San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
JAYHAWKS SNAP SKID AT 3
So much for all that worry over No. 9 Kansas falling toward a low point under Bill Self.
Especially given the Jayhawks’ cool, poised response to several gut checks against fellow basketball royalty.
Jalen Wilson scored 22 points, including one in a series of huge 3pointers down the stretch, and held off Kentucky 77-68 on Saturday night in an SEC/BIG 12 Challenge.
“We had some good, short runs and kept them from going on like a 10-2 run,” Self said. “We kept them out of transition and off the glass.”
The Jayhawks (17-4) seized the lead for good midway through the first half before withstanding every Wildcats challenge in this tense marquee matchup of college basketball blue bloods. Gradey Dick and Wilson provided two of their biggest shots with consecutive 3-pointers for two-possession edges, with Wilson’s 3 making it 70-64 with 4:13 remaining.
Oscar Tshiebwe made two free throws to get Kentucky (14-7) within four, but Kevin Mccullar Jr. sank another 3 for a 73-66 advantage. Wilson then answered Jacob Toppin’s jumper with one of his own to make it 75-68 with 1:52 left. Kansas, which won the national championship last season, avoided its first four-game losing streak under Self.
Not to mention, avenging a blowout home loss to Kentucky a year ago.
“We didn’t think about it like that,” Wilson said about Kansas’ recent losses to No. 5 Kansas State, No. 11 TCU and No 17 Baylor.
No. 3 Houston 75, Cincinnati 69: Jarace Walker had a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds, and host Houston rallied from an 11point second-half deficit to defeat Cincinnati (14-8, 5-4 American Athletic Conference).
Walker, who scored 13 points in the second half, was 10 of 14 from the field. J’wan Roberts added 14 points and six rebounds, and Jamal Shead scored 13 points for Houston (20-2, 8-1).
No. 4 Tennessee 82, No. 10 Texas 71: Olivier Nkamhoua scored 27 points and Zakai Zeigler had 22 points and 10 assists to lead Tennessee (18-3) over visiting Texas in an SEC/BIG 12 Challenge.
Sir’jabari Rice scored 21 to lead Texas (17-4).
No. 5 Kansas State 64, Florida 50: Keyontae Johnson had 13 points and 11 rebounds against his former team, Markquis Nowell flirted with the first triple-double in Kanas State history, and the host Wildcats (18-3) beat Florida (12-9) in an SEC/ Big 12 Challenge.
No. 7 Virginia 76, Boston College 57: Armaan Franklin and Jayden Gardner scored 18 points each and Virginia used a big first-half run to take control over visiting Boston College (10-12, 4-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) for its sixth straight victory. The Cavaliers (16-3, 8-2) trailed 18-15 before starting an 18-4 run over the next 11 minutes. Virginia put the game away with a 16-4 second-half spurt.
Mississippi State 81, No. 11 TCU 74 (OT): Tolu Smith had 27 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to help Mississippi State (13-8) snap a fivegame losing streak.
Damion Baugh led TCU (16-5) with 19 points and Emanuel Miller had 13.
Missouri 78, No. 12 Iowa State 61: Kobe Brown scored 20 points, and D’moi Hodge scored 17 points to help Missouri (16-5) take down visiting Iowa State in the SEC/BIG 12 Challenge.
Jaren Holmes led Iowa State (15-5) with 19 points, and Gabe Kalscheur added 14.
Creighton 84, No. 13 Xavier 67: Arthur Kamula scored 20 points, Creighton’s four other starters finished in double-figures and the host Bluejays (13-8, 7-3) earned their fourth straight Big East win.
Zach Freemantle led Xavier (17-5, 9-2) with 18 points, followed by Colby Jones and Adam Kunkel with 13.
No. 14 Gonzaga 82, Portland 67: Julian Strawther had a career-high 40 points, including eight 3-pointers, and visiting Gonzaga pulled away down the stretch.
Strawther is the first player to reach 40 points for the Zags (18-4, 7-1 West Coast Conference) since Kyle
Wiltjer had 45 against Pacific in 2016.
Portland (11-13, 3-5) was led by Moses Wood with 19 points.
West Virginia 80, No. 15 Auburn 77: Erik Stevenson scored a careerhigh 31 points and West Virginia (13-8) withstood a furious late rally from visiting Auburn to win an SEC/ Big 12 Challenge matchup.
Charles Barkley cheered on his alma mater from a courtside seat, but Auburn (16-5) couldn’t overcome another slow start. The Tigers have lost two straight for the first time in two years.
