No. 9 Villanova escapes 82-79 against Providence
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Ryan Arcidiacono had a three-point play with 3.6 seconds left in the second overtime to lift No. 9 Villanova to an 82-79 win against Providence on Tuesday night.
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.
After missing shots at the end of regulation and OT, Arcidiacono drove to the basket, banking in a shot as he was fouled.
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.
Parker leads No. 5 Duke past Georgia Tech 68-51
ATLANTA -- Jabari Parker had 16 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 5 Duke rolled past Georgia Tech 68-51 on Tuesday night.
Rodney Hood sank four 3-pointers and scored 14 points for Duke, which never trailed and led by double figures for the final 28 minutes. The Blue Devils (21-5, 10-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won four in a row and nine of 10.
Duke is in a hectic run of four games in eight days. The Blue Devils will play at North Carolina on Thursday before facing No. 1 Syracuse on Saturday. The North Carolina game was postponed on Feb. 12 because of a winter storm. The stretch began with a win at Maryland on Saturday.
Robert Carter Jr. led Georgia Tech (13-13, 4-9 ACC) with 13 points. Kammeon Holsey had 12, and Chris Bolden added 10.
Shrigley leads No. 6 SDSU past Utah St
SAN DIEGO -- Matt Shrigley scored 15 points - including four 3-pointers -- and San Diego State used a stifling defense to beat Utah State 60-45 Tuesday night, the Aztecs' 12th consecutive home victory.
Josh Davis added 12 points and Skylar Spencer 10 for the Aztecs (23-2, 12-1 Mountain West Conference), who play their much-anticipated first game of the season against New Mexico on Saturday night. The Lobos (19-5, 10-2) are in second place in the MWC going into their game at UNLV on Wednesday night. The Aztecs and Lobos finish the regular season at San Diego on March 8.
''We just had to come out and get a win,'' said point guard Xavier Thames, who was held to a season-low four points. ''We didn't want to make a statement or anything. We just wanted to come out and compete hard and we did that for 40 minutes.''
Utah State (15-11, 5-9) would have tied its season-low of 42 points if not for a 3-pointer by Viko Noma'aea with 29 seconds left. SDSU held the Aggies to 34 percent shooting. SDSU led by double digits since 10:56 in the first half and scored the last 10 points of the game.
No. 8 Kansas hangs on to beat Texas Tech 64-63
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Andrew Wiggins' layup with two seconds left lifted No. 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win against Texas Tech on Tuesday night.
The freshman finished with 19 points and Joel Embiid added 18 to lead the Jayhawks (20-6, 11-2). The victory for Kansas gave them 20 wins for the 25th consecutive season and 11 or more conference wins for 20th consecutive year.
Texas Tech's Robert Turner sank two free throws with 16 seconds left to put the Red Raiders up 63-62 but Kansas brought the ball up and got it inside to Wiggins for the win.
Jordan Tolbert scored 16 points and Dejan Kravic added 13 to lead Texas Tech (13-13, 5-8).
No. 11 Louisville trounces South Florida 80-54
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Russ Smith scored 19 points and No. 11 Louisville overcame foul troubles to run away from South Florida 80-54 on Tuesday night.
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 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. 14 Virginia edges Virginia Tech 57-53
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Justin Anderson and Joe Harris made consecutive 3-pointers to cap No. 14 Virginia's rally from an 11-point, second-half deficit in a 57-53 victory against Virginia Tech on Tuesday night.
The Cavaliers (22-5, 13-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed most of the game but outscored the Hokies 23-6 after falling behind 40-29 with just more than 14 minutes remaining. It was Virginia's 10th victory in a row and it matched the school's best start in ACC play since the 1980-81 team was also 13-1.
Malcolm Brogdon led Virginia with 12 points and London Perrantes had 11.
The Hokies (9-16, 2-11), who ended a 10-game losing streak in their previous outing on Saturday against Miami, got 13 points each from Joey Van Zegeren and Devin Wilson. They lost their fifth in a row in the series, but not before putting a huge scare into their state rivals, who have been on a roll.
No. 17 Iowa State beats No. 19 Texas 85-76
AMES, Iowa -- Melvin Ejim scored 25 points and DeAndre Kane added 22 to help No. 17 Iowa State beat 19th-ranked Texas 85-76 on Tuesday night 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 consecutive 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 past four.
No. 18 Kentucky tops Mississippi 84-70
OXFORD, Miss. -- Julius Randle had 25 points and 13 rebounds, Aaron Harrison added 17 points and No. 18 Kentucky beat Mississippi 84-70 on Tuesday night.
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 consecutive 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.
