No. 2 Ohio St. 79,
South Carolina 57
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Freshman Jared Sullinger had 30 points and a career-high 19 rebounds to lead No. 2 Ohio State past South Carolina 79-57 on Saturday.
William Buford added 12 points and Jon Diebler had 11 for the Buckeyes (10-0), who expected one of their biggest tests of the young season but dominated throughout.
Sam Muldrow scored 14 points and Malik Cooke had 13 for South Carolina (7-2), whose only losses this season have come against second-ranked Big Ten teams. The Gamecocks lost 82-73 at then-No. 2 Michigan State on Nov. 16.
Sullinger’s previous best in rebounds was 14 against North Carolina A&T last month.
His 14 defensive rebounds were an Ohio State freshman record.
Gonzaga 68, No. 9 Baylor 64
DALLAS — Kelly Olynyk put Gonzaga ahead to stay with a 3-pointer right after Baylor scored four points on one possession and the Bulldogs handed the Bears their first loss.
Olynyk’s made his go-ahead basket with 1:46 left, and Gonzaga (6-5) made 7 of 9 free throws after that. Four of the Bulldogs’ losses were to Top 25 teams.
Baylor (7-1), with its highest ranking ever, played away from home for the first time, but only about 100 miles from campus at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Robert Sacre led Gonzaga with 17 points, while Marquise Carter had 13.
Freshman Perry Jones had 19 points for Baylor.
Jones hit a jumper from near the free throw line to get the Bears within a point with 2 minutes left. When the ball was in the air, a foul was called under the basket and Quincy Acy made two free throws for a 59-58 lead.
Illinois-Chicago 57, No. 12 Illinois 54
CHICAGO — Darrin Williams scored five points in the final 1:10 and Illinois-Chicago rallied from an eight-point second-half deficit to end the Illini’s seven-game winning streak.
After a sluggish start, Illinois (10-2) used a 12-0 run to build a 49-41 lead with 7:30 to go and appeared in control. But the Flames (5-7), who led for a good portion of the game, weren’t about to go away in the United Center.
Illinois had won 12 of the 13 previous meetings with the Flames. And the Illini were more than comfortable at the United Center, posting a 32-9 record there dating to 1994-95.
Demetri McCamey led Illinois with 16 points.
Robo Kreps had 15 points for the Flames, who ended a four-game losing streak under first-year coach Howard Moore. Three of losses were by two points.
The Illini shot 32.7 percent, struggling against UIC’s 1-3-1 zone.
No. 15 Georgetown 99,
Loyola, Md. 75
WASHINGTON — Georgetown shot 78 percent in the first half turning a game against a fellow Jesuit school into little more than a good workout and a welcome break in the middle of exams.
Austin Freeman broke out of a shooting slump to score 14 points for the Hoyas (10-1), who led by 15 points after 10 minutes and by 23 at halftime. The Hoyas made 18 of 23 shots in the first half — and four of the five misses were 3-point attempts.
Justin Drummond scored 21 points for the Greyhounds (4-6), who shot 29 percent in the first half. Loyola is 0-22 all-time against teams ranked in The Associated Press poll, losing all the games by double digits.
Loyola used to beat Georgetown once a while, winning nine of 44 games back when the schools met regularly from 1909-74. The series was renewed this season after a 36-year break.
UCLA 86, No. 16 BYU 79
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Reeves Nelson scored a career-high 23 points for UCLA in the John R. Wooden Classic doubleheader, handing BYU its first loss.
The Bruins (6-4) earned their first quality win of the season after road losses to ranked teams Villanova and Kansas. Tyler Honeycutt added 17 points and Joshua Smith had 15 points and eight rebounds despite both being in foul trouble in the team’s third straight win.
Jimmer Fredette led the Cougars (10-1) with 25 points while in foul trouble and Brandon Davies added 18.
UCLA ended a five-game skid against ranked teams with its first win since beating Washington in 2009. The Bruins improved to 10-4 in the doubleheader named for their late coach, who died in June at 99.
The Bruins opened the second half on an 18-11 run that produced their largest lead, 61-48, capped by Honeycutt’s 3-pointer.
No. 19 Purdue 65, Indiana St. 52
INDIANAPOLIS — JaJuan Johnson scored 25 of his career-high 31 points in the first half for Purdue.
Johnson, a senior center, reached his career high with free throws with 39 seconds remaining. He was 10 of 19 from the field and made 11 of 12 free throws in the game played at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Purdue led 32-30 at halftime, then held Indiana State to 22 points and 32 percent shooting in the second half. E’Twaun Moore scored all of his 16 points in the second half for the Boilermakers (10-1).
Purdue won despite shooting 33 percent from the field. Though Johnson shot well, his teammates combined to make 9 of 38 field goals. The Boilermakers made up for it by outscoring Indiana State 24-7 from the free-throw line.
Dwayne Lathan had 15 points and nine rebounds, and Carl Richard added 11 points and six rebounds for the Sycamores (5-6).
No. 20 Louisville 78,
Gardner-Webb 49
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Preston Knowles scored a career-high 24 points and Louisville bounced back from its first loss of the season.
Freshman center Gorgui Dieng added eight points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks in his first career start while reserve Mike Marra broke out of a prolonged slump to score 10 points for the Cardinals (9-1).
Laron Buggs led Gardner-Webb (6-8) with 16 points, but the Runnin’ Bulldogs couldn’t find the same magic they used three years ago when they knocked off Kentucky.
Knowles and Dieng made sure of it, keying a dominant defensive effort that limited Gardner-Webb to 31 percent shooting, blocked 14 shots and came up with seven steals.
The Cardinals took control with a 20-0 run midway through the first half.
No. 22 Texas 78, North Carolina 76
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Freshman Cory Joseph hit a turnaround jumper over Dexter Strickland with 1.4 seconds for Texas.
Joseph had a season-high 21 points for the Longhorns (9-2), while Jordan Hamilton had a team-high 24 points as Texas trailed for most of the second half before rallying in the final 3 minutes to beat the Tar Heels (7-4) in front of an instate crowd.
Strickland matched his career-high with 18 points for North Carolina. Freshman Harrison Barnes added 16 points, including the tying 3 with 12.7 seconds left.
The Tar Heels inbounded the ball to halfcourt and called a timeout to set up a final play with 0.8 seconds left, but Kendall Marshall managed only a desperation 3 that hit all backboard as the horn sounded.
Hamilton went 10 for 18 from the field, made four 3-pointers and had 10 rebounds.
Tyler Zeller had 14 points for the Tar Heels.
No. 25 Texas A&M 71, Arkansas 62, OT
DALLAS — Khris Middleton scored 19 of his 31 points after a bench-clearing scuffle early in the second half, including the go-ahead free throw in overtime, and Texas A&M extended its winning streak to seven games.
The first meeting between the old Southwest Conference rivals in 20 seasons got feisty when the Aggies (10-1) were calling a timeout after Arkansas scored the first seven points of the second half. The Razorbacks (7-2) led 42-33 at the time.
It took the officials more than 10 minutes to sort out the situation. They looked at several replays, taking notes on a piece of paper. Arkansas’ Marvell Waithe and Kourtney Roberson of Texas A&M were ejected for coming off the bench and getting involved in the fracas.
The Razorbacks forced overtime when Julysses Nobles made two free throws with 1:06 left.
