Florida St. takes upset over Louisville
No. 18 Florida State 78, No. 7 Louisville 65: M.J. Walker scored 23 points for Florida State as the Seminoles (13-2, 3-1 ACC) beat host Louisville (11-3, 2-1) on Saturday.
The Seminoles, who were 61⁄2-point underdogs, endured a big game from Louisville’s Jordan Nwora to pull the upset. The preseason All-American scored 32 points, matching a career high.
But the Cardinals could not overcome a 55.2% shooting performance by the Seminoles in losing their second straight. Florida State made a seasonbest 11 of 23 3-pointers.
Nwora had a hot hand early for Louisville, scoring 21 points in the first half. The junior shot 6 of 9 from the floor, but the Cardinals combined to make just 10 of 37.
No. 3 Kansas 60, No. 16 West Virginia 53: Udoka Azubuike had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Devon Dotson and Marcus Garrett made crucial plays down the stretch, and host Kansas (11-2) rallied to beat West Virginia (11-2) in its Big 12 opener.
Dotson added 16 points and Garrett finished with 12 points and six assists for the Jayhawks, who won their 28th straight conference opener by overcoming a sluggish first half. Kansas trailed by as many as 10 before leaning on defense and dunks to beat the Mountaineers for the seventh time in their last eight meetings.
No. 4 Oregon 69, Utah 64: Payton Pritchard scored 19 points and Will Richardson and Chris Duarte each had 14 to help host Oregon (12-3, 1-1 Pac-12) outlast host Utah (10-4, 1-1).
Pritchard drew most of the defensive attention as usual so the Ducks ended up moving the ball to Shakur Juiston and Chandler Lawson. They each had a pair of layups to erase Utah’s late lead and clinch the game for Oregon.
No. 8 Auburn 80, Mississippi State 69: J’Von McCormickscored a careerhigh 28 points to lead Auburn (13-0) to a win over host Mississippi State (9-4, 0-1) in the SEC opener for both teams.
Auburn remained undefeated, one of two teams along with San Diego State as the nation’s only unbeaten teams.
Georgia 65, No. 9 Memphis 62: Rayshaun Hammonds scored 15 points, Anthony Edwards added 13 as Georgia (10-3) beat host Memphis (10-3), ending the Tigers’ 10-game winning streak.
While the pair led the Bulldogs in scoring, it was a tough shooting night for them – Hammonds going 7 of 18; Edwards 4 of 17. But they got help from Donnell Gresham Jr. scoring 12 and 10 from Sahvir Wheeler, who also had seven assists.
Marquette 71, No. 10 Villanova 60: Markus Howard scored 29 points and host Marquette (10-3, 1-1 Big East) started the New Year with an upset of Villanova (10-2, 1-1).
Howard, who entered the day as the nation’s top scorer at more than 25 points a game, added eight rebounds before fouling out to lead the Golden Eagles.
No. 11 Butler 71, Creighton 57: Kamar Baldwin scored all 20 of his points in the second half Saturday and Sean McDermott added 18 to help host Butler (14-1, 2-0 Big East) pull away from Creighton (12-3, 1-1).
McDermott also had a career-high 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who have won five straight.
No. 15 Maryland 75, Indiana 59: Jalen Smith scored 19 points, Aaron Wiggins and Anthony Cowan Jr. had 13 apiece and host Maryland (12-2, 2-1 Big
Ten) returned to form with a rout of coldshooting Indiana (11-3, 1-2).
Darryl Morsell scored 12 for the Terrapins, who climbed to No. 3 in mid-December before losing successive games to Penn State and Seton Hall. An unimpressive win over Bryant followed on Dec. 29, but Maryland opened the New Year in dominant fashion against the Hoosiers.
No. 17 Kentucky 71, Missouri 59: Immanuel Quickley scored a career-high 23 points, Nick Richards had 21 and host Kentucky (10-3, 1-0) beat Missouri (8-5, 0-1) in the SEC opener for both schools.
Richards scored 14 of the Wildcats’ first 16 points, including a key 3-point play. Quickley’s 3 put Kentucky ahead for good.
No. 19 Virginia 65, Virginia Tech 39: Kihei Clark scored a career-best 18 points, Braxton Key also had 18 and host Virginia (11-2, 3-0 ACC) dominated with defense in a victory against Virginia Tech (10-4, 1-2).
The Cavaliers led 30-17 by halftime and built their lead to as many as 23 in the second half. Key scored 11 in the first half and Clark had 10 after halftime.
No. 21 Penn State 89, No. 23 Iowa 86: Izaiah Brockington scored 23 points to lead Penn State (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten) beat Iowa (10-4, 1-2) at the Palestra in Philadelphia.
Luka Garza scored 34 points for the Hawkeyes, but he missed three crucial free throws down the stretch that helped the Nittany Lions win in front of a raucous home crowd on Philly’s most famous court. Garza, who scored 44 points last month at Michigan, scored 12 straight points in one stretch in the first half but missed two foul shots with 3:21 left in the game and Iowa clinging to a two-point lead.
No. 22 Texas Tech 85, Oklahoma State 50: Freshman Jahmi’us Ramsey scored 18 points while making four 3pointers and host Texas Tech (10-3, 1-0) pulled away for a win over Oklahoma State (9-4, 0-1) to open Big 12.
The Red Raiders went ahead to stay with 11 points in a row late in the first half. After Lindy Waters III made a jumper for Oklahoma State right after halftime, Texas Tech scored 15 in a row, with Ramsey hitting two 3s before his run-ending two free throws made it 51-32 with 15 minutes left.
No. 24 Wichita State 74, Ole Miss 54: Erik Stevenson scored a career-high 29 points to help host Wichita State (13-1) beat Mississippi (9-4).
Stevenson had 19 points in the first half, giving the Shockers a 39-24 halftime lead. Jamarius Burton added 16 points, and Grant Sherfield added 10.
No. 6 Baylor 59, Texas 44: MaCio Teague matched his season high with 21 points for No. 6 Baylor, which overcame a miserable shooting game to open Big 12 play and beat Texas 59-44 on Saturday night for its 10th win in a row.
No. 2 Duke 95, Miami 62: Vernon Carey Jr. scored 24 points in 25 minutes playing against his hometown team for the first time, and No. 2 Duke shot a season-high 60% to beat the Miami Hurricanes 95-62 Saturday night.
It was Miami’s most lopsided home loss in Jim Larranaga’s nine seasons as coach.
Women’s top 10
No. 6 Baylor 77, Oklahoma 56: Te’a Cooper had a career-high 32 points, and No. 6 Baylor scored 29 straight points sgainst Oklahoma. Cooper, a graduate transfer guard, made 14 of 22 shots and had six rebounds and four assists.