‘That kid’ puts No. 2 on back vs. No. 1
TOP 25 WOMEN
NO. 2 CONNECTICUT 63, NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA 59, OT
STORRS, Conn. — With the shot clock about to expire and her team ahead by a single point in overtime, Paige Bueckers threw up a long three-pointer that hit the back of the rim and bounced high into the air.
There was no doubt in Bueckers’ mind that the ball would come down through the net.
UConn’s freshman star scored 31 points, including her team’s final 13, to lead the No. 2 Huskies to a 6359 overtime victory Monday over top-ranked South Carolina.
Bueckers scored all of the Huskies’ nine points in overtime, including that improbable three-pointer with just over 10 seconds left. There were 13 seconds on the clock when it left her hand.
“It bounced straight up, so I was like, ‘Man, it’s got to go in,’ ” she said. “It looked good. It felt good, but, yeah, I would say that was a really nice bounce.”
The Gamecocks’ Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson missed three-pointers in the final seconds.
The thriller came just hours after the Gamecocks and Huskies earned the top two spots in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll.
Aliyah Boston had 17 points and 15 rebounds for South Carolina (152), which overcame a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
A layup by Aubrey Griffin had given the Huskies (14-1) a 50-43 lead with just over eight minutes left, before South Carolina turned up the defense and went on an 11-0 run.
Victaria Saxton’s layup over Olivia Nelson-Ododa gave the Gamecocks a 52-50 lead, and Boston’s jumper extended that to 54-50 with just under 2 1/2 minutes to play.
But Bueckers, who also had six steals and five assists, hit two consecutive jumpers to tie the game at 54-54 with 46 seconds left in regulation.
“She’s that player,” UConn Coach Geno Auriemma said. “She’s that player that comes along that people talk about — ‘Hey, did you see that kid from Connecticut?’ She’s that kid.”
Henderson missed a fallaway jumper with four seconds left, and the Gamecocks missed three chances to tip-in a game winner.
The loss ended a 12-game winning streak for South Carolina.
“We’ll learn from it,” South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley said. “I told our players that everything we want is still in front of us.”
Christyn Williams (Central Arkansas Christian) scored 6 points on 3-of-11 shooting with 3 rebounds for the Huskies.
This was the first overtime win for the Huskies since December 2004, when they needed extra time to beat South Florida. They had lost seven straight overtime games since then.
UConn missed its first five shots, made three of its first 20 and still trailed just 14-10 after a quarter. The Huskies shot just under 40% for the game, but held South Carolina to 37%. UConn scored 19 points off of 21 South Carolina turnovers.
NO. 10 ARIZONA 79, NO. 11 OREGON 59
EUGENE, Ore. — Cate Reese scored 25 points as No. 10 Arizona completed a season sweep of No. 11 Oregon.
Reese, a 6-2 junior who entered the game averaging 11.3 points, was 11 for 14 from the field while making all 3 of her three-point attempts. Sam Thomas scored 14 points and Trinity Baptiste and Aari McDonald each added 13 points as the Wildcats shot 50.8% from the field.
Arizona, which had been off for 17 days with four games postponed because of covid-19, won consecutive games against the Ducks for the first time since 2011. Coach Adia Barnes dropped her first 10 games against Oregon before this season’s sweep, which kept the Wildcats (12-2, 10-2 Pac-12) in second place in the conference.
Nyara Sabally scored 17 points to lead the Ducks (12-4, 9-4), who dropped to fourth in the Pac-12. Sedona Prince scored 10 points while Taylor Mikesell and Te-Hina Paopao each had 9 points as Oregon shot 32.4% from the field, including 3 for 15 on three-pointers.
MEN’S TOP 25
NO. 4 OHIO STATE 73, MARYLAND 65
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Kyle Young and Duane Washington Jr. each scored 18 points, and No. 4 Ohio State used a relentless defensive effort to wear down Maryland.
The Buckeyes (16-4, 10-4 Big Ten) limited Maryland to 40% shooting and a 5-for-19 performance from beyond the arc. That, along with 10 three-pointers on the offensive end, was enough to get Ohio State its fifth straight victory.
Aaron Wiggins scored 17 points and Eric Ayala had 13 for the Terrapins (1010, 4-9), who didn’t have enough firepower to rally after going 0 for 9 to start the second half and falling behind by 14.
Wiggins finished 6 for 15 from the floor and Ayala missed 9 of his 12 field goal tries.
Young scored six points during an 11-2 run that turned Ohio State’s five-point halftime lead into a 46-32 advantage. After Maryland got within 10, Young scored five points and Washington popped a three-pointer during a 10-4 spurt that made it 58-42 with eight minutes left.
From there, Ohio State coasted to its first victory at Maryland since the 1979 NIT.
KANSAS 78,
NO. 23 OKLAHOMA STATE 66
LAWRENCE, Kan. — David McCormack scored all but two of his 23 points after halftime, Marcus Garrett had 17 and Kansas rolled past No. 23 Oklahoma State in the Jayhawks’ first game since their Top 25 run ended at 231 consecutive weeks.
Christian Braun added 15 points, Jalen Wilson had 11 and Ochai Agbaji 10 for the Jayhawks (13-7, 7-5 Big 12), who climbed to No. 3 early in the season but had lost five of their last seven to fall out of the poll for the first time since Feb. 2, 2009.
The Jayhawks forced Oklahoma State star Cade Cunningham into seven turnovers while committing four fouls, and the Cowboys (12-6, 5-6) finished with 18 turnovers as a team.
Cunningham finished with 26 points, but was just 7 of 18 from the field, and fellow freshman Avery Anderson III had 13 points but also committed 4 turnovers as the Cowboys allowed a 28-25 game at the break to get away from them.