Liam Robbins had a career-high 32 points while adding 10 rebounds and four blocks, lifting visiting Vanderbilt to a 88-80 win at Florida on Saturday afternoon in Gainesville, Fla.

Trey Thomas added 16 points for the Commodores (13-12, 6-6 SEC), who snapped a nine-game losing streak against Florida dating back to 2019. Thomas went 5-for-5 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range.

As a team, Vanderbilt was torrid from the perimeter throughout the afternoon, shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 52.2 percent (12-for-23) from 3-point range.

The Gators (13-12, 6-6) dropped their third straight since their upset of then-No. 2 Tennessee. Colin Castleton led four scorers in double figures with 25 points and 11 rebounds, with freshman Riley Kugel adding 18 points.

Florida cut Vanderbilt’s lead to 73-69 with 5:06 left, but Jordan Wright answered for the Commodores with a pair of free throws, then Robbins sank his third 3-pointer of the game to put Vanderbilt ahead 78-69 with 2:47 left as the Commodores cruised from there.

Vanderbilt made its first six shots of the game and shot 50 percent from 3-point range (7-14) in the first half to take a 42-41 lead into the intermission.

Robbins had his way inside and outside for Vanderbilt against Florida’s defense, going 7 of 12 from the floor and 1 of 2 from 3-point range to score 17 points in the first half.

The Commodores led by as many as eight points in the opening 20 minutes, going up 22-14 on a 3-pointer by guard Myles Slute.

Florida chipped away at the lead behind Castleton, who scored 12 points in the first half. Kowacie Reeves gave Florida a brief 35-34 lead, but Vanderbilt answered back with four straight points on a Robbins jumper and driving layup by Ezra Manjon to go back up 38-35 about three minutes before half.

With the score tied at 39, Thomas sank a corner 3-pointer with nine seconds left in the half to put Vanderbilt up 42-39. Kugel answered with a reverse layup at the first-half buzzer cutting Vanderbilt’s lead to 43-42.

Vanderbilt shot 51.6 percent from the field in the first half, while Florida shot 52.8 percent.

–Field Level Media

Caleb Love made six 3-point shots and racked up 23 points as North Carolina secured a much-needed victory by defeating visiting Clemson 91-71 on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Armando Bacot tallied 19 points and RJ Davis had 17 points, aided by four 3s, for North Carolina (16-9, 8-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) avoided what would have been its second four-game losing streak of the season.

The Tar Heels made 15 shots from 3-point range in 33 tries (45.5 percent).

PJ Hall posted 18 points and Chase Hunter had 15 points on 3-for-16 shooting for Clemson (18-7, 10-4), which fell out of a share of first place in the ACC with its third loss in a row. Brevin Galloway added 10 points.

The Tar Heels, who had a strong second half in a seven-point loss Tuesday night at Wake Forest, had two 3s apiece from Love and Davis in slightly more than five minutes to begin the second half against Clemson. That helped them build a 62-43 advantage.

There was no fantastic finish for Clemson, which won in January 2020 in Chapel Hill in its previous visit. That result ended the Tigers’ 0-59 all-time mark in road games in the series.

Bacot had 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. He has a school-record 72 games with double-figure rebound totals.

North Carolina won despite starting forward Pete Nance going scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting from the field.

North Carolina led 42-33 at halftime behind 12 points from Love and 10 from Bacot and the team’s 22-12 rebounding advantage. Hall had three fouls at the half.

Love made back-to-back 3-point shots as part of North Carolina’s 11-2 run that produced a 22-17 lead and resulted in a Clemson timeout.

Hall scored Clemson’s first eight points. Hunter had the next four points for the Tigers.

Clemson’s Hunter Tyson, who was averaging 16.1 points per game, managed just three points as Leaky Black handled most of the defense on him and limited him to two shots from the floor. Still, Tyson eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career.

