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. 3 UNC 75, MIAMI 72
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — RJ Davis scored 25 points and North Carolina held off Miami.
Armando Bacot had 10 points and 15 rebounds for the Tar Heels (19-5, 11-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) in their first game since an 80-76 home loss to Clemson on Tuesday. Elliot Cadeau scored 19 points, and Harrison Ingram finished with 13.
Miami (15-9, 6-7) closed to 73-71 on Wooga Poplar’s layup with 1:10 left. Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan each made a foul shot to increase North Carolina’s lead to 75-71.
Norchard Omier and Nijel Pack each scored 20 points for the Hurricanes.
NO. 4 KANSAS 64, NO. 13 BAYLOR 61
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Hunter Dickinson scored 15 points to lead a balanced attack as Kansas extended its home-winning streak to 18 games with a victory over Baylor.
Baylor got the ball with 14.2 seconds left and a chance to tie it, but Jayden Nunn’s 3-point try from the corner was short. After Nicolas Timberlake missed the front end of a one-and-one, Ja’Kobe Walter’s 3-point attempt caromed off the rim.
Kansas (19-5, 7-4 Big 12) got 14 points from Dajuan Harris, 13 points from KJ Adams and 11 points from Johnny Furphy.
Baylor (17-6, 6-4) was led by Yves Missi with 21 points and Walter with 17 points.
NO. 5 HOUSTON 67, CINCINNATI 62
CINCINNATI (AP) — J’Wan Roberts scored 20 points, including a game-sealing dunk with six seconds left, as Houston outlasted Cincinnati.
Jamal Shead added 16 points on 6-of-25 shooting for the Cougars (21-3, 8-3 Big 12), who won their 10th straight game against their longtime foe.
Dan Skillings Jr. led the way with 13 points for the Bearcats (15-8, 4-6), who haven’t defeated Houston since February 2020.
NO. 7 MARQUETTE 86, ST. JOHN’S 75
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Tyler Kolek scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half and also had 13 assists as Marquette rallied to beat St. John’s for its seventh consecutive victory.
Stevie Mitchell added 14 points, David Joplin had 12 points and Kam Jones 10 points to help Marquette (18-5, 9-3 Big East) erase a 15-point deficit and beat St. John’s for a sixth straight time.
Daniss Jenkins had 22 points, six rebounds and six assists for St. John’s (14-10, 6-7). Joel Soriano, who entered averaging a team-high 15.9 points per game, scored just two and played only 17 minutes while struggling with foul trouble.
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.
FLORIDA 81, NO. 12 AUBURN 65
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Riley Kugel scored 22 points, Walter Clayton Jr. added 20 points and Florida beat Auburn to put itself in position to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years.
The Gators (16-7, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) extended their home-winning streak against the slightly favored Tigers to 15 and picked up their second Quad 1 victory in two weeks.
Florida dominated Auburn (19-5, 8-3) from the opening tip. The Gators led by as many as 29 points in the second half.
Johni Broome, who leads Auburn in scoring with 16 points a game, finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. K.D. Johnson also scored 12 points for the Tigers.
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.
GONZAGA 89, NO. 17 KENTUCKY 85
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Anton Watson scored 17 points, including a go-ahead three-point play with 3:49 remaining before adding two key layups in the final 91 seconds, Ben Gregg and Nolan Hickman sank key late free throws and Gonzaga survived a second-half rally to beat Kentucky.
The Wildcats (16-7) have now lost three straight at Rupp Arena for the first time.
Gonzaga (18-6) outperformed Kentucky in most every phase to lead 42-32 at halftime.
Graham Ike had 23 points before fouling out with 43 seconds left, Hickman had 17 points and Braden Huff 12 points for Gonzaga.
Reed Sheppard had 21 points and Antonio Reeves 17 points for Kentucky.
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.
NO. 23 TEXAS TECH 66, UCF 59
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Darrion Williams had 13 points and 13 rebounds, Kerwin Walton scored 12 points on four 3-pointers before halftime and Texas Tech never trailed on its way to a win over UCF.
The Red Raiders (17-6, 6-4 Big 12) snapped a three-game losing streak.
UCF (13-9, 4-6) missed a chance to tie the game for the first time since 4-4 when C.J. Walker missed the first of his two free-throw attempts. The Red Raiders sealed the game with six free throws in the final 41 seconds.
Darius Johnson and Jaylin Sellers has 14 points each for the Knights. Walker had 13 points and eight rebounds.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
