Kedrian Johnson scored 15 of his game-high 22 points after halftime and Emmitt Matthews Jr. added 20 points to boost host West Virginia to a 76-71 upset of No. 11 Iowa State on Wednesday night in Morgantown, W.Va.

The Mountaineers (15-9, 4-7 Big 12) won for the fourth time in five games while extending the Cyclones’ road woes.

Iowa State (16-7, 7-4) fell to 2-6 away from home. The Cyclones are 2-9 all time in their 11 visits to Morgantown.

After a Jaren Holmes layup put the visitors ahead 60-57 with 9:45 left, the Mountaineers responded by scoring 11 of the game’s next 13 points over the next 3:52 to regain control ahead of a tight finish.

Iowa State drew within 70-69 on a pair of Caleb Grill free throws with 2:36 remaining and retook the lead on a Holmes layup with 1:26 left. The Mountaineers went back ahead to stay, however, when Joe Toussaint made two free throws at the 1:07 mark.

The Cyclones missed a fast-break layup with 13 seconds left that would have given them the lead and West Virginia grabbed the rebound.

While the Cyclones shot 46 percent compared to 42 percent for the Mountaineers, foul trouble proved to be a considerable hurdle for Iowa State, with three players fouling out.

Referees whistled the teams for four personal fouls apiece over the first 3:07 of the second half. The Mountaineers entered the bonus with 16:18 remaining.

Holmes led Iowa State with 18 points, Grill had a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Tamin Lipsey scored 16 points.

Johnson added six assists, while James Okonkwo grabbed nine rebounds for the Mountaineers.

After leading by as many as 15 points in the first half, West Virginia took a 36-30 lead into the break. West Virginia forced eight turnovers in the first half.

West Virginia leading scorer Erik Stevenson left for the locker room late in the first half after absorbing contact to the head while taking a charge. He returned to the bench before halftime and was back in the game in the second half, finishing with eight points before fouling out.

–Field Level Media

Vanderbilt’s Tyrin Lawrence hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer as the Commodores upset sixth-ranked Tennessee 66-65 inside Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday evening.

Lawrence’s 3-pointer came on a kick-out from Ezra Manjon, and left the shooter’s hands with 0.1 second on the clock.

The win ended the Commodores’ 11-game losing streak in the series.

Lawrence’s 19 points led all scorers, and came two games after his benching for the Commodores’ 101-44 loss at Alabama last week.

Liam Robbins scored 14 points and pulled nine rebounds for Vanderbilt (12-12, 5-6 Southeastern Conference). Jordan Wright added 12 points for the Commodores.

Tennessee (19-5, 8-3) got 14 apiece from Santiago Vescovi and Tyreke Key, along with 10 from both Julian Phillips and Olivier Nkamhoua.

Vanderbilt trailed 65-63 and had just missed a chance to go ahead with 27 seconds left when Robbins missed a look from the left block.

The Commodores — who had just two fouls at the time — fouled five times in a span of seven seconds to send Vescovi to the line with 8.0 seconds left.

Vescovi missed the front end of the one-and-one. Lawrence rebounded and, after a time out, found the right corner of the floor and took a pass from Manjon underneath the Tennessee basket to get off the winner.

Seconds before that sequence, Phillips broke loose for what could have been a breakaway dunk. Feet from the basket, the freshman instead pulled the ball out and was fouled, later setting up the scene for Vescovi’s miss.

Vescovi did connect on a big shot, hitting his first 3-pointer of the night after a Lawrence turnover to tie the game at 58-58 with four minutes to play and snap a nearly five-minute scoreless streak.

With the game tied at 60 and 2:04 left, Tennessee fouled Colin Smith on a 3-point attempt and the freshman canned all shots to put the Commodores up three.

But Vescovi answered with a second-chance 3 on Tennessee’s next possession.

After a Vanderbilt misses on the next trip, Nkamhoua answered with a 17-foot jumper with 50 seconds left.

Zakai Zeigler rebounded Robbins’ miss with 17.2 seconds left, giving Tennessee the chance to ice the game.

The Vols hit 10 of their first 17 from the floor in establishing a 23-18 lead midway through the first half.

Robbins, who had six 3-pointers all season coming in, hit his third 3 of the first half to cut the Vols’ lead to two, but picked up a second personal foul with 8:01 left in the period and was benched until the last two minutes of the half.

