Rutgers rallies, tops Illinois to remain unbeaten

Ron Harper Jr. scored 28 points, Jacob Young added 24 and No. 19 Rutgers overcame a double-digit first-half deficit to beat No. 13 Illinois 91-88 on Sunday.

Illinois (5-3, 1-1 Big Ten) quickly jumped out to an 8-0 lead, leading by as many as 11 in the first half before going into the break up 41-37.

Rutgers (6-0, 2-0) would get to withinone a couple of times in the second half before Harper hit a 3-pointer to give the hosts their first lead of the game at 49-47 five minutes into thesecondhalf. Harperwould finish the game 5 of 8 frombeyond the arc.

However, the leadwouldn’t last, as Illinois tied itonthe following possession on a dunk by Giorgi Bezhanishvili. The teams would trade leads before Harper had a dunk on a fast breakmidway through the half tomake it 54-53. The Scarlet Knights would never give up the lead, going up by asmany as 12.

Ayo Dosunmu led Illinois with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. Kofi Cockburn had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Illini, whileTrent Frazieradded19 pointsandfive assists.

Creighton wins in OT: Christian Bishop scored 19 points and No. 9 Creighton beat UConn 76-74 in overtime in the Huskies’ return to the Big East.

Mitch Ballock added 13 points for the visiting Bluejays (6-2, 2-1 Big East), who secured the win with a 9-0 run in the extra period. Marcus Zegarowski had 11 points and eight rebounds.

JamesBouknight scoreda career-high40 points for the Huskies (3-1, 0-1), who were playing for the first time in 17 days because of coronavirus-related issues.

This was UConn’s first Big East game since a 63-59 win over Providence on March 9, 2013, a span of 2,834 days.

Freshman powers Longhorns: Greg Brown scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to help No .11 Texas beat Oklahoma State 77-74 in its Big 12 opener.

Brown, a freshman, made four free throws during the final 37 seconds asTexas (7-1) survived a late Oklahoma State rally that included two 3-point baskets by Bryce Williams in the final 11seconds. Brownmade a pair of 3-pointers during a 17-0 Texas run in the second half.

He also had three blocks in the game. Brown, one of the top 10 ranked recruits in the country, scored 18 and 17 in his previous twogamesafter nothavingmore than 11 in his first five. Andrew Jones matched his career best with 22 points, andMatt Colemanscored 15 for the host Longhorns.

OklahomaState (6-2,0-2Big 12) freshman Ca de Cunningham scored 25 points, including 13 of 14 for the Cowboys as they tried to erase whatwas once a 13-point deficit. Williams added 13 for Oklahoma State. Texas trailed 34-29 after a dismal first half of half-court offense against Oklahoma State’s zone. The Longhorns shot 32.4% and missed 13 of 16 3-point attempts. They committed nine turnovers.

Oklahoma State hit 48.3% in the half and outscoredTexas 26-14 in the paint.