No. 1 Baylor beats OU, extends Big 12 record to 23 straight

NORMAN, Okla. — Jared Butler scored 22 points and No. 1 Baylor beat Oklahoma 65-54 on Tuesday night for its Big 12-record 23rd consecutive win.

The Bears broke a tie with Kansas, which won 22 straight during the 1996-97 season.

Mark Vital had 10 points and Freddie Gillespie grabbed 10 rebounds for Baylor (24-1, 13-0 Big 12). Bears guard MaCio Teague, the team’s leading scorer in Big 12 play, sat out for the second straight game with a wrist injury.

Kristian Doolittle had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma (16-10, 6-7), which hosted a No. 1 team for the first time in 23 years. The Sooners entered 11-1 at home.

NO. 5 DAYTON 66, VCU 61

RICHMOND, Va. — Jalen Crutcher scored 18 points and No. 5 Dayton held off a late challenge and beat VCU, the Flyers’ 15th consecutive victory.

Obi Toppin added 12 points and Trey Landers 11 for the Flyers (24-2, 13-0 Atlantic 10). They were the highest ranked team ever to play on VCU’s home floor.

VCU (17-9, 7-6) closed to within one possession several times in the last seven minutes, the last on Vince Williams’ putback with 27 seconds left, but Dwayne Cohill made a pair of free throws with 22.4 seconds left and the Flyers held on.

NO. 8 FLORIDA STATE 82, PITTSBURGH 67

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Patrick Williams scored 16 points, Anthony Polite had 10 points and six rebounds and No. 8 Florida State pulled away in the second half, beating Pittsburgh.

Williams, a freshman forward, scored in double figures for the 10th time this season as the Seminoles (22-4, 12-3 ACC) improved to 14-0 at home.

Au’Diese Toney had 15 points and seven rebounds, and Xavier Johnson added 12 points and seven assists for Pittsburgh (15-12, 6-10), which has lost six of its last eight games.

ILLINOIS 62, NO. 9 PENN STATE 56

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Ayo Dosunmu scored 24 points and Illinois snapped a four-game losing streak with a victory over No. 9 Penn State.

Kofi Cockburn added 14 points for the Fighting Illini (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten), who led most of the way and ended Penn State’s eight-game winning streak.

The win also snapped Illinois’ six-game losing streak against Penn State.

NO. 10 KENTUCKY 79, LSU 76

BATON ROUGE, La. — Immanuel Quickley scored 21 points and No. 10 Kentucky made a timely string of 3-pointers in a victory over LSU.

Kentucky made seven of eight 3s in the second half, when graduate transfer Nate Sestina hit three, including two during an 8-0 run that widened the Wildcats’ lead to 15 points with 5:14 to go.

Nick Richards scored 13 points and blocked six shots for Kentucky (21-5, 11-2 SEC), which has won five straight and nine of 10. Richards’ bas- ket inside with 49 seconds left helped slow a furious Tigers rally that had trimmed Kentucky’s lead to 75-70 on Marlon Talyor’s 3 with 1:30 to go.

LSU (18-8, 9-4) pulled to 78-74 on Charles Manning Jr.’s driving floater off the glass with 19 seconds left. But Quickley made a free throw with 11 seconds remaining and the Tigers weren’t able to put home their final basket until less than a second remained, ensuring their fourth loss in five games.

Freshman Tyrese Maxey scored 14 points for Kentucky, while Sestina and Ashton Hagans each scored 11.

Skylar Mays scored 17 points and Darius Days had 13 points and 11 rebounds for LSU. Taylor added 13 points and Manning 11.

NO. 15 CREIGHTON 73, NO. 19 MARQUETTE 65

17, leading No. 15 Creighton to a victory over No. 19 Marquette.

Creighton (21-6, 10-4 Big East) won for the eighth time in nine games, including road victories over three ranked teams, and moved within a half-game of first-place Seton Hall in the conference standings.

Sacar Anim had 18 points for Marquette (17-8, 7-6). Markus Howard, who entered as the nation’s leading scorer at 27.3 points per game, added 13 — all in the second half.

NO. 17 WEST VIRGINIA 65, OKLAHOMA STATE 47

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Miles McBride had 11 points in his first start, Sean McNeil also scored 11 and No. 17 West Virginia took over early in the second half to beat Oklahoma State, giving coach Bob Huggins another milestone win.

Huggins earned his 879th career victory to tie North Carolina’s Dean Smith for sixth all-time among Division I coaches.

West Virginia (19-7, 7-6 Big 12) cut down on its turnovers in breaking a three-game losing streak, which including losses last week to top-ranked Baylor and No. 3 Kansas.

Cameron McGriff scored 19 points for Oklahoma State (13-13, 3-10), which won its previous two games.

MISSOURI 71, OLE MISS 68

Xavier Pinson scored a career-high 32 points on 9-of-13 shooting and missed just one free throw in 11 attempts and Missouri beat Ole Miss.

Dru Smith added 17 points for the Tigers (13-13, 5-8 Southeastern Conference) going 9 for 10 from the foul line.

In Missouri’s win last Saturday over No. 11 Auburn, Pinson and Smith combined for 56 of the team’s 85 points.

Ole Miss (13-13, 4-9) led briefly midway through the first half, but Smith countered with a burst of offense, almost single-handedly putting Missouri ahead 31-27 at halftime. Smith started the game 0 for 6 but finished the half with a team-leading 10 points.

TENNESSEE 65, VANDERBILT 61

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Jordan Bowden scored 17 points and clinched a victory by sinking two free throws with five seconds left as Tennessee outlasted Vanderbilt.

Tennessee went on a 12-0 run to grab a 61-48 lead with 2 ½ minutes left, but Vanderbilt made a furious rally. The Commodores got to within 63-61 as Saben Lee hit backto-back 3-pointers in the final 22 seconds before Bowden put the game out of reach.

Tennessee (15-11, 7-6 SEC) withstood a 23-point performance from Vanderbilt guard Jordan Wright. The freshman reserve more than doubled his previous career high of 11, which he reached in back-toback games against Florida and LSU earlier this month.

John Fulkerson scored 14 of his 17 points in the last 10 minutes for Tennessee, which also got 14 points from Santiago Vescovi. Lee had 18 points and Dylan Disu added 11 for Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt (9-17, 1-12) has lost 32 of its last 33 SEC games, including two conference tournament contests..

NO. 2 BAYLOR 77, TEXAS TECH 62

LUBBOCK, Texas — Baylor’s Kim Mulkey became the fastest Division I men’s or women’s coach to 600 wins, reaching the milestone when Juicy Landrum scored 19 points to lift the No. 2 Lady Bears to a victory over Texas Tech.

The Lady Bears (24-1, 13-0 Big 12) broke open a tie game by scoring the first seven points of the fourth quarter. They extended a pair of Big 12 records with their 54th consecutive league win and 43rd straight road victory in conference play.

Mulkey earned her 600th victory in her 700th game, four games faster than Adolph Rupp with the Kentucky men. Mulkey, in her 20th season, won her third national championship last season. Rupp won four titles and 876 games from 1930-72.

TOP 25 WOMEN