No. 16 Marquette 89, Depaul 69:
David Joplin went 8 for 11 from 3point range for a career-high 28 points, Tyler Kolek had 24 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, and Marquette (17-5, 9-2 Big East) won at Depaul (9-13, 3-8).
No. 17 Baylor 67, Arkansas 64:
Keyonte George scored 24 points, including seven in a row down the stretch, and Baylor beat Arkansas (14-7) in an SEC/BIG 12 Challenge.
Baylor (16-5) fell behind by as many as eight points in the second half after an early 11-point lead. But the Bears closed it out after Flo Thamba made two free throws for a 55-53 lead with 3:37 left.
Hofstra 85, No. 18 College of Charleston 81: Aaron Estrada scored 25 points and Darlinstone Dubar added 18 as visiting Hofstra ended College of Charleston’s 20game winning streak.
The Pride (15-8, 8-2 Colonial Athletic Association) were down 28-20 early before rallying past the Cougars (21-2, 9-1), who had not lost since falling to then-no. 1 North Carolina on Nov. 11.
Pittsburgh 71, No. 20 Miami 68:
Blake Hinson tipped in a Jamarius Burton miss with 31 seconds remaining and host Pittsburgh rallied past Miami.
The Panthers (15-7, 8-3 ACC) held the Hurricanes (16-5, 7-4) scoreless over the final 2:26 while closing on an 11-0 run to beat a ranked team for the third time this season to bolster its increasingly impressive NCAA Tournament résumé.
No. 21 FAU 70, W. Kentucky 63:
Brandon Weatherspoon scored 14 points and Florida Atlantic (21-1, 11-0 Conference USA) remained undefeated at home by beating Western Kentucky (11-11, 3-8).
The victory extended FAU’S winning streak to a program-record 20 games, which is now the nation’s longest.
No. 22 Saint Mary’s 56, BYU 55:
Logan Johnson had 14 points and freshman Aidan Mahaney scored all 10 of his points, including a fadeaway jumper just before the buzzer, in the second half and visiting Saint Mary’s (19-4, 8-0 WCC) escaped with a win over BYU (14-10, 4-5) for its 10th win a row.
No. 24 Clemson 82, Florida State 81: Chase Hunter drove the lane and drew a foul, sinking the free throw, to help Clemson (18-4, 10-1 ACC) escape with a win at Florida State (715, 5-6 ACC).
Instead, the visitors used a late first-half run to erase a double-digit USD lead and never looked back en route to a 94-81 victory at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The Toreros (10-13, 3-6 WCC) had four players score in double figures, led by guard Marcellus Earlington’s 24 to follow up on his 30-point performance against Pepperdine, but USD allowed the Dons shoot 61.8 percent from the field.
USF (15-9, 4-5) was paced by Khalil Shabbazz’s 26 points, finished with a 44-22 edge in points in the paint and has won three straight.
Guard Tyrell Roberts, a graduate transfer and former Division II All-american at UCSD, finished with 15 points along with four rebounds and four assists for USF.
“It’s always love being back here in San Diego,” Roberts said. “A lot of good friends down here. It was nice to come in and get the dub.”
When the teams met Dec. 31 at USF, the Toreros erased a 15point first-half deficit and earned a 80-68 victory.
On this night, it was USD that jumped out to a double-digit lead when an Eric Williams Jr. steal led to an Earlington fast-break layup that capped a 12-2 run and made it 29-18 Toreros with 11:05 remaining in the first half.
The Dons responded with a run of their own and took a 46-42 lead into halftime thanks in part to 3-pointers made by Roberts and Shabazz.
USF then opened the second half on a 16-5 run.
Roberts made a 3-pointer to give the visitors a 60-47 lead with just under 16 minutes to play and Ndewedo Newbury scored on a layup coming out of a timeout to make it 62-47.
USD never drew closer than 10 points.
“In many ways it was a role reversal from when we won up there,” USD coach Steve Lavin said. “We got off to a nice start but then they counterpunched and we were playing catch-up from there.”
Notable
Jase Townsend added 21 points to the Toreros’ cause, Eric Williams Jr. had 12 and Seikou Sisoho Jawara scored 11.
The Toreros are now 7-6 on their home court and have a 6-9 record against teams over .500.
San Francisco came into the game ranked eighth in the WCC scoring at 75.0 points per game and was shooting 44.6 percent, and the Dons went higher than that in both categories.
Roberts averaged 2.6 made 3pointers per game for the Dons entering Satruday’s contest, and he came up with three against the Toreros.