Kansas dominates Baylor to take control of Big 12
Christian Braun and Ochai Agbaji each scored 18 points, and No. 10 Kansas bolted to a big lead and routed No. 8 Baylor 83-59 on Saturday in Lawrence to hold the top spot in the Big 12 Conference race.
The Jayhawks (19-3, 8-1) led by as many as 34 points late in the game. This was the first time Kansas had hosted a defending national champion since Dec. 15, 2018, when it beat Villanova 74-71 at Allen Fieldhouse.
Baylor (19-4, 7-3) had won nine straight games against top-10 opponents. But the Bears never got close to extending that streak — after scoring the first basket, they quickly fell behind 12-2 and their deficit kept increasing.
Jalen Wilson scored 15 for Kansas. Braun had 10 rebounds and Agbaji had nine as the Jayhawks grabbed a 46-37 advantage on the boards.
Adam Flagler had 16 points for Baylor and Kendall Brown added 12.
More Top 25 men
No. 4 Purdue 82, Michigan 76: Jaden Ivey scored 23 points and Trevion Williams came off the bench to hit 7 of 8 shots and had 19 points to lead the host Boilermakers (20-3, 9-3 Big Ten) to their fifth victory in a row. They held a 44-26 edge on points in the paint and a 32-22 edge in rebounds. Zach Edey contributed 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds for Purdue.
Hunter Dickinson led the Wolverines (11-9, 5-5) with 28 points, tying his career high.
No. 7 Arizona 72, No. 19 Southern California 63: Azuolas Tubelis had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats (19-2, 9-1 Pac-12), who outscored USC 18-3 in the final 6:30 in Tucson. Isaiah Mobley had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the Trojans (19-4, 9-4).
Rutgers 84, No. 13 Michigan State 63: Paul Mulcahy had his first-career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 12 assists, Ron Harper Jr. added 17 points and the Scarlet Knights (13-9, 7-5 Big Ten) easily won in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Dean Reiber added a careerhigh 12 points and Caleb McConnell
had 11 points, nine rebounds and four steals for the Scarlet Knights. Michigan State (17-4, 8-3) was led by Gabe Brown with 20 points, five rebounds and a steal.
No. 12 Villanova 85, No. 17 Connecticut 74: Eric Dixon scored a career-high 24 points and Collin Gillespie scored 19 before he left with an injury as Villanova (17-6, 10-3 Big East) beat Connecticut (15-6, 6-4) in Philadelphia.
Gillespie, Villanova’s leading scorer, returned for a fifth season after a torn ligament in his left knee cost him the 2021 Big East Tournament and NCAA Tournament. Gillespie grimaced as he was helped off the court and went straight to the locker room. He sat on the bench at the end of the game.
RJ Cole led the Huskies with 25 points.
No. 14 Texas Tech 60, West Virginia 53: Bryson Williams scored 15 points, Terrence Shannon sparked a second-half comeback and Texas Tech won in Morgantown.
Texas Tech (18-5, 7-3 Big 12) won for the second time in six road games, but the Red Raiders have won three straight and five of their past six, with the lone loss at Kansas in double overtime.
Jalen Bridges scored 16 points and Sean McNeil added 15 for West Virginia (13-9, 2-7), which has lost seven straight.
No. 18 Illinois 74, Indiana 57: Trent Frazier scored 23 points, Kofi Cockburn added 17 and Illinois (17-5, 10-2 Big Ten) surged in the second half to beat Indiana (16-6, 7-5) in Bloomington.
Cockburn also had eight rebounds, falling two short of tying Skip Thoren’s school record for double-doubles. Thoren had 14 from 1963-65.
The Fighting Illini have won four straight.
No. 23 Texas 63, No. 20 Iowa State 41: Marcus Carr and Andrew Jones each scored 14 points and Texas (17-6, 6-4 Big 12) used a barrage of 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the second half to pull away from
Iowa State (16-7, 3-7) in Austin.
Carr’s 3-pointer at the start of the second was the first of six over nine minutes in the second half, when the Longhorns stretched a two-point halftime lead into double digits. Jones made three from long range in the stretch, with one the right corner putting the Longhorns ahead 47-36.
DePaul 69, No. 21 Xavier 65: Courvoisier McCauley scored 21 points and Jalen Terry had 13 as short-handed DePaul beat Xavier in Cincinnati to snap a four-game losing streak.
Javan Johnson scored 12 points and David Jones had 10 for DePaul (11-10, 2-9 Big East).
Paul Scruggs led the Musketeers (16-6, 6-5) with 21 points.
No. 22 Tennessee 81, South Carolina 57: Zakai Zeigler tied his career high with 18 points — all coming in the second half — including back-to-back 3-pointers to break open a tight game as Tennessee (16-6, 7-3) pulled away from South Carolina (13-9, 4-6) in Columbia for its fifth straight SEC victory.
Josiah-Jordan James finished with a career-high 20 points for the Vols, who were up just 40-37 early in the second half when Zeigler got things going.
The freshman from Long Island, New York, connected on two 3-pointers 11 seconds apart to extend the lead.
Service academy men
Holy Cross 69, Army 65: Gerrale Gates had 23 points and 10 rebounds as Holy Cross (6-15, 4-5 Patriot League) edged past Army (13-11, 7-5) in West Point, New York.
Chris Mann had 11 points for the Black Knights.
Navy 56, Loyola (Maryland) 55: Jaylen Walker erased the Greyhounds’ 55-54 lead with a jump shot at the 11-second mark for the Midshipmen (15-8, 8-4 Patriot League), and Loyola’s Cam Spencer missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds in Baltimore.
Daniel Deaver had 15 points for Navy, which moved into second place behind Colgate. Spencer scored 18 to lead Loyola (13-10, 7-5), which dropped into a four-way tie for third.