Jordan Gainey drove the length of the court and scooped in a right-handed layup on the left side of the hoop at the buzzer to lift No. 1 Tennessee to a 66-64 nonconference victory over Illinois before a sellout crowd Saturday afternoon in Champaign, Ill.
Gainey came off the bench to deliver 18 of his game- and season-high 23 points in the second half for the Volunteers (10-0). Chaz Lanier scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half before fouling out with 3:42 to play, while Igor Milicic Jr. posted seven points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Freshman Kasparas Jakucionis scored 22 points for Illinois (7-3), but split a pair of free throws with 5.7 seconds left to set up Gainey’s last-second heroics. Tre White contributed 11 points while Kylan Boswell and Will Riley added 10 points apiece as Tennessee’s defense limited the Illini to 29 percent shooting.
Illinois forged the game’s seventh and final tie on Jakucionis’ free throw. With Zakai Zeigler and Lanier fouled out, the Volunteers inbounded the ball to Gainey, who charged down the middle of the floor; his layup fell through the hoop as the horn sounded.
No. 2 Auburn 91, Ohio State 53
Johni Broome had 21 points, a career-best 20 rebounds and also had six assists as the Tigers routed the Buckeyes in the Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta.
Broome, among the leaders in the national player of the year conversation, controlled play with Ohio State missing 7-foot-1 center Aaron Bradshaw. Denver Jones added 14 points and was 4 of 5 from 3-point range for Auburn (9-1), while Dylan Cardwell scored 10 and added eight rebounds and four blocks. Jakhi Howard scored 11 points, all in the second half.
Devin Royal (14 points) and Micah Parrish (10) led Ohio State (6-4) in scoring. Leading scorer Bruce Thornton had just three points on 1-of-8 shooting.
No. 5 Kentucky 93, Louisville 85
Lamont Butler returned to the lineup in spectacular fashion, scoring a career-high 33 points to lead the Wildcats past the visiting Cardinals in Lexington, Ky.
The fifth-year point guard missed the last two games for the Wildcats (10-1) due to an ankle injury. Butler went 10-for-10 from the floor, including six from beyond the 3-point stripe to keep the pesky, undermanned Cardinals (6-5) from scoring an upset.
Butler became the fourth player in Kentucky history to shoot 10 or more shots and make them all. Louisville never led past the first minute but stayed in the game behind the play of Chucky Hepburn, who scored 26 points, and Terrence Edwards Jr., who scored 23. It was Edwards’ third consecutive 20-point performance, all as a reserve.
Dayton 71, No. 6 Marquette 63
Zed Key and Javon Bennett each had 15 points and led a second-half charge that helped the host Flyers erase a 13-point deficit and beat the Golden Eagles.
Key had four dunks in the second half for the Flyers (9-2), who shot 55.6 percent from the field following intermission after making just 36 percent of their first-half shots to trail 36-26 at halftime. Enoch Cheeks added 14 points for Dayton, which held the Golden Eagles (9-2) to 35.7 percent shooting overall after the break and owned a 21-10 advantage in second-chance points for the game.
Chase Ross had 19 points and star Kam Jones added 18 for Marquette, which was the highest-ranked team to visit Dayton since Pittsburgh, also ranked No. 6 at the time, lost there in December 2007.
No. 7 Alabama 83, Creighton 75
Mark Sears recorded 27 points and six rebounds to help the Crimson Tide notch a victory over the Bluejays at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Labaron Philon added 16 points and five rebounds and Derrion Reid scored 12 points for the Crimson Tide (8-2). Grant Nelson had 10 rebounds as Alabama held a 46-32 advantage on the boards.
Steven Ashworth registered 20 points and nine assists and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 18 points and seven rebounds for the Bluejays (7-4), who had a three-game winning streak snapped.
No. 18 UConn 77, No. 8 Gonzaga 71
Liam McNeeley scored a career-best 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Huskies recorded a victory over the Bulldogs at New York.
Tarris Reed Jr. contributed 12 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots and Jaylin Stewart scored 10 points for the Huskies (8-3), who won their fourth consecutive game. The Huskies improved to 6-2 against the Bulldogs, including a memorable 82-54 stomping in the Elite Eight of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Khalif Battle scored 21 points for Gonzaga (7-3), which lost its second straight game. Ryan Nembhard had 16 points and seven assists and Michael Ajayi had 14 points and six rebounds. Gonzaga star Graham Ike had just three points and no rebounds in 12 minutes while battling foul trouble.
No. 9 Florida 83, Arizona State 66
Walter Clayton Jr. scored 25 points and the unbeaten Gators rode early 3-point shooting to knock off the Sun Devils in a Holiday Hoopsgiving game in Atlanta.
Will Richard added 16 points and Alijah Martin 15 as the Gators (10-0) tied the second-best start in program history. They also went 10-0 in 1951-52.
Adam Miller led the Sun Devils (8-2) with 18 points, and Jay Quaintance netted 14 to go with eight rebounds and four steals. Basheer Jihad chipped in 13 points.
No. 10 Kansas 75, NC State 60
Zeke Mayo had a season-high 26 points and Hunter Dickinson had 21 points and 14 rebounds as the Jayhawks defeated the Wolfpack at Lawrence, Kan.
Kansas (8-2) also got 15 points and six assists from Dajuan Harris. It was the Jayhawks’ 13th straight victory over NC State.
NC State (7-4) was led by Ben Middlebrooks with 14 points and eight rebounds. Bradley Huntley-Hatfield added 12 points off the bench and Marcus Hill scored 10.
