 56.7% from the field, just short of a season high, and limited Arkansas to 43.1%.
Darius Acuff Jr. scored 19 points, Meleek Thomas added 17 points and Malique Ewin had 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Razorbacks (12-4, 2-1), seeking to win their first three conference games for the first time since Nolan Richardson’s 1997-98 team opened 3-0 and won nine of their first 10.
No. 17 North Carolina 87, Wake Forest 84
Henri Veesaar scored 25 points and Caleb Wilson scored 22 to power the Tar Heels to a win over the Demon Deacons in Chapel Hill, N.C.
North Carolina led wire-to-wire. Wilson pulled down 12 rebounds while Veesaar grabbed nine, and the dominant posts missed just one shot apiece from the floor (17 of 19 total) and also combined for seven assists and three steals for the Tar Heels (14-2, 2-1 ACC). Jaydon Young added 12 points and Seth Trimble chipped in 10.
Another impressive duo powered Wake Forest (10-7, 1-3), as Juke Harris and Nate Calmese scored 28 points apiece. Calmese also had nine assists and shot 7 of 11 from 3-point land.
No. 18 Georgia 75, South Carolina 70
Kanon Catchings scored a season-high 20 points to help the Bulldogs secure a comeback victory over the Gamecocks in Columbia.
Mike Sharavjamts led South Carolina (10-6, 1-2 SEC) with 18 points, and Kobe Knox finished with a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Gamecocks, who led by as many as 12 points in the first half.
South Carolina held a 62-54 edge at the 8:18 mark of the second half, before Marcus Millender kick-started a 9-0 run for Georgia (14-2, 2-1 SEC) to take a 63-62 lead.
No. 20 Louisville 75, Boston College 62
Sananda Fru tallied 19 points and 13 rebounds as the depleted Cardinals had to play from behind to end a two-game losing streak in an 75-62 win over the visiting Eagles.
With Louisville’s top two scorers in Ryan Conwell (knee) and Mikel Brown Jr. (back) sidelined, Adrian Wooley notched 16 points, which included 6-for-8 foul shooting. Isaac McKneely scored all 13 of his points in the second half for the Cardinals (12-4, 2-2 ACC).
Boston College (7-9, 0-3) led by as many as 10 points in the first half and a 3-pointer from Fred Payne gave the Eagles a 41-32 lead with 18:22 to play. Payne scored a team-high 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, and Donald Hand Jr. added 12 points but shot just 3 of 17 from the field.
Florida 91, No. 21 Tennessee 67
Boogie Fland poured in a season-high 23 points,and the Gators won for the fourth straight time at home over the Volunteers in Gainesville, Fla.
The first-year Florida point guard went 9 of 13 from the floor and 3 of 6 from distance, adding five assists and four steals, to propel the Gators (11-5, 2-1 SEC) to a surprisingly comfortable win over Tennessee (11-5, 1-2). Rueben Chinyelu had 17 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out. Thomas Haugh notched 13 points and five steals.
The Volunteers got 17 points and four rebounds from Nate Ament. Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Jaylen Carey scored 12 apiece. DeWayne Brown added 10 points, but the visitors committed 18 turnovers. In extending their home winnings streak to seven games, the Gators won the rebound battle 41-30 and led 38-30 in paint points.
West Virginia 86, No. 22 Kansas 75
Honor Huff scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Mountaineers rallied for a win over the Jayhawks in Morgantown, W. Va.
West Virginia used a 16-0 second-half run to turn an eight-point deficit into an eight-point lead with 8:36 left and led the rest of the way. Brenen Lorient scored 18 points and dished out six assists, and Harlan Obioha had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for West Virginia (11-5, 2-1 Big 12).
Darryn Peterson led Kansas (11-5, 1-2) with 23 points. Tre White contributed 18 points and Melvin Council Jr. chipped in 11 points for the Jayhawks, who have dropped two of their last three games.
No. 23 Virginia 70, Stanford 55
Thijs De Ridder scored 22 points as the Cavaliers rolled to a win over the cold-shooting Cardinal in Charlottesville, Va.
Virginia (14-2, 3-1 ACC) improved to 10-0 at home as De Ridder made 8 of 11 shots from the field and 5 of 5 free throws for his eighth 20-point game of the season. Chance Mallory added 13 points for the Cavaliers, who posted big advantages in second-chance points (13-2) and points in the paint (36-22) to win their third straight game. Malik Thomas added 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
Stanford (13-4, 2-2) trailed by only seven at halftime but shot 19.4% from the field (6 of 31) in the second half. Freshman star Ebuka Okorie was scoreless after halftime, finishing with 14 points on 5-of-20 shooting (0-for-6 from deep). Benny Gealer had 15 points – 13 in the first half.
-Field Level Media
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