UConn women bounce back big
STORRS, Conn. — Dorka Juhasz scored 22 points and Christyn Williams added 20 as No. 8 Connecticut rebounded from its first conference loss in eight years with an 84-60 win over DePaul on Friday night.
Aaliyah Edwards had 19 points for the Huskies (16-5, 10-1 Big East), who were without three starters because of injury.
UConn, which lost by three points at home to Villanova on Wednesday night, has not dropped consecutive games since the end of the 1993 season, a span of 1,044 games.
Aneesah Morrow had 20 points and 16 rebounds, and Deja Church added 17 points for DePaul (19-7, 11-4).
UConn improved to 21-1 alltime against DePaul, with the lone loss coming in the teams’ first meeting in 1983.
NO. 2 STANFORD 91, UTAH 64
Lexie Hull and Haley Jones each scored 15 points and the host Cardinal pulled away in the second half to beat the Utes.
Stanford (20-3, 11-0 Pac-12) extended its conference winning streak to 26 games.
Gianna Kneepkens and Peyton McFarland scored 12 points apiece for Utah (14-8, 5-5).
ARIZONA ST. 81, NO. 6 ARIZONA 77
Jade Loville scored 27 points, Mael Gilles added 19 and two big free throws, and the host Sun Devils withstood a late rally to knock off the rival Wildcats.
The Sun Devils (12-8, 4-3 Pac-12) dominated through three quarters, building a 14-point lead.
Arizona (17-4, 7-4 Pac-12) rallied behind its defense, holding Arizona State without a field goal for nearly five minutes. Shaina Pellington finished with 30 points and Cate Reese added 18.
Men
NO. 25 XAVIER 74
NO. 24 CONNECTICUT 68
Jack Nunge had 22 points and nine rebounds, and the Musketeers ended a two-game losing streak with a victory over the Huskies at Cincinnati.
Zach Freemantle scored all 12 of his points in the second half, and Nate Johnson also had 12 points for Xavier (17-7, 7-6 Big East).
“UConn’s as talented as any team we’ve played all year,” Musketeers head coach Travis Steele said. “If we do what we’re supposed to do, we can compete with anyone. This is great for our confidence moving forward.”
R.J. Cole scored 22 points to lead UConn (16-7, 7-5 Big East). Tyrese Martin added 18 points for the Huskies.
“We lost the game with our defense on Nunge (and) not guarding (Paul) Scruggs off the dribble to start the second half,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said.
The game, originally scheduled for Dec. 28, was postponed due to COVID-19 issues in the UConn program.
Both teams have been plagued recently by slow offensive starts, especially Xavier, which trailed at halftime in seven of its previous eight games.
But the Musketeers raced to a rare halftime lead on Friday, helped by Johnson’s buzzerbeating 3-pointer which put them ahead 34-31.
Cole and Sanogo each picked up two early fouls and played a combined 18 minutes in the first half.
“I thought they were brutal calls in the first half,” Hurley said. “That’s not why we had the deficit at the half. But yeah, what a joke.”
Scruggs and Freemantle, who were scoreless in the first half, combined for 15 points to help the Musketeers extend their lead to 54-46 with 9:50 left.
The game got heated in the second half when Hurley and Huskies guard Andre Jackson received technical fouls less than a minute apart.
The Musketeers led by as many as 10 points before the Huskies got within three with 30 seconds remaining.