Green’s late layup sends No. 1 Auburn past Georgia 74-72

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Purdue forward Trevion Williams (50) reacts to the fans after Purdue defeated Michigan, 82-76, in an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, in West Lafayette, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Auburn guard Wendell Green Jr. drives past Georgia guard Aaron Cook (10) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
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ATHENS, Ga. — Wendell Green Jr. made a tie-breaking layup with four seconds remaining and No. 1 Auburn got past Georgia 74-72 Saturday, extending the nation’s longest winning streak to 19 games.

Auburn (22-1, 10-0 Southeastern Conference) continued its dominant run through the league. But the Tigers, who won their first nine SEC games by about 12 points per game, were tested in the second half by last-place Georgia (6-17, 1-9).

Following Green’s go-ahead layup, Georgia’s Aaron Cook missed a long jumper. A drive by Cook had given Georgia a 72-70 lead before K.D. Johnson tied the game with a layup.

Johnson, who led Auburn with 20 points, transferred to Auburn following his freshman season at Georgia and was loudly booed during pregame introductions. Green had 19 for the Tigers, while standout freshman Jabari Smith had seven points and six rebounds. Walker Kessler had 10 points with nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

Kario Oquendo led Georgia with 25 points, including six in an 11-0 run early in the second half that trimmed Auburn’s lead to 48-47. Jaxon Etter’s 3-pointer capped the burst. Two free throws by Jabri Abdur-Rahim gave the Bulldogs their first lead at 58-56.

NO. 4 PURDUE 82, MICHIGAN 76

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Jaden Ivey scored 23 points and Trevion Williams added 19 as Purdue snapped a five-game losing streak to Michigan and became the first team to reach 1,000 Big Ten wins.

It was Boilermakers coach Matt Painter’s 400th victory as a coach, 375 at Purdue and 25 at Southern Illinois.

Williams came off the bench to hit 7 of 8 shots for the Boilermakers (20-3, 9-3 Big Ten). Zach Edey contributed 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Hunter Dickinson led the Wolverines (11-9, 5-5) with 28 points, tying his career high. Dickinson has scored 20 or more points in six of the past seven games. Devante’ Jones added 13 and Caleb Houstan 11 points for Michigan.

NO. 7 ARIZONA 72, NO. 19 SOUTHERN CAL 63

TUCSON, Ariz. — Azuolas Tubelis scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Kerr Kriisa added 13 points as the Wildcats extended their home unbeaten streak to 15 games dating to last season.

Arizona (19-2, 9-1 Pac-12) also defeated No. 3 UCLA 76-66 on Thursday and is 13-0 at home this season.

Isaiah Mobley led the Trojans (19-4, 9-4) with 15 points.

USC went on a 10-0 run midway through the second half to take a 60-54 lead, but Arizona responded with a 10-point run of its own and never trailed again.

NO. 9 DUKE 87, NORTH CAROLINA 67

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Freshman A.J. Griffin scored a season-high 27 points in retiring Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final visit to Chapel Hill.

The Blue Devils shot 58% and took all drama out of the renewal of the famed rivalry early in both halves, building a big lead and then stretching it back out after the Tar Heels made a run to climb back in it.

The win allowed Duke (19-3, 9-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) to send Krzyzewski off with a 17th and final victory in the Smith Center, where he coached against the Tar Heels in its opening game in January 1986.

Duke rolled to a 31-8 lead, then rode a star-level performance from Griffin, who put on a show to start the second half with his own 10-0 run that featured two 3s.

Brady Manek scored 21 points to lead the Tar Heels (16-7, 8-4), who swept last season’s rivalry series.

NO. 10 KANSAS 83, NO. 8 BAYLOR 59

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Christian Braun and Ochai Agbaji each scored 18 points as Kansas held on to the top spot in the Big 12 Conference race.

The Jayhawks (19-3, 8-1) led by as many as 34 points late in the game.

Baylor (19-4, 7-3) had won nine straight games against Top 10 opponents, but the Bears never got close to extending that streak. After scoring the first basket, they quickly fell behind 12-2 and their deficit kept increasing.

Jalen Wilson scored 15 for Kansas. Braun had 10 rebounds and Agbaji had nine as the Jayhawks grabbed a 46-37 advantage on the boards.

Adam Flagler had 16 points for Baylor and Kendall Brown added 12.

NO. 11 WISCONSIN, 51, PENN STATE 49

MADISON, Wis. — Tyler Wahl made a tie-breaking layup with 30.5 seconds left to help extend Wisconsin’s home winning streak in the series to 21.

After Myles Dread’s layup with 51 seconds remaining capped a 9-0 run to tie the game for Penn State (9-10, 4-7 Big Ten), Wahl’s basket put Wisconsin back ahead.

Wisconsin (18-4, 9-3) still had two fouls to give and used both of them over the next 24 seconds. With 6.1 seconds left, Penn State’s Jalen Pickett threw an inbounds pass to Dread, whose deep 3-point attempt bounced off the back rim.

Steven Crowl had 13 points and a career-high five assists for Wisconsin, which also got 12 points from Wahl and 10 from Chucky Hepburn. Johnny Davis shot 2 of 13 and scored just four points.

Sam Sessoms scored 14 to lead the Nittany Lions, who because of weather delays landed in Madison about 2½ hours before the scheduled tipoff.

NO. 12 VILLANOVA 85, NO. 17 UCONN 74

PHILADELPHIA — Eric Dixon scored a career-high 24 points as Villanova won its fifth game of the season against a Top 25 team.

