The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No. 7 Tennessee routs No. 4 Kentucky
Tennessee didn’t like the way it got pushed around at Kentucky two weeks ago. The host Volunteers pushed back in Saturday’s rematch and delivered a knockout blow.
Jordan Bone scored a career-high 27 points and No. 7 Tennessee beat No. 4 Kentucky 71-52 to maintain its home-court dominance. The decisive win came two weeks after the Vols fell 86-69 at Kentucky, a loss that snapped a school-record 19-game winning streak and dropped Tennessee out of the No. 1 ranking.
“The last game, they just manhandled us and they were the more physical team,” Bone said. “You could just tell the way the game went, they just wanted it more.
“We don’t ever want to go into a game or leave a game saying that about another team, they wanted it more than us. That’s something we challenged ourselves with.”
Tennessee (26-3, 14-2 SEC) earned its 25th straight home victory to remain tied for first place in the Southeastern Conference with No. 13 LSU — the Tigers beat Alabama 74-69 earlier in the day. The Vols haven’t lost a home game since falling 94-84 to Auburn on Jan. 2, 2018.
The Vols also beat Kentucky (24-5, 13-3) at home for a fourth straight year to delight a sellout crowd in the first regular-season matchup of top-10 teams at Thompson-Boling Arena since the facility’s 1987 opening. Tennessee is 4-0 at home against Kentucky under coach Rick Barnes.
“For us, it’s always been about protecting our home court,” said Tennessee’s Grant Williams, who scored 24 points. “It’s something that we take pride in.”
Tennessee capitalized on the absence of Kentucky forward Reid Travis, who missed a third straight game with a sprained right knee.
(At) No. 2 Virginia 73, Pittsburgh 49: Kyle Guy scored 17 points and the No. 2 Cavaliers handed the Panthers their 12th straight loss. Ty Jerome added 13 points and De’Andre Hunter had 12 for Virginia (26-2, 14-2 ACC), which maintained at least a share of the conference lead.
Jered Wilson-Frame scored 15 points and Au’diese Toney had 12 for Pittsburgh (12-17, 2-14). The loss was the 23rd in a row on the road for the Panthers, and their 20th consecutive in ACC road games.
(At) No. 3 Duke 87, Miami 57: RJ Barrett had 19 points and 10 rebounds, fellow freshman Cameron Reddish added 19 points, and No. 3 Duke routed Miami.
With national player of the year candidate Zion Williamson sidelined for a third straight game with a mild right knee sprain, the Blue Devils (25-4, 13-3 ACC) never trailed and shot 57 percent. They bounced back from a five-point loss at No. 20 Virginia Tech — their second loss in three games.
Marques Bolden added 15 points and 10 rebounds for Duke.
Anthony Lawrence and Ebuka Izundu scored 15 points each for the Hurricanes (12-16, 4-12). They have lost nine of 12 and haven’t won a road game in more than 12 months.
(At) Indiana 63, No. 6 Michigan State 62: Justin Smith scored a career-high 24 points, and Indiana upset No. 6 Michigan State.
Devonte Green added 13 points as Indiana (15-14, 6-12 Big Ten) earned its second straight win against a ranked opponent. The Hoosiers beat No. 19 Wisconsin 75-73 in double overtime Tuesday night.
Indiana trailed 62-60 before Juwan Morgan made a layup with 1:46 left while being fouled by Xavier Tillman. Morgan then converted the three-point play to give the Hoosiers their first lead since the game’s opening bucket.
Cassius Winston led Michigan State (23-6, 14-4) with 20 points and 11 assists.
UCF 69, (at) No. 8 Houston 64: Collin Smith scored 21 points to help Central Florida beat No. 8 Houston. The Knights (22-6, 12-4 American Athletic) outscored the Cougars 41-31 in the second half to snap a seven-game losing streak against ranked opponents. They also stopped Houston’s 33-game home winning streak, which was the longest in the nation.
The Cougars (27-2, 14-2) lost for the first time since Jan. 9 at Temple. It was their first home loss since March 15, 2017.
No. 11 Texas Tech 81, (at) TCU 66: Jarrett Culver and Davide Moretti each had 15 points and No. 11 Texas Tech won its seventh game in row to stay atop the Big 12 standings.
Tariq Owens had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Red Raiders (24-5, 12-4), who took control with a 24-5 run in the first half and withstood TCU (18-11, 6-10) scoring the first 10 points after halftime.
The Red Raiders surpassed their school record of 11 Big 12 wins set last season when they were the league runner-up and went to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in school history.
No. 13 LSU 74, (at) Alabama 69: Skylar Mays scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, and Javonte Smart had 19 to lead No. 13 LSU to a victory over Alabama.
The Tigers (24-5, 14-2 SEC) trailed by six points midway through the second half before taking over to maintain a share of the league lead.
LSU took a 64-59 lead on a layup by Mays with 3:19 left. Alabama (17-12, 8-8) cut it to one but then Riley Norris’ pass was intercepted by Tremont Waters to set up a big finish at the other end. Waters, who missed the past two games with an undisclosed illness, bounced the ball off the backboard and a trailing Mays caught it for a dunk.
Alabama made one final push, and John Petty’s 3-pointer with nine seconds left cut it to 72-69. Mays hit four straight free throws over the final 16 seconds to ice the win, including two after that basket.
(At) No. 14 Purdue 86, Ohio State 51: Carsen Edwards scored 25 points and No. 14 Purdue beat Ohio State to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
Matt Haarms had 12 points and Aaron Wheeler added 10 for the Boilermakers (227, 15-3). It was the final home game for senior starters Ryan Cline and Grady Eifert, who each scored eight points.
Edwards made 9 of 16 shots and scored 19 of his points in the first half.
Jaedon LeDee led Ohio State (18-11, 8-10) with 16 points. Justin Ahrens was scoreless after netting 29 points in his previous game.
No. 15 Kansas 72, (at) Oklahoma State 67: Dedric Lawson scored 20 points and tied a season high with 15 rebounds to help No. 15 Kansas escape with a victory over Oklahoma State.
Lawson also had three steals for his 18th double-double of the season. Quentin Grimes added 17 points for Kansas (22-7, 11-5 Big 12), which has won five of its past six.
Cam McGriff had 19 points and eight rebounds for Oklahoma State (10-19, 3-13) before fouling out with 1:38 remaining.
(At) No. 18 Florida State 78, N.C. State 73: Reserve Mfiondu Kabengele scored 16 points and Trent Forrest had 13, leading Florida State to the victory. Forrest was quiet early but finished 5 of 10 from the floor with six rebounds and three assists for the Seminoles (23-6, 11-5 ACC).
D.J. Funderburk fouled out with 1:09 left, scoring 18 points and pulling down nine rebounds for N.C. State (20-9, 8-8).
(At) No. 19 Wisconsin 61, Penn State 57: Reserve Brevin Pritzl scored 17 points on 5-for-5 shooting, helping Wisconsin (20-9, 12-6 Big Ten) edge Penn State.
Penn State (12-17, 5-13) was held without a field goal for the final eight minutes of the game and scored just five points from the line over that stretch.
Lamar Stevens led Penn State with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
No. 24 Wofford 85, (at) Samford 64: Fletcher Magee made eight 3-pointers on his way to a season-high 36 points, leading Wofford to the victory. The Terriers (26-4, 18-0) closed out an unbeaten Southern Conference schedule. They have won 17 in a row heading into the conference tournament.
Samford (16-15, 6-12) lost its fourth straight game.