Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Jayhawks too solid for Cougars to stop
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Hunter Dickinson had 20 points as the No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks beat No. 4 Houston 78-65 in front of a frenzied crowd on Saturday.
Kansas (18-4, 6-3) got 17 points each from Kevin McCullar and Johnny Furphy, and 10 from KJ Adams. The Cougars had not allowed more than 72 points in a game all season.
Houston (19-3, 6-3) was led by L.J. Cryer with 24 points while J’Wan Roberts and Emanuel Sharp scored 11 points each.
Houston came into the game with the nation’s best scoring defense at 52.9 points per game allowed. The Jayhawks hit 53 points with 14:17 left in the second half on a layup by Dickinson.
Kansas extended its 15-point halftime lead to 20 in the second half. Houston cut the lead to 10 at at 68-58 but could not get closer.
The Jayhawks hit nine of their first 10 shots, helping them to a 23-11 lead at the second media timeout. The Cougars, who lead the nation in field goal defense (35.5%) allowed Kansas to shoot 68% (17 of 25) in the first half.
The Cougars had not allowed more than 30 points in a first half all season. The Jayhawks led 43-28 at halftime.
In other Top 25 games Saturday, Cam Spencer had 23 points, freshman Stephon Castle scored a season-best 21 and top-ranked UConn (20-2, 10-1) pulled away from St. John’s for a 77-64 victory at Madison Square Garden. … Armando Bacot had 25 points and 10 rebounds and Harrison Ingram added 21 points, 13 rebounds and four steals as No. 3 North Carolina (18-4, 10-1) beat rival No. 7 Duke 93-84. Freshman Jared McCain had 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Blue Devils (16-5, 7-3). … Josiah-Jordan James and Zakai Zeigler each scored 26 points, including 17 by James after halftime, and No. 5 Tennessee (16-5, 6-2) topped No. 10 Kentucky 103-92. Rob Dillingham had a career-high 35 points with six three-pointers off the bench before fouling out late for Kentucky (15-5, 5-4). … Kam Jones scored a career-high 31 points, Tyler Kolek had 17 points and eight assists and No. 9 Marquette (17-5, 8-3) won its sixth consecutive game by beating Georgetown 91-57. … Jaylin Williams scored 16 points and No. 16 Auburn (18-4, 7-2) erased a 13-point deficit in the first half with a dominating second half to defeat Mississippi 91-77. Allen Flanigan (Little Rock Parkview) scored 20 points, Matthew Murrell had 18 and Jaemyn Brakefield 15 for Ole Miss (184, 5-4). … Simas Lukosius scored 16 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 21 seconds left, and Cincinnati beat 15th-ranked Texas Tech 75-72. The 14-footer by Lukosius was the 14th and final lead change of the game. That gave the Bearcats (15-7, 4-5) a 73-72 lead right after Pop Isaacs made a long defended step-back three-pointer to put the Red Raiders ahead for the final time. Isaacs, who finished with a game-high 22 points for Texas Tech (16-5, 5-3), missed a potential go-ahead jumper with nine seconds left. … Jaedon LeDee had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead San Diego State to an 81-67 win against Great Osobor and No. 17 Utah State to pull the defending Mountain West champion Aztecs within one game of the Aggies. LeDee scored nine points in the second half of the showdown between the top two scorers and rebounders in the league. Osobor had 17 points and seven rebounds. The Aztecs (17-5, 6-3) beat the Aggies (19-3, 7-2) for the fifth consecutive time. … Johnell Davis scored 24 points, Alijah Martin and Vladislav Goldin each scored 18 and No. 20 Florida Atlantic won its seventh consecutive game with a 102-70 victory over Tulsa. Nick Boyd finished with 13 and Bryan Greenlee added 11 for Florida Atlantic (18-4, 8-1). PJ Haggerty scored 25 and Carlous Williams added 16 for Tulsa (12-9, 3-6). … Fousseyni Traore had a season-high 24 points and nine rebounds to lead No. 22 BYU past West Virginia 86-73. Richie Saunders added 17 points and Jaxson Robinson scored 15 for the Cougars (16-5, 4-4), who earned their second road win in five trips this season. Kerr Kriisa scored a season-high 23 points for West Virginia (8-14, 3-6). … Jaylin Sellers shot 13 for 14 from the line and scored 20 points, Antwann Jones hit three early three-pointers and finished with 15 points and Cent. Florida (138, 4-5) Coach Johnny Dawkins earned his 300th coaching victory in a 74-63 victory over No. 23 Oklahoma (16-6, 4-5). … Mark Sears scored 21 points and Alabama maintained its spot atop the SEC standings with a 99-67 victory over Mississippi State. Aaron Estrada scored 15 points and Mouhamed Dioubate and Jarin Stevenson each scored 14 for Alabama (16-6, 8-1). Tolu Smith III had 23 points and five rebounds for Mississippi State (14-8, 3-6). … Max Abmas scored 19 of his 21 points after halftime, including the last 13 for Texas (15-7, 4-5) in a 77-66 win over TCU. Emanuel Miller had 15 points for the Horned Frogs (16-6, 5-4).
SEC MEN
In games involving SEC teams, Collin Murray-Boyles scored 16 points, Josh Gray added 15 off the bench and South Carolina pulled away for a 72-62 win over Georgia. Meechie Johnson had 11 points and Ta’lon Cooper 10 with eight assists for the Gamecocks (193, 7-2). Jabri Abdur-Rahim scored 20 points for the Bulldogs (14-8, 4-5). … Tyrece Radford scored 26, including the final three points of the game, and Texas A&M rallied to beat Florida 67-66. Zyon Pullin hit a jumper to put Florida up 66-64 with 3:04 remaining, but the Gators would not score again. Radford made 10 of 16 shots with two three-pointers and 4 of 7 free throws for the Aggies (13-8, 4-4 ), adding five rebounds. Pullin led the Gators (15-7, 5-4) with 18 points and eight assists. … Ezra Manjon scored 17 points, including 5 of 6 free throws in the last 32 seconds, and Vanderbilt beat Missouri 68-61 in a battle of teams searching for their first SEC victory. Ven-Allen Lubin, who had 12 points, also had a pair of free throws with 11.6 seconds left, but more important, he had a blocked shot with 5.5 seconds to go that sealed the win. Tyrin Lawrence scored 14 points for the Commodores (6-15, 1-7). Noah Carter scored 20 points for the Tigers (8-14, 0-9).