Smith leads Terps past Cornhuskers
No. 24 Maryland 60, Nebraska 45: Jalen Smith had 18 points and 11 rebounds and fueled Maryland’s decisive surge in the first half, and the Terrapins (18-6, 9-4 Big Ten) beat host Nebraska (13-10, 3-9) on Wednesday night.
Bruno Fernando wasn’t at his best shooting but still had his sixth consecutive double-double, and 15th of the season, with 13 points and a careerhigh 19 rebounds for Maryland.
Nebraska set season lows for points and field goal percentage (21 percent) while losing its sixth straight and dropping to 13th place in the conference.
Isaiah Roby led the Cornhuskers with 20 points and 14 rebounds, and James Palmer Jr. added 11 points. No. 14 Villanova 66, Creighton 59, OT: Freshman forward Saddiq Bey scored a career-high 17 points, senior guard Phil Booth hit key baskets down the stretch and Villanova remained perfect in Big East play by beating Creighton in overtime.
Booth finished with 14 points and eight rebounds while Eric Paschall scored 15 and Collin Gillespie had 13 for the Wildcats (19-4, 10-0), who have won their first 10 Big East games for the first time in program history.
Their previous best start in league play came in 2009-10 when they opened 9-0.
The defending national champions also became the first Big East team to start 10-0 in conference games since UConn won its first 11 in 1998-99. No. 19 Wisconsin 56, Minnesota 51: Ethan Happ had 15 points and 13 rebounds to help Wisconsin avenge a loss to Minnesota with a victory, the Badgers’ sixth straight win overall.
D’Mitrik Trice hit a 3-pointer with 1:44 remaining and 3 seconds left on the shot clock to give Wisconsin (17-6, 9-3 Big Ten) a 52-46 lead and seal a fourth consecutive victory at rival Minnesota.
Gophers coach Richard Pitino fell to 2-9 in his career against the Badgers, who were held to a season-low 34.5 field goal percentage (19 for 55).
Jordan Murphy (16 points, 19 rebounds) and Daniel Oturu (12 points, 11 rebounds) each had a double-double, but Minnesota (16-7, 6-6) missed 12 of 13 attempts from 3-point range, including three in the final 76 seconds. No. 21 LSU 92, Mississippi State 88, OT: Freshman forward Naz Reid tied a career high with 29 points, including a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left, to lift LSU over Mississippi State in overtime Wednesday night.
The Tigers pulled ahead for good in overtime when Reid made a layup while being fouled. He added the free throw to give LSU an 89-87 lead with 59.5 seconds left.
Reid’s biggest bucket came a little later when his 3 bounced high off the rim and straight through the net.
LSU (18-4, 8-1 Southeastern Conference) trailed the entire second half until Tremont Waters made a high-arching layup with less than three minutes left for an 80-78 advantage. The Tigers and Bulldogs both missed shots during the final seconds of regulation, forcing overtime.
Pac-12 men
Colorado 84, UCLA 73: Shane Gatling had career highs of 28 points and seven 3-pointers, helping Colorado beat UCLA and sending the Bruins to their fifth loss in seven games.
Tyler Bey added 16 points and 10 rebounds, and D’Shawn Schwartz had 15 points for the Buffaloes (13-9, 4-6).
The Bruins (12-11, 5-5) led just once on a jumper by Cody Riley early in the second half.
Oregon 73, California 62: Payton Pritchard had 20 points and a careerhigh 10 rebounds to help Oregon outlast California.
Louis King added 12 points and Paul White and Kenny Wooten each had 11 for the Ducks (14-9, 5-5 Pac-12). Freshman Will Richardson had a seasonhigh nine assists.
Justice Sueing scored 17 points to lead the Golden Bears (5-17, 0-10), who lost their 11th consecutive game. Paris Austin and Connor Vanover each had 12 points, and Matt Bradley added 10.
Top 10 women
No. 5 UConn 118, East Carolina 55: All-American Katie Lou Samuelson broke out of her shooting slump, scoring a season-high 32 points to lead UConn over East Carolina.
Napheesa Collier hit all 10 of her shots and added 21 points for the Huskies (20-2, 9-0 American Athletic Conference), who reached 20 wins for the 26th straight season.
Christyn Williams scored 15 points, and Crystal Dangerfield had 12 points and 12 assists.