Kansas Regains Its Winning Ways

If this game does not ultimately decide the Big 12 Conference championship, it should have.

No. 8 Kansas shot 66% from the field, No. 4 Oklahoma State shot 59% and both old rivals played almost flawlessly in key stretches Sunday before the Jayhawks emerged with an 81-79 victory at Lawrence, Kan., ending their first three-game losing streak in 11 years.

Aaron Miles made a running layup with 37 seconds left for the Jayhawks (21-4, 11-3), who have a one-game lead over the Cowboys (20-5, 10-4) and No. 22 Oklahoma with two games to play.

Oklahoma State freshman James- On Curry was fouled with 25 seconds left. He made the second free throw to make it a one-point game. Miles was fouled with 19 seconds to go, and he made the second to give the Jayhawks an 81-79 lead.

John Lucas, one of four senior starters for Oklahoma State, made his first nine shots but missed a long three-point attempt seconds before the final buzzer.

No. 2 North Carolina 85, Maryland 83 -- Raymond Felton made a tiebreaking layup with 19 seconds left, and Sean May blocked a shot just before the buzzer as the Tar Heels (24-3, 12-2) beat the Terrapins (16-10, 7-8) on the road for the first time since 2001. The Tar Heels remained alone atop the Atlantic Coast Conference standings with their fifth consecutive win.

No. 6 Wake Forest 90, Virginia 68 -- The Demon Deacons (24-4, 11-3), who improved to 15-0 at home this season, remained in contention for the regular-season ACC title by beating the Cavaliers (13-12, 4-10).

Wake Forest is one game behind North Carolina, but it holds the tiebreaker over the Tar Heels, and can earn the top seeding in the ACC tournament by winning its final two games and getting one loss from the Tar Heels.

Indiana 78, No. 10 Michigan State 74 -- D.J. White scored the tying basket in the closing seconds of regulation and the go-ahead basket in overtime to lead the Hoosiers (14-11, 9-5 Big Ten) at Bloomington, Ind.

White scored with 17 seconds left, sending the game into overtime at 64-64. The Spartans (20-5, 11-3) took the lead for the last time at 66-64, but the Hoosiers scored eight points in a row to clinch the victory.

No. 20 Wisconsin 64, Ohio State 56 -- The victory at Columbus, Ohio, enabled the Badgers (18-7, 9-5) to remain tied for third place in the Big Ten with Indiana. The Buckeyes (18-10, 7-7) lost their second in a row after winning six of seven.

Wisconsin came in permitting opponents to shoot a Big Ten-leading 31% from three-point range. The Badgers limited Ohio State to 23% (five for 22).

No. 23 Villanova 67, Georgetown 56 -- The victory at Washington moved the Wildcats (19-6, 9-5) into sole possession of fourth place in the Big East Conference.

Though they were thought to have almost certainly assured themselves of an NCAA tournament berth, the Hoyas (16-9, 8-6) have lost three in a row and probably need at least two more wins to have a realistic shot for their first NCAA bid since 2001.

OTHER GAMES

David Lee’s follow shot with 12.6 seconds left capped a furious second-half rally as Florida came from 17 points down to beat South Carolina, 66-65, at Columbia, S.C. The Gators (18-7, 10-4 Southeastern Conference) beat the Gamecocks (14-11, 6-8) for the ninth time in a row and 13th time in the last 14 meetings. Lee got the rebound -- one of his 14 -- after a Florida miss and scored what turned out to be the winning basket.

Nebraska (13-12, 6-8 Big 12) followed up its upset of No. 4 Oklahoma State on Tuesday with a 78-69 victory over Iowa State (15-10, 7-7) at Ames, Iowa, that dealt a setback to the Cyclones’ NCAA tournament hopes. Iowa State (15-10, 7-7) has lost two in a row after putting together a seven-game winning streak that included victories over four top 25 teams.

Josh Almanson scored the go-ahead basket with six seconds left, giving host Bowling Green a 57-56 victory over Miami of Ohio. The Falcons (17-8, 10-6 Mid-American Conference) tied Western Michigan for first place in the West Division, with the teams scheduled to play Wednesday night in Kalamazoo, Mich. The RedHawks (17-8, 11-5) saw their lead in the East Division fall to one game over Buffalo, Akron, Kent State and Ohio.