Amari Bailey scored a career-best 24 points to lead No. 7 UCLA to an easy 62-47 victory over Oregon State on Thursday night in Pac-12 play at Corvallis, Ore.

Jaylen Clark added 16 points and three steals for the Bruins (20-4, 11-2 Pac-12), who won their third consecutive game. Jaime Jaquez Jr. collected 12 rebounds but scored just seven points on 3-of-10 shooting.

Jordan Pope scored 17 points and Glenn Taylor Jr. added 10 for Oregon State (9-16, 3-11), which has dropped three straight games and 10 of its past 12.

The Beavers tallied under 50 points for the fourth time this season. Oregon State committed 18 turnovers and had just four assists, two coming in the final two minutes.

Bailey, a freshman, made 10 of 16 shots from the field and all four of his free-throw attempts.

UCLA shot 50 percent from the field and knocked down 6 of 18 from 3-point range while beating Oregon State for the 11th time in the past 15 meetings. The Bruins had a 17-9 edge in fast-break points.

The Beavers connected on 35.6 percent of their shots, including 5 of 19 from behind the arc. Oregon State made all 10 of its free throws, while the Bruins were 6 of 9.

Clark scored 10 first-half points as UCLA led 31-18 at the break.

Bailey scored six points during a 9-0 push that gave the Bruins a 28-16 lead with 1:35 remaining. Jaquez drained a 3-pointer 70 seconds later to account for the half-high 13-point advantage.

UCLA extended the lead to 38-20 on Clark’s fast-break dunk with 15:47 left in the game.

A short time later, Bailey scored two baskets and Clark had one to make it 46-24 with 11:10 remaining.

Bailey later scored all the points in an 8-0 burst as the Bruins extended the advantage to 57-30 with 4:41 left.

Oregon State trimmed its deficit while the UCLA starters were done for the night. The Beavers finished the game with a 15-5 run.

–Field Level Media

Boo Buie and Brooks Barnhizer each scored 19 points and Northwestern defeated Ohio State 69-63 Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, to extend the Buckeyes’ losing streak to five games.

Chase Audige added 12 points for the Wildcats (17-7, 8-5 Big Ten), who have won five of their past seven.

Justice Sueing led the Buckeyes (11-13, 3-10) with 19 points and Bruce Thornton chipped in with 12.

Ohio State got a 73-57 road victory over Northwestern on Jan. 1 to go 2-0 in the Big Ten but it has been downhill since.

The Buckeyes, who missed 13 of 14 3-point attempts Thursday, have lost 10 of the past 11 games since that win.

Ty Berry’s 3-pointer, his only points of the game, increased the Wildcats’ lead to 51-47 with eight minutes left and Barnhizer, who set a career high in points, extended the margin to 61-52 on a 3-pointer with 4:44 left, prompting an Ohio State time.

Sueing started a rally with five unanswered points before Audige drilled a 3-pointer to make it 64-57 with 2:04 left.

The Buckeyes pulled to with 67-63 and had the ball with 7.6 seconds left but Sean McNeil missed a 3-pointer. Audige grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws to conclude the scoring.

Ohio State leading scorer Brice Sensabaugh did not start for the second straight game. He scored four points and had four turnovers in 16 minutes.

His 17.3 points per game is second nationally among freshmen, but he played only six minutes in the first half and missed two shots. Sensabaugh made his third shot to give the Buckeyes a 43-42 lead with 12:32 to play.

Columbus had not been hospitable to Northwestern, where the Wildcats are 16-71 but improved to 2-15 at Value City Arena.

Northwestern overcame a cold spell to take a 28-27 halftime lead when Nick Martinelli made a spinning bank shot from the left side of the court at the buzzer.

–Field Level Media

Braden Smith finished with a career-high 24 points, as well as five assists and four rebounds, to lead No. 1 Purdue to an 87-73 win over visiting Iowa on Thursday night in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Boilermakers (23-2, 12-2 Big Ten Conference) got themselves back on track after a loss at Indiana last Saturday snapped a nine-game winning streak.

The Hawkeyes (15-9, 7-6) had a three-game winning streak halted.

After Kris Murray scored the game’s first points, Purdue ran off 10 consecutive points and never trailed again.

Murray led the Hawkeyes with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

Smith’s performance and that of Purdue’s guards showed the team’s depth once again.

