The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Wagner scores 27, Michigan beats No. 4 Michigan State
EAST LANSING, MICH. » Moritz Wagner scored a career-high 27 points, lifting Michigan to an 82-72 victory over No. 4 Michigan State on Saturday.
The Wolverines (15-4, 4-2 Big Ten) have won eight of nine games this season and two straight against their rivals.
The Spartans (16-3, 4-2) are struggling, losing two of three games with an overtime win over Rutgers in between the setbacks.
Zavier Simpson made a go-ahead layup with 14:28 left, the 13th lead change in an intense game with 11 ties. He helped the Wolverines pull away in the final minutes with enough free throws to keep a cushion. Simpson finished with 16 points, taking advantage of a game plan that called for him and his teammates to drive toward the basket against a shot-blocking team.
Michigan’s MuhammadAli Abdur-Rahkman scored 13 points and Charles Matthews added 10.
Michigan State’s Miles Bridges had 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Bridges gave up the ball four times as one of many turnover-prone Spartans. Michigan scored 26 points off Michigan State’s 18 turnovers.
Jaren Jackson had 19 points and six blocks, limited by foul trouble for the Spartans. NO. 8 TEXAS TECH 72, NO. 2 WEST VIRGINIA 71 » Keenan Evans scored 20 points, Brandone Francis had a career-high 17 and No. 8 Texas Tech won the firstever Top 10 matchup on its home court, beating second-ranked West Virginia 72-71 on Saturday.
Evans hit a lean-in jumper to give the Red Raiders (15-2, 4-1 Big 12) a four-point lead in the final minute and send the first sellout crowd of the season into a frenzy. The Mountaineers had their nationleading 15-game winning streak stopped.
Jevon Carter scored 28 points — one off his career high — for West Virginia (15-2, 4-1). Esa Ahmad added 18 in his season debut following an NCAA academic suspension.
Freshman Zhaire Smith’s alley-oop dunk sparked a 12-2 run to help the Red Raiders wipe out an 11-point deficit in the second half. Smith had nine points and eight rebounds. NO. 5 PURDUE 81, MINNESOTA 47 » Vincent Edwards scored 25 points in 29 minutes on 9-for-14 shooting for fifth-ranked Purdue, and the Boilermakers easily beat undermanned Minnesota 81-47 on Saturday for their 13th consecutive victory.
Isaac Haas pitched in 14 points and five rebounds for Purdue (17-2, 6-0), which produced its best Big Ten start since going 8-0 to begin conference play in the 1989-90 season. This is the fourth 6-0 start in the Big Ten in Boilermakers history. They’re tied for the program’s best record at the 19-game overall mark since 1987-88.
Jordan Murphy had 10 points and four rebounds for the Gophers (13-6, 2-4), who have lost all three games since center Reggie Lynch was suspended and small forward Amir Coffey was sidelined by a shoulder injury. This was the second-largest margin of defeat at home in program history, behind only a 90-51 loss to No. 1 UCLA on Dec. 20, 1968. NO. 7 DUKE 89, WAKE FOREST 71 » A virus kept Mike Krzyzewski from coaching No. 7 Duke. Guard Gary Trent Jr. spent most of a timeout with his head over a bucket.
Even without Coach K, the Blue Devils came away from another Wake Forest game feeling pretty good.
Marvin Bagley III had 30 points and 11 rebounds, and Duke beat the Demon Deacons 89-71 on Saturday in a game the Hall of Fame coach missed.
With longtime assistant Jeff Capel in charge, the short-handed Blue Devils (15-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their second straight and moved their conference record over .500 for the first time this season.
“Great win for our guys in the midst of this adversity,” Capel said. NO. 9 OKLAHOMA 102, NO. 16 TCU 97 » Trae Young scored 29 of his 43 points after halftime, and No. 9 Oklahoma defeated No. 16 TCU 102-97 in overtime on Saturday.
Young, the freshman who leads the nation in scoring and assists, also had 11 rebounds and seven assists. Brady Manek added 22 points for the Sooners (14-2, 4-1 Big 12), who made a school-record 19 3-pointers.
It was Young’s second dominant performance against TCU this season. He had 39 points and 14 assists and made the gamewinning free throws with 7 seconds left in a 90-89 win over the Horned Frogs on Dec. 30. NO. 10 XAVIER 92, NO. 25 CREIGHTON 70 » Trevon Bluiett emerged from his shooting slump with 24 points, Kaiser Gates responded to getting dropped from the starting lineup by scoring 16, and No. 10 Xavier recovered from back-to-back road losses by routing No. 25 Creighton 92-70 on Saturday.
