Auburn guard Wendell Green Jr., center, celebrates with teammates after making a layup with four seconds left to lift the Tigers to a 74-72 win over Georgia on Saturday in Athens, Georgia. John Bazemore/Associated Press
ATHENS, Ga. — Wendell Green Jr. made a tiebreaking layup with four seconds remaining and No. 1 Auburn got past Georgia 74-72 Saturday, extending the nation’s longest winning streak to 19 games.
Auburn (22-1, 10-0 Southeastern Conference) continued its dominant run through the league. But the Tigers, who won their first nine SEC games by about 12 points per game, were tested in the second half by last-place Georgia (6-17, 1-9).
Following Green’s go-ahead layup, Georgia’s Aaron Cook missed a long jumper.
K.D. Johnson led Auburn with 20 points. Johnson, who transferred to Auburn following his 2020-21 freshman season at Georgia, was loudly booed during pregame introductions.
Green had 19 for the Tigers.
(4) PURDUE 82, MICHIGAN 76: Jaden Ivey scored 23 points and Trevion Williams added 19 to lead the Boilermakers (20-3, 9-3 Big Ten) to a win over the Wolverines (11-9, 5-5) in West Lafayette, Indiana
Williams came off the bench to hit 7 of 8 shots. The Boilermakers held a 44-26 edge on points in the paint and a 32-22 edge in rebounds. Zach Edey contributed 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds for Purdue.
Hunter Dickinson led the Wolverines with 28 points, tying his career high. Dickinson, who hit 12 of 17 shots, has now scored 20 or more points in six of the last seven games. Devante’ Jones added 13 and Caleb Houstan 11 points for Michigan .Leading by one point, Purdue used a 10-0 run to expand its lead to 55-44 with 13:48 to go.
(5) KENTUCKY 66, ALABAMA 55: TyTy Washington scored 15 points, Oscar Tshiebwe had 15 rebounds and the Wildcats (19-4, 9-2 SEC) won their fourth straight, beating the Sooners (14-9, 4-6), in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Five players scored in double digits for Kentucky (19-4, 9-2 Southeastern Conference), led by Washington. Daimion Collins, Kellan Grady, Keion Brooks Jr. and Tshiebwe all scored 10 each.
(7) ARIZONA 72, (19) SOUTHERN CAL 63: Azuolas Tubelis scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Kerr Kriisa added 13 points and the Wildcats (19-2, 9-1 Pac-12) rallied in the second half for a win over the Trojans (19-4, 9-4) in Tucson, Arizona.
The Wildcats knocked off another ranked opponent just two days after beating No. 3 UCLA 76-66. They’re 13-0 at home this season and have a 15-game home winning streak in Tucson dating back to last year.
(9) DUKE 87, NORTH CAROLINA 67: Freshman A.J. Griffin scored a season-high 27 points to help the Blue Devils (19-3, 9-2 ACC) roll past the Tar Heels (16-7, 8-4) in retiring Hall of Fame Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final visit to Chapel Hill.
The Blue Devils shot 58% and took all drama out of the renewal of the famed rivalry early in both halves, both in building a big lead and then stretching it back out after the Tar Heels had made a run to climb back in it.
(10) KANSAS 83, (8) BAYLOR 59: Christian Braun and Ochai Agbaji each scored 18 points and the Jayhawks (19-3, 8-1 Big 12) bolted to a big lead and routed the Bears (19-4, 7-3) in Lawrence, Kansas, to hold the top spot in the Big 12 Conference race.
The Jayhawks led by as many as 34 points late in the game. This was the first time Kansas had hosted a defending national champion since Dec. 15, 2018, when it beat Villanova 74-71 at Allen Fieldhouse.
(11) WISCONSIN 51, PENN STATE 51: Tyler Wahl made a tiebreaking layup with 30.5 seconds left to give the Badgers (18-4, 9-3 Big Ten) a victory over the Nittany Lions (9-10, 4-7) that extended the Badgers’ home winning streak in the series.
After Myles Dread’s layup with 51 seconds remaining capped a 9-0 run to tie the game for Penn State, Wahl’s basket put Wisconsin back ahead.
(12) VILLANOVA 85, (17) UCONN 74: Eric Dixon scored a career-high 24 points and Collin Gillespie scored 19 before he left with an injury and the Wildcats (17-6, 10-3 Big East) beat the Huskies (15-6, 6-4) in Philadelphia.
Gillespie is Villanova’s leading scorer and returned for a fifth season after a torn ligament in his left knee cost him the 2021 Big East Tournament and NCAA Tournament. Gillespie grimaced as he was helped off the court and went straight to the locker room. He sat on the bench at the end of the game.
RUTGERS 84, (13) MICHIGAN STATE 63: PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Paul Mulcahy had his first-career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 12 assists, Ron Harper Jr. added 17 points and the Scarlet Knights (13-9, 7-5 Big Ten) routed the Spartans (17-4, 8-3) in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Dean Reiber added a career-high 12 points and Caleb McConnell had 11 points, nine rebounds and four steals for the Scarlet Knights.
