Tennessee’s rally falls short against Texas
Timmy Allen’s free throw with six seconds left sent Texas to a 52-51 win over No. 18 Tennessee in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Saturday night after the Volunteers rallied from 17 points down in the second half in Austin, Texas.
Allen missed his first attempt, then made his second to give the Longhorns the lead. After calling a timeout, Tennessee scrambled to get the ball upcourt for Josiah-Jordan James’ threepoint attempt that bounced off the rim before Texas swatted away the rebound.
The Texas win spoiled the return party for Tennessee coach Rich Barnes, who led the Longhorns program for 17 seasons from 1998 to 2015 and has the most wins in school history with 402.
Courtney Ramey scored 18 to lead Texas (16-5), which looked to be in total control midway when he made a three-pointer and then a scoop layup that made it 5137 with 4:49 to play.
Zakai Zeigler scored 12 points to lead Tennessee (14-6), which nearly stole the victory for Barnes in his first return to Austin since he was fired in 2015.
No. 12 Kentucky 80, at No. 5 Kansas 62:
Keion Brooks scored 27 points as the Wildcats manhandled the Jayhawks.
Kentucky (17-4) grabbed a big halftime lead in Allen Fieldhouse and cruised to improve to 24-10 all time in the series. Kansas (17-3) had won four of the last five coming in. The last Kentucky win in Allen Fieldhouse was in 1985.
Kansas (17-3) was led by Ochai Agbaji, who had 13 points, 10 in the second half.
at No. 3 Arizona 67, Arizona State 56:
Bennedict Mathurin and Oumar Ballo scored 14 points each as the Wildcats turned up the defensive pressure in the second half to win despite some woeful shooting.
Arizona (17-2, 7-1 Pac-12) shot 32% from the floor and went three for 23 from threepoint range, yet found a way to win behind superb second-half defense.
DJ Horne led Arizona State (6-12, 2-6) with 15 points, but had just two in the second half.
at Alabama 87, No. 4 Baylor 78:
Jaden Shackelford scored 19 points and had nine rebounds for the Crimson Tide to key the upset in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Alabama (14-7) has now beaten three teams that reached the Final Four last season. The Crimson Tide also knocked off then-No. 1 Gonzaga in early December and topped Houston a week later.
Baylor (18-3) played without its leading scorer, LJ Cryer, who’s had foot soreness. James Akinjo had just eight points and didn’t hit his first basket until midway through the second half.
No. 9 Duke 74, at Louisville 65: AJ Griffin scored 22 points, including consecutive three-pointers during a late 12-0 run to help the Blue Devils escape.
Duke (17-3, 7-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) led 24-8 after 10 minutes before Louisville (11-10, 5-6) eventually rallied to forge several ties, the last at 60-all on El Ellis’ long three-pointer with 8:28 remaining.
at Texas Christian 77, No. 19 Louisiana State 68: Chuck O’Bannon scored 16 of his career-high 19 points after halftime, including three consecutive threepointers from basically the same spot and the Horned Frogs (14-4) held on to beat the slumping Tigers (16-5) in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
No. 21 Xavier 74, at Creighton 64: Jack Nunge and Paul Scruggs fueled a dramatic second-half turnaround during which the Musketeers (15-5, 5-4 Big East) scored 29 of the first 31 points of the period to wipe out a 17-point deficit against the Bluejays (12-7, 4-4).
at No. 25 Davidson 77, La Salle 69: Luka Brajkovic scored 22 points, Foster Loyer added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists and Davidson (17-3, 7-1 Atlantic 10) held off La Salle (6-12, 1-7) in Bob McKillop’s 1,000th game as head coach of the Wildcats.
The 71-year-old McKillop is 624-376 during his 33 seasons at Davidson.