Bears pull away in second half
NO. 2 BAYLOR 81, OKLAHOMA STATE 66
STILLWATER, Okla. — Baylor’s depth and experience eventually overwhelmed an Oklahoma State team that was missing star freshman Cade Cunningham due to covid-19 protocols.
Jared Butler scored 22 points, and the second-ranked Bears rallied from a halftime deficit to beat Oklahoma State 81-66 on Saturday.
Cunningham, the Big 12 Conference’s leading scorer, hasn’t been practicing. He was cleared for activity on Saturday, but Coach Mike Boynton said Cunningham wasn’t ready to play. Key reserve Rondel Walker also sat out with an arm injury, leaving Oklahoma State with eight players available.
The Cowboys still pushed the Bears, leading in the early minutes of the second half before Baylor took control. The Bears shot 53% after the break.
“That’s the difference in a player-led team, an experienced team,” Baylor Coach Scott Drew said. “You have to feel what’s going wrong. And they knew defensively we weren’t as good as we normally are and rebounding, we weren’t as good as we normally were. So credit them for taking care of that.”
Mark Vital scored a career-high 19 points and Davion Mitchell had eight points and nine assists for Baylor (14-0, 7-0). Gonzaga also has started the season 14-0, making this the first time the preseason Nos. 1 and No. 2 each won their first 14 games of a season since the preseason poll began in 1961-62.
Kalib Boone scored a career-high 21 points and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma State (9-4, 3-4).
It was a quality effort for roughly 30 minutes for Oklahoma State.
“There’s no doubt that part of it is we were gassed,” Boynton said. “We weren’t able to sustain it. That’s not an excuse, it’s reality.”
NO. 1 GONZAGA 95, PACIFIC 49
SPOKANE, Wash. — Drew Timme scored 22 points and undefeated Gonzaga
crushed Pacific for its 19th consecutive victory dating to last season.
Corey Kispert had 16 points and Joel Ayayi scored 12 for Gonzaga (15-0, 6-0 West Coast), which won its 47th consecutive home game — the longest streak in the nation. Freshman Jaylen Suggs finished with 9 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists.
Daniss Jenkins scored 17 points for Pacific (5-3, 2-2).
NO. 3 VILLANOVA 71, PROVIDENCE 56
VILLANOVA, Pa. — Collin Gillespie and Justin Moore scored 15 points apiece and Villanova beat Providence for its eighth consecutive victory.
Caleb Daniels added 12 points and Jermaine Samuels had 10 for Villanova (10-1, 5-0 Big East).
Alyn Breed scored 18 points for Providence (8-7, 4-5).
NO. 8 HOUSTON 68, TEMPLE 51
PHILADELPHIA — Marcus Sasser and Quentin Grimes each scored 15 points and Houston rolled to its sixth consecutive victory, beating Temple.
The Cougars (13-1, 8-1 American Athletic) also beat the Owls on Dec. 22. Grimes and Sasser hit consecutive early three-pointers to build a 19-point lead. Jake Forrester led the Owls (3-4, 2-4) with 15 points, and Khalif Battle had 14.
OKLAHOMA 75, NO. 9 KANSAS 68
NORMAN, Okla. — De’Vion Harmon scored 22 points and Oklahoma beat Kansas for its second victory of the month over a Top 10 opponent.
Oklahoma (9-4, 5-3 Big 12) has won three of its last four games against Kansas (10-5, 4-4) in Norman and is 8-1 at home this season.
Coming off losses at Oklahoma State and No. 2 Baylor, Kansas has lost three consecutive games for the first time since February 2013. Marcus Garrett had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Jayhawks.
NO. 15 OHIO STATE 74, NO. 10 WISCONSIN 62
MADISON, Wis. — E.J. Liddell scored 20 points and Ohio State never trailed in a victory over Wisconsin.
Ohio State (12-4, 6-4 Big Ten) has beaten Top 15 teams in each of its last three road games to underscore the conference’s lack of a true homecourt advantage this season with no spectators due to the pandemic. The Buckeyes beat then-No. 15 Rutgers on Jan. 9 and then-No. 14 Illinois on Jan. 16. Illinois is now 22nd and Rutgers unranked.
