Florida beats No. 11 WVU in Big 12/SEC Challenge
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Colin Castleton led the way for Florida in the second half — on offense and defense.
Castleton scored 15 of his 21 points after halftime, and the Gators beat No. 11 West Virginia 85-80 on Saturday in the Big 12/ SEC Challenge.
Castleton also led the defensive effort on West Virginia’s Derek Culver after he scored 21 points in the first half. Culver finished with a career-high 28, but he was bottled up late in the game and took fewer trips to the foul line.
“I thought Colin was really good defensively in the second half,” Florida coach Mike White said. “Much better. All of us were. Everyone that played, I thought, was a little bit more locked in defensively.”
Noah Locke had 19 points for Florida (10-4), which has won a season-high four straight. Tyree Applebee finished with 12.
“We let them get started. We didn’t guard them coming out of halftime,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “They’re good. They’ve got really good players. We just didn’t play with a lot of aggression.”
Culver shot 7-of-11 from the field, hit 14 of 17 free throws and grabbed 12 rebounds.
“Derek and I spent about an hour together yesterday after practice,” Huggins said. “All we did for an hour yesterday were the simple things with his post play and his free throws.”
The Gators went ahead to stay on Scottie Lewis’s tiebreaking 3-pointer with 4:05 remaining. Castleton followed with a threepoint play, and he made two free throws to put the Gators up 83-80 with 1:36 remaining.
Castleton was called for an offensive foul with 59 seconds left, but West Virginia (115) committed a shot-clock violation on the ensuing possession.
Appleby made two free throws with 28 seconds left for the final margin.
› No. 24 Oklahoma 66, No. 9 Alabama 61
NORMAN, Okla.— De’Vion Harmon scored 18 points to help Oklahoma defeat Alabama, despite playing without leading scorer Austin Reaves and starting guard Alondes Williams because of COVID-19 protocols.
Elijah Harkless scored 14 points and Brady Manek added 12 for the Sooners (114), who became the second team in the past 25 years to beat three top-10 teams in a row, with the first two wins against Big 12 foes Kansas and Texas.
Alex Reese scored 15 points and Jaden Shackelford added 14 for Alabama (14-4), which had its 10-game winning streak ended.
Reaves is Oklahoma’s leader with 15.8 points per game; Williams averages 7.7.
The Sooners forced six turnovers in the first five minutes and rolled to an 11-2 lead. The Crimson Tide rallied and tied the game at 17, and a 3-pointer by John Petty Jr. finally put the visitors ahead. Oklahoma rallied to take a 32-29 lead at halftime. Harmon scored 11 points before the break.
› Texas A&M 68, Kansas State 61
MANHATTAN, Kan.— Jay Jay Chandler and Savion Flagg scored 14 points each, and Texas A&M withstood a 3-point barrage from Kansas State’s Nijel Pack in the second half to win, the Aggies’ first win at Manhattan.
Pack, a freshman point guard playing in his second game after missing four because of COVID-19 protocols, made eight 3-pointers, going 7-of-9 from behind the arc in the second half on his way to a career-high 26 points. His only two-point field goal, a floater with 2:12 left, put the Wildcats (5-13) up three. But Kansas State struggled thereafter with Texas A&M’s pressure and was outscored 13-3.
Chandler had four 3-pointers and Flagg a game-high eight rebounds for the Aggies (8-7), who snapped a three-game losing streak and bounced back from a 78-66 loss to LSU in which they didn’t score over the final 8:20. Emanuel Miller added 12 points and Andre Gordon 10. Texas A&M had been 0-10 at Bramlage Coliseum.
› No. 10 Texas Tech 76, LSU 71
BATON ROUGE, La. — Mac McClung, who had not made a field goal in the second half, hit two 3-pointers to key a stunning late rally as Texas Tech beat LSU.
Texas Tech (12-5) scored 12 straight points in the final minute. Trailing 71-64 following a field goal by Shareef O’Neal with 1:10 remaining in the game, McClung hit two from behind the arc.
Terrence Shannon had a steal and score to give the Red Raiders the lead and followed with two free throws with 16 seconds remaining. Cam Thomas then missed a 3-point shot for the Tigers with two seconds left and Shannon finished the comeback with two more foul shots with one second left.
Shannon led Texas Tech with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Javonte Smart matched his career high with 29 points for LSU (11-5).
› No. 2 Baylor 82, Auburn 72
WACO, Texas — Davion Mitchell had 13 points and seven assists against his former team, Matthew Mayer soared for a couple of highlight dunks and Baylor stayed undefeated with a win over Auburn.
Mitchell swished a 3-pointer with 11 1/2 minutes left to extend Baylor’s lead to 59-43, getting the pass from Jared Butler and making the shot right after coming out of one of his shoes.
Five players scored in double figures for Baylor (16-0).
Jaylin Williams had 17 points to lead five players in double figures for Auburn (10-8).
› Oklahoma State 81, Arkansas 77
STILLWATER, Okla. — Cade Cunningham scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half, including the go-ahead basket and clinching free throws, to lead Oklahoma State over Arkansas.
The game featured the first collegiate meeting for two of the nation’s top freshmen in Cunningham (17.9 points per game) and Moses Moody (16.5) of Arkansas, who were high school teammates.
Cunningham’s jumper with 21.3 seconds remaining gave the Cowboys (11-4) a 79-77 lead. After the Razorbacks’ Connor Vanover missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, Cunningham got the rebound and sank two free throws with 3.8 seconds left.
Justin Smith scored 18 points, Moody added 17, JD Notae 13 and Davonte Davis 12 for Arkansas (13-5).
› No. 12 Missouri 102, TCU 98, OT
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Xavier Pinson scored a career-best 36 points and Jeremiah Tilmon had a career-high 33 as Missouri beat TCU in overtime.
The Tigers (11-3) trailed by 12 with less than five minutes left in regulation. Missouri, which was one of the nation’s worst 3-point shooting teams coming into the day, rallied behind Pinson’s outside shooting. He went 8-for-13 from beyond the arc, including a deep 3 with 3.9 seconds left that tied it at 89.
Freshman Mike Miles led TCU (9-7) with a career-high 28 points.
› Mississippi State 95, Iowa State 56
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Iverson Molinar scored 20 points and Mississippi State poured it on in the second half to defeat Iowa State.
The Bulldogs (10-8) scored their most points in a game this season, opening the second half with a 9-0 burst as Tolu Smith scored seven and Molinar two. That rally was followed by a 15-1 run that pushed the lead to 35 points with 12:47 left to play.
D.J. Stewart Jr. scored 17 points, Tolu Smith finished with 16 and Deivon Smith added 10 points.
Rasir Bolton led the Cyclones (2-9) with 18 points.
› Georgia 71, Ole Miss 61
ATHENS, Ga. — Sahvir Wheeler had 13 points and five assists to lead Georgia to a victory over the Rebels.
The Bulldogs (10-6, 3-6 Southeastern Conference) used an 11-2 run to take a 67-55 lead with 6:07 remaining. Ole Miss (8-8, 3-6) pulled within seven points with about five minutes left but didn’t get closer.
Tye Fagan had 13 points for Georgia. Toumani Camara added 10 points and eight rebounds, and P.J. Horne and Justin Kier chipped in eight points apiece and combined for all six of the Bulldogs’ steals. Each starter had at least one 3-pointer and an assist.