–Field Level Media

Grant Basile tied his career high of 33 points and Justyn Mutts added 19 to lead Virginia Tech to a 93-87 victory over host Notre Dame in Atlantic Coast Conference play on Saturday in South Bend, Ind.

Basile, who had 28 second-half points, went 13 of 19 from the field, including 11 of 15 in the second half, and grabbed seven rebounds. Mutts hit 7 of 16 from the floor to go along with nine assists and eight rebounds for the Hokies, who earned their first road win in eight tries this season.

Sean Pedulla and MJ Collins finished with 12 points apiece for the Hokies, who have won four of their past six games.

The Hokies (15-10, 5-9 ACC) shot 32 of 56 (57.1 percent) from the field, including 9 of 21 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc.

Notre Dame (10-15, 2-12), was led by Nate Laszewski, who scored a career-high 33 points on 12-for-17 shooting from the field, including 6 of 9 from beyond the arc, to go along with eight rebounds.
Cormac Ryan added 17 points by sinking 5 of 9 3-point shots, with Ven-Allen Lubin adding 11 points.

The Fighting Irish, who have dropped three straight games and seven of their past eight contests, shot 34 of 62 (54.8 percent) from the floor, including 13 of 30 (43.3 percent) from beyond the arc.

Virginia Tech took control of the game by going on an 11-4 run to take a 70-63 advantage with 9:21 to go.

The Hokies made 10 straight shots — including seven by Basile — during a seven-minute stretch in the second half, capped by Basile’s layup that extended their advantage to 85-75 with 3:49 remaining.

Neither team led by more than seven points in the first half, which ended with the Hokies taking a 43-40 lead at halftime.

Mutts scored nine points and Collins and Pedulla added seven apiece in the first 20 minutes for Virginia Tech.

Notre Dame was carried in the first half by Laszewski’s 20 points, while Ryan added eight.

–Field Level Media

Coleman Hawkins put up 18 points and eight rebounds, and Illinois scored 19 straight points in the second half to take down No. 24 Rutgers 69-60 Saturday in Champaign, Ill.

Dain Dainja added 15 points and seven rebounds and Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 15 points to help the Fighting Illini (17-7, 8-5 Big Ten) win for the fourth time in five games.

Rutgers (16-9, 8-6) led by six with 15:41 to play before missing its next 15 shots from the floor. They were held scoreless for 10:01 and went 10:39 between made field goals.

Caleb McConnell scored 14 points, 12 in the first half, to bounce back after shooting 1-for-12 for two points Tuesday against Indiana. Clifford Omoruyi had 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Paul Mulcahy and Aundre Hyatt added 12 points apiece.

After Illinois scored the first two baskets of the game, Rutgers moved ahead for the rest of the first half. A personal 5-0 run by McConnell established a 16-8 Rutgers lead.

The Scarlet Knights made four straight shots, two by freshman Derek Simpson, to maintain an eight-point edge at 30-22. Illinois responded at that point with a 7-0 surge, fueled by Dainja’s dunk and featuring a 3-pointer from freshman Sencire Harris.

Mulcahy stemmed the tide by knocking down consecutive jumpers. Illinois missed its final six shots of the half and trailed 34-30 at the break.

Hyatt made a layup, a mid-range shot and a triple to put the Scarlet Knights up 45-39 with 15:41 to play. That’s when they went cold, while Hawkins and Illinois got to work.

Hawkins’ triple sliced the Illini’s deficit in half, and close to two minutes later he scored again to give Illinois a 48-47 edge. Shannon added four straight points and Mayer scored the final six on a three-point play and an open trey.

Omoruyi was whistled for his fourth foul and subbed out during the drought. He still managed to score nine points in the half.

Oskar Palmquist made a mid-range jumper to end the drought at 5:02. Rutgers got within 60-51 when Omoruyi returned and made a layup, but Dainja’s bucket a minute later restored the double-digit advantage until the final seconds.