Aleem Ford scored 13 points to lead Wisconsin (12-4, 6-3).
NO. 11 CREIGHTON 74, NO. 23 UCONN 66
OMAHA, Neb. — Denzel Mahoney scored 20 points and Creighton broke open a close game in the last 10 minutes to beat Connecticut.
The Bluejays (11-4, 7-3 Big East) shot 58% in the second half to avoid their first three-game losing streak since February 2019.
R.J. Cole scored 14 points for UConn (7-3, 4-3).
NO. 13 VIRGINIA 64, GEORGIA TECH 62
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Sam Hauser scored 11 of his 22 points during a 15-2 second-half run and No. 13 Virginia survived a scare before rallying to beat Georgia Tech.
Kihei Clark scored only two points for Virginia (10-2, 6-0 ACC), but they came on a short jumper with 1:09 left that broke a 62-all tie.
Jose Alvarado scored 20 points and had eight assists, and Jordan Usher scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half for the Yellow Jackets (7-4, 3-2). They had their five-game winning streak snapped.
NO. 14 WEST VIRGINIA 79, KANSAS STATE 47
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Miles McBride scored 18 points to help West Virginia beat Kansas State in the Mountaineers’ first game in two weeks because of covid-19 protocols.
Jalen Bridges added 12 points and Taz Sherman had 10 for West Virginia (10-4, 3-3 Big 12).
Mike McGuirl led Kansas State (5-11, 1-7) with 15 points The Wildcats had 28 turnovers, the most by a Big 12 team this season and the most in a game under Coach Bruce Weber.
SYRACUSE 78,
NO. 16 VIRGINIA TECH 60
SYRACUSE, N .Y. — Quincy Guerrier had 20 points, Marek Doelzaj added 18 and Alan Griffin had 15 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks to help Syracuse beat Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech closed to 47-44 on a layin by David N’Guessan with 13:45 to go, then Syracuse (9-4, 3-3 ACC) outscored the Hokies 31-9 to build its biggest lead of the game at 78-53.
Nahiem Alleyne led the Hokies (11-3, 5-2) with 20 points.
MARYLAND 63, NO. 17 MINNESOTA 49
MINNEAPOLIS — Eric Ayala had 21 points and three steals to help Maryland deliver another road upset of a ranked Big Ten opponent, a wire-to-wire victory over Minnesota.
Donta Scott added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Terrapins (9-7, 3-6). They limited Minnesota’s Liam Robbins to six points on 2-for-6 shooting.
Marcus Carr had 25 points and seven rebounds for the Gophers (11-5, 4-5). They lost at home for the first time in 12 games this season.
FLORIDA STATE 80, NO. 20 CLEMSON 61
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Balsa Koprivica had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Florida State pulled away early to rout Clemson for its fourth consecutive victory.
Sardaar Calhoun added a career-best 13 points for Florida State (9-2, 5-1 ACC). He made 4 of 5 three-pointers.
John Newman III scored 12 points for Clemson (9-4, 3-4).
OREGON STATE 73, NO. 21 OREGON 61
EUGENE, Ore — Ethan Thompson scored 19 points, Warith Alatishe had 14 points and 16 rebounds and Oregon State beat No. 21 Oregon.
Jarod Lucas added 13 points, and the Beavers (8-5, 4-3 Pac-12) had a 43-23 rebounding edge en route to their third consecutive victory.
Eugene Omoruyi had 15 points and nine rebounds for Oregon (9-3, 4-2), which was playing without four projected starters. Freshman guard Jalen Terry had 13 points, and Eric Williams Jr. added 11.
STANFORD 73, NO. 24 UCLA 72, OT
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Oscar da Silva scored off an inbound pass as time expired in overtime to lift Stanford over UCLA, ending the Bruins’ unbeaten streak in the Pac-12.
Da Silva finished with 26 points, the last coming on a layup off a set piece with 0.8 seconds remaining.
Jaiden Dalaire added 19 points for the Cardinal (9-5, 5-3 Pac-12). Johnny Juzang scored a career-high 27 points for the Bruins (12-3, 8-1).