Rutgers dominates in 78-56 win over No. 11 Wisconsin
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Jeremiah Williams scored 18 points in his first home game of the season and Rutgers used a stifling defense to lead the entire game and hand No. 11 Wisconsin its fourth straight loss 78-56 on Saturday.
Noah Fernandes contributed 17 points and Clifford Omoruyi added 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights (13-10, 5-7 Big Ten), who won a third straight game.
The 22-point victory was the largest margin of victory for Rutgers over a ranked opponent in program history.
Connor Essegian and AJ Storr scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, for Wisconsin (16-8, 8-5). The Badgers never got within single digits in the second half.
Williams had not played a college basketball game in nearly two years (709 days) prior to being activated before Rutgers’ game at Michigan on Feb. 3. The Iowa State transfer endured a season-ending Achilles injury last year and then had to sit out 20 games this season for violating the NCAA’s gambling policy.
NO. 1 UCONN 89, GEORGETOWN 64
WASHINGTON (AP) — UConn was never challenged on the way to its 12th consecutive victory, leading by as many as 26 in the first half while beating Georgetown behind Alex Karaban’s 25 points.
The defending national champion Huskies (22-2, 12-1 Big East) were dominant at both ends of the court, putting together runs of 9-0 and 11-0 before the game was 10 minutes old.
UConn never led by fewer than 20 in the second half, and finished with a 48-24 edge in points in the paint.
Dontrez Styles scored 23 points for the Hoyas (8-15, 1-11), who have lost eight games in a row under first-year coach Ed Cooley.
NO. 9 DUKE 80, BOSTON COLLEGE 65
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Mark Mitchell scored 17 points, Kyle Filipowski and Jeremy Roach each added 16 and Duke beat Boston College.
Jared McCain provided 11 points and 10 rebounds and Tyrese Proctor had 10 points for the Blue Devils (18-5, 9-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who’ve won a pair of home games since last weekend’s loss at rival North Carolina.
Mason Madsen led Boston College (13-10, 4-8) with 15 points, while Claudell Harris Jr. had 13 points, Devin McGlockton posted 11 points and Jaeden Zackery finished with 10 points.
MICHIGAN STATE 88, NO. 10 ILLINOIS 80
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A.J. Hoggard had 23 points to lead Michigan State over Illinois.
The Spartans (15-9, 7-6 Big Ten) rallied from an eight-point deficit over the last six-plus minutes. Malik Hall had 22 points and Tyson Walker scored 19.
Hoggard’s three-point play with 4:10 remaining made it 72-all, the 13th tie of the game. Shortly thereafter, Michigan State scored eight straight points to take control.
The Fighting Illini (17-6, 8-4) failed to keep a late lead for the second straight game. Terrance Shannon Jr. had 28 points for Illinois and Coleman Hawkins scored 14. Marcus Domask was held to 12 points — eight below what he was averaging in conference games.
NO. 14 IOWA STATE 71, TCU 59
AMES, Iowa (AP) — Tre King scored 15 points and Keshon Gilbert had 13 points and seven assists, helping Iowa State beat TCU.
Curtis Jones also scored 13 points for Iowa State (18-5, 7-3 Big 12), which improved to 14-0 at home this season. The Cyclones shot 50% (24 for 48) from the field and went 15 for 18 at the free-throw line.
Emanuel Miller led TCU (16-7, 5-5) with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Jakobe Coles went 3 for 3 from 3-point range and finished with 14 points.
NO. 15 SOUTH CAROLINA 75, VANDERBILT 60
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Collin Murray-Boyles scored a career-high 31 points and South Carolina beat Vanderbilt for its 21st victory of the season a year after losing 21 games.
The Gamecocks (21-3, 9-2 Southeastern Conference) took control in the second half with a 24-10 run that including 12 points and a monster block from Murray-Boyles, the 6-foot-7 freshman who has helped the team to seven straight wins.
Tyrin Lawrence led Vanderbilt (6-17, 1-9) with 15 points.
NO. 16 ALABAMA 109, LSU 92
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Mark Sears scored 23 points and Alabama made a handful of deep shots to break open a tight game in the final nine minutes of a victory over LSU.
Latrell Wrightsell Jr. had a season-high 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Alabama (17-7, 9-2 SEC), which trailed 73-72 after LSU (12-11, 4-6) had briefly surged in front with a 16-4 run.
But Rylan Griffen’s free throws and dunk ignited a 13-2 Alabama spurt that put the Crimson Tide back up by 10.
Will Baker scored 24 points and Jalen Cook 20 for LSU.
NO. 19 CREIGHTON 78, XAVIER 71
CINCINNATI (AP) — Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 28 points to lead Creighton over Xavier.
Baylor Scheierman scored 16 points for the Bluejays (17-7, 8-5 Big East), who avoided their first three-game Big East losing streak since 2019.
It was a missed opportunity for the Musketeers (13-11, 7-6), who had won three straight games to revive their NCAA Tournament hopes.
Desmond Claude scored 22 points and Dayvion McKnight had 21 points for Xavier.
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