Purdue turned up its defensive intensity from the start and limited Iowa to only 29.4 percent (10-for-34) shooting from the field in the first half. The Hawkeyes made just one of their first 10 attempts from 3-point range.

Iowa shot 60 percent in the second half, however, including 4-for-8 from 3, to pull within six points with 5:39 left.

That’s when Purdue star center Zach Edey hit back-to-back shots to spark an 8-0 Purdue run that allowed the Boilermakers to seize control for good.

Iowa strategized its defensive focus on crowding Edey and did an effective job in the first half, limiting him to four points, although he had eight rebounds at the break.

Edey came on strong in the second half to help the Boilermakers stave off a late Iowa charge and put the game out of reach. Edey totaled 14 points and 14 rebounds to extend his streak of double-digit scoring games to 41 and recorded his 20th double-double in 24 games this season. Edey also blocked five shots.

Smith and Mason Gillis combined to make 4 of 7 triples for Purdue in the first half which allowed it to build a 38-21 lead by halftime. Gillis finished with 10 points off Purdue’s bench.

Fletcher Loyer scored 17 points and Caleb Furst added 11 points and 10 rebounds for Purdue.

For Iowa, Filip Rebraca had 17 points.

–Field Level Media

No. 14 Baylor will look to continue its push toward the top of the Big 12 standings when it visits No. 17 TCU on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Bears (18-6, 7-4 Big 12) have won two straight games and eight of nine overall following an 82-72 victory over visiting Oklahoma on Wednesday. The win lifted Baylor into a tie for second place along with Kansas and Kansas State — one game behind Texas.

TCU (17-7, 6-5) has dropped two in a row following an 82-61 setback at No. 12 Kansas State on Tuesday.

The Horned Frogs have struggled with the loss of preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Mike Miles Jr., who hyperextended his right knee during a loss at Mississippi State on Jan. 28 and hasn’t played since. Miles averages a team-high 18.1 points per game to go along with 3.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds.

Miles scored a game-high 33 points on 12-for-21 shooting in TCU’s 88-87 win over host Baylor on Jan. 4.

Baylor heads into its rematch against the Horned Frogs after closing strong against the Sooners.

Leading 73-68 with 3:16 remaining, the Bears scored the next six points to secure the victory.

“Getting a win is all that matters in the Big 12,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “So good, bad, ugly, you can play well and get losses in this league. Winning is what matters most. It was great.”

Freshman Keyonte George, who averages a team-best 17.5 points, scored a game-high 23 against the Sooners, while Adam Flagler added 20. Langston Love, who averages 7.1 points per game, finished with 19 points and five rebounds against Oklahoma.

“Y’all hear it all the time, but we just focus on controlling what we can control,” said George, who has scored at least 20 points in 10 games this season. “That’s playing hard, finding each other, running the floor, playing defense, and those are things you can control.”

Meanwhile, TCU fell apart down the stretch against the Wildcats.

After the Horned Frogs trimmed a 13-point second-half deficit to 65-59 on JaKobe Coles’ layup with 4:49 to play, the Wildcats ended the game on a 17-2 run.

“We had it down to six and you would think we could battle until the end, but we kind of shut down and missed some shots and that affected (our) defense down the stretch,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “What was a closer game just got away from us.”

TCU was outrebounded 40-28, including 13-6 on the offensive end, and committed 19 turnovers that the Wildcats converted into 15 points.

“Obviously they played well and we didn’t,” Dixon said. “You can’t make it any more simple than that. Being outrebounded by 12 and 19 turnovers, that doesn’t give you much of a chance.”

Damion Baugh had a team-high 16 points and five assists for TCU, while Micah Peavy and Coles chipped in 11 apiece. Emanuel Miller, who averages 13.0 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game, finished with 10 points and nine boards against Kansas State.

–Field Level Media

Expect another tight finish Saturday when No. 8 Virginia hosts Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke in Charlottesville, Va., as six of the last nine meetings have been decided by just one or two points.

The Cavaliers (18-4, 10-3 ACC) are 11-1 at home. They moved into a share of first place in the league with Tuesday’s 63-50 home defeat of No. 22 NC State.

The Blue Devils (17-7, 8-5) have dropped three of their last four road games, including Monday’s lopsided 81-59 loss at No. 19 Miami.

