Jalen Wilson had 21 points and 13 rebounds as No. 5 Kansas rode a strong second half to an 87-71 victory over No. 9 Baylor in Big 12 Conference play Saturday in Lawrence, Kan.
KJ Adams Jr. had 17 points and Gradey Dick added 16 points and five rebounds for the Jayhawks (22-5, 10-4 Big 12), who defeated Baylor for the 19th time in 20 all-time meetings inside Allen Fieldhouse dating back to December 1951. The Jayhawks outscored the Bears 55-26 in the second half to rally from a 13-point halftime deficit.
Baylor (20-7, 9-5) was led by Adam Flagler, who had 22 points and seven assists, while Keyonte George had 20 points and five rebounds. LJ Cryer chipped in 15 points, but no other Bear scored more than six.
Baylor’s 13-point halftime lead didn’t last long. The Jayhawks opened the second half on a 20-4 run to take a 52-49 edge on Adams’ dunk with 14:06 left. After the Bears pulled within 55-54 on Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua’s three-point play, the Jayhawks put the game away with a 16-5 run to take a 70-59 advantage on Ernest Udeh Jr.’s alley-oop dunk with 7:20 to go.
No. 1 Alabama 108, Georgia 59
Brandon Miller scored 21 points and Nick Pringle added 19 as the Crimson Tide cruised past the Bulldogs in their Southeastern Conference matchup in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Miller shot 7 of 10 from the field, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range, while Pringle hit 9 of 12 from the floor and hauled in 12 rebounds for Alabama (23-4, 13-1 SEC), which outrebounded Georgia 49-26.
The Bulldogs (16-11, 6-8) have dropped four of their past six games. Justin Hill led Georgia with 17 points.
No. 4 UCLA 78, Cal 43
Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored a game-high 20 points, including four during a 12-0 game-opening run, and the host Bruins ran away from the Golden Bears early en route to a Pac-12 Conference shellacking in Los Angeles.
Amari Bailey chipped in with 16 points and Jaylen Clark added 13 for the Bruins (23-4, 14-2 Pac-12), who beat their rivals from the north for the 11th consecutive time.
Kuany Kuany came off the bench to lead Cal (3-24, 2-14) with 14 points. Joel Brown supplied 10 points, but no other Golden Bear managed to score in double figures.
No. 6 Texas 85, Oklahoma 83 (OT)
Sir’Jabari Rice scored 24 points to lead the Longhorns to an overtime victory over the Sooners in Austin, Texas.
Marcus Carr added 17 points for the Longhorns (21-6, 10-4 Big 12), who grabbed control of the tight game by hitting their first five shots in the extra period — but still had to hang on down the stretch. Grant Sherfield led the Sooners (13-14, 3-11) with 18 points.
Down by three, Oklahoma opted to get a quick two with seven seconds remaining before fouling the Longhorns’ Tyrese Hunter. Hunter made one of two free throws to make it 85-83, and without a timeout left to set up a play, the Sooners’ last-gasp floater by Sam Godwin bounded off the back iron.
No. 7 Virginia 57, Notre Dame 55
Kihei Clark scored 15 points and became the all-time assist leader for the Cavaliers, who edged the Irish in an Atlantic Coast Conference game in Charlottesville, Va.
Armaan Franklin had 12 points and Reece Beekman emerged from a slump to collect 11 points and five assists as Virginia (21-4, 13-3 ACC) won its fourth straight game. Nate Laszewski led Notre Dame with 18 points and eight rebounds. Marcus Hammond added 10 points for the Irish, who lost their fifth straight game.
The Cavaliers improved to 8-0 against Notre Dame (10-17, 2-14) in Charlottesville. Virginia celebrated with confetti early in the second half when Clark dished to Jayden Gardner (eight points) for a basket as he passed the mark of 683 assists established by John Crotty, who played from 1987-91. Clark had four assists to give him 685 in his career.
No. 8 Arizona 78, Colorado 68
Junior big man Oumar Ballo scored 18 points and pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds as the Wildcats overcame a slow start to comfortably dispatch the Buffaloes in Tucson, Ariz.
Arizona (24-4, 13-4 Pac-12) turned around a 12-point deficit in the first half to lead by 12 at the break, and Colorado (15-13, 7-10) failed to muster much of a threat after that, trailing by as many as 17 in the second half. Ballo recorded his 10th double-double of the season and led four Arizona scorers in double figures.
