No. 9 VILLANOVA 82, PROVIDENCE 79, 2OT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Ryan Arcidiacono had a three-point play with 3.6 seconds left in the second overtime to lift Villanova to a win over Providence.
Arcidiacono led the Wildcats (23-3, 11-2 Big East) with 21 points. JayVaughn Pinkston had 20 and James Bell 17. Villanova moved into a tie for first atop the Big East with Creighton.
Bryce Cotton led the Friars (17-10, 7-7) with 22 points despite shooting just 6 of 20. Kadeem Batts finished with 21 and 11 rebounds, but fouled out on Arcidiacono’s game-winning basket. Josh Fortune added 16 points and Tyler Harris 15.
LaDontae Henton’s 3 from the left corner bounced off the front of the rim as the horn sounded, allowing Villanova to escape with the win.

No. 11 LOUISVILLE 80,
SOUTH FLORIDA 54
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Russ Smith scored 19 points and Louisville overcame foul troubles to run away from South Florida.
Luke Hancock added 16 points and Montrezl Harrell added 14 points despite four fouls as the Cardinals (22-4, 11-2 American Athletic Conference) won their tuneup before Saturday’s rematch at first place and No. 7 Cincinnati. Louisville’s fifth consecutive lopsided win also completed a season sweep of the Bulls (12-15, 3-11).
Doing so required surviving a second-half stretch with Harrell and Wayne Blackshear sidelined with four fouls each, not to mention cold shooting after a 54-percent first half. Both later returned to help the Cardinals steadily pull away, with Harrell adding a late basket-shaking dunk.
Freshman Terry Rozier scored 13 points for Louisville, which shot 48 percent.
Victor Rudd had 27 points but was USF’s only double-digit scorer on a night it shot 49 percent from the field.

No. 17 IOWA STATE 85, No. 19 TEXAS 76
AMES, Iowa — Melvin Ejim scored 25 points and DeAndre Kane added 22 to help Iowa State beat Texas for its fifth victory in six games.
Georges Niang had 20 points for the Cyclones (20-5, 8-5 Big 12), who clinched their third straight 20-win season under coach Fred Hoiberg.
Iowa State outscored Texas 25-12 late in the second half to pull away and move within a game of the second-place Longhorns in the Big 12. They were keyed by Ejim, who had his second-best scoring game of the season.
Isaiah Taylor had 26 points to lead the Longhorns (20-6, 9-4), who’ve followed up a seven-game winning streak by splitting their last four.

No. 18 KENTUCKY 84, MISSISSIPPI 70
OXFORD, Miss. — Julius Randle had 25 points and 13 rebounds, Aaron Harrison added 17 points and Kentucky beat Mississippi.
Kentucky (20-6, 10-3 Southeastern Conference) dominated throughout most of the game, going on a 15-0 run midway through the first half to take a 25-11 lead that proved insurmountable.
It was Randle’s 14th double-double of the season. Kentucky was active in the paint and had several alley-oop dunks, jumping over the Rebels’ overmatched defense. The Wildcats had seven dunks in the first half alone.
Ole Miss (16-10, 7-6) lost its third straight game and has almost completely fallen out of the picture for an at-large NCAA tournament berth. The Rebels had a bad shooting night and were steamrolled on the boards.
Jarvis Summers led Ole Miss with 22 points and Anthony Perez added 21.