Upon his return, Robbins drove the right baseline and rammed home a dunk over Jonas Aidoo to cut Tennessee’s lead to 34-32, which was the score at half.

Lawrence had a game-high 12 at the break while Robbins added 11 for Vanderbilt and Key added 10 for Tennessee.

The Vols’ Josiah-Jordan James, who missed eight games with a knee issue earlier in the year, exited the game with 17.2 seconds left on what appeared to an injured left ankle.

Vanderbilt has won two in a row following the blowout at Alabama, while the Vols have lost two of three.

–Field Level Media

Jett Howard had 22 points and Michigan hit 14 3-pointers in beating visiting Nebraska 93-72 in a Big Ten Conference game on Wednesday night in Ann Arbor, Mich.

It was the third consecutive victory for the Wolverines (14-10, 8-5 Big Ten) to match their longest win streak of the season. It also moved them into a tie for second place with No. 18 Indiana and No. 24 Rutgers.

Howard, a freshman and the son of head coach Juwan Howard, had six triples as Michigan shot 53.8 percent from deep and tied a season high on 3s, shooting 57.6 percent overall including 68 percent in the first half. Six players scored in double figures, with Hunter Dickinson going for 16 points and 10 rebounds and Dug McDaniel adding 14.

Nebraska (11-14, 4-10) was led by Keisei Tominaga, who followed up a career-high 30 points in his last game with 24 on 10-of-16 shooting, while Derrick Walker added 15.

After trailing by 24, Nebraska used runs of 8-0 and 7-0 to get within 46-34 at the break. The Cornhuskers cut the margin to single digits early in the second half, but Michigan responded with a 10-2 run that included two Jett Howard 3s.

The Wolverines built the lead back to 21 before Nebraska ran off 11 in a row, the first seven by Sam Griesel, to get within 68-58 with 8:34 left. It couldn’t get any closer, though, and Michigan outscored the ‘Huskers 25-14 the rest of the way.

Down one early, Michigan ran off 14 straight points to build a double-digit lead it would maintain the rest of the half. The run stretched to 22-3 after Dug McDaniel scored five in a row, then back-to-back triples from Joey Baker made it 41-17 with 6:58 left in the first half.

Nebraska is back home Saturday to face Wisconsin, while Michigan hosts Indiana on Saturday.

–Field Level Media

Baylor Scheierman had team highs of 19 points and nine rebounds and sank three second-half 3-pointers to help No. 23 Creighton get by Seton Hall 75-62 on Wednesday night in Newark, N.J.

In a matchup of the two hottest teams in the Big East, Creighton (16-8, 10-3) pulled out its seventh straight victory and handed Seton Hall (15-10, 8-6) just its second loss in nine games.

Arthur Kaluma’s fastbreak 3-pointer made it 56-55 Creighton with 10:49 to go and launched a pivotal 13-2 run that included Scheierman drilling two triples.

Scheierman, a South Dakota State transfer, then made his fifth 3-pointer of the night to give the Bluejays a 69-60 edge with 3:27 to play, allowing them to hold off a Seton Hall team that had a massive turnover advantage. Creighton committed 19 turnovers and Seton Hall lost only five.

Ryan Nembhard had 15 points, Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 13 and Kaluma posted 11 and seven boards for the Bluejays. Trey Alexander added eight points and eight assists.

The Bluejays shot a whopping 13-for-20 (65 percent) in the second half, 6-for-8 (75 percent) from beyond the arc.

Al-Amir Dawes carried the Pirates with 19 points, making his first four 3-point attempts en route to 5-of-8 shooting from deep. Tyrese Samuel put up 11 points and three steals despite foul trouble, and Kadary Richmond had 10 points and five steals.

Creighton shot 58.3 percent in the first half to outpace Seton Hall’s 50 percent and come away with a 40-39 halftime lead.

The sides traded baskets until Jamir Harris’ three-point play and Richmond’s foul shots gave Seton Hall its first lead at 16-15. Creighton responded with an 8-0 run capped by Mason Miller and Nembhard hitting consecutive 3-pointers.

The Bluejays led by seven twice more before Dawes’ third triple of the half kicked off an 8-0 Pirates run. Dawes had 11 points to lead all scorers at halftime, while Nembhard and Scheierman reached 10 for Creighton.

Dawes came out and drilled his fourth 3-pointer 10 seconds into the second half to put Seton Hall ahead. The Pirates led for several minutes, but they missed eight shots in a row as Creighton started to pull away. The Bluejays sank seven of their final eight field-goal attempts to seal the win.