Tristan da Silva led Colorado with 18 points, although he sat for the final 11:33 of the first half after picking up two fouls, which helped Arizona take control. Javon Ruffin added 13 points, while KJ Simpson scored 12 but only shot 3 of 13 from the field.
Kentucky 66, No. 10 Tennessee 54
Cason Wallace collected 16 points, six rebounds and six assists and Oscar Tshiebwe had 16 points and seven boards, lifting the Wildcats over the Volunteers in Lexington, Ky.
Behind an overwhelming defensive effort in the opening half, Kentucky (18-9, 9-5 SEC) trotted to the locker room with a commanding 20-point lead. Tennessee (20-7, 9-5) got as close as eight points in the second half but lost for the third time in four games.
Tennessee’s Santiago Vescovi scored all of his team-high 17 points in the second half, and Jahmai Mashack added a season-high 16 points and eight rebounds.
No. 12 Kansas State 61, No. 19 Iowa State 55
Markquis Nowell had 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to help the Wildcats defeat the Cyclones in a Big 12 Conference game in Manhattan, Kan.
Keyontae Johnson had 15 points for Kansas State (20-7, 8-6 Big 12), while Iowa State (17-9, 8-6) was led by Aljaz Kunc with 15 points. Gabe Kalscheur added 11. The Wildcats used a 14-3 run to start the second half and turn an eight-point deficit into a three-point lead before the first media timeout.
Neither team led by more than five points from that point until Kansas State grabbed a 57-50 advantage with 1:21 left in the game. Nowell had 11 points in the first 6:25 of the second half. With the Wildcats clinging to a two-point lead, Nowell hit a 3-pointer from well beyond NBA 3-point range with 2:42 left to all-but seal the victory.
No. 13 Gonzaga 97, Pepperdine 88
Drew Timme scored 34 points on 15-of-20 shooting and the Bulldogs defeated the Waves for the 45th consecutive time, prevailing in West Coast Conference play at Malibu, Calif.
Julian Strawther scored 28 points for the second straight game for the Bulldogs (23-5, 12-2 WCC), who won their 20th consecutive game at Pepperdine. Timme’s latest big effort allowed him to pass San Francisco legend Bill Cartwright (2,116 points from 1975-79) and move into eighth place on the WCC’s all-time scoring list. Timme has 2,117 points.
Houston Mallette scored 22 points for the Waves (9-19, 2-12), who have dropped 13 of their past 15 games. Maxwell Lewis and Jevon Porter added 20 points apiece for Pepperdine. Pepperdine battled back from a double-digit deficit to trail by one with 3:50 left but was never able to take control and eventually trailed by 10 down the stretch.
No. 14 Indiana 71, Illinois 68
Jalen Hood-Schifino made two free throws with 30.7 seconds left to lift the Hoosiers past the Fighting Illini in Bloomington, Ind.
Trayce Jackson-Davis made it a three-point game when he dunked with 6.7 seconds left, capping a 26-point, 12-rebound performance. The Fighting Illini had a chance to force overtime, but RJ Melendez missed a wide-open 3-pointer from the right wing as time expired.
Hood-Schifino finished with 13 points for the Hoosiers (19-8, 10-6 Big Ten). Matthew Mayer scored 24 points, just two off his career high, to lead Illinois (17-9, 8-7). Jayden Epps added 12 points but missed a foul shot with 16.7 seconds remaining and the Illini trailing by two points.
No. 15 Miami 96, Wake Forest 87
Isaiah Wong scored 27 points and Nijel Pack added 24 as the Hurricanes picked up their sixth consecutive victory, downing the Demon Deacons in Coral Gables, Fla.
Norchad Omier, who was held to a season-low five points in Miami’s win at North Carolina on Monday, scored the Hurricanes’ first nine points en route to a 17-point, eight-rebound night.
Wake Forest (17-10, 9-7 ACC) had a three-game winning streak snapped and missed a great opportunity to bolster its resume. The Demon Deacons kept themselves in the game by making 15 of 35 attempts from 3-point range. Tyree Appleby finished with 15 points and nine assists, but it wasn’t enough to slow down Miami (22-5, 13-4).
