Harmon’s 22 leads OU to win over KU
De’Vion Harmon scored 22 points and Oklahoma beat No. 9 Kansas 75-68 Saturday for its second victory this month over a top-10 opponent.
Oklahoma has won three of its last four games against Kansas in Norman and is 8-1 at home this season at the Lloyd Noble Center. Included in that record is a win over then-No. 9 West Virginia on Jan. 2.
Kansas, which entered the game coming off losses at Oklahoma State and No. 2 Baylor, now has lost three straight games for the first time since February 2013. Marcus Garrett had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Jayhawks, who were limited to two offensive rebounds. Kansas entered the game leading the Big 12 in rebounding margin but the Sooners outrebounded them 36-26.
“Big-time battle,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. “Both teams, I thought, fought like crazy. Buckets were hard to come by, at times, on both ends of the floor.
“Again, just proud of our guys. A game that could have gone either way. Guys hung in there, got a little bit of a margin there late, made free throws late and did a good job to close it out.”
A 9-2 run by Oklahoma broke open what had been a one-possession game and Austin Reaves’ first basket (after starting with seven misses) put the Sooners ahead 60-54 with 5:53 left.
Kansas got within 63-60 when Ochai Agbaji split a pair of free throws with 3:40 left, but Reaves and Umoja Gibson each followed with a driving layup to make it 67-60 and Kansas came no closer than four points the rest of the way.
The Orange roll: Normally a team that lives and dies beyond the arc, Syracuse showed it can play an inside game, too.
The Orange, in need of a quality win, beat a ranked team for the first time in a year, dominating No. 16 Virginia Tech 78-60 on Saturday.
Quincy Guerrier had 20 points, Marek Dolezaj added 18 and Alan Griffin had 15 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks for his fourth double-double of the season to lead Syracuse. The win snapped a three-game winning streak for the Hokies, who entered the game winners of seven of their last eight.
Liddel leads OSU: E.J. Liddell scored 20 points and No. 15 Ohio State never trailed in a 74-62 victory over No. 10 Wisconsin that continued the Buckeyes’ recent road mastery of ranked opponents.
Ohio State has beaten Top 15 teams in each of its last three road games to underscore the conference’s lack of a true homecourt advantage this season with no spectators due to the pandemic. The Buckeyes beat then-No. 15 Rutgers on Jan. 9 and then-No. 14 Illinois on Jan. 16. Illinois is now 22nd and Rutgers unranked. Wisconsin lost for just the second time in its last 20 home games.
Baylor stays unbeaten: Baylor’s depth and experience eventually overwhelmed an Oklahoma State team that was missing star freshman Cade Cunningham due to COVID-19 protocols.
Jared Butler scored 22 points, and the second-ranked Bears rallied from a halftime deficit to beat Oklahoma State 81-66 on Saturday.
Cunningham, the Big 12 Conference’s leading scorer, hasn’t been practicing. He was cleared for activity on Saturday, but coach Mike Boynton said Cunningham wasn’t ready to play.
Da Silva beats the buzzer: Oscar da Silva surveyed UCLA’s defense and thought about hanging back to try a short jumper.
“They started yelling ‘Watch the lob, watch the lob,’” the Stanford senior said.
Da Silva scored off an inbound pass as time expired in overtime to lift Stanford over No. 24 UCLA 73-72 on Saturday, ending the Bruins’ unbeaten streak in the Pac-12.