–Field Level Media

Wyoming parted ways with three Pac-12 transfers on Wednesday, including guard Ethan Anderson, several hours before a home game against UNLV.

The school announced that Anderson, forward Max Agbonkpolo and swingman Jake Kyman are no longer part of the program.

Anderson and Agbonkpolo both transferred from Southern California and Kyman came from UCLA. All were in their first season with the Cowboys.

“We thank Max, Ethan, and Jake for their contributions to the program,” Wyoming coach Jeff Linder said in a statement. “We wish them well in their futures, both on and off the court.”

Anderson was third on the Cowboys in scoring (7.9) and was shooting 54 percent from the field in 21 games (17 starts). But he played just 15 total minutes in Wyoming’s past two games.

Agbonkpolo averaged 5.4 points in 16 games (six starts) and Kyman averaged 4.5 points in 18 games (one start). Agbonkpolo played 10 total minutes over the past three games, while Kyman played just two minutes in Wyoming’s last game.

The departures come one day after leading scorer Noah Reynolds (14.5) was ruled out for the season due to concussion issues.

Wyoming (7-15, 2-8 Mountain West) is experiencing a down campaign after going 25-9 and reaching the NCAA Tournament last season.

–Field Level Media

Southern California puts its four-game winning streak on the line Thursday in a pivotal Pac-12 matchup with host Oregon in Eugene, Ore.

The Trojans (17-6, 9-3 Pac-12) won their 12th consecutive home game on Saturday, holding off a late-game rally to beat Washington, 80-74.

Behind career-highs of 22 points for Tre White and 21 points from Kobe Johnson, USC overcame poor shooting performances from season-long leading scorers Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson — both of whom went 4-for-14 from the floor — to stay within a game of UCLA for first-place in the conference.

Johnson also made four steals, bumping his average to 2.2 takeaways per game, second-best in the league.

“I study (the opponent’s) lead scorer. I want to be put on him, I want to lock them down, I want to take them out of the game,” Johnson said after the win against the Huskies. “I watched a lot of film to learn what moves he does, what he likes, what his go-tos are, I just study everybody.”

Oregon (14-10, 8-5) has won three of its last four games, including Saturday’s 75-70 win at Arizona State. Leading scorer Will Richardson (14.0 points per game) hit his average against the Sun Devils and knocked down 3 of 4 shots from behind the arc.

Teammate Keeshawn Barthelemy made all three shots from long range en route to 15 points, and N’Faly Dante led the Ducks with 18 points.

The win helped keep the Ducks’ hopes of contending for an NCAA Tournament bid alive. Oregon sits at No. 55 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, just behind No. 51 USC.

“We’ve got the (Los Angeles) schools coming in, obviously really big games,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said after Saturday’s win via GoDucks.com “We’re just gonna have to play really hard and really well, and try to build something here.”

Thursday’s matchup is the only regular-season contest between the Ducks and Trojans this season. USC won the last encounter, played Feb. 26 a year ago in Eugene, 70-69, behind 20 points and eight rebounds from Peterson.

–Field Level Media

Two teams with distinctly different goals as the Pac-12 Conference regular season winds down go head-to-head Thursday night when Arizona State visits Stanford.

The game is a rematch of a tightly contested affair in Tempe, Ariz., in December, when the Sun Devils (16-8, 7-6 Pac-12) outlasted the Cardinal (10-13, 4-8) for a 68-64 win behind 19 points from Desmond Cambridge Jr.

Arizona State has dropped five of its last six games following a 15-3 start. But with four winnable games in their next four outings — they visit California on Saturday before returning home to host Colorado and Utah — the eye-catching 20-win mark for the season remains in sight.

Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley had such a run in mind when his club thumped Oregon State 68-57 at home last week. But that was followed by a hard-fought, 75-70 home loss to Oregon that he labeled a “tough pill to swallow.”

“Two teams were pretty desperate to win,” he said of the Oregon game, sizing up his club’s current situation in a nutshell. “I appreciate the effort of the guys.”

DJ Horne paced the hosts with 18 points.

While Arizona State can still help itself in the minds of the NCAA tournament committee over the course of the next few weeks, the only path likely left for Stanford to the Big Dance is through the conference tourney.

With a chance to be a hot team headed to Las Vegas in four weeks, the Cardinal have won five of six. That said, Stanford coach Jerod Haase insists that his club, coming off an 84-62 loss at Colorado on Sunday, has its eye on Arizona State — not a magical Pac-12 tournament run.

