TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — JD Davison’s putback dunk with 33 seconds left and a final defensive stop gave No. 9 Alabama a 83-82 victory over 14th-ranked Houston on Saturday night for the Crimson Tide’s second straight win over a recent Final Four team.
The Tide (8-1), which defeated No. 5 Gonzaga last weekend in Seattle, also survived two late attempts by Houston. Kyler Edwards missed a 3-point attempt and two last-ditch heaves didn’t go in. The last of them bounced off the rim and was swatted out of bounds by Davison as the clock ran out.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson and several players followed the officials off the court, arguing Davison’s swat was goaltending. Houston’s leading scorer, Marcus Sasser, had to be held back by teammates.
Juwan Gary topped his career-high by halftime and finished with 19 for the Tide. Jaden Shackelford scored 18 and made 5 of 7 3-pointers, including two big ones late. Jahvon Quinerly had 17 points and eight assists, and Davison finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Sasser led the way for Houston (8-2) with 23 points, despite making just 8 of 25 shots. Jamal Shead and Josh Carlton both scored 14 points and White had 11.
OKLAHOMA 88, NO. 12 ARKANSAS 66
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Elijah Harkless scored 21 points and Oklahoma handed Arkansas its first loss of the season, frustrating the Razorbacks’ coach and top shooters.
Playing at a neutral site less than two hours from both schools, Oklahoma (8-2) rushed to a 13-0 lead in the first 4:37, helped by two 3-pointers and a drive by Harkless.
Arkansas (9-1) never caught up and coach Eric Musselman was assessed two technical fouls and ejected with 3:30 to play. He was restrained by his assistant coaches while arguing with an official, and Jordan Goldwire hit four free throws that made it 76-57.
JD Notae, who had been leading the Razorbacks with nearly 19 points a game, was held to 13 on 3-for-14 shooting.
Davonte Davis scored a career-high 26 for Arkansas.
NO. 4 UCLA 67, MARQUETTE 56
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 24 points and 11 rebounds to help UCLA defeat Marquette in a game that was pushed back several hours due to the Bruins’ flight problems.
UCLA (8-1) showed no apparent signs of rust in its first game since its 73-61 victory over Colorado on Dec. 1. Johnny Juzang and Tyger Campbell had 12 points each, and Campbell also had eight assists and five rebounds.
Marquette’s Greg Elliott scored a career-high 22 points off the bench for Marquette (8-3) and Justin Lewis had 12 points and nine rebounds.
NOTRE DAME 66, NO. 10 KENTUCKY 62
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Freshman and hometown star Blake Wesley hit a go-ahead, pull-up jumper in the lane with 11.7 seconds left to give Notre Dame the win over Kentucky.
Wesley broke a 62-62 tie and Dane Goodwin added a dunk as time expired, prompting fans to storm the Purcell Pavilion court. The Irish scored the final five points in the closing 1:31.
Notre Dame (4-4) ended a three-game losing skid in its first matchup of the season against a ranked team. The Wildcats (7-2) had won seven in row.
Wesley and Goodwin scored 14 points each for the Irish, who erased a 53-48 deficit with an 11-1 spurt. Trey Wertz added 12 points for Notre Dame and Paul Atkinson had 10.
Oscar Tshiebwe scored 25 points for Kentucky, and Keion Brooks added 12 points and seven rebounds.
CREIGHTON 83, NO. 24 BYU 71
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Ryan Hawkins scored 19 of his season-high 25 points in the first half and Creighton beat BYU.
Creighton (9-2) built its lead to as many as 20 before the break, helped by Hawkins’ four 3-pointers.
Hawkins finished 10 for 18 from the field, including 4 for 8 on 3s, and had eight rebounds for the Bluejays.
Alex Barcello scored 28 points for BYU (8-2), shooting 5 of 7 on 3-pointers. Gideon George played 20 minutes off the bench and led the Cougars with 11 rebounds.
NO. 21 OHIO STATE 73, NO. 22 WISCONSIN 55
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — E.J. Liddell scored 28 points and No. 21 Ohio State shot 50% to defeat Wisconsin.
The Buckeyes (8-2) outscored the Badgers by 13 points in the second half, running away with the game after leading by five points at halftime.
Johnny Davis led Wisconsin (8-2) with 24 points and Brad Davison added 13.
