Top-25 College Basketball Game Capsules
Syracuse, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – C.J. Fair totaled 19 points and seven rebounds and No. 1 Syracuse stayed unbeaten with a 57-44 victory over Clemson on Sunday. Jerami Grant and Trevor Cooney added 12 and 11 points, respectively, for Syracuse (23-0, 10-0 ACC), which will put its perfect record on the line when it travels to visit No. 25 Pittsburgh on Wednesday. K.J. McDaniels deposited 19 points with 10 boards to lead Clemson (15-7, 6-4), which had taken down Syracuse in both of the previous meetings between the two programs. McDaniels hit 6-of-13 from the floor while the rest of the Tigers shot an abysmal 8-of-28.
Final Score: (2) Arizona 76, Oregon State 54
Tucson, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) – Arizona’s second go-round without Brandon Ashley was a lot easier than its first. Aaron Gordon had 17 points and five rebounds and the second-ranked Wildcats routed Oregon State, 76-54, on Sunday night. The 6-foot-8 sophomore Ashley will miss the rest of the season after suffering a foot injury in last Saturday’s loss to California. He was averaging 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds in 22 games. Arizona missed his rebounding presence in its 67-65 triumph over Oregon Thursday. The Wildcats (23-1, 10-1 Pac-12), who came in leading the Pac-12 in rebounding (38.8 rpg), were outrebounded by Oregon 40-35, but held a 39-24 advantage on the boards Sunday. Ashley’s replacement in the starting lineup, freshman Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, tallied 16 points and five boards in the victory. Roberto Nelson, the conference’s scoring leader (21.9 ppg), was limited to 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting for Oregon State (13-10, 5-6), which has dropped three of its last five games.
Final Score: Wisconsin 60, (9) Michigan State 58
Madison, WI (SportsNetwork.com) – Traevon Jackson’s pull-up jumper in the final seconds helped Wisconsin snap a rare three-game home losing streak with a 60-58 triumph over No. 9 Michigan State. Wisconsin (19-5, 6-5 Big Ten) led 58-53 with 30 seconds remaining when the Spartans’ Gary Harris, who shot a career-worst 3-of-20, canned a deep two out of a timeout. Ben Brust then missed the front end of a one-and-one for the Badgers, and Adreian Payne looked to send the game into overtime with his triple from the top of the key. But Jackson had other ideas. The Badgers’ point guard sprinted the length of the court, put a move on Harris and pulled up on a dime, draining the mid-range jumper with less than three seconds to play. Travis Trice’s halfcourt heave was off the mark as the buzzer sounded. Freshman Nigel Hayes paced Wisconsin with 14 points off the bench. Sam Dekker and Josh Gasser added 11 points apiece, while Jackson finished with seven points, eight assists and five boards. The Badgers snapped a five-game losing skid to Michigan State (20-4, 9-2).
Final Score: St. John’s 70, (12) Creighton 65
New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – D’Angelo Harrison scored 19 points to lead St. John’s to a 70-65 win over No. 12 Creighton on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Chris Obekpa had 11 points as the only other player in double figures for the Red Storm (15-9, 5-6 Big East). The win marked the 200th of St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin’s career. Doug McDermott led all scorers with 25 points in defeat. St. John’s Jakarr Sampson had the assignment of guarding one of the nation’s top scorers and did an excellent job in doing so. Sampson didn’t allow a single shot attempt from McDermott in the final 8 1/2 minutes. Grant Gibbs recorded a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double and Austin Chatman added 10 points for the Blue Jays (19-4, 9-2), who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Final Score: (22) Connecticut 75, UCF 55
Orlando, FL (SportsNetwork.com) – Shabazz Napier and Lasan Kromah each recorded 17 points and seven rebounds as 22nd-ranked Connecticut rolled to a 75-55 victory over UCF in an American Athletic Conference clash. Kromah finished 7-of-11 from the field and Napier added six assists in addition to knocking down 3-of-4 attempts from 3-point range. DeAndre Daniels contributed 16 points and seven boards to help Connecticut (18-5, 6-4 AAC) bounce back strongly from Thursday’s tough loss at conference-leading Cincinnati. Isaiah Sykes paced UCF (9-12, 1-9) with 17 points and five assists, with Justin McBride tallying 13 points off the bench in defeat. The loss was the Golden Knights’ eighth in a row, a skid that began with an 84-61 drubbing at the hands of the Huskies on Jan. 11.
Categorized in: NCAA Basketball