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OMAHA, Neb. — Jalen Brunson scored a career-high 27 points, and No. 1 Villanova extended its school-record winning streak to 20 games with an 80-70 victory over No. 10 Creighton on Saturday.
The game marked only the second time in Big East history that two unbeaten teams met in a conference game, and it lived up to the hype until the Wildcats (14-0, 2-0) pulled away in the final minutes.
Kris Jenkins added 21 points and Josh Hart had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the defending national champions.
Marcus Foster led the Bluejays (13-1, 1-1) with 22 points. Justin Patton had 18 points and eight rebounds.
After Isaiah Zierden’s 3-pointer with 4:47 left tied it at 66, the Bluejays missed four straight shots before Maurice Watson Jr. snaked his way for a layup to cut the deficit to five with a minute left. The Wildcats made all six of their free throws in the last 36 seconds to finish off the win.
Virginia Tech 89,
No. 5 Duke 75
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Justin Bibbs scored 18 points to lead Virginia Tech to the upset in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.
Bibbs broke out of a season-long slump, hitting 6 of 9 from the field, including a season-high four 3-pointers for the Hokies (12-1, 1-0), who won their eighth straight game.
Virginia Tech snapped a nine-game losing streak to Duke (12-2, 0-1), which played without preseason All-America Grayson Allen, who was suspended indefinitely by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski after tripping an Elon player on Dec. 21 — the third such incident in Allen’s career.
The Hokies led from start to finish, jumping out to a 47-31 halftime lead. The Blue Devils got as close to 52-41 in the second half after a 3-pointer by Luke Kennard with 15:29 remaining, but got no closer.
No. 6 Louisville 77,
No. 16 Indiana 62
INDIANAPOLIS — Donovan Mitchell scored a career-high 25 points and Deng Adel had 17 for Louisville.
The Cardinals (12-2) closed out their non-conference schedule with three wins over Top 20 teams.
OG Anunoby finished with 14 points and James Blackmon Jr. added 10 as the Hoosiers (10-4) lost for the second time in four days.
Louisville broke open a close game with a 15-4 run late in the first half and led 39-27 at halftime.
Georgia Tech 75,
No. 9 North Carolina 63
ATLANTA — Josh Okogie scored 26 points and Ben Lammers had 11 points and 11 rebounds as Georgia Tech pulled off a major upset in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.
Justin Jackson finished with 16 points and Nate Britt scored 13 for the Tar Heels, who committed a season-high 20 turnovers. North Carolina (12-3, 0-1) never led after Okogie hit two free throws with 11:59 remaining.
No. 20 Florida St. 60,
No. 12 Virginia 58
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Dwayne Bacon scored 26 of his 29 points after halftime and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 4 seconds left for Florida State.
Bacon scored the last seven points during a 9-0 run for the Seminoles (14-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) that turned a 51-49 deficit into a 56-51 lead, and then answered quickly after Kyle Guy’s 3-pointer had given Virginia a 58-57 lead with 8.8 seconds to play.
Guy scored 14 points and three others had 10 for Virginia (11-2, 1-1), which lost for just the second time in its last 37 ACC home games.
No. 17 Xavier 81,
Georgetown 76
WASHINGTON — Edmond Sumner scored a career-high 28 points on his birthday and J. P. Macura added 23 for Xavier.
The Musketeers (12-2, 2-0 Big East) trailed by six points early in the second half, but slowly chipped away at the deficit. Macura’s 3-pointer put Xavier up for good at 62-59 with 8:23 remaining and his two free throws capped a 13-5 run to give the Musketeers their largest lead, 72-64 with 3:58 remaining.
L.J. Peak scored 21 points for the Hoyas (8-6, 0-2). Rodney Pryor had 20 including 10 straight for Georgetown after Macura’s free throws. Trailing 77-74, Pryor missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining.
No. 24 Notre Dame 78,
Pittsburgh 77, OT
PITTSBURGH — Steve Vasturia knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing with 2.5 seconds left in overtime for Notre Dame.
The Panthers took a 77-75 lead on a runner by Jamel Artis with 41 seconds to play. Vasturia missed a shot but grabbed his own rebound with 21 seconds left. The Irish reset their offense and Vasturia ended up with the ball in the corner. He faked a shot, took a step to his right and made the 3-pointer right in front of the Notre Dame bench to quiet a raucous Petersen Events Center.