Improved Gators take a step forward

TOP 25/SEC MEN FLORIDA 81, NO. 12 AUBURN 65

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — How Florida won was the most surprising part of its latest upset.

Riley Kugel scored 22 points, Walter Clayton Jr. added 20 and the Gators dominated No. 12 Auburn 81-65 on Saturday to put themselves in position to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years.

Florida (16-7, 6-4) extended its home-winning streak against the slightly favored Tigers (19-5, 8-3) to 15 and picked up its second Quad 1 victory in two weeks. This one came in stunning fashion.

Florida controlled the game from the opening tip and — for a change — never let up. Coach Todd Golden’s team had lost three games this season (Wake Forest, Texas A&M and Kentucky) after leading at halftime and squandered huge leads before eking out wins against Georgia and Mississippi State late last month.

“To step on their neck and kind of put them in the ground, we needed that as a team,” Clayton said. “Now we know we can do it and we’ve got to keep on doing it.”

Florida’s most complete game of the season — the Gators led by as many as 29 points in the second half — should be enough to lift the team off the proverbial NCAA bubble for good.

“We’re a lock, the biggest lock in the world after today,” Golden joked. “We just have to decide if we’re wearing white home jerseys in the first round or putting those roadies on. In all seriousness, we’re in a great spot right now.

“As quickly as it got good for us it can get bad if we don’t take care of business. By no means are we content.”

Zyon Pullin chipped in 19 points for the Gators, who shot 40% from the floor and made 7 of 21 from three-point range.

Florida scored the first nine points of the game and opened a 17-point lead midway through the first half thanks mostly to guard play. Clayton, Kugel and Pullin proved to be a handful for Auburn’s backcourt.

“Florida’s guard are really good, like really good, as good as anybody’s guards,” Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl said. “I don’t think they’re going to lose many of those matchups.”

The Tigers’ perceived advantage in the paint with Johni Broome never materialized. Broome, who leads Auburn in scoring with 16 points a game, finished with 12 points and seven boards. He had just five points with 10 to play and missed seven of eight free throws.

K.D. Johnson also scored 12 points for the Tigers. Auburn, which last won in Gainesville in 1996, missed 14 of 17 shots from behind the arc.

“What I’m paying the price for was my first two years at Tennessee I actually beat the two-time national champion Florida Gators three out of four times,” said Pearl, who fell to 3-9 in Gainesville. “That doesn’t get talked about, so I have to talk about it every now and then.”

NO. 15 SOUTH CAROLINA 75, VANDERBILT 60

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Collin Murray-Boyles scored a career-high 31 points and South Carolina beat Vanderbilt for its 21st victory of the season a year after losing 21 games.

The Gamecocks (21-3, 9-2) took control in the second half with a 24-10 run that including 12 points and a monster block from Murray-Boyles, the 6-7 freshman who has helped the team to seven consecutive wins.

Tyrin Lawrence led Vanderbilt (6-17, 1-9) with 15 points.

NO. 16 ALABAMA 109, LSU 92

BATON ROUGE — Mark Sears scored 23 points and Alabama made a handful of deep shots to break open a tight game in the final nine minutes of a victory over LSU.

Latrell Wrightsell Jr. had a season-high 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Alabama (17-7, 9-2), which trailed 73-72 after LSU (12-11, 4-6) had briefly surged in front with a 16-4 run.

But Rylan Griffen’s free throws and dunk ignited a 13-2 Alabama spurt that put the Crimson Tide back up by 10.

Will Baker scored 24 points and Jalen Cook 20 for LSU.

GONZAGA 89, NO. 17 KENTUCKY 85

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Anton Watson scored 17 points, including a go-ahead three-point play with 3:49 remaining before adding two key layups in the final 91 seconds, Ben Gregg and Nolan Hickman sank key late free throws and Gonzaga survived a second-half rally to beat Kentucky.

The Wildcats (16-7) have now lost three in a row at Rupp Arena for the first time.

Gonzaga (18-6) outperformed Kentucky in most every phase to lead 42-32 at halftime.

Graham Ike had 23 points before fouling out with 43 seconds left, Hickman had 17 points and Braden Huff 12 points for Gonzaga.

Reed Sheppard had 21 points and Antonio Reeves 17 points for Kentucky.

NO. 1 UCONN 89, GEORGETOWN 64

WASHINGTON — UConn was never challenged on the way to its 12th consecutive victory, leading by as many as 26 in the first half while beating Georgetown behind Alex Karaban’s 25 points.

The defending national champion Huskies (22-2, 12-1) were dominant at both ends of the court, putting together runs of 9-0 and 11-0 before the game was 10 minutes old.

Dontrez Styles scored 23 points for the Hoyas (8-15, 1-11).

NO. 3 NORTH CAROLINA 75, MIAMI 72

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — RJ Davis scored 25 points and North Carolina held off Miami.

Armando Bacot had 10 points and 15 rebounds for the Tar Heels (19-5, 11-2) in their first game since an 80-76 home loss to Clemson on Tuesday. Elliot Cadeau scored 19 points, and Harrison Ingram finished with 13.

Miami (15-9, 6-7) closed to 73-71 on Wooga Poplar’s layup with 1:10 left. Ingram and Cormac Ryan each made a foul shot to increase North Carolina’s lead to 75-71.

Norchard Omier and Nijel Pack each scored 20 points for the Hurricanes.

