No. 6 Houston wins eighth in a row
Cougars take care of SMU; Ohio State beats MSU
HOUSTON — Marcus Sasser scored 19 points and No. 6 Houston beat SMU 70-48 on Sunday for its eighth straight win.
Justin Gorham had nine points and 17 rebounds for Houston (15-1, 10-1 American Athletic Conference), which won its 20th consecutive home game. The Cougars won despite shooting only 34%.
Kendric Davis led SMU (9-4, 5-4) with 11 points.
NO. 13 OHIO STATE 79, MICHIGAN STATE 62: In Columbus, Ohio, E.J. Liddell had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead Ohio State past skidding Michigan State.
Justin Ahrens added 17 for the workmanlike Buckeyes (14-4, 8-4 Big Ten), who have won three in a row and six of seven.
Joshua Langford led the Spartans (8-6, 2-6) with 14 points.
NEVADA 89, UNLV 60: In Reno, Nevada, Desmond Cambridge Jr. scored 17 points and Grant Sherfield scored 15 points with 11 rebounds and the Wolf Pack (11-7, 6-5 Mountain West) unloaded on intrastate rioval UNLV (6-8, 3-4).
Women
NO. 3 UCONN 100, NO. 17 DEPAUL 67: In Chicago, Christyn Williams scored a career-high 29 points, Paige Bueckers added 22 points and personal-best 10 assists, and No. 3 UConn bounced back from a rare loss to beat No. 17 DePaul 10067 on Sunday afternoon.
The Huskies (11-1, 9-0 Big East) haven’t dropped consecutive games in 28 years.
No. 4 SOUTH CAROLINA 87, ALABAMA 63: In Columbia, South Carolina, Zia Cooke scored 12 of her 21 points in the third quarter as South Carolina won its 18th straight over Alabama and 28th in a row over Southeastern Conference opponents.
Cooke, the team’s leading scorer, struggled to find her touch early on with just four points at the half as the Gamecocks (14-1, 9-0 SEC) trailed. But Cooke, the lightning quick 5-foot-9 sophomore, got it going in a major way after halftime as she led a 15-5 surge that put South Carolina ahead for good.
No. 6 STANFORD 74, WASHINGTON 48: In Seattle, Hannah Jump matched her season-high with 15 points off the bench and Stanford used a fast start to beat shorthanded Washington.
The Cardinal (15-2, 12-2 Pac-12) led by 19 after scoring a season-high 28 points in the first quarter and were never threatened in completing a three-game sweep of the Washington schools this week.
No. 8 TEXAS A&M 60, No. 22 GEORGIA 48: In College Station, Texas, N’dea Jones had 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead Texas A&M to a victory over Georgia.
The Aggies (16-1, 7-1 in SEC) added 13 points from Kayla Wells and 10 from Ciera Johnson 12 to complement Jones’ 12th double-double of the season.
No. 9 BAYLOR 85, IOWA STATE 77: In Ames, Iowa, Nalyssa Smith scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Baylor held on to beat Iowa State and remain alone atop the Big 12 standings.
The Lady Bears (12-2, 7-1 Big 12) had lost their last two meetings with the Cyclones, including a 75-71 defeat on Jan. 6.
Baylor had not lost three in a row against a Big 12 rival since Oklahoma put together a four-game winning streak against the Lady Bears from 2005 to 2007.
No. 15 KENTUCKY 61, MISSOURI 55: In Lexington, Kentucky, Rhyne Howard scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Kentucky closed the game with an 11-2 run to defeat Missouri.
In the final three minutes, after the Tigers scored nine straight points to take a 53-50 lead, the Wildcats were 9 of 10 from the foul line while Missouri went 1 of 4 from the field, missed two critical free throws and had a shot clock violation.
No. 16 INDIANA 79, MICHIGAN STATE 67: In Bloomington, Indiana, Mackenzie Holmes led a balanced attack with 17 points and Indiana took over in the second half to defeat Michigan State for the 800th victory in program history.
Ali Patberg added 15 points, Aleksa Gulbe 14 points and Jaelynn Penn 13 for the Hoosiers (10-4, 8-2 Big Ten Conference).
No. 19 ARKANSAS 77, AUBURN 67: In Fayetteville, Arkansas, Amber Ramirez hit three of her five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and scored 19 points as Arkansas turned back Auburn.
The Razorbacks, a little sluggish after handing No. 3 UConn its loss first of the season 90-87 in an emotional game on Thursday, overcame a big early deficit with a strong second quarter before putting the Tigers away in the fourth quarter.
No. 20 TENNESSEE 79, FLORIDA 65: In Knoxville, Tennessee, Tamari Key had the fourth triple-double in Tennessee history with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocked shots as the Lady Vols turned aside a challenge from Florida.