‘Horns’ FTs stop Bluejays’ rally
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas had pressured Creighton’s shooters into a miserable night, only to watch a late flurry of three-pointers start swishing.
An 11-point Longhorns lead was down to three.
That hardly rattled Marcus Carr and the second-ranked Longhorns, who stepped up with big late shots of their own and steady free-throw shooting to secure another impressive early-season victory, 72-67 over the seventh-ranked Bluejays on Thursday night.
Carr scored 19 points and made two free throws with 10 seconds left as Texas held off Creighton’s furious late-game rally.
Creighton struggled through a wretched threepoint shooting night, but pulled within 62-59 thanks in part to five points in a row by Baylor Scheierman. Carr’s baseline jumper and an easy layup by Tyrese Hunter when Creighton lost him on an inbound pass with 46 seconds left stretched the Longhorns’ lead again.
That didn’t quite close the door on Creighton, which got two more 3-pointers from Scheierman, who had missed his first nine attempts. That forced Texas to finish it from the free-throw line behind Carr and Brock Cunningham. Cunningham’s two free throws with 4 seconds left were his only points of the game.
“There’s going to be a bunch of times one of us has to go down there and knock down a bunch of free throws,” Carr said. “We talk about it all the time.”
The matchup was part of the Big 12-Big East Battle and Texas earned its second win over a top-10 opponent in its new arena. The Longhorns (6-0) beat then-No. 2 Gonzaga on Nov. 16 and have their highest ranking since they were No. 1 during the 20092010 season.
“I don’t think we’ve proven anything,” Texas Coach Chris Beard said. “We’re just a team that’s trying to get better.”
Hunter scored 15 points for Texas.
Ryan Kalkbrenner had 20 points and 13 rebounds for Creighton (6-2), and Ryan Nembhard scored 17 points. The Bluejays were 4 of 27 on three-pointers.
Scheierman finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
In other men’s Top 25 games Thursday night, Branden Carlson scored 22 points and Utah handed No. 4 Arizona its first loss of the season, 81-66 in Salt Lake City in the Pac-12 opener for both teams. Carlson went 5 of 9 from three-point range. Rollie Worster had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists for the Utes (62). Oumar Ballo led Arizona (6-1) with 22 points and seven rebounds. Azuolas Tubelis added 20 points for the Wildcats. … Jordan Hawkins scored a career-high 26 points to lead unbeaten No. 8 UConn past Oklahoma State 74-64 in the Big East-Big 12 Battle in Storrs, Conn. Adama Sanogo added 20 points and Andre Jackson scored 11 for the Huskies (9-0). Kalib Boone scored 15 points to lead the Cowboys (5-3). … Kevin McCullar Jr. returned from an injury to score 17 points with 10 rebounds, Jalen Wilson added 15 points and 13 boards, and ninth-ranked Kansas rolled to a 91-65 victory over Seton Hall in Lawrence, Kansas, in the Big East-Big 12 Battle. KJ Adams had 11 points, DaJuan Harris Jr. had 10 with seven assists and Ernest Udeh Jr. also scored 10 for the Jayhawks (8-1).
TOP 25 WOMEN
In women’s Top 25 games on Thursday, Mackenzie Holmes scored 25 points, Sydney Parrish added 24 and No. 5 Indiana hit 12 three-pointers to defeat No. 6 North Carolina 87-63 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Bloomington, Ind. The battle of unbeatens had drastically different shooting nights. The Hoosiers got hot to improve to 8-0 and the Tar Heels did not to drop to 6-1. Tar Heels junior guard Kennedy Todd Williams had 20 points. … Diamond Miller scored 31 points, including the game-winner at the buzzer, to lead No. 20 Maryland to a 74-72 victory over seventh-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. Irish guard Sonia Cintron’s layup had tied the game with 15 seconds left off before Maryland held for the last shot. Miller hit a contested midrange jumper just before time expired to give the Terrapins a victory over a top10 opponent. Maryland (7-2) picked up its first win over Notre Dame (6-1) since 2007. … Georgia Amoore had 24 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds as the No. 9 Virginia Tech beat Nebraska 85-54 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Blacksburg, Va. Elizabeth Kitley added 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Hokies (7-0). Isabelle Bourne paced Nebraska (5-3) with 15 points and 12 rebounds. … Diamond Johnson and Saniya Rivers each scored 22 points to help No. 12 North Carolina State overcome a 45-point effort from Caitlin Clark and beat No. 10 Iowa 94-81 in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game in Iowa City, Iowa. Clark scored the Hawkeyes’ first nine points of the game, and had the first 11 points of the fourth quarter as Iowa tried to rally from a 13-point deficit. The preseason All-American was 16 of 28 from the floor. … Alissa Pili scored 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting and No. 16 Utah rolled to a 109-42 win over Mississippi Valley State in the Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series in Itta Bena, Miss. Gianna Kneepkens added 12 points for the Utes (7-0). … Kaylynne Truong had 21 points and seven assists, Yvonne Ejim added 19 points and nine rebounds as No. 23 Gonzaga beat Stephen F. Austin 71-59 in Nacogdoches, Texas.