No. 13 Oklahoma 80, Oklahoma State 65
Sam Godwin registered game highs of 20 points and 14 rebounds Saturday night, while Kobe Elvis added 15 points as the Sooners improved to 10-0 with a thumping of the Bedlam rival Cowboys in Oklahoma City.
In the first nonconference game between the two since 1958, it was all Sooners as they led for all but 25 seconds. Oklahoma shot 49.2 percent from the field and earned a 42-26 advantage in points in the paint. Jeremiah Fears contributed 17 points for the Sooners, which stifled the Cowboys (6-3) on the defensive end.
Oklahoma State hit only 39.3 percent from the field, including just 5-of-18 from 3-point range, and coughed up 16 turnovers that led to 21 points. Marchelus Avery came off the bench to score 19 points for the Cowboys, who got only 23 points from their starters.
No. 17 Texas A&M 70, No. 11 Purdue 66
Zhuric Phelps and reserve Pharrel Payne each scored 16 points as the Aggies knocked off the 11th-ranked Boilermakers in the Indy Classic in Indianapolis.
Wade Taylor IV added 15 points, five assists and five steals for the Aggies (9-2) before leaving in the final minute of the game with a leg injury. Texas A&M, which has won five in a row, forced 16 turnovers that led to 22 points.
Four players scored in double figures for the Boilermakers (8-3), led by Braden Smith with 15 points, six rebounds and six assists. Fletcher Loyer added 12 points, all in the first half, and Trey Kaufman-Renn was held to 11 before fouling out. C.J. Cox came off the bench to contribute 10 points.
Memphis 87, No. 16 Clemson 82 (OT)
Tyrese Hunter scored 23 points, including matching his career high of seven 3-pointers, as Memphis went on the road to defeat Clemson.
Colby Rogers added 22 points while PJ Haggerty chipped in 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Memphis (8-2), which shook off Sunday’s 13-point home loss to Arkansas State. Dain Dainja scored 11 off the bench.
Viktor Lakhin scored 23 points with 11 rebounds for Clemson (9-2), which had its six-game winning streak snapped. Ian Schieffelin and Chase Hunter each had 17 points, followed by Jaeden Zackery’s 11 and Dillon Hunter’s 10.
No. 19 Ole Miss 77, Southern Miss 46
Sean Pedulla canned six 3-pointers and scored 18 points as the Rebels rolled to a win over the in-state rival Golden Eagles in Biloxi, Miss.
Pedulla, a Virginia Tech transfer, added four assists against just one turnover in 31 minutes for the Rebels (9-1). Jaylen Murray chipped in 14 points, going 4-for-8 from 3-point range as Ole Miss converted 13 of 32 attempts from behind the arc as a team.
Denijay Harris scored 16 points to pace the Golden Eagles (4-6) but simply didn’t have enough help. Southern Miss made only 32.7 percent of its field-goal tries, going 4-for-23 on 3-point attempts. It also coughed up 17 turnovers that led to 24 points for Ole Miss.
No. 20 Wisconsin 83, Butler 74
The Badgers ended a three-game losing streak behind Nolan Winter’s career-high 20 points, defeating the Bulldogs at the Indy Classic in Indianapolis.
Steven Crowl added 18 points and six rebounds and Max Klesmit scored 11 points for Wisconsin (9-3), which saw all five starters score in double figures. The Badgers had a quieter shooting performance from beyond the arc, hitting six shots from deep after entering Saturday averaging 9.2 makes per game. It was a different game for Wisconsin inside the paint, thriving with 40 points.
Jahmyl Telfort finished with eight points and seven rebounds on 3-of-10 shooting for Butler (7-4). Leading Butler was Pierre Brooks II, who scored 23 points on 5-of-6 shooting inside the arc, adding two 3-pointers.
No. 22 Cincinnati 68, Xavier 65
Simas Lukosius had 11 of his team-leading 14 points in the second half and the host Bearcats rallied from a seven-point deficit to defeat the cross-town rival Xavier Musketeers.
Cincinnati (8-1) snapped a five-game losing streak to Xavier in another epic game in the rivalry. Dillon Mitchell added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Bearcats, while Aziz Bandaogo was a force inside with three dunks and a layup to finish with 12 points.
Xavier’s Zach Freemantle had a potential game-tying 3-point attempt bounce off the back of the rim as time expired. Freemantle had 16 of his team-leading 18 points in the first half while Ryan Conwell added 17 points for Xavier (8-3).
No. 24 UCLA 57, Arizona 54
Tyler Bilodeau scored a game-high 17 points as the Bruins used a second-half rally to beat the Wildcats as part of the Hall of Fame Series in Phoenix.
UCLA trailed 49-36 with 10:49 left but outscored the Wildcats 21-5 down the stretch. The Bruins (9-1) have won eight straight games, while the Wildcats (4-5) dropped to 0-5 against power-conference opponents. Skyy Clark scored 15 points and Kobe Johnson chipped in seven points and seven rebounds for UCLA.
Jaden Bradley scored 12 points, pulled down seven rebounds and dished out six assists for the Wildcats. Trey Townsend added 10 points. Arizona leading scorer Caleb Love (14.1 points per game) was held to seven points on 3-for-10 shooting from the field.
No. 25 Mississippi State 66, McNeese 63
RJ Melendez scored 18 points, Josh Hubbard added 16 and the Bulldogs held off the Cowboys in Tupelo, Miss.
The Bulldogs (9-1) overcame a sluggish first half offensively and outscored McNeese 37-34 in the second half.
Joe Charles scored 19, Sincere Parker had 16 and Javohn Garcia and Brandon Murray added 10 each for the Cowboys (5-5).
–Field Level Media
