Grant Nelson scored a season-best 25 points and collected 11 rebounds to help No. 4 Alabama notch a 102-97 victory over No. 8 Kentucky in a high-octane Southeastern Conference contest in Lexington, Ky.
Mark Sears added 24 points and nine assists as the Crimson Tide (15-3, 4-1 SEC) won for the ninth time in their past 10 games. It marked Alabama’s 12th all-time victory in 72 visits to Lexington.
Otega Oweh scored 21 points before fouling out for Kentucky (14-4, 3-2), which lost to a team ranked among the Top 15 for the first time in six attempts this season.
Lamont Butler recorded 17 points and eight assists and Amari Williams contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out for the Wildcats.
No. 1 Auburn 70, No. 23 Georgia 68
Tahaad Pettiford scored a season-high 24 points off the bench as the visiting Tigers edged the Bulldogs in Southeastern Conference play.
Chad Baker-Mazara and Miles Kelly added 13 points apiece as the Tigers (17-1, 5-0 SEC) — who led nearly wire-to-wire — won their 10th straight despite shooting just 39.3 percent from the floor. Asa Newell led Georgia (14-4, 2-3) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Blue Cain and Tyrin Lawrence each scored 12 points as the Bulldogs, who shot 45.6 percent from the floor, dropped their second straight.
Georgia had its chances in the final seconds but came up empty. Dakota Leffew missed a game-tying triple with seven seconds left and Newell missed a layup as the buzzer sounded.
West Virginia 64, No. 2 Iowa State 57
Javon Small scored 27 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished five assists as the Mountaineers finished strong for a win over the Cyclones in a Big 12 Conference showdown in Morgantown, W.Va.
Amani Hansberry added 12 points on four 3-pointers for West Virginia (13-4, 4-2), which played in front of a sellout crowd on “Jerry West Day.” The Mountaineers honored the late West, a Mountaineers alum, with a ceremony and hosted his family members.
Curtis Jones scored 18 points to lead Iowa State (15-2, 5-1), whose 12-game winning streak ended. Keshon Gilbert finished with 13 points and Joshua Jefferson registered 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Cyclones shot 43.9 percent overall but made only 1 of 17 attempts from beyond the arc.
No. 3 Duke 88, Boston College 63
Freshman Cooper Flagg put on a show in his return to New England, pouring in 28 points as the Blue Devils dominated the second half to blow out the Eagles in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Tyrese Proctor added a season-high 20 points and Isaiah Evans racked up 16 off the bench as the Blue Devils (16-2, 8-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) rang up their 12th consecutive victory. Duke used a big burst early in the second half, including a 7-0 run to stretch a six-point lead to 13.
Chad Venning scored 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the field for Boston College (9-9, 1-6), which has lost four games in a row. Donald Hand Jr. had 12 points.
No. 5 Florida 84, Texas 60
Alijah Martin scored 22 points and the Gators were at their best in the second half in a victory over the Longhorns in a Southeastern Conference clash in Gainesville, Fla.
The Gators (16-2, 3-2 SEC) led by seven at halftime. In the second half, they went on a 15-2 run that started with a Walter Clayton Jr. 3-pointer with eight minutes to play. Clayton added 19 points and Alex Condon had 11 points and 12 rebounds as the Gators bounced back from a loss to Missouri at home on Tuesday. Florida shot 58.1 percent from the floor in the second half.
Tre Johnson led the Longhorns (12-6, 1-4) with 16 points, while Ze’Rik Onyema racked up 12 points and 10 rebounds and Tramon Mark added 12 points and Arthur Kaluma finished with 10 points and 10 boards. It was Texas’ third game in the past two weeks against a team ranked in the top 5 of the AP poll.
Vanderbilt 76, No. 6 Tennessee 75
Jason Edwards scored 18 points and Jaylen Carey had a double-double as the host Commodores took down the Volunteers in Nashville, Tenn.
Carey paired 14 points with 10 rebounds off the bench for Vanderbilt (15-3, 3-2 Southeastern Conference), which also got 13 points from Tyler Nickel. The Commodores won their second straight game.
Chaz Lanier finished with 17 points and Zakai Zeigler bundled 16 points with 10 assists to lead the Volunteers (16-2, 3-2). Felix Okpara and Igor Milicic also had 16 points for Tennessee, which had a two-game win streak snapped.
Xavier 59, No. 7 Marquette 57
Zach Freemantle recorded a double-double to help the Musketeers hold off the host Golden Eagles in Milwaukee.
Freemantle collected 14 points and 10 rebounds as Xavier prevented Marquette from starting Big East play 7-0 for the first time since the 2008-09 season. The Musketeers (12-7, 4-4 Big East) seemingly had put the game away when they scored 10 of the first 12 points of the second half to go up 45-26 with 14:56 to go.
Marquette (15-3, 6-1) fought back to creep within 58-55 on Kam Jones’ layup with 1:11 left. Down by two, the Golden Eagles ended up getting the ball back when a swarm of Golden Eagles tied up Ryan Conwell to force a jump ball with eight seconds to play. But with time winding down, Marquette failed to get up a final shot, giving Xavier the stunning victory.
No. 9 Kansas 84, Kansas State 74
Zeke Mayo — a native of Lawrence, Kan., who was playing in his first “Sunflower Showdown” — had 14 of his 24 points in the first half as the host Jayhawks built a big lead and then held on to defeat the in-state rival Wildcats.
