Louisville Overcomes Cincinnati
Freshman forward Juan Palacios scored 17 points and banked in an unlikely three-point basket to seal No. 9 Louisville’s 77-70 Conference USA victory over No. 18 Cincinnati on Wednesday night at Louisville, Ky.
Taquan Dean scored 19, and the 6-foot-8 Palacios shot eight for 10 and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Cardinals, who have won eight in a row, improved to 19-3 overall and 7-1 in the conference.
Louisville led, 68-64, entering the last 90 seconds of the game, and with the shot clock ticking under 10 seconds guard Brandon Jenkins got caught in a double team near halfcourt. Palacios went to help and when Jenkins leaped and passed him the ball, Palacios turned and made the straight-on bank shot from five feet beyond the three-point line.
Palacios had made only 16 three-pointers this season.
Eric Hicks matched a career high with 21 points to lead Cincinnati (17-4, 6-2), which lost to Louisville for the sixth time in their last 10 meetings.
The Bearcats held the Cardinals’ leading scorer Francisco Garcia to 11 points, but Cincinnati shot poorly, going 23 of 61 from the field (38%) and four of 18 from three-point range.
No. 10 Oklahoma St. 77, Kansas State 57 -- Joey Graham scored 23 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, John Lucas III had 19 points and 10 assists, and the Cowboys (16-3, 6-2) defeated the Wildcats (13-5, 3-4) in a Big 12 game at Stillwater, Okla. Oklahoma State extended its home winning streak to 26 games, longest in the nation.
No. 14 Oklahoma 69, Texas A&M; 65 -- Taj Gray scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half and the Sooners (17-3, 6-1) overcame a 16-point deficit to beat the Aggies (14-5, 3-5) in a Big 12 game at Norman, Okla. Drew Lavender gave Oklahoma the lead for good with a three-pointer from the corner with 5:36 left.
No. 19 Wisconsin 73, Northwestern 58 -- Kammron Taylor’s 18 points led five players in double figures as the Badgers (15-4, 6-2) defeated the Wildcats (9-11, 2-6) in a Big Ten game at Madison, Wis. Wisconsin played without leading scorer Alando Tucker for the second consecutive game because of a foot injury.
No. 23 Connecticut 81, No. 24 Villanova 76 -- Rashad Anderson scored 21 points and a made key block in the closing seconds to lead the Huskies (13-5, 5-3) to a Big East victory over the Wildcats (12-5, 4-4) at Hartford, Conn.
No. 25 Georgia Tech 64, Florida State 61 -- Will Bynum made up for a poor first half by making a three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left to give the Yellow Jackets (13-6, 4-4) an Atlantic Coast Conference victory over the Seminoles (11-0, 3-5) at Atlanta.