The Musketeers (16-3, 4-2 Big East) shook up their starting lineup and got back in form after losses to Providence and No. 1 Villanova. They pulled ahead by 27 points midway through the second half.
The Bluejays (14-3, 4-2) gave up a season high in points and took their most lopsided loss. All of Creighton’s losses have come against teams that were ranked in the Top 25 at the time — Baylor, Gonzaga and Seton Hall along with Xavier.
Gates was dropped from the starting lineup after scoring a total of three points and taking only four shots during the two road losses. He came off the bench and had 11 points with seven rebounds as Xavier surged ahead 5034 by halftime, the most points the Bluejays have allowed in an opening half this season.
Chris Mack got his 202nd win as Xavier’s coach, tying Pete Gillen for the school record. NO. 12 KANSAS 73, KANSAS STATE 72 » Devonte Graham had 23 points, Malik Newman hit the go-ahead foul shots with 15 seconds left and No. 12 Kansas held on to beat Kansas State 7372 in a back-and-forth affair on Saturday.
Udoka Azubuike added 18 points and eight rebounds for the Jayhawks (14-3, 4-1 Big 12), who beat their Interstate 70 rival for the sixth straight time and 12th in a row at Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas State (12-5, 2-3) led 67-64 with 3 minutes left when Lagerald Vick knocked down a 3-pointer in front of the Jayhawks’ bench and Newman scored on a put-back to give Kansas the lead. NO. 13 SETON HALL 74, GEORGETOWN 61 » Desi Rodriguez and Myles Powell each scored 19 points to lead Seton Hall to a 74-61 victory over Georgetown on Saturday.
The Pirates (15-3, 4-1 Big East), who remained undefeated at home (11-0), received 11 points and 13 rebounds from Angel Delgado.
The Hoyas (12-5, 2-4) were led by Marcus Derrickson, who scored 18 points while Jahvon Blair and Jessie Govan scored 11 points each. NO. 17 ARIZONA 90, OREGON 83» Allonzo Trier scored 25 points, Deandre Ayton added 24 and No. 17 Arizona used a late run to outlast Oregon 90-83 on Saturday.
Arizona (14-4, 4-1 Pac12) grinded out a defensedominated win over Oregon State on Thursday. It was all about the offense on Saturday, two long, athletic teams trading runs throughout an entertaining game.
Arizona had the last one, scoring eight straight points to go up 84-77 with 72 seconds left. The Wildcats shot 53 percent from the field.
Oregon (12-6, 2-3) rallied from double-digit deficits three times, but couldn’t muster a final comeback to leave the desert with a split between the Pac-12’s two Arizona schools. NO. 19 CLEMSON 72, NO. 18 MIAMI 63 » Donte Grantham had 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and Mark Donnal had 12 points, including two critical secondhalf 3s, as No. 19 Clemson outlasted 18th-ranked Miami 72-63 on Saturday.
The Tigers (15-2, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) continued their best start in nine seasons and bounced back from their first ACC defeat that snapped a 10game win streak at North Carolina State on Thursday night. NO. 21 KENTUCKY 74, VANDERBILT 67 » Kevin Knox scored five straight points to put No. 21 Kentucky ahead to stay in a 74-67 victory Saturday, the Wildcats’ second straight.
With the score tied at 59, Knox hit a jumper with 3:48 left and hit the free throw that put Kentucky ahead for good. He added a layup on the next possession for the Wildcats (143, 4-1 Southeastern Conference). Wenyon Gabriel added a tip-in, and Hamadou Diallo knocked down a 3-pointer for a 10-2 run clinching the victory. NO. 22 AUBURN 76, MISSISSIPPI ST. 68 » Bryce Brown scored 23 points, Mustapha Heron and Desean Murray both added 14 and No. 22 Auburn rallied to beat Mississippi State 76-68 on Saturday.
Auburn (16-1, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) won its 14th straight game despite trailing by 13 points early in the second half. It’s the program’s longest winning streak since the 19992000 season, when the Tigers also won 14 in a row. NO. 24 FLORIDA STATE 101, SYRACUSE 90 » Briain Angola scored 24 points, including five in the second overtime, and Christ Koumadje added a career-high 23 as No. 24 Florida State defeated Syracuse 101-90 in double overtime on Saturday.
Tied at 82 at the end of the first overtime, the Seminoles scored the first six points of the second extra session to take control. Two free throws by Tyus Battle cut FSU’s lead to 88-84 but it scored nine of the next 11 points to put it out of reach.
Phil Cofer added 16 points for Florida State (13-4, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), which played without leading scorer and rebounder Terance Mann, who missed the game due to a concussion.