Kansas State has lost 19 straight games in Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas (13-4, 4-2 Big 12) was playing without star forward KJ Adams, who suffered a partially separated right shoulder in Wednesday’s loss to Iowa State. Hunter Dickinson added 25 points and Dajuan Harris 15 for Kansas.
Kansas State (7-10, 1-5 Big 12) has lost five straight and eight of nine. It hadn’t scored more than 70 points since the first of those nine games until Saturday. The Wildcats were led by Coleman Hawkins with 15 points. David N’Guessan had 13.
No. 10 Houston 69, UCF 68
J’Wan Roberts capped a 21-point performance by making the game-winning layup with 1.1 seconds remaining, lifting the Cougars over the Knights in in Orlando, Fla., for their 10th win in a row.
UCF’s Keyshawn Hall missed two free throws with 55.9 seconds left and the Knights trailing 67-66. After Houston (14-3, 6-0 Big 12) missed the front end of a one-and-one, Hall then drove the lane for a layup at the other end to give UCF a 68-67 lead.
UCF (12-5, 3-3) could not get off another shot attempt. Roberts also cleared nine of Houston’s 42 rebounds and scored the Cougars’ final eight points of the game. Ja’Vier Francis came off the bench to post a season-high 16 points to go along with 10 boards. Freshman Moustapha Thiam had a career-high 18 points to go with five rebounds and three blocks for UCF.
No. 11 Texas A&M 68, LSU 57
Zhuric Phelps scored 13 points and the Aggies pulled away from the cold-shooting Tigers in College Station, Texas.
All-Southeastern Conference guard Wade Taylor IV returned from a three-game absence due to an undisclosed injury to score 12 points, while Henry Coleman III added 10 for the Aggies (14-4, 3-2 SEC), who had advantages in points off turnovers (19-4) and points in the paint (32-18).
Cam Carter scored 16 points and Jordan Sears added 11 to lead the Tigers (12-6, 1-4), who shot 36.2 percent from the floor and 24.1 percent from deep for the game and got outscored 38-27 in the second half.
No. 17 Purdue 65, No. 13 Oregon 58
Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Boilermakers stifled the Ducks in the second half en route to a Big Ten Conference road win in Eugene, Ore.
Braden Smith added 15 points, seven assists and four steals for Purdue (15-4, 7-1), which won its seventh straight game despite poor shooting. They shot only 33.9 percent from the floor, including 2 of 12 on 3-pointers. Purdue made up for it with foul shooting and its ability to stop the Ducks, who canned only 36 percent from the field.
Nate Bittle scored 18 points and blocked six shots to lead Oregon (15-3, 4-3), which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Jackson Shelstad added 15 points but hit only 4 of 12 from the field.
Creighton 68, No. 14 UConn 63
Jamiya Neal scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the first half, helping the visiting Bluejays fend off the Huskies in Big East action in Storrs, Conn.
Neal shot 10-of-16 from the floor and hit three 3-pointers for the Bluejays (12-6, 5-2), who led by as many as nine points with seven minutes to go in regulation. Ryan Kalkbrenner (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Steven Ashworth (12 points, nine assists) were each 4-for-4 from the foul line in the second half as Creighton won for the fifth time in six games.
UConn (13-5, 5-2) lost for only the second time in 11 games, despite 15 points from both Hassan Diarra and Solo Ball.
No. 15 Mississippi State 84, No. 21 Ole Miss 81 (OT)
Riley Kugel scored a game-high 21 points and the Bulldogs held off the Rebels in Starkville, Miss.
Keshawn Murphy added 18 points and 11 rebounds, RJ Melendez scored 12, Cameron Matthews had 10 points and 11 rebounds and Josh Hubbard scored 10 for the Bulldogs (15-3, 3-2 SEC).
Jaemyn Brakefield scored 20 points, Sean Pedulla had 18, Matthew Murrell had 15 and Jaylen Murray 10 to lead the Rebels (15-3, 4-1).
Santa Clara 103, No. 16 Gonzaga 99
Tyeree Bryan established career highs of 35 points and seven 3-pointers and the Broncos beat the Bulldogs on the road for the first time in 18 years by posting a high-scoring win in West Coast Conference play at Spokane, Wash.
Adama Bal scored 20 points and Christoph Tilly added 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting as the Broncos (13-7, 5-2 WCC) prevailed in Spokane for the first time since Feb. 12, 2007. The Broncos made 18 of 38 3-point attempts and shot 53.7 percent overall.
Nolan Hickman matched his career high of 24 points and made a career-best six treys for the Bulldogs (14-6, 5-2). Graham Ike scored 21 points and Ryan Nembhard added 16 points and a career-high 15 assists.
No. 24 Wisconsin 84, USC 69
John Blackwell scored a game-high 28 points to lead the Badgers to a win over Southern California in Los Angeles in a Big Ten contest.
Max Klesmit added 18 points for Wisconsin (15-3, 5-2), which has won seven straight following a three-game skid. The Badgers were only 8 of 29 from 3-point range (32.1 percent) but made 81.4 percent from inside the arc and 13 of 15 from the free-throw line.
Saint Thomas scored 19 points and Rashaun Agee chipped in 15 for USC (11-7, 3-4), which had won two straight. The Trojans turned the ball over 16 times. Wisconsin held a 19-point lead in the second half, but USC whittled its deficit to three at 55-52 with 10:44 remaining. The Badgers rebuilt the lead to 76-60 with 4:04 to go.
–Field Level Media
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