Duke won the last meeting 65-61 in former coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final visit to Charlottesville on Feb. 23, 2022, in spite of a career-high 25 points from Virginia’s Kihei Clark.

This season, his fifth at Virginia, Clark (11.4 points per game) is one of four players scoring in double figures for coach Tony Bennett’s team along with Armaan Franklin (12.2), Jayden Gardner (11.5) and Reece Beekman (10.2).

Gardner (18 points) and Beekman (15) led the way in Tuesday’s victory over the Wolfpack, who shot just 33.3 percent and became the 38th consecutive ACC opponent to score fewer than 70 points at John Paul Jones Arena.

Bennett was most impressed by the contributions off the bench from former starting center Kadin Shedrick, who had 10 points, a team-high six rebounds and one block in 27 minutes.

“I think it’s a great lesson,” Bennett said. “It’s why you keep working and you stay ready. Kadin practiced well for the last couple practices and the practices matter. He came ready and he kept himself ready.”

Shedrick had scored a total of eight points across his six previous games and did not play in Virginia’s previous game, a 74-68 loss at Virginia Tech on Feb. 4.

“Kadin has done a great job staying in the lab, working,” Gardner said. “It’s happened to everybody. Every guy has their lull and they have bad stretches. So it’s about who’s ready to play when someone else has a bad game.”

Several Duke players are coming off a bad game against the Hurricanes. Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor each had five of the Blue Devils’ 21 turnovers and were a combined 4 of 13 from the field.

Duke never led at Miami and trailed by as many as 26 points. The Blue Devils were on the wrong side in points off turnovers (23-9), second-chance points (24-9) and fast-break points (17-7).

Kyle Filipowski, who leads Duke in scoring (15.5) and rebounding (9.3) this season, finished with nine points and nine boards against the Hurricanes.

“I think they just came out, punched us in the mouth first and we didn’t really respond,” Filipowski said. “… And we just didn’t really try and fight back.”

First-year coach Jon Scheyer’s team is 12-0 at home but just 5-7 away from Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“It wasn’t the same level of competing,” Scheyer said after the setback at Miami. “That’s on me, on our guys, on our team. It’s disappointing. Not OK with it.”

–Field Level Media

The top half of the Big East is growing very crowded and No. 20 Providence is among the teams in position to claim the regular-season title.

One of four teams with double-digit conference wins, the Friars (18-6, 10-3 Big East) look to boost their chances for the regular-season crown Saturday afternoon when they head to New York to face struggling St. John’s at Madison Square Garden.

Providence has won four of its last five, including Wednesday’s 74-62 home win against Georgetown in which it led the Hoyas by as many as 17 points.

“I was proud of how we came out and how we finished,” Friars coach Ed Cooley said. “Our players continue to get better and better.”

Among the things Cooley can be pleased about is Bryce Hopkins scoring 17 points after shooting 3-for-14 in a Feb. 1 loss at Xavier. Devin Carter finished with 12 points to reach double figures for the 12th straight contest, adding nine rebounds and seven assists. Ed Croswell had 12 points.

Providence also is coming off one of its better defensive showings. After allowing its second-most points in the 85-83 overtime setback at Xavier, the Friars gave up fewer than 70 for the 13th time this season and remained unbeaten when doing so.

Providence limited Georgetown to 20 percent shooting (3 of 15) from 3-point range.

Hopkins leads the Friars with 16.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.

The Friars are seeking a season sweep of the Red Storm. They earned a hard-fought 83-80 home win Jan. 7 when Noah Locke hit five 3-pointers and scored 20 points while the Friars shot 50.9 percent. Joel Soriano led five St. John’s players in double figures with 16 points and added 10 rebounds.

St. Johns (14-11, 4-10) shot 49.2 percent in the first meeting but has only cracked 80 points in one of eight contests since that loss to Providence.

The Red Storm are on a three-game losing streak and have dropped five of their last six.

The latest setback was Tuesday’s 68-66 loss at Butler when the Red Storm did not score in the final 3:50, scored just 25 points after halftime and reached the foul line six times while allowing 21 free throws.

Posh Alexander scored a season-high 17 points and Rafael Pinzon added 14. Soriano added 12 and 11 rebounds but had a game-tying shot waved off. Soriano is shooting just 30.8 percent (12 of 39) from the field in his past four games.