NO. 4 KANSAS 65, NO. 13 BAYLOR 61

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Hunter Dickinson scored 15 points to lead a balanced attack as No. 4 Kansas extended its home winning streak to 18 games with a win over No. 13 Baylor.

Baylor got the ball with 14.2 seconds left and a chance to tie it, but Jayden Nunn’s three-point try from the corner was short. After Nicolas Timberlake missed the front end of a one-and-one, Ja’Kobe Walter’s three-point attempt caromed off the rim.

Kansas, 13-0 at home this season, played without guard Kevin McCullar, who is out with a knee injury. Timberlake made his first start with the Jayhawks.

Kansas (19-5, 7-4) got 14 points from Dajuan Harris, 13 from KJ Adams and 11 from Johnny Furphy.

Baylor (17-6, 6-4) was led by Yves Missi with 21 points and Walter with 17.

NO. 5 HOUSTON 67, CINCINNATI 62

CINCINNATI — J’Wan Roberts scored 20 points, including a game-sealing dunk with six seconds left, as Houston outlasted Cincinnati.

Jamal Shead added 16 points on 6-of-25 shooting for the Cougars (21-3, 8-3), who won their 10th consecutive game against their longtime foe.

Dan Skillings Jr. led the way with 13 points for the Bearcats (15-8, 4-6).

NO. 7 MARQUETTE 86, ST. JOHN’S 75

MILWAUKEE — Tyler Kolek scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half and also had 13 assists as Marquette rallied to beat St. John’s for its seventh consecutive victory.

Stevie Mitchell added 14 points, David Joplin had 12 points and Kam Jones 10 points to help Marquette (18-5, 9-3) erase a 15-point deficit and beat St. John’s for a sixth consecutive time.

Daniss Jenkins had 22 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists for St. John’s (1410, 6-7).

NO. 9 DUKE 80, BOSTON COLLEGE 65

DURHAM, N.C. — Mark Mitchell scored 17 points, Kyle Filipowski and Jeremy Roach each added 16 and Duke beat Boston College.

Jared McCain provided 11 points and 10 rebounds and Tyrese Proctor had 10 points for the Blue Devils (18-5, 9-3), who’ve won a pair of home games since last weekend’s loss at rival North Carolina.

Mason Madsen led Boston College (1310, 4-8) with 15 points, while Claudell Harris Jr. had 13 points, Devin McGlockton posted 11 points and Jaeden Zackery finished with 10 points.

MICHIGAN STATE 88, NO. 10 ILLINOIS 80

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A.J. Hoggard had 23 points to lead Michigan State over Illinois.

The Spartans (15-9, 7-6) rallied from an eight-point deficit over the last six-plus minutes. Malik Hall had 22 points and Tyson Walker scored 19.

Hoggard’s three-point play with 4:10 remaining made it 72-all, the 13th tie of the game. Shortly thereafter, Michigan State scored eight consecutive points to take control.

The Fighting Illini (17-6, 8-4) failed to keep a late lead for the second consecutive game. Terrance Shannon Jr. had 28 points for Illinois and Coleman Hawkins scored 14. Marcus Domask was held to 12 points — eight below what he was averaging in conference games.

RUTGERS 78, NO. 11 WISCONSIN 56

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Jeremiah Williams scored 18 points in his first home game of the season and Rutgers used a stifling defense to lead the entire game and hand No. 11 Wisconsin its fourth consecutive loss.

Noah Fernandes contributed 17 points and Clifford Omoruyi added 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights (13-10, 5-7), who won a third consecutive game.

The 22-point victory was the largest margin of victory for Rutgers over a ranked opponent in program history.

Connor Essegian and AJ Storr scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, for Wisconsin (16-8, 8-5). The Badgers never got within single digits in the second half.

NO. 14 IOWA STATE 71, TCU 59

AMES, Iowa — Tre King scored 15 points and Keshon Gilbert had 13 points and seven assists, helping Iowa State beat TCU.

Curtis Jones also scored 13 points for Iowa State (18-5, 7-3), which improved to 14-0 at home this season. The Cyclones shot 50% (24 for 48) from the floor and went 15 for 18 at the free-throw line.

Emanuel Miller led TCU (16-7, 5-5) with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Jakobe Coles went 3 for 3 from three-point range and finished with 14 points.

NO. 19 CREIGHTON 78, XAVIER 71

CINCINNATI — Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 28 points to lead Creighton over Xavier.

Baylor Scheierman scored 16 points for the Bluejays (17-7, 8-5), who avoided their first three-game Big East losing streak since 2019.

It was a missed opportunity for the Musketeers (13-11, 7-6), who had won three consecutive games to revive their NCAA Tournament hopes.

Desmond Claude scored 22 points and Dayvion McKnight had 21 points for Xavier.

NO. 23 TEXAS TECH 66, UCF 59

LUBBOCK, Texas — Darrion Williams had 13 points and 13 rebounds, Kerwin Walton scored 12 points on four three-pointers before halftime and Texas Tech never trailed on its way to a win over UCF.

The Red Raiders (17-6, 6-4) snapped a three-game losing streak.

UCF (13-9, 4-6) missed a chance to tie the game for the first time since 4-4 when C.J. Walker missed the first of his two freethrow attempts. The Red Raiders sealed the game with six free throws in the final 41 seconds.