Bryson Tiller scored a career-high 21 points as No. 14 Kansas held on for a 90-82 win over No. 13 BYU in a Big 12 tilt featuring two of the country’s top freshmen on Saturday in Lawrence, Kan.
Freshman Darryn Peterson, regarded with BYU’s AJ Dybantsa as two of the leading pro prospects, scored 18 points and Flory Bidunga added 16 points for the Jayhawks. Melvin Council Jr. contributed 15 and Tre White chipped in 12 as Kansas (16-5, 6-2 Big 12) notched its fifth straight win.
Richie Saunders scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Cougars (17-4, 5-3). Robert Wright III tallied 18 points and freshman Dybantsa pitched in 17 points for BYU, which has lost three of its last four.
The Jayhawks shot 57.1% from the field — their second-best success rate of the season — and made 11 of 22 from 3-point range. The Cougars were just 11 of 32 from behind the arc and connected on 45.5% overall.
No. 1 Arizona 87, Arizona State 74
Koa Peat scored 15 of his 21 points after halftime as the Wildcats pulled away in the second half and maintained their perfect start with a victory over the host Sun Devils in Tempe.
Arizona (22-0, 9-0 Big 12) surpassed the 2013-14 team featuring All-American Nick Johnson, Aaron Gordon and T.J. McConnell for the best start in school history. The Wildcats also matched the program record for the longest winning streak, equaling the mark set during the 1914-17 seasons.
Brayden Burries added 17 and seven rebounds as Arizona outscored Arizona State 49-36 after halftime. Motiejus Krivas contributed 11 of his 15 points during the evenly-played first half and Ivan Kharchenkov contributed 12 for the Sun Devils (11-11, 2-7).
No. 2 UConn 85, Creighton 58
Braylon Mullins made four 3-pointers en route to 16 points and the Huskies extended their winning streak to 17 games by rolling to a victory over the Bluejays at Omaha, Neb.
Silas Demary Jr. and Alex Karaban added 15 points apiece and Solo Ball had 11 for UConn (21-1, 11-0 Big East), which has only two longer winning streaks in program history. The Huskies won a school-record 23 straight games during the 1995-96 campaign and put together a 19-game winning streak in 1998-99.
UConn’s only setback this season came against then-No. 4 Arizona, 71-67 on Nov. 19 on the Huskies’ home floor. Nik Graves scored 17 points for the Bluejays (12-10, 6-5), who have lost five of their past eight games. Blake Harper added 11 points for Creighton.
No. 4 Duke 72, Virginia Tech 58
Cameron Boozer totaled 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists and the Blue Devils never trailed in extending their winning streak to nine games with a win in Blacksburg, Va.
Duke (20-1, 9-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) earned its fifth straight double-digit victory by leading by as many as 16 and fending off a few comeback tries late in the first half and in the second half. Maliq Brown came off the bench and added 11 on 5-of-10 shooting, while Isaiah Evans also finished with 11.
Amani Hansberry led the Hokies (16-7, 5-5) with 20 points. He made 8 of 13 shots and withstood a collision in the paint after getting fouled by Brown with about five minutes left in the first half. Jailen Bedford added 12 and Ben Hammond was held to 11.
No. 6 Gonzaga 73, Saint Mary’s 65
Graham Ike scored 30 points in his return from an ankle injury to lead the Bulldogs past the visiting Gaels in West Coast Conference play in Spokane, Wash.
Jalen Warley had 10 points and seven rebounds and Emmanuel Innocenti also had 10 points for Gonzaga (22-1, 10-0 WCC), who won its 15th consecutive contest. Ike was 11-of-20 shooting — including 3 of 5 from 3-point range — to post his second 30-point outing of the season. Ike missed the previous three games.
Joshua Dent scored 16 points and Paulius Murauskas added 15 for Saint Mary’s (19-4, 8-2). Dillan Shaw had 13 points for the Gaels, who have dropped two of their last four games.
No. 10 Houston 76, Cincinnati 54
Milos Uzan scored 16 points, 14 of them in the second half, to lead a balanced offensive attack while the Cougars’ defense dominated throughout against the visiting Bearcats.
Houston (19-2, 7-1 Big 12) pulled away with a mid-first half run and led by 12 points at halftime. In the second half, the lead increased to 26 after a layup by Uzan with 9:15 to play. The Cougars then cruised to their second straight win.
They forced 19 turnovers, converting them into 26 points. Conversely, they had just four turnovers in the victory. Jalen Celestine led Cincinnati (11-11, 3-6) with 15 points and Keyshuan Tillery had 14 for the Bearcats, who have dropped three of their past four games.
UCF 88, No. 11 Texas Tech 80
Point guard Themus Fulks totaled 21 points and seven assists and hit a key jump shot late to lead the Knights to their second win over a Top 25 team with a victory over the Red Raiders in Orlando, Fla.