“We had some opportunities,” St. John’s coach Mike Anderson said. “I thought it was a very physical game. We attacked the basket, and we thought we would be rewarded.”

Soriano paces the Red Storm with 15.4 points, 12.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.

Providence has won the last three meetings, including an 86-82 win in Queens, N.Y. on Feb. 1, 2022.

–Field Level Media

Coming off its most decisive loss this season, No. 10 Marquette looks to rebound in more ways than one on Saturday when it visits Georgetown for a Big East game in Washington, D.C.

Facing the cellar-dwelling Hoyas (6-19, 1-13), the Golden Eagles (19-6, 11-3) will be anxious to erase the sting of Tuesday’s 87-72 defeat at No. 21 UConn, where they lost the battle of the boards 48-24.

In the wire-to-wire defeat, Marquette fell behind 32-12 and never got the deficit inside 15 points in the second half. The Golden Eagles had not previously lost a game by more than five points this season.

“We didn’t do enough all-around, offensively, defensively, to stand up and counteract them,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said.

The defeat came as the Golden Eagles were riding a five-game winning streak and a day after they reached the Associated Press Top 10 for the first time since 2019. The loss also knocked Marquette out of first place in the Big East.

On Tuesday, UConn’s rebounding edge paved the way for a 27-8 advantage in second-chance points. The Huskies also shot 50 percent from the floor, hitting 12 of 23 (52.2 percent) attempts from beyond the arc.

There were positives for Marquette as Tyler Kolek scored 17 points and freshman reserves Ben Gold (12 points) and Sean Jones (11) hit a combined 8 of 11 shots, making their case for more playing time.

“I thought Sean’s ability to get in the paint was huge,” Smart said.

Smart said that Marquette had a tough assignment, taking on a team that it had beaten at home, then having to face them on the road. The Golden Eagles have the same task on Saturday, though against a much less daunting foe.

Georgetown lost its fourth straight on Wednesday, 74-62 at No. 20 Providence, and has dropped 33 of its last 34 games against Big East opponents since winning the conference tournament in 2021.

The Hoyas frontcourt has taken a beating this season, but Bradley Ezewiro (19 points, three blocks) shined off the bench against the Friars. The sophomore made 8 of 9 shots, including six dunks in the second half, as he more than tripled his previous career high.

Georgetown had its chances, trailing by single-digit margins on several occasions in the second half. But the Hoyas were doomed by 0-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc after intermission.

Primo Spears (18 points, seven assists) and Brandon Murray (16 points, seven rebounds) made a combined 11 of 30 shots from the floor for the Hoyas.

Afterward, coach Patrick Ewing zeroed in on the difference between his transfer-laden Hoyas and the Friars.

“They have some older guys who have been around and they play together,” Ewing said.

In its first meeting with Marquette, a 95-73 loss on Jan. 7, Georgetown led 36-34 at the half. But the Hoyas couldn’t overcome 20 turnovers and the 54.9 percent shooting of the Golden Eagles.

Kolek, who leads the Big East in assists, had 15 in the game. Marquette had a 26-7 edge on points off turnovers, a 52-28 advantage on points in the paint and its bench outscored Georgetown’s 38-7.

–Field Level Media

No. 24 Rutgers and host Illinois will both try to bounce back from a loss and make some headway in a crowded Big Ten Conference when they play Saturday afternoon in Champaign, Ill.

The Scarlet Knights (16-8, 8-5 Big Ten) dropped a 66-60 result at No. 18 Indiana on Tuesday, leaving them tied for second place in the conference. Among the many teams on their heels is Illinois (16-7, 7-5), which last played Feb. 4 and lost 81-79 at Iowa.

Rutgers trailed for most of the game against the Hoosiers, though it reined in an early 14-point deficit to just three points by halftime. Cam Spencer and Derek Simpson made consecutive baskets to draw within 59-56 with 3:29 left, but Indiana’s 5-0 run in response put the game away.

The Scarlet Knights continue to perform better on defense than offense. They are rated No. 2 in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com, and they fell to 0-7 when allowing 66 or more points this season. Rutgers is 16-1 when keeping opponents to 65 or fewer.

Coach Steve Pikiell noted Indiana’s 17-6 advantage in points at the foul line.