–Field Level Media

Trey Alexander scored 17 points while battling foul trouble as No. 23 Creighton extended its winning streak to eight games by squeaking out a 56-53 victory over No. 21 UConn on Saturday afternoon in Omaha, Neb.

Down three in the closing seconds, the Huskies (19-7, 8-7 Big East) appeared to tie the game on Jordan Hawkins’ 3-pointer, but a review showed that his foot was on the line. Ryan Kalkbrenner then sank a pair of free throws to seal the victory.

Alexander led the Bluejays (17-8, 11-3) while Kalkbrenner added 12 points to go along with six rebounds. Baylor Scheierman chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds for Creighton, which shot 19 of 48 (39.6 percent) from the field.

Adama Sanogo paced UConn with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Hawkins (11 points) was the only other scorer in double figures for the Huskies, who won the rebounding battle 40-34 thanks to 18 offensive boards.

Creighton used a 6-0 spurt to take a 52-46 lead with 4:32 remaining, but Alex Karaban connected from beyond the arc to halve the Huskies’ deficit.

UConn was still within three at 54-51, and Hawkins missed a layup with 39 seconds left that could have made it a one-point game. Alexander then missed a free throw on the other end ahead of the game-ending sequence.

By the 18:33 mark of the second half, the Huskies moved in front for the first time since leading 3-2. The teams were soon tied at 40 before Alexander scored five answered points to give the Bluejays a bit of breathing room.

The Bluejays went into the break with a narrow 31-29 edge after Sanogo drained a 3-pointer as time expired in the opening half. Sanogo led all scorers with 13 points through the first 20 minutes, while Alexander had eight for Creighton.

Neither team was particularly efficient in the first half, as both shot under 45 percent from the field.

UConn’s offense was stagnant in the early going, making just 2 of 14 shots and scoring five points over the game’s first eight-plus minutes. The Bluejays took advantage, getting six points from Alexander during a 12-2 run that forged a nine-point lead.

–Field Level Media

Rylan Griffen scored 16 points off the bench and Mark Sears added 15 as No. 3 Alabama extended its unbeaten Southeastern Conference streak with a 77-69 win over host Auburn on Saturday.

Griffen made 5 of 7 shots from the floor — including 3 of 5 from 3-point range — for Alabama (22-3, 12-0 SEC).

Sears was 5 of 7 from the field for the Crimson Tide, who outscored the Tigers 40-32 in the second half.

Brandon Miller had 13 points and six rebounds and Jaden Bradley added 12 points for Alabama. Noah Clowney had six points and seven rebounds after battling early foul trouble in the first half.

Wendell Green Jr. had a team-high 24 points for Auburn (17-8, 7-5).

Jaylin Williams added 16 points, while K.D. Johnson added 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists off the bench for the Tigers.

Johni Broome was limited to eight points and nine rebounds by a scrappy Alabama defense.

With 11:55 to play in the second half, the Tigers maintained a 53-52 lead as the game went back and forth. A 9-2 run, sparked by seven points from Sears, put the Tide up 61-59 with just over seven minutes to play. Alabama extended its lead to 68-64 with 4:28 to go in the game behind a 3-pointer from Griffen and a driving layup from Miller.

One free throw by Green trimmed Alabama’s lead to 71-67 with less than two minutes to play. But Griffen answered with a dunk with 58 seconds remaining in the game, which ended all hopes of an Auburn comeback.

A 9-2 Alabama run, capped by a three-point play by Miller, trimmed Auburn’s lead to 20-19 with 8:46 to play in the opening half. A thunderous dunk by Dylan Cardwell put the home team up by three.

The Crimson Tide took their first lead, 23-22, of the game on a short jumper by Miller with just over seven minutes to go until halftime.

A three-point play by Miller gave Alabama a 37-35 lead with under a minute to play in the opening half before Green sank a jumper to forge a tie.

–Field Level Media

Hayden Brown scored 18 points and sophomore Jacobi Wright added a career-high 17 as South Carolina rallied late to snap an eight-game losing streak with a 64-61 victory over Ole Miss in a matchup of Southeastern Conference bottom feeders Saturday in Oxford, Miss.

