No. 2 Baylor rallies to beat short-handed Oklahoma State

STILLWATER, Okla — Jared Butler scored 22 points and No. 2 Baylor overcame a halftime deficit to beat undermanned Oklahoma State 81-66 on Saturday.

Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham, the Big 12 Conference’s leading scorer, did not play because of COVID-19 protocols. Key reserve Rondel Walker also sat out, leaving the team with eight players available.

The Cowboys still pushed the Bears, leading in the early minutes of the second half before Baylor took control. The Bears shot 53% after the break.

Mark Vital scored a career-high 19 points, and Davion Mitchell had eight points and nine assists for Baylor (14-0, 7-0). Kalib Boone scored a career-high 21 points for Oklahoma State (9-4, 3-4).

No. 8 Houston 68, Temple 51

PHILADELPHIA — Marcus Sasser and Quentin Grimes each scored 15 points and Houston rolled to its sixth straight victory, beating Temple.

The Cougars (13-1, 8-1 American Athletic Conference) also beat the Owls on Dec. 22. Grimes and Sasser hit consecutive early 3s to build a 19-point lead. Jake Forrester led the Owls (3-4, 2-4) with 15 points, and Khalif Battle had 14.

Oklahoma 75, No. 9 Kansas 68

NORMAN, Okla. — De’Vion Harmon scored 22 points and Oklahoma beat Kansas for its second victory of the month over a Top 10 opponent.

Oklahoma (9-4, 5-3 Big 12) has won three of its last four games against Kansas (10-5, 4-4) in Norman and is 8-1 at home this season — including a victory over then-No. 9 West Virginia on Jan. 2.

Coming off losses at Oklahoma State and No. 2 Baylor, Kansas has lost three straight games for the first time since February 2013. Marcus Garrett had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Jayhawks.

No. 15 Ohio State 74, No. 10 Wisconsin 62

MADISON, Wis. — E.J. Liddell scored 20 points and Ohio State never trailed in a 74-62 victory over Wisconsin .

Ohio State (12-4, 6-4 Big Ten) has beaten Top 15 teams in each of its last three road games to underscore the conference’s lack of a true homecourt advantage this season with no spectators due to the pandemic. The Buckeyes beat then-No. 15 Rutgers on Jan. 9 and then—No. 14 Illinois on Jan. 16. Illinois is now 22nd and Rutgers unranked.

Aleem Ford scored 13 points to lead Wisconsin (12-4, 6-3). It lost for the second time in its last 20 home games.

No. 11 Creighton 74, No. 23 Uconn 66

OMAHA, Neb. — Denzel Mahoney scored 20 points and Creighton broke open a close game in the last 10 minutes to beat Connecticut.

The Bluejays (11-4, 7-3 Big East) shot 58% in the second half to avoid their first three-game losing streak since February 2019. Mahoney made 8 of 14 shots from the field.

R.J. Cole scored 14 points for UConn (7-3, 4-3).

No. 14 West Virginia 79, Kansas State 47

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Miles McBride scored 18 points to help West Virginia beat Kansas State in the Mountaineers’ first game in two weeks because of COVID-19 protocols..

Jalen Bridges added 12 points and Taz Sherman had 10 for West Virginia (10-4, 3-3 Big 12).

Mike McGuirl led Kansas State (5-11, 1-7) with 15 points The Wildcats had 28 turnovers, the most by a Big 12 team this season and the most in a game under coach Bruce Weber.

Syracuse 78, No. 16 Virginia Tech 60

SYRACUSE, N .Y. — Quincy Guerrier had 20 points, Marek Doelzaj added 18 and Alan Griffin had 15 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks to help Syracuse beat Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech closed to 47-44 on a lay-in by David N’Guessan with 13:45 to go, then Syracuse (9-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) outscored the Hokies 31-9 to build its biggest lead of the game at 78-53.

Nahiem Alleyne led the Hokies (11-3, 5-2) with 20 points.

Maryland 63, No. 17 Minnesota 49

MINNEAPOLIS — Eric Ayala had 21 points and three steals to help Maryland deliver another road upset of a ranked Big Ten opponent, a wire-to-wire victory over Minnesota.

Donta Scott added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Terrapins (9-7, 3-6). They limited Minnesota’s Liam Robbins to six points on 2-for-6 shooting before the 7-footer fouled out.

Marcus Carr had 25 points and seven rebounds for the Gophers (11-5, 4-5). They lost at home for the first time in 12 games this season.

No. 18 Alabama 81, Mississippi State 73

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Herbert Jones had 17 points and seven assists to help streaking Alabama beat Mississippi State.

The Crimson Tide (13-3, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) won its ninth straight overall and has won eight consecutive SEC games for the first time since starting league play 8-0 in the 1986-87 season. The Bulldogs (9-7, 4-4) cut an 11-point second-half deficit down to three in the final minute, but John Petty Jr. answered with a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left.

D.J. Stewart Jr. led Mississippi

State with 27 points.

Florida State 80, No. 20 Clemson 61

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Balsa Koprivica had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Florida State pulled away early to rout Clemson for its fourth straight victory.

Sardaar Calhoun added a careerbest 13 points for Florida State (9-2, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). He made 4 of 5 3-pointers.

John Newman III scored 12 points for Clemson (9-4, 3-4).

Stanford 73, No. 24 Ucla 72, OT

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Oscar da Silva scored off an inbound pass as time expired in overtime to lift Stanford over UCLA, ending the Bruins’ unbeaten streak in the Pac12.

Da Silva finished with 26 points, the last coming on a layup off a set piece with 0.8 seconds remaining. Da Silva cut down the lane, received Michael O’Connell’s feed from under the basket and banked the winning shot in with his left hand.

Jaiden Dalaire added 19 points for the Cardinal (9-5, 5-3 Pac-12) . Johnny Juzang scored a career-high 27 points for the Bruins (12-3, 8-1).