Missouri holds off late rally, beats No. 6 Illinois

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri held off a late charge from No. 6 Illinois and overcame 36 points from Fighting Illini star Ayo Dosunmu for an 81-78 victory Saturday night.

Dru Smith had 17 points, Javon Pickett had 14 points and five rebounds and the Tigers held on.

Missouri (5-0) led 49-41 at halftime and held on for its third straight win in the series. Illinois (4-2) trailed by 13 with nine minutes left but rallied to tie it before the Tigers closed out the upset.

NO. 2 BAYLOR VS. NO. 13 TEXAS NIXED

Baylor has paused team activities because of COVID-19 issues, leading to another high-profile game getting nixed for the Bears.

The Bears were scheduled to play their Big 12 opener today against No. 13 Texas, but Baylor coach Scott Drew announced the pause in team activities Saturday.

NO. 16 N. CAROLINA 73, N. CAROLINA CENTRAL 67

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Armando Bacot had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and North Carolina (4-2) stopped a two-game slide by holding off North Carolina Central (1-3).

NO. 20 FLORIDA ST. 83, FLORIDA 71

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Highly touted freshman

Scottie Barnes scored 17 points and Florida State (3-0) extended its dominance against rival Florida (3-1) with a victory that came after the Gators’ best player collapsed on the court and was rushed to a nearby hospital.

Keyontae Johnson, the Southeastern Conference’s preseason player of the year, was taken off the floor on a stretcher in the opening minutes and transported to Tallahassee Memorial for evaluation. Florida officials said he was in critical but stable condition.

WOMEN’S AP TOP 25 NO. 3 UCONN 79, UMASS-LOWELL 23

STORRS, Conn. — Freshman Paige Bueckers scored 17 points in her UConn debut, and the Huskies routed UMass-Lowell (0-2).

Bueckers, last year’s national high school player of the year, also had nine rebounds, five assists and five steals.

N. IOWA 65,

NO. 21 S. DAKOTA ST. 48

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Karli Rucker scored 18 points and Northern Iowa (3-2) dominated the middle quarters to hand South Dakota State (3-2) its second-straight loss, 65-48 on Saturday.

Trailing 13-8 after the first period, the Panthers opened a 28-23 lead at the half and stretched that 5436 after three quarters.