Skidding Sooners get well at Longhorns’ expense
NORMAN, Okla. — Jamuni McNeace scored 14 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and Oklahoma beat Texas 70-66 on Tuesday night to snap a sevengame losing streak.
It was McNeace’s first career double-double. Jarrett Allen led the Longhorns with 17 points and 10 rebounds, his 10th double-double of the season— the most in the Big 12.
In a battle between the bottom two teams in the Big 12 Conference, Oklahoma (9-16, 3-10 Big 12) avenged an earlier loss to Texas (10-16, 4-9), in which the Sooners blew a five-point lead in the final 19 seconds and lost 84-83.
This time, Texas led by as many as eight points in the second half before the Sooners rallied. Jordan Shepherd — scoreless to that point — hit a 3-pointer with 4:28 left to put Oklahoma ahead 58-56, then added another 3 during a 10-1 run that put the Sooners up 65-57 with two minutes remaining.
Oklahoma led 67-59 after two free throws by Kristian Doolittle with 1:09 left. A pair of turnovers by the Sooners led to a 5-0 spurt by Texas, and Kendal Yancy’s putback with 30.4 seconds left pulled the Longhorns to 67-64.
Rashard Odomes, Khadeem Lattin and Shepherd each hit one of two free throws in the final 29.7 seconds, which was just enough to hold off the Longhorns.
Shepherd’s free throw with 10.4 seconds left stretched the lead to 70-66. Rashard Odomes blocked a layup attempt by Allen at the other end to seal it.
Kerwin Roach Jr. added 13 points, and Andrew Jones had 12 for the Longhorns, who shot 60.7 percent from the field (17of-28) in the first half to lead 39-38 at halftime but slumped to 34.4 percent in the second half.
Odomes and Kameron McGusty each scored 11 points for Oklahoma, which had lost 14 of its last 16 games before Tuesday.
KENTUCKY 83 TENNESSEE 58
Malik Monk had 20 points and a career-high eight rebounds, Derek Willis had 16 points, and the No. 13 Wildcats made 10 3-pointers in the first half to roll past the visiting Vols.
Kentucky avenged last month’s 82-80 road loss to Tennessee with its best performance in a while. Long-range shooting provided the biggest lift as Kentucky made 11, its first double-digit effort from behind the arc in a month, as Monk and Willis each made four in the first half alone.
The Wildcats held Tennessee to 35 percent shooting and led by as many as 28 points in handing the Volunteers their third loss in four games.
FLORIDA 114, AUBURN 95
Canyon Barry scored a season-high 30 points, and the No. 15 Gators rode a big second-half surge to a road victory.
Florida also blew past its previous scoring high of 106 points en route to a seventh straight win that kept the Gators tied with Kentucky atop the Southeastern Confernce. They dominated after going into halftime locked in a 50-50 tie, coming out of the locker room on a 13-3 run.
Florida shot 56 percent from the field and made 11 of 19 3-point attempts and 37 of 42 free throws.
PURDUE 74, RUTGERS 55
Isaac Haas had 24 points and 11 rebounds, and Caleb Swanigan added 12 points and 17 rebounds as the No. 16 Boilermakers pulled away from the visiting Scarlet Knights.
NOTRE DAME 84 BOSTON COLLEGE 76
Bonzie Colson scored 20 points, Matt Farrell had 19, and the No. 25 Fighting Irish overcame a 13-point first-half deficit in sending the host Eagles to their 10th straight loss.