No. 16 Louisville extends hot start
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Carlik Jones scored a season-high 23 points to help No. 16 Louisville beat Wake Forest 77-65 on Wednesday night, extending the Cardinals’ best start in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Samuell Williamson added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinals (9-1, 4-0 ACC), who blew nearly all of a 16-point second-half lead before finally putting this one away in the final six minutes as the Demon Deacons went cold.
Louisville shot 51 percent for the game to reach 4-0 in the league, marking the program’s best since joining the ACC before the 2014-15 season. It marked the best start in any league since for the Cardinals since winning their first eight Big East games during the 2008-09 season.
Daivien Williamson scored 19 points for the Demon Deacons (3-4, 0-4), who looked on the way to a blowout loss when Louisville scored twice off consecutive turnovers to take a 50-34 lead and force a timeout just 90 seconds after halftime. They clawed back to within a point midway through the second half, only to go 9½ minutes without a basket to squander a shot at an upset.
NO. 18 VIRGINIA 80 NOTRE DAME 68
Jay Huff scored 18 points, and Sam Hauser had 15 points and nine rebounds as the host Cavaliers beat the Fighting Irish for their fourth consecutive victory.
The 7-1 Huff made a career-best four 3-pointers in the first half as Virginia (8-2, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) opened an 18-10 lead and built it to 37-25 by halftime.
Cormac Ryan scored 16 and Trey Wertz 13 for Notre Dame (3-8, 0-5), which lost its fourth in a row and fell to 0-11 against Virginia in conference games.
NO. 21 OHIO STATE 81 NORTHWESTERN 71
Duane Washington Jr. scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Buckeyes to a win over the Wildcats in Columbus, Ohio.
Ohio State (10-3, 4-3 Big
Ten) avenged a one-point loss to Northwestern on Dec. 26.
Chase Audige kept Northwestern (6-5, 3-4) in the game, scoring 21 of his career-best 25 points in the first half. Audige, who was averaging 11.7 points per game, cooled off in the second half, just as Miller Kopp was heating up. He had 16 points in the second half to get Northwestern within one late in the second half.
Ohio State then went on a 12-0 run to secure the win.
INCARNATE WORD 83 MCNEESE STATE 61
Keaston Willis had 28 points as the Cardinals rolled past the visiting Cowboys.
Willis hit seven of 10 3-pointers, a career-high for makes as well as giving him 101 triples for his career.
Godsgift Ezedinma had 18 points for Incarnate Word (5-5, 2-1 Southland Conference), which earned its fourth straight home victory. Drew Lutz added 13 points, and Brandon Swaby had seven assists.
Carlos Rosario had 19 points for Mcneese State (6-6, 0-4). Keyshawn Feazell added 17 points.
Women NO. 15 OHIO STATE 84 IOWA 82
Madison Greene had 20 points and a career-high six steals, Jacy Sheldon and Braxtin Miller each added 18 points, and the Buckeyes (7-0, 3-0 Big Ten) beat the Hawkeyes in overtime to snap Iowa’s 42-game home winning streak.
NO. 16 SOUTH FLORIDA 72 TULANE 53
Elisa Pinzan had 22 points, seven assists and a career-best six steals to lead the Bulls (10-1, 7-0 American) to a victory over the Green Wave in New Orleans.
NO. 19 DEPAUL 101 ST. JOHN’S 84
Dee Bekelja scored 22 points and Lexi Held had 21 points, five rebounds and seven assists to help the Blue Demons (7-3, 4-1 Big East) beat the Red Storm in Chicago.