“We always take the approach that every game is a big game. The next game is where the focus is,” he said. “We’ve been trending up for a little while right now. Hopefully there will be more consistency going forward in a positive way.”

Harrison Ingam in particular has been trending up for the Cardinal. The sophomore has scored in double figures in four of the last seven games, with Stanford going 5-2 over that stretch.

–Field Level Media

When Ohio State ended Northwestern’s five-game winning streak on Jan. 1, no one could have imagined Thursday night’s rematch in Columbus, Ohio, would be a referendum on the Buckeyes’ season.

That 73-57 win gave Ohio State a 10-3 record, but it has been a complete collapse since.

The Buckeyes (11-12, 3-9 Big Ten) have lost four straight and nine of 10. They’ve fallen from a No. 24 national ranking to 13th in the conference standings, ahead of only Minnesota, whose only Big Ten win was at Ohio State.

This is the latest in the season that Ohio State has been below .500 since the 2003-04 season.

“If you focus your thoughts too much on what has happened or what’s ahead of us or what’s next, I think that can be overwhelming for everybody,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. “There’s optimism if we focus on the work that ultimately, if we show improvement, that there’ll be dividends that will be paid.”

Northwestern (16-7, 7-5) has a 6-4 record since the loss to the Buckeyes.

The Wildcats’ 54-52 win at Wisconsin on Sunday gave them a 4-2 record in a stretch of six games in 14 days due to having two games postponed last month because of COVID-19 issues in the program.

Northwestern coach Chris Collins is happy to have a few extra days of rest but knows facing Ohio State again will be a challenge.

“When you get to the second go-around, you see the scores go lower and lower because coaches are taking people’s tendencies away,” he said. “They’re taking away your favorite plays and you really have to adjust as an offense to continue to be successful out there.”

Meanwhile, Holtmann took the unusual step of having the Ohio State players vote again for captains and he announced Monday that freshman Bruce Thornton would join upperclassmen Zed Key, Isaac Likekele and Justice Sueing.

“I just wanted our guys to have a say in revoting for the leadership on the team. I thought it was a good time to do it,” Holtmann said.

–Field Level Media

After back-to-back wins at home, No. 13 Xavier will be tested on the road on Friday night in a Big East Conference clash with Butler in Indianapolis.

Both teams are coming off wins against St. John’s, with Xavier (19-5, 11-2 Big East) routing the Red Storm 96-71 at home Saturday and Butler (12-13, 4-10) eking out a 68-66 victory on their home court Tuesday.

Following a tight overtime victory over Providence the game prior, the Musketeers cruised on Saturday behind a balanced scoring attack led by Jack Nunge’s 21 points and six assists. Colby Jones scored 19 while grabbing eight boards and Souley Boum added 17 points.

“We were completely ready for the game. We came out at halftime supercharged, playing with force, playing defense, playing offense,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “Coming off a game that we spent a lot of energy, I credit our team. A lot of different players played really well.”

Butler was able to squeak by thanks to strong defensive play late in the game. St. John’s failed to score a single point in the final 3:45 of the game, with the Bulldogs closing on a 7-0 run.

“I thought our guys kept fighting, our guys kept playing,” Butler coach Thad Matta said. “We made some great defensive adjustments, the biggest thing tonight was taking over the game defensively late.”

Jayden Taylor led the Bulldogs with 19 points and Manny Bates scored 15 while grabbing six boards and dishing four assists. Simas Lukosius also had an all-around game, scoring 11 and grabbing six rebounds with five assists.

Boum, recently announced as a candidate for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard, leads Xavier with 16.3 points per game while also leading the team with 5.0 assists a game.

For Butler four players are scoring in double figures, with Taylor leading at 12.2 points per game. Bates leads the team with 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game while Lukosius leads with 3.0 assists per game.

Xavier big man Zach Freemantle continues to miss time due to a left foot issue. After suffering the injury at the end of January it was estimated he would miss at least a month of action.

Butler was without one of its key players on Tuesday in Chuck Harris, who was questionable prior to the game with a concussion. His status for Friday is unclear.

Xavier leads the all-time series at 44-24, but it’s been closer of late. The Musketeers have swept the two-game regular season series each of the past two years, but the Bulldogs have beaten Xavier in each of the past two Big East tournaments, with both games going to overtime.

–Field Level Media