No. 16 Xavier 82, DePaul 68
Jack Nunge had 18 points, 10 rebounds and four assists while Jerome Hunter matched a season high with 15 points and nine rebounds to power the Musketeers past the Blue Demons in Cincinnati.
Fresh from a 69-68 setback at No. 11 Marquette, Xavier (20-7, 12-4 Big East) rebounded from a pair of close road losses in Big East competition with a blowout win that avenged its 73-72 loss to the Blue Demons on Jan. 18 in Chicago.
Umoja Gibson had 17 points while Da’Sean Nelson added 16 for DePaul (9-18, 3-13), which has lost all eight games since upsetting Xavier on Jan. 18.
No. 17 Saint Mary’s 71, BYU 65
Logan Johnson scored 27 points on 12-of-19 shooting to lead the Gaels past the Cougars in West Coast Conference play at Moraga, Calif.
Aidan Mahaney had 14 of his 16 points in the second half and Mitchell Saxen added 13 points for Saint Mary’s (24-5, 13-1 WCC), which won for the 15th time in its past 16 games. Johnson topped the 25-point mark for the third time in four games for the first-place Gaels, who have a one-game lead over Gonzaga with two WCC games to play.
Fousseyni Traore scored 16 points for BYU (16-14, 6-9), which lost its fourth straight game and seventh in its past nine. Spencer Johnson and Rudi Williams had 12 points apiece, and Noah Waterman tallied 11 for the Cougars.
No. 18 Creighton 77, St. John’s 67
Arthur Kaluma single-handedly fueled a decisive run for the Bluejays by hitting three 3-pointers late in the second half to help his team overcome a lengthy shooting drought to beat the Red Storm in a Big East matchup in New York.
The Bluejays (18-9, 12-4 Big East) missed 13 straight shots, going more than seven minutes between field goals during a cold spell that started early in the second half. Kaluma was just 2 of 8 from the field and 0-for-3 from 3-point land before he sank three consecutive shots from beyond the arc in a span of 2:26 to extend Creighton’s lead to 67-57. He finished with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Ryan Nembhard had 16 points, including the free throw that put Creighton ahead for good with 11:28 remaining. Joel Soriano had team highs of 15 points and eight rebounds for St. John’s (16-12, 6-11), which had its two-game winning streak snapped. David Jones scored 14 points off the bench.
No. 20 UConn 64, Seton Hall 55
Jordan Hawkins scored a game-high 20 points, Andre Jackson Jr. provided 15 points and 10 rebounds and the Huskies fought off the Pirates in Storrs, Conn.
UConn (20-7, 9-7 Big East) moved past Seton Hall for fifth place in the conference by going on a 14-0 run in the second half while holding the Pirates scoreless for a span of 6:50.
Seton Hall (16-12, 9-8) trailed just 42-40 with 12:28 to play when it went ice-cold, missing eight straight shots and losing five turnovers during its drought. Al-Amir Dawes and Tyrese Samuel led the Pirates with 16 points apiece.
No. 22 TCU 100, Oklahoma State 75
Emanuel Miller poured in 18 points and Mike Miles Jr. added 15 in his return to the court as the Horned Frogs swamped the Cowboys in Big 12 Conference action in Fort Worth, Texas.
Miles returned from a five-game absence after sustaining a hyperextended knee in TCU’s overtime loss at Mississippi State on Jan. 28. He had a huge impact on Saturday, helping the Horned Frogs (18-9, 7-7 Big 12) snap a four-game losing streak. TCU’s Damion Baugh added 16 points.
TCU led by 20 points at halftime after a dominating stretch late in the first half. Oklahoma State never got closer than 17 points the rest of the way, losing its second straight game after winning five in a row. Bryce Thompson led the Cowboys (16-11, 7-7) with 18 points. John-Michael Wright scored 15.
No. 24 Providence 85, Villanova 72
Ed Croswell scored 21 points to reach 1,000 for his career as the Friars maintained their pristine home record by downing the visiting Wildcats.
Croswell made 7 of 9 shots and added 10 rebounds for Providence (20-7, 12-4 Big East), who improved to 15-0 at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Bryce Hopkins supplied 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Noah Locke scored 16 points.
Eric Dixon went for 18 points and eight rebounds for Villanova (13-14, 7-9), whose three-game winning streak came to an end.
–Field Level Media