Jordan Burks tallied 17 points for UCF (17-4, 6-3 Big 12), John Bol scored a career-high 14 points and recorded 10 rebounds, and Jamichael Stillwell added 10 points, 10 boards and four assists.
JT Toppin posted 27 points and 10 boards to pace Texas Tech (16-5, 6-2), while Christian Anderson had 17 points and nine assists, and Donovan Atwell added 11 points.
Kentucky 85, No. 15 Arkansas 77
Otega Oweh collected 24 points and eight rebounds and the Wildcats rallied after blowing an early 13-point lead to upset the Razorbacks in Fayetteville, Ark.
Collin Chandler scored 13 points, Malachi Moreno 11 and Denzel Aberdeen added 10 for Kentucky in an emotional game that featured six technical fouls, with four on the Wildcats. Kentucky (15-7, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) has won six of seven games.
Darius Acuff Jr. scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half, Trevon Brazile scored 16 and Billy Richmond III added 14 for Arkansas (16-6, 6-3), which had been 12-0 at home this season.
No. 16 North Carolina 91, Georgia Tech 75
Freshman forward Caleb Wilson scored 22 points in a record-setting outing as the Tar Heels won their third game in a row by defeating the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta.
Henri Veesaar’s 20 points and 12 rebounds and Seth Trimble’s 18 points also were boosts for the Tar Heels (17-4, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won back-to-back road games after losing their first three road games on the league schedule. Wilson’s double-figure point total in all 21 games this season marks a program record to begin a career.
Baye Ndongo scored 27 points for Georgia Tech, which limited North Carolina to 8-for-31 shooting from 3-point range. Kam Craft’s 15 points and Kowacie Reeves Jr.’s 14 also helped the Yellow Jackets (11-11, 2-7), who dropped their third game in a row and lost for the sixth time in their last seven contests.
No. 17 Virginia 73, Boston College 66
Thijs De Ridder came through with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and the Cavaliers survived an upset bid by the Eagles with a win in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Malik Thomas chipped in 14 points and Chase Mallory added 11 points and six rebounds for Virginia (18-3, 7-2 ACC), which has now won its last four games against the Eagles.
Boston College (9-12, 2-6) lost despite a balanced attack headlined by Donald Hand Jr., who poured in 20 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out four assists. Fred Payne finished with 17 points and seven boards, while Boden Kapke (14) and Jayden Hastings (12) also reached double figures.
No. 18 Vanderbilt 71, Ole Miss 68
Paced by Tyler Tanner’s 24 points, the Commodores led the whole way and withstood two missed shots on the Rebels’ last possession to earn a narrow win in Nashville.
Vanderbilt (19-3, 6-3 SEC) got 17 points from AK Okereke, who was 11 of 13 on free throws. The last one came as he hit 1 of 2 in the double bonus for the game’s final point.
Ole Miss (11-10, 3-5) was led in scoring by reserves Malik Dia and AJ Storr (16 each) and got 15 from Ilias Kamardine. Dia and Storr, the Rebels’ leading scorers, had the misses on the game’s last possession.
No. 20 Louisville 88, SMU 74
The Cardinals rallied from a three-point halftime deficit with tight defense to outlast the visiting Mustangs.
Louisville (15-6, 5-4 ACC) was led by Mikel Brown Jr., who scored 20 points, including three 3-pointers, while dishing out four assists. Isaac McKneely scored 14 points, including 4-for-9 3-point shooting. Ryan Conwell shot just 4-for-15 but contributed a dozen points, as did Khani Rooths, who also pulled 10 rebounds. J’vonne Hadley added 10 points.
SMU (15-6, 4-4) was paced by Boopie Miller’s 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting. Samet Yigitoglu tallied 14 points and eight rebounds. Corey Washington added 13 points, including 3-for-8 3-point shooting. B.J. Edwards notched 13 points and eight rebounds but didn’t score after halftime.
No. 22 Clemson 63, Pitt 52
Carter Welling and Nick Davidson each scored 12 points to lead the Tigers to a dominant win over the visiting Panthers.
RJ Godfrey chipped in 10 points for Clemson (18-4, 8-1 ACC), which led by 20 points with five minutes to go to stay within one game of Duke in the league race.
Roman Siulepa and Damarco Minor led the way with 12 points apiece for Pitt (9-13, 2-7). Siulepa also had a game-high nine rebounds, and Cameron Corhen contributed nine points.
No. 24 Miami (OH) 85, Northern Illinois 61
Brant Byers scored a game-high 21 while Antwone Woolfolk added a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds to keep the RedHawks unbeaten in a win over the visiting Huskies at Oxford, Ohio.
Miami (22-0, 10-0 Mid-American Conference) extended its school record home court win streak to 28 games in front of a Millett Hall-record crowd of 10,640. The RedHawks remain one of two unbeaten programs in Division I, alongside No. 1 Arizona.
Taj Walters and Gianni Cobb both set career highs with 17 points apiece for Northern Illinois (7-14, 3-7), which committed 17 turnovers.
–Field Level Media
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