Meechie Johnson scored six of his 13 points in the final 79 seconds as the Gamecocks (9-16, 2-10 SEC) closed the game on a 9-2 surge to overcame a 59-57 deficit.

Tye Fagan posted a season-high 17 points and Robert Allen was in double figures with 10 points along with seven rebounds to lead the Rebels (10-15, 2-10).

The Gamecock won despite getting only five points from leading scorer GG Jackson II. Jackson didn’t start for a second straight game after posting a complaint a week ago on social media for not getting the ball late in a two-point loss to Arkansas and played just 12 minutes, racking up four fouls.

The Rebels increased a three-point halftime lead to 42-37 to start the second half, but the Gameocks responded with a 7-0 run that gave them their first lead of the game 44-42 on Brown’s jumper.

The game was tied five times after that before Wright put the Gamecocks up 61-59 on a 3-pointer 44 seconds left. Matt Murrell, Fagan and Amaree Abram missed 3-pointers for Ole Miss in the final seconds and Johnson’s free throws sealed it for the Gamecocks.

The Rebels had a chance to build on a 57-55 lead approaching the two-minute mark when an intentional foul was whistled on South Carolina’s Chico Carter, but Myles Burns missed both free throws.

Ole Miss jumped in front 8-1 early and led for all but one brief moment in the first half. The Gamecocks caught up at 32-32 when Johnson’s reverse layup at the 1:58 mark capped a 6-0 South Carolina run.

But Fagan’s free throws just 44 seconds later broke the tie and the Rebels capitalized on back-to-back South Carolina turnovers for layups and a 38-32 lead before the Gamecocks closed their halftime deficit to three on Wright’s 3-pointer in the period’s closing seconds.

–Field Level Media

Jalen Wilson scored 18 points to help No. 9 Kansas to a 78-55 victory over Oklahoma on Saturday in Norman, Okla.

Wilson added five rebounds, five assists and five steals in the Jayhawks’ largest margin of victory over the Sooners in nearly five years, since a 104-74 home win on Feb. 19, 2018.

The Jayhawks have won four of their last five while the Sooners have lost four consecutive games and seven consecutive conference games.

Kansas got off to a slow start, hitting just two of its first 14 shots, but the Sooners, after scoring the game’s first seven points, couldn’t take advantage. Then when the Jayhawks came alive offensively, Oklahoma struggled to keep up as Kansas continued to turn up the pressure defensively.

The Jayhawks hit 13 of their last 16 shots of the first half, including nine in a row at one point, to take a 13-point lead, 35-22, into the break — helped by a 20-4 run over the last 7:10 before halftime.

The Sooners made another push in the second half, cutting Kansas’ lead to five with a 10-2 spurt to start the period.

Once again, though, the Jayhawks asserted their dominance, with Dajuan Harris’ 3-pointer kicking off a 32-11 run to put the game away.

Kansas (20-5, 8-4 Big 12) forced Oklahoma into a season-high 24 turnovers.

The Sooners hadn’t turned the ball over more than 16 times in a conference game this season. The Jayhawks hadn’t forced more than 23 turnovers in any game this season or more than 15 in a Big 12 game.

Kansas outscored Oklahoma 27-12 off turnovers and 50-28 in the paint.

The Jayhawks shot 55 percent from the field, their best mark in conference play. The Sooners shot only 35.7 percent from the floor.

Jalen Hill led Oklahoma with 14 points while Grant Sherfield added 10 on just 4-of-14 shooting. The Sooners had a season-low five assists.

Harris finished with 16 points for Kansas, while Kevin McCullar scored 13 to help the Jayhawks sweep the season series.

The Sooners (12-13, 2-10) didn’t get any points from their bench until the final 3:02 and finished with just six.

