HOUSTON EDGES TEXAS IN OT
J’Wan Roberts made a tiebreaking layup with 39 seconds left in overtime and Emanuel Sharp’s four free throws over the final 10 seconds sent No. 4 Houston to a 76-72 win over host Texas on Monday night.
Jamal Shead led all scorers with 25 points for Houston (19-2, 6-2 Big 12). Shead came up with big shots time after time in a defensive slugfest when the Cougars struggled to find any offensive rhythm.
Shead’s consecutive 3pointers in the second half came in a 9-0 run that helped Houston regain the lead after Texas had rallied from 11 points down. The Big 12’s best defensive team held the Longhorns to a single basket in overtime.
Max Abmas scored 20 for Texas (14-7, 3-5), but missed a wild layup with a chance to tie before the rebound fell to Sharp, setting up two free throws for a four-point Cougars lead.
Abmas was then fouled on a 3-pointer. He made two free throws and missed the third, but Sharp again snagged the rebound and made two more free throws to seal the win.
No. 7 Duke 77, Virginia Tech 67: Jeremy Roach scored 16 points off the bench to lead visiting Duke to a victory over Virginia Tech.
Bothered by knee and ankle injuries of late, Roach shot 5 of 11 from the floor and made four 3-pointers for the Blue Devils (16-4, 7-2 ACC), who have won three straight games and 11 of 12.
MJ Collins paced the Hokies (13-8, 5-5) with 17 points. Virginia Tech had its three-game winning streak snapped.
No. 4 Houston 76, Texas 72 (OT) Women’s Top 25
Mississippi State 77, No. 9 LSU 73: Darrione Rogers scored 19 points and fellow reserve Mjracle Sheppard and added 12 as host Mississippi State used a strong defensive effort in the third quarter to beat LSU.
The loss was the second straight for LSU, which fell to top-ranked South Carolina 7670 on Thursday. It was the third loss in five games for the Tigers (18-4, 5-3 SEC).
Jerkaila Jordan scored 15 of her 24 points in the second half for Mississippi State (17-5, 4-3).
Sheppard, who held LSU All-American guard Hailey Van Lith to four points, added six steals, five assists and four rebounds. Rogers shot 6 for 10 from the field, including four 3pointers, and hit three key free throws in the final 30 seconds.
Angel Reese had 20 points and 18 rebounds for LSU.
Men’s poll
The top five of the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll remained unchanged with defending national champ UConn still ahead of mighty Purdue, streaking North Carolina, defensive-minded Houston and Tennessee.
There was plenty of chaos in the rest of the poll, where 10 teams moved at least five positions one way or another.
Wisconsin rode a slew of losses by top-10 teams, and wins over Minnesota and Michigan State, to climb seven spots to No. 6 for the Badgers’ best ranking since Dec. 28, 2020. Duke climbed five spots to No. 7, and was followed by Kansas, Marquette and Kentucky, which fell four positions following its loss to South Carolina last week.
Women’s poll
South Carolina remained the clear No. 1 team in the country and No. 2 Kansas State matched its best ranking ever after a chaotic week that saw nearly half of the AP Top 25 lose at least one game.
The Gamecocks received all 35 first-place votes Monday in the latest Associated Press women’s basketball poll after their 76-70 road victory over then-No. 9 LSU.
Iowa moved back up to third as Caitlin Clark moved closer to the all-time scoring record in women’s college basketbal. She is in fourth place with 3,389 points and could pass Jackie Stiles (3,393) and Kelsey Mitchell (3,402) in the Hawkeyes’ next game on Wednesday at Northwestern. She is 138 points behind Kelsey Plum’s record mark of 3,527.
Stanford and North Carolina State followed Iowa in the poll. Colorado, which split a pair of games in Oregon, fell three spots to sixth. UCLA dropped five places to seventh after an overtime loss to Utah and a defeat at home to Washington State.
Storming the court
Images of students pouring out of the stands at the final buzzer to celebrate with players on the home team following a big win have long been part of college basketball. Usually, no one gets hurt.
But court storming and the safety risks associated with it have received more scrutiny in the week since Iowa star Clark collided with an Ohio State fan after the Buckeyes’ upset of the
Hawkeyes in Columbus.
There have been at least six more instances since the Clark incident and ESPN analyst Jay Bilas on Saturday called for an end to the tradition. Bilas said during the “College Gameday” show that fans should never be allowed on the court, and his comments went viral.
Schools are at risk of being fined by their conferences if the storming occurs before the visiting team and game officials have exited safely. Bilas and other observers call the penalties window dressing and say individuals who participate should face consequences, legal or otherwise.
Gil Fried, a business professor at the University of West Florida, provides training in crowd management and for more than 30 years has served as an expert witness in court cases involving injuries sustained at sports and entertainment venues.
Fried said ringing the court with security personnel or putting up barricades would be counterproductive because that would jeopardize people in the stands who get caught in the crush of fans pushing forward.
The best solution, he said, would be for schools to have a clearly stated policy that fans are not allowed on the court and that those who disobey could have their tickets taken away or be banned from the arena.
The challenge would be identifying and rounding up violators. Fried suggested arenas could be equipped with facial recognition technology, which is commonly used in soccer stadiums in Europe and Latin America to prevent hooliganism.