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Louisville’s Terrence Jennings dunks the ball over Syracuse’s Rick Jackson during the second half of Saturday’s game.
AP PHOTO
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kyle Kuric scored 23 points, Preston Knowles added 22 and Peyton Siva dropped in the clinching free throws in the final moments to lead No. 16 Louisville past slumping No. 12 Syracuse 73-69 on Saturday.
The Cardinals (19-6, 8-4 Big East) continued their mastery of the Orange (20-6, 7-6) behind some hot 3-point shooting and just enough defense to beat Syracuse for the seventh straight time.
Brandon Triche led the Orange with a season-high 21 points and Scoop Jardine had 20 points and four assists but Syracuse couldn’t quite erase a 20-point second-half deficit to lose for the sixth time in its last eight games.
The Orange pulled within three points twice in the final 2:10 but Louisville survived thanks to clutch free throws from Siva and Chris Smith.
Louisville was 13 of 27 from 3-point range to overcome Syracuse’s distinct size advantage.
No. 2 Kansas 89, Iowa St. 66
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Twin brothers Marcus and Markieff Morris each had a double-double and keyed a 23-4 first-half run for Kansas.
The lone loss for the Jayhawks (24-1, 9-1 Big 12) was a 74-63 setback to then-No. 10 Texas on Jan. 22 that ended their school-record home court winning streak at 69.
Marcus had 16 points and 11 rebounds while Markieff had 14 and 11 for his conference-leading ninth double-double.
The Cyclones (14-11, 1-9), the Big 12’s leading 3-point shooters, hit 14 of 32 from beyond the arc, including six straight at one point, but couldn’t recover from a 45-26 halftime deficit.
No. 3 Texas 69, Baylor 60
AUSTIN, Texas — Freshman Tristan Thompson had 17 points and 13 rebounds and Texas held off a furious rally by LaceDarius Dunn and Baylor to remain undefeated in the Big 12.
Dunn scored 22 points in the second half as Baylor cut an 18-point deficit to three in the final 2 minutes. Texas led 65-60 when Dunn’s 3-pointer rattled in and out of the rim with about 25 seconds left and Texas’ Gary Johnson made two free throws to put the game away.
Texas (22-3, 10-0) could have settled the game much earlier, but went 22 of 37 from the free throw line.
No. 8 Notre Dame 78, South Florida 55
TAMPA, Fla. — Jack Cooley came off the bench during an early 22-0 run and finished with a career-high 18 points to lead Notre Dame.
The victory is the seventh straight for the Fighting Irish (21-4, 10-3), who have won three straight Big East road games for the first time in 10 years.
Cooley made his first nine shots — giving him a stretch of 14 consecutive field goals over two games — before missing a 15-footer in the closing minutes.
Carleton Scott scored 13 points and Ben Hansbrough and Tim Abromaitis had 12 apiece for Notre Dame.
No. 23 Vanderbilt 81, No. 18 Kentucky 77
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins scored a career-high 32 points, including six 3-pointers.
With the win, the Commodores (18-6, 6-4) swept a three-game homestand that will keep them tied for second in the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern Division. They came into Saturday tied with Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee, two losses behind Florida.
Kentucky (17-7, 5-5) dropped to 1-5 on the road in the SEC this season and to the bottom of the East.
Jenkins had Vanderbilt’s first 30-point game against the Wildcats since Mike Rhodes on Jan. 19, 1980, with the Commodores’ first 30-point game since A.J. Ogilvy had 33 at LSU on March 4, 2009.
No. 19 Missouri 84, Oklahoma 61
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri overwhelmed Oklahoma with its bench, getting 16 points from Michael Dixon and 11 from Justin Safford.
Marcus Denmon, Missouri’s leading scorer with a 16.5 point average, was struck in the face under the Oklahoma basket with just under 18 minutes remaining and did not return, finishing with nine points. He was treated on the bench for several minutes before leaving the court.
Ricardo Ratliffe had 13 points for Missouri (19-6, 5-5 Big 12) and Laurence Bowers had eight points and nine rebounds.
Missouri is 15-0 at home and has led by at least 15 points in the last 10 games, but are 0-5 on the road in the conference.
No. 20 North Carolina 64, Clemson 62
CLEMSON, S.C. — Freshman Harrison Barnes scored 20 points and John Henson had 14 points and 12 rebounds as North Carolina bounced back from its collapse at Duke.
Barnes dunked with 3:01 left to put the Tar Heels (18-6, 8-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) ahead to stay at 53-51. Freshman Kendall Marshall followed with a steal of and made an easy layup to extend the lead.
Clemson (17-8, 6-5) cut a 61-53 lead to the final margin in the last 10 seconds with 3-pointers by Bryan Narcisse and Demontez Stitt, who led the Tigers with 17 points.
No. 22 Texas A&M 70, Texas Tech 67
LUBBOCK, Texas — Khris Middleton scored 16 points and Texas A&M handed Texas Tech its third straight loss.
The Aggies overcame a 10-point deficit in the first half.
D’wayln Roberts made a layup to pull Texas tech within 68-67 with less than 15 seconds left. B.J. Holmes hit two free throws to give the Aggies a 70-67 lead and 3-point tries by Brad Reese and John Roberson missed their mark.
No. 24 Temple 75, Dayton 63
DAYTON, Ohio — Ramone Moore scored 26 points and Temple won its sixth straight despite missing top rebounder Lavoy Allen.
Allen sprained his left ankle in Temple’s last game and didn’t play. The short-handed Owls (19-5, 9-2 Atlantic 10) held their own on the boards and let their defense do the rest. Scootie Randall added 17 points in a balanced offense.
Dayton (17-9, 5-6) shot 37 percent from the field against the A-10’s stingiest defense. Chris Wright led the Flyers with 15 points.
No. 25 West Virginia 82, DePaul 71
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — John Flowers led West Virginia’s balanced offense with 15 points.
Deniz Kilicli and Joe Mazzulla added 12 points apiece and Casey Mitchell and Truck Bryant both scored 11 for West Virginia (16-8, 7-5 Big East).
Brandon Young led DePaul (6-18, 0-12) with 14 points, while Jimmy Drew added 13.
The Mountaineers averaged 58 points in their six previous games, but they surpassed that figure midway through the second half.
No. 17 Florida 61, Tennessee 60
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Erving Walker hit a driving layup with 14 seconds left and No. 17 Florida overcame a six-point halftime deficit to beat Tennessee .
Walker led the Gators with 16 points and Kenny Boynton and Vernon Macklin each added 12. Alex Tyus chipped in 10 for Florida (20-5, 9-2 Southeastern Conference), which has won four straight and seven of eight.
Tennessee got 22 points from Scotty Hopson and 11 from Brian Williams. The Volunteers (15-10, 5-5) lost their third consecutive game and second in a row since coach Bruce Pearl returned from an eight-game SEC suspension for lying to NCAA investigators about a secondary violation.
No. 7 BYU 72, Utah 59
PROVO, Utah — Jimmer Fredette scored 23 points, fill-in starter Charles Abouo added 22 and No. 7 BYU pulled away late from rival Utah in their final regular-season meeting as Mountain West Conference foes.
Fredette scored 17 points in the final 9 minutes and 12 in a row to help the Cougars (24-2, 10-1 MWC) take control after the game was tied at 48.
Abouo, a junior from the Ivory Coast who entered with a season high of 13 points, scored 17 and grabbed six rebounds in the first half alone. He also finished with 10 rebounds.
Senior guard Jackson Emery also helped spark BYU’s second-half charge, after the Cougars led 31-30 at the break.