–Field Level Media

Kario Oquendo had 21 points and Braelen Bridges scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half to lead host Georgia to a 75-68 victory over Kentucky in Southeastern Conference play on Saturday in Athens, Ga.

Oquendo went 5 of 15 from the field, including 1 of 8 from 3-point range, in addition to going 10 of 12 from the free-throw line.

Bridges hit 5 of 6 shots from the floor and grabbed five rebounds for the Bulldogs (15-10, 5-7), who beat the Wildcats for just the second time in 18 meetings.

Justin Hill added 15 points and six assists for Georgia, which ended a three-game losing streak. Terry Roberts and Jabri Abdur-Rahim came off the bench to score nine points apiece.

The Bulldogs shot 22 of 54 (40.7 percent) from the field, including 6 of 19 (31.6 percent) from 3-point range.

Oscar Tshiebwe collected 20 points and 14 rebounds to pace Kentucky (16-9, 7-5), which has dropped two straight games. Antonio Reeves added 20 points and six rebounds, and Jacob Toppin chipped in 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

The Wildcats shot 25 of 65 (38.5 percent) from the field, including 7 of 20 (35 percent) from beyond the arc.

Kentucky rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to take a 52-48 lead on Toppin’s 3-pointer with just under 12 minutes to play. But the Bulldogs responded with a 16-6 run following Abdur-Rahim’s 3-pointer with 2:55 to go.

Kentucky didn’t get within five points the rest of the way, as the Bulldogs made nine of their final 10 free-throw attempts to secure the win. Georgia made 25 of 29 free-throw attempts for the game.

Georgia, which controlled most of the first half, closed on a 20-9 run capped by Abdur-Rahim’s 3-pointer in the closing seconds to take a 42-32 halftime advantage.

Oquendo scored 17 points and Hill added six in the first 20 minutes for Georgia, which shot 13 of 31 (41.9 percent) from the field, including 4 of 13 (30.8 percent) from beyond the arc.

Kentucky was led by Reeves’ 15 first-half points, with Tshiebwe adding six.

The Wildcats shot 11 of 31 (35.5 percent) from the field, including 4 of 10 (40 percent) from distance.

–Field Level Media

Hakim Hart scored 13 of his 23 points in the final eight minutes as Maryland pulled away from Penn State late for a 74-68 victory Saturday in College Park, Md.

Jahmir Young added 18 points and Julian Reese supplied 11 points and five rebounds as Maryland (17-8, 8-6 Big Ten) remained undefeated at home in the conference.

Reserve Kanye Clary gave Penn State (14-11, 5-9) a lift with a career-high 17 points as the Nittany Lions lost their fourth in a row. After an 11-3 start, the Nittany Lions have won just three of their past 11 games.

Jalen Pickett had 15 points and five assists and Andrew Funk added 14 points for the Nittany Lions, who committed 13 turnovers despite leading the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio.

It was a tie game midway through the second half at 47-all when Myles Dread (11 points) drained a 3-pointer for Penn State.

But after another Dread field goal, the Nittany Lions missed six straight shots during a dry spell which lasted more than five minutes, allowing Maryland to score nine straight points.

Hart had five of the points in the run and Ian Martinez capped it with a slam-dunk off a feed from Hart to give the Terrapins a 64-52 lead.

Down the stretch, Hart added a 3-point play and a 3-pointer as the Terrapins stretched their advantage.

In the first half, Martinez came off the bench to fuel a fast start by Maryland with two free throws and an alley-oop fast-break dunk as the Terrapins took an 18-6 lead.

But Funk hit two 3-pointers and Seth Lundy (11 points, seven rebounds) and Dread added one apiece as Penn State surged to tie it 26-26.

Pickett scored all of the points for Penn State as it opened the second half with a 7-1 run to take its first lead of the afternoon, 35-32.

Maryland responded with a nine-point run, climaxed by a 3-pointer by Young as the Terrapins took a 41-35 edge. From there, Maryland never trailed.

– Field Level Media