NO. 8 KANSAS 102, MISSOURI 65
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Ochai Agbaji scored 21 points, Christian Braun and Dajuan Harris had 13 apiece, and Kansas blew out Missouri in the first meeting of the longtime Big 12 rivals as nonconference foes.
David McCormack added 11 points and Remy Martin 10 for the Jayhawks (8-1), who have won eight of the past nine games in a series that began in 1907 but hadn’t been played since the Tigers departed the Big 12 after the 2012 season.
Javon Pickett led sloppy, poor-shooting Missouri (5-5) with 19 points. DaJuan Gordon had 11 and leading scorer Kobe Brown, hounded all afternoon by the Jayhawks’ man-to-man defense, finished with five points and six rebounds.
NO. 11 ARIZONA 83, ILLINOIS 79
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Bennedict Mathurin scored 30 points to power Arizona over Illinois.
Trailing the Illini by one with 2:22 to play, Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis capitalized on an offensive rebound by putting in a layup. On the next possession, Christian Koloko forced an Illinois turnover, and Mathurin scored an easy layup to make it 79-76 with 1:55 to go.
Mathurin finished 10 of 16 from the field with five made 3s for Arizona (9-0). Sophomore guard Kerr Kriisa added 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Tubelis had 16 points and eight rebounds.
For Illinois (7-3), guard Trent Frazier had 27 points, including 6 3-pointers. Alfonso Plummer added 25 points, and Kofi Cockburn had a game-high 12 rebounds.
NO. 13 TENNESSEE 76, UNC GREENSBORO 36
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Josiah-Jordan James and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield scored 12 points each to lead Tennessee over UNC Greensboro.
James made his first start since suffering an injury to a finger on his left hand in the third game of the season.
Santiago Vescovi scored 10 to help the Volunteers (7-2) flush the memory of Tuesday’s loss to Texas Tech.
De’Monte Buckingham scored 10 points to top the Spartans (7-3).
NO. 15 CONNECTICUT 74, ST. BONAVENTURE 64
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — R.J. Cole scored 15 points and Connecticut surged midway through the second half to beat St. Bonaventure.
Akok Akok added 12 points and Jordan Hawkins had 11 for UConn (9-2).
St. Bonaventure (8-2) took a 39-36 lead on Jalen Adaway’s two free throws before the Huskies scored 13 straight points to take control.
The Bonnies cut the deficit to five on two occasions, including on Osun Osunniyi’s layup to make it 64-59 with just under two minutes to play.
Jaren Holmes had 17 points, eight rebounds, and five assists for the Bonnies and Dominick Welch had 15 points and seven rebounds.
Tyler Polley added 13 points off the bench for UConn.
NO. 18 AUBURN 99, NEBRASKA 68
ATLANTA (AP) — Playing minus suspended coach Bruce Pearl, Auburn made 16 steals and routed Nebraska.
Pearl began his two-game suspension imposed by the NCAA on Friday. Auburn was placed on probation for four years for unethical conduct involving former associate head coach Chuck Person. Pearl was penalized for failing to monitor his assistant and adequately promote compliance.
Assistant coach Wes Flanigan served as acting coach.
Center Walker Kessler and guard Zep Jasper each had five steals and Auburn scored 30 points off 20 turnovers. Jabari Smith had 21 points to lead the Tigers (8-1).
C.J. Wilcher led Nebraska (5-6) with 17 points.
NO. 19 MICHIGAN STATE 80, PENN STATE 64
ATLANTA (AP) — Gabe Brown scored 15 points and Marcus Bingham Jr. had 12 points and 13 rebounds to lead Michigan State to a victory over Penn State.
The Spartans (9-2), who have won four straight games, are off to their best start since the 2017-18 season, when they started 14-2.
Seth Lundy scored 18 points and John Harrar added 16 for the Nittany Lions (5-5).
NO. 25 LSU 69, GEORGIA TECH 53
ATLANTA (AP) — Tari Eason scored 23 points, and LSU recovered from a 15-point first-half deficit to beat Georgia Tech and remain undefeated.
Xavier Pinson had 13 points and Brandon Murray added 10 points for LSU. The cold-shooting Tigers (9-0) trailed 24-9 before surging late in the first half.
Jordan Usher led Georgia Tech (5-4) with 15 points, and guard Michael Devoe, who averages a nation-high 23.6 points per game, was held to 12.
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