(14) TEXAS TECH 60, WEST VIRGINIA 53: Bryson Williams scored 15 points, Terrence Shannon sparked a second-half comeback and the Red Raiders (18-5, 7-3 Big 12) beat the Mountaineers (13-9, 2-7) in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Texas Tech won for the second time in six road games. But the Red Raiders have won three straight and five of their last six, with the lone loss at Kansas in double overtime. Davion Warren added 11 points and Kevin McCullar scored 10 for the Red Raiders.
(18) ILLINOIS 74, INDIANA 57: Trent Frazier scored 23 points, Kofi Cockburn added 17 and the Fighting Illini (17-5, 10-2 Big Ten) surged in the second half to beat the Hoosiers (16-6, 7-5) in Bloomington, Indiana.
Cockburn also had eight rebounds, falling two short of tying Skip Thoren’s school record for double-doubles. Thoren had 14 from 1963-65.
DePAUL 69, (21) XAVIER 65: Courvoisier McCauley scored 21 points and Jalen Terry had 13 as the short-handed Blue Demons (11-10, 2-9 Big East) beat the Musketeers (16-6, 6-5) in Cincinnati to snap a four-game losing streak.
Javan Johnson scored 12 points and David Jones had 10 for DePaul .
(22) TENNESSEE 81, SOUTH CAROLINA 57: Zakai Zeigler tied his career high with 18 points – all coming in the second half – including back-to-back 3-pointers to break open a tight game as the Volunteers (16-6, 7-3 SEC) pulled away from the Gamecocks (13-9, 4-6) in Columbia, South Carolina.
Josiah-Jordan James finished with a career-high 20 points for the Vols, who were up just 40-37 early in the second half when Zeigler got things going.
(23) TEXAS 63, (20) IOWA STATE 41: Marcus Carr and Andrew Jones each scored 14 points and the Longhorns (17-6, 6-4 Big 12) used a barrage of 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the second half to pull away from the Cyclones (16-7, 3-7) in Austin, Texas.
Carr’s 3-pointer at the start of the second was the first of six over nine minutes in the second half, when the Longhorns stretched a two-point halftime lead into double digits. Jones made three from long range in the stretch, with one the right corner putting the Longhorns ahead 47-36.
VANDERBILT 75, (25) LSU 66: Rodney Chatman scored a season-high 24 points, making 6 of 10 from 3-point range, and the Commodores (12-10, 4-6 SEC) beat the Tigers (16-7, 4-6) for their biggest win of the season in Nashville, Tennessee.
Vanderbilt now has won two of its last three. Coach Jerry Stackhouse is now 2-9 against Top 25 teams, and both have come against LSU and coach Will Wade, a Nashville native, inside Memorial Gym on the same date.
With the victory, the Commodores also matched their most wins since going 12-20 in the 2017-18 season.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
(11) IOWA STATE 76, OKLAHOMA STATE 58: Emily Ryan was 6-for-6 from 3-point range to lead the Cyclones ( to its 20th win of the season to match the best start in school history as the Cyclones (20-3, 12-1 Big 12) completed a season sweep of the Cowgirls (6-14, 1-10), in Ames, Iowa.
Iowa State picked up its 20th win in 23 games to start the season, matching the start of the 2000-01 squad. The Cyclones now have won 9 of their first 11 Big 12 Conference games to start the season for the fourth time in school history,
(16) BYU 62, GONZAGA 50: Paisley Harding scored 22 points and the Cougars (9-2, 9-1 West Coast Conference) erased a 15-point halftime deficit by holding the Bulldogs (17-5, 8-1) to just 15 second-half points in a victory that handed the Bulldogs their first West Coast Conference loss, in Spokane, Washington.
BYU bounced back from an upset loss at Portland, Gonzaga had its seven-game win streak snapped.
(18) OKLAHOMA 101, WEST VIRGINIA 99: Madi Williams drove to the hoop and scored with nine seconds left in the second overtime to give the Sooners (20-3, 9-2 Big 12) a win over the Mountaineers (11-9, 4-6) in Norman, Oklahoma.
Williams finished with 22 points and nine rebounds. Taylor Robertson scored 26 points with seven 3-pointers and had the tying points at both the end of regulation and the first overtime.
(22) FLORIDA GULF COAST 73, LIPSCOMB 55: Kerstie Phills finished with 15 points and eight rebounds to power the Eagles (21-1, 10-0 Atlantic Sun) to their 14th straight victory with a romp over the Bisons (8-14, 3-6) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Phills sank 5 of 7 shots from the floor with two 3-pointers for the Eagles, who earned their 28 straight win on the road — tops in the nation. Florida Gulf Coast has won 32 conference games in a row and its only blemish this season is a 58-55 loss to Princeton on Dec. 1.
(25) KANSAS STATE 82, TEXAS TECH 75: Ayoka Lee scored 31 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Wildcats (17-4, 7-4 Big 12) to a victory over Red Raiders (9-12, 2-8) in Manhattan, Kansas.
Lee, who is second in the nation averaging 24.5 points, made 12 of 15 field goals and reached the program’s top-10 in rebounds with a career 788.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