Dixon had the breakout game of his two-year career and cruised past his previous best high of 15 points. He also grabbed 12 rebounds for the Wildcats (17-6, 10-3) and keyed a 12-0 run in the second half that busted the game open.

Villanova sealed the win at the free-throw line, making 21 of 22 overall.

Collin Gillespie scored 19 before he left with an injury late in the game. Villanova’s leading scorer grimaced as he was helped off the court and went straight to the locker room. He sat on the bench at the end of the game.

RJ Cole led the Huskies (15-6, 6-4) with 25 points.

RUTGERS 84, NO. 13 MICHIGAN STATE 63

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Paul Mulcahy had his first-career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 12 assists and Ron Harper Jr. added 17 points to key the rout.

Dean Reiber added a career-high 12 points and Caleb McConnell had 11 points, nine rebounds and four steals for the Scarlet Knights (13-9, 7-5 Big Ten).

Michigan State (17-4, 8-3) was led by Gabe Brown with 20 points, five rebounds and a steal. Marcus Bingham Jr. added 12 points and two blocks.

Rutgers led by two at halftime but scored the first seven points of the second half to take charge. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo received a technical foul for arguing a call and Harper hit both free throws to give Rutgers its largest lead of the game at the time, 47-38 with 17:41 left.

The Scarlet Knights led by as many as 23.

NO. 14 TEXAS TECH 60, WEST VIRGINIA 53

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Bryson Williams scored 15 points and Terrence Shannon sparked a second-half comeback for Texas Tech, which won for the second time in six road games.

Texas Tech (18-5, 7-3 Big 12) has won three straight and five of the last six, with the lone loss at Kansas in double overtime.

Davion Warren added 11 points and Kevin McCullar scored 10 for the Red Raiders.

Jalen Bridges scored 16 points and Sean McNeil added 15 for West Virginia (13-9, 2-7), which has lost seven straight, tied for the worst under coach Bob Huggins.

West Virginia’s Taz Sherman, the Big 12’s second-leading scorer, missed the game with a concussion after getting hit in the jaw late in a loss at Baylor on Monday.

NO. 18 ILLINOIS 74, INDIANA 57

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Trent Frazier scored 23 points and Kofi Cockburn added 17 as Illinois surged to its fourth straight win.

Cockburn also had eight rebounds, falling two short of tying Skip Thoren’s school record for double-doubles. Thoren had 41 from 1963-65.

The Fighting Illini (17-5, 10-2 Big Ten) have won the last two on the Hoosiers’ home floor.

Indiana (16-6, 7-5) was led by Race Thompson with 13 points and six rebounds. Xavier Johnson had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists on a day preseason All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis struggled again with foul trouble. He finished with six points in 23 minutes.

DEPAUL 69, NO. 21 XAVIER 65

CINCINNATI — Courvoisier McCauley scored 21 points and Jalen Terry had 13 as short-handed DePaul snapped a four-game losing streak.

Javan Johnson scored 12 points and David Jones had 10 for DePaul (11-10, 2-9 Big East).

Paul Scruggs led the Musketeers (16-6, 6-5) with 21 points. Jack Nunge made his fourth straight start after coming off the bench in 17 of the first 18 games and scored 12 points.

It was Xavier’s first loss this season against an unranked opponent.

The Musketeers got off to another slow start and fell behind by as many as 13 points in the opening half before rallying to take a five-point lead in the second.

The Blue Demons went on a 13-0 run to regain control.

NO. 23 TEXAS 63, NO. 20 IOWA STATE 41

AUSTIN, Texas — Marcus Carr and Andrew Jones each scored 14 points as Texas used a barrage of 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the second half to pull away.

Carr’s 3-pointer at the start of the period was the first of six over nine minutes as the Longhorns stretched a two-point halftime lead to double digits. Courtney Ramey added 10 points for the Longhorns (17-6, 6-4 Big 12).

Izaiah Brockington scored 12 for Iowa State (16-7, 3-7). But Brockington, who had averaged nearly 22 points the previous three games, made just one basket in the second half.

NO. 22 TENNESSEE 81, SOUTH CAROLINA 57

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Zakai Zeigler tied his career high with 18 points, all in the second half, including back-to-back 3-pointers that broke open a tight game as Tennessee won its fifth straight Southeastern Conference game.

Josiah-Jordan James finished with a career-high 20 points for the Vols (16-6, 7-3 SEC), who were up just 40-37 early in the second half when Zeigler got things going.

Devin Carter and Erik Stevenson had 13 points each to lead South Carolina (13-9, 4-6).

VANDERBILT 75, NO. 25 LSU 66

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rodney Chatman scored a season-high 24 points as Vanderbilt pulled off its biggest win of the season.

Vanderbilt (12-10, 4-6 Southeastern Conference) has won two of its last three. Coach Jerry Stackhouse is now 2-9 against top 25 teams, and both have come against LSU and coach Will Wade, a Nashville native, inside Memorial Gym on the same date.

LSU (16-7, 4-6) has lost three straight and six of seven.

Myles Stute finished with 17 points and Jordan Wright added 13 for Vandy. Scotty Pippen Jr., the SEC’s leading scorer averaging 19.3 points a game, was held to seven points but had nine assists.

Tari Eason led LSU with 16 points, 14 in the second half. Eric Gaines had 14, and Darius Days added 10 points and 11 rebounds.