COLUMBIA, Mo. — PJ Washington and Tyler Herro scored 18 points each as fourth-ranked Kentucky slogged past Missouri 66-58 on Tuesday night.
Ashton Hagans added 12 points for the Wildcats (22-4, 11-2 Southeastern Conference), who looked a little sluggish three days after beating then top-ranked Tennessee. But Kentucky was good enough defensively to hold the Tigers to 37 percent shooting from the field.
Ronnie Suggs scored 13 and Jordan Geist finished with 11 for Missouri (12-13, 3-10 SEC).
After Missouri took an 11-10 advantage with 12:35 left in the first half, Herro scored seven points in a 42-second span to give Kentucky the lead for good. The Tigers got into foul trouble as Kevin Puryear and Jeremiah Tilmon each picked up two quick ones and Mitchell Smith was knocked out of the game after being hit in the head with an inadvertent elbow. Washington racked up 15 first-half points as the Wildcats opened a 41-23 halftime lead.
Kentucky had some attrition up front, also, as starting forward Reid Travis left the game in the second half with a sprained right knee. Missouri did most of its offensive damage late, narrowing its deficit to six points on Torrence Watson’s 3-pointer with 14 seconds left.
No. 5 TENNESSEE 58, VANDERBILT 46
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s offense was bad. Vanderbilt’s was worse.
On a night when both teams posted their lowest point totals of the season, No. 5 Tennessee outlasted Vanderbilt 58-46 on Tuesday in the Volunteers’ first game since losing their No. 1 ranking.
“I think we were really good defensively,” said Tennessee’s Lamonte’ Turner, who scored 12 points. “I think we guarded them well, and I think we disrupted a lot of their sets and stuff like that. Offensively for us, I think we turned down some shots, and some shots that normally fall didn’t fall tonight. You have those nights.”
Tennessee (24-2, 12-1 Southeastern Conference) bounced back from its first loss since Thanksgiving week, an 86-69 defeat at No. 4 Kentucky on Saturday to snap a school-record 19-game winning streak.
Vanderbilt (9-17, 0-13) dropped its 14th straight, matching the longest skid in school history. Vanderbilt had a 14-game losing streak that began in 1934-35 and carried over to the next season.
Even as the losses pile up, Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew remains upbeat.
“You saw the character of these guys, saw how hard they fight,” Drew said. “Losing’s not fun. It brings out the worst. But we’re building something here.”
No. 15 PURDUE 48, INDIANA 46
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Matt Haarms tipped in a basket with 3.2 seconds remaining to lift Purdue over Indiana.
Ryan Cline had 11 points, and Haarms finished with six for the Boilermakers (19-7, 12-3 Big Ten), who have won three straight at Assembly Hall for the first time in school history.
It didn’t come easily. Indiana’s Romeo Langford scored 14 points despite not taking a shot in the second half, and Juwan Morgan’s 3-pointer grazed the rim at the buzzer. Morgan had nine points and 11 rebounds as Indiana (13-13, 4-11) lost its fourth straight overall and fifth in a row in the series.
No. 16 FLORIDA STATE 77, CLEMSON 64
CLEMSON, S.C. — Mfiondu Kabengele had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Florida State set a program record with its eighth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference victory in a win over Clemson.
The Seminoles (21-5, 9-4 ACC) had not won this many consecutive league games since joining the conference before the 1991-92 season. They won 11 straight Metro Conference games in 1977-78.
Florida State used its size, strength and speed to keep the run going against the Tigers, holding on after seeing an 18-point edge cut to 59-52 with eight minutes left. That’s as close as Clemson (15-11, 5-8) would get in dropping its third in a row and getting swept by Florida State for the second time in three seasons.
BAYLOR 73, No. 19 IOWA STATE 69
AMES, Iowa — Iowa State might have blown its shot at the Big 12 title because it suddenly and somewhat inexplicably can’t win in Ames.
Jared Butler scored 17 points, Freddie Gillespie had 14 and Baylor upset No. 19 Iowa State 73-69 on Tuesday night.
Makia Mason scored 14 points on 18 shots in his return from a toe injury for the Bears (17-9, 8-5 Big 12). They outrebounded Iowa State 44-28 and grabbed 18 offensive boards over the smaller Cyclones, who’ve dropped back-to-back games at Hilton Coliseum — dubbed “Hilton Magic” because of how well the Cyclones typically play there.
“They came in here and kicked our butts,” Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said. “We’ve got to find a way to be tougher. That’s the bottom line.”
Iowa State’s 6-3 road record is the best in the Big 12.
But for the third time this season, the Cyclones lost a home game they were favored to win.
After trailing by 10 points midway through the first half, Iowa State went ahead 52-50 on Marial Shayok’s three-point play with 11:45 left. Baylor swapped the lead with the Cyclones (19-7, 8-5) seven times in the next eight minutes, but Butler followed a layup with a 3 to put the Bears ahead 69-65 with two minutes left.
“We just made a couple more shots down the stretch. I’m just really proud of the way our guys responded in a tough place to play down the stretch,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said.
No. 24 MARYLAND 66, No. 21 IOWA 65
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Bruno Fernando scored 11 points, including the last two on a putback with 7.8 seconds left, to lift Maryland to a win over Iowa.
Maryland (20-7, 11-5 Big Ten) gave up an 11-point lead over the final four minutes, but held on against an Iowa team that had won its last two games via buzzer-beater and had two looks at the basket in the final seven seconds. The Terrapins got 17 points from Anthony Cowan, who shot 5 of 10 from 3-point range and had eight rebounds. Eric Ayala added 11 points and Fernando had 11 rebounds.
Iowa (20-6, 9-6) saw its four-game winning streak end. The Hawkeyes were led by Jordan Bohannon, who had 14 points, and Isaiah Moss, who added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
No. 25 BUFFALO 114, OHIO 67
AMHERST, N.Y. — Jayvon Graves scored a career-high 26 points and Buffalo used a record-setting shooting performance to cruise to a win over Ohio for its 23rd straight home win.
CJ Massinburg (23 points), Jeenathan Williams (13 points, eight rebounds) Montell McRae (11 points, seven rebounds) and Graves led the way for the Bulls, who set school records for 3-pointers made (19) and point scored against a Division I opponent.
The Bulls (23-3, 11-2 Mid-American Conference) have won four straight and tied a team record for regular season victories set last season. Their 23-game home win streak is tied with Tennessee for the second-longest in the country.
Jason Carter led Ohio (11-14) with 16 points.