“You gotta defend these guys without fouling them, and that becomes a huge key in this game,” Pikiell said. “It’s just another way to score. When our defense was set, I felt pretty good about it.”

Before the Indiana game, Rutgers announced that starting forward Mawot Mag would miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Aundre Hyatt moved into the starting lineup and scored nine points. Reserve Oskar Palmquist saw more minutes again and also scored nine, going 3-for-4 from behind the arc.

Mag averaged 7.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game before his injury. Hyatt provides 9.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, while center Clifford Omoruyi has remained solid with team highs of 13.5 points and 9.8 rebounds.

Illinois will have had a week off between games after a contest scheduled for Tuesday was postponed because Minnesota had COVID-19 issues arise.

Illinois’ three-game win streak ended in its last game, one that featured nine ties and nine lead changes. Iowa’s Payton Sandfort broke a 76-76 tie on a 3-pointer with 1:23 left, and the Hawkeyes held on at the foul line to beat the Illini.

“We weren’t disciplined enough to win this game on the road,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “And that’s something I thought we had managed to conquer, but obviously it reared its ugly head today.”

Matthew Mayer has led Illinois in scoring for three straight games. He put up 21 points against Iowa on 7-of-9 shooting, 4-of-6 from deep.

Terrence Shannon Jr. does a bit of everything for the Illini on the wing, with team highs of 17.0 points and 1.4 steals per game, plus 5.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists. Big man Coleman Hawkins adds team highs of 6.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists to go with 9.3 points per game.

Rutgers has won three of the past five meetings with Illinois but has never won in Champaign. The Fighting Illini, who lead the all-time series 10-4, are 11-2 at home this season while the Scarlet Knights are 2-5 on the road.

–Field Level Media

After dropping five of six games following its season-opening 14-game winning streak, No. 21 UConn is once again showing signs of life.

The Huskies have won four of their last five and will look to keep rolling when they travel to Omaha, Neb., for a meeting with No. 23 Creighton on Saturday afternoon.

UConn (19-6, 8-6 Big East) is coming off one of its most impressive wins of the season, downing No. 10 Marquette 87-72 on Tuesday. It took the Huskies less than eight minutes to build a 22-6 advantage, and they never looked back.

Jordan Hawkins drained five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 20 points and Adama Sanogo contributed 18 points and seven rebounds, but the spotlight was on Tristen Newton, who recorded his second triple-double of the season.

Newton supplied 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists to continue his torrid stretch of play. The senior guard is averaging 17.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.3 steals over his last four games.

Thanks in large part to Newton’s stellar play, UConn has been able to turn things around, and the mid-season surge has the Huskies feeling good heading into the final weeks of the regular season.

“We won two or three games in January,” Hawkins said. “It was definitely a tough stretch, definitely going to shake your confidence. But you just have to stay the course, trust the process and that’s what we did and that’s what we’re going to continue to do during this last stretch.”

The Bluejays (16-8, 10-3) have experienced a revival of their own and are in the midst of a seven-game winning streak that began following a rocky 3-8 stretch.

In its most recent triumph, Creighton beat Seton Hall 75-62 on Wednesday behind 19 points and nine rebounds from Baylor Scheierman and 15 points from Ryan Nembhard. The Bluejays had their best outing of the season from beyond the arc, sinking 12 of 20 (60 percent) 3-pointers.

Creighton has one of the more balanced attacks in the Big East, as five players boast double-digit scoring averages. Ryan Kalkbrenner leads the way with 15.5 points per game, followed by Trey Alexander (13.5), Scheierman (13.3), Arthur Kaluma (12.4) and Nembhard (11.6).

That balance has been especially evident over the Bluejays’ past four games, as four different players have led the team in scoring in wins over Xavier, Georgetown, Villanova and the Pirates.

“I trust the work I put in,” Scheierman said on a postgame radio interview following the win against Seton Hall. “Some games it doesn’t go in. Steph Curry is one of the best shooters ever and he has bad games, so I’m not really too worried about it. We have different guys who step up on different nights. (Wednesday) it was just my turn.”

Saturday marks the second meeting of the season between Creighton and the Huskies. UConn earned a 69-60 victory on Jan. 7, getting 26 points from Sanogo and 17 from Hawkins.

Creighton is 5-1 all-time against the Huskies.

–Field Level Media