NBA player ejected from courtside seat in Xavier’s loss to Connecticut
STORRS, CONN. — Former UConn star James Bouknight of the Charlotte Hornets was tossed from his courtside seat in the second half Saturday as the No. 24 Huskies held off Xavier 72-61.
Bouknight, who played two seasons for Connecticut and is in his NBA rookie season, was sitting in the front row opposite the Xavier bench when he was asked to leave by a game official who didn’t like what he was saying.
Bouknight then moved over to the UConn student section.
R.J. Cole and Tyler Polley each scored 16 points for UConn (197, 10-5 Big East), which has won four of its last five games. Adama Sanogo had 15 points and nine rebounds.
Xavier (17-9, 7-8), which has lost four of five, was led by Adam Kunkel’s 15 points. Zach Freemantle added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Playing before a raucous, sellout crowd for the second straight game, the Huskies hit 52% of their shots and took a 17-point lead at halftime.
That UConn advantage unraveled quickly at the start of the second half as the Huskies struggled with turnovers under some heavy pressure. UConn turned the ball over 10 times in the opening seven minutes of the second half, watching Xavier pull within 49-43.
Xavier had scored 10 straight points before Cole’s 3-pointer with 12 minutes to play ended the spurt. The Musketeers eventually got within four before Cole scored on a pair of drives to the basket that extended his team’s edge back to 10 with just under two minutes to go.
No. 7 Baylor 72, TCU 62: Jeremy Sochan matched his season high with 17 points as five players scored in double figures for Baylor, which led throughout despite missing two injured guards.
Baylor (22-5, 10-4 Big 12) played
with only six players, except for a two-minute stretch by a seldom-used sophomore in the first half, while bouncing back from a 10-point loss at No. 11 Texas Tech three nights earlier.
Emanuel Miller and Micah Peavy had 16 points for TCU (168, 5-7). Mike Miles added 13.
No. 11 Texas Tech 61, No. 20 Texas 55: Bryson Williams scored 17 points and Texas Tech held off a late charge by Texas to earn a sweep of the regular-season series in the heated rivalry.
Clarence Nadolny added 14 points for the Red Raiders, who led by 10 with just over 3 minutes to play before the Longhorns got within 56-55 with a 9-0 run.
But Andrew Jones’ long 3-pointer with 1:10 to play was the last Texas field goal and Texas Tech put the game away from the
free throw line.
Texas Tech (21-6, 10-4 Big 12) has won nine of the last 11 against the Longhorns in a rivalry that has grown only more intense since Chris Beard, the coach who led the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament national championship game in 2019, left to take over the Longhorns program this season.
Andrew Jones scored 20 to lead Texas (19-8, 8-6).
No. 12 Illinois 79, No. 19 Michigan State 74: Kofi Cockburn scored 27 points, Jacob Grandison had a season-high 24 and Illinois held off Michigan State.
Illinois (19-7, 12-4 Big Ten) moved ahead of No. 15 Wisconsin and into a first-place tie with No. 5 Purdue in the conference standings.
Tyson Walker scored a season-high 26 points and A.J. Hoggard
had 15 for the Spartans (189, 9-6), who never led and trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half. Michigan State has lost four of five.
The Spartans rallied down the stretch, cutting the lead to two points several times in the final two minutes, before Trent Frazier made a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left to put the game out of reach. Frazier finished with 12 points.
Michigan State shot 31% from the floor in the first half and trailed 34-22 at the break but heated up after halftime, finishing the game at 46.8% shooting to Illinois’ 45%.
Underwood defeated Izzo’s Spartans in East Lansing for the first time.
Cockburn scored in double figures for the 36th straight game, third-longest streak in the nation.