Saturday's men's basketball scoreboard features 15 ranked teams, including a pair of top-25 matchups in the SEC — one of which might lead to history for the winning team.
Here's everything you need to know from Saturday's men's college basketball action.
Top-25 scores
- No. 2 Auburn 80, No. 12 Kentucky 71
- No. 5 Baylor 65, Oklahoma 51
- No. 6 Duke 79, Syracuse 59
- No. 7 Kansas 78, Kansas State 75
- No. 9 UCLA 71, Colorado 65
- No. 10 Houston 79, East Carolina 36
- No. 11 Villanova 85, Georgetown 74
- No. 24 Tennessee 64, No. 13 LSU 50
- TCU 59, No. 15 Iowa State 44
- No. 16 Southern California 79, Utah 67
- No. 18 Texas Tech 78, West Virginia 65
- Missouri State 79, No. 22 Loyola Chicago 69
- No. 23 Texas 56, Oklahoma State 51
Click or tap here to view Saturday's complete scoreboard.
Auburn could make history after beating No. 12 Kentucky
In the latest AP Top 25 poll that was released on Jan. 16, Auburn fell just four points shy of earning the No. 1 ranking for the first time ever in program history. No. 1 Gonzaga received 1,486 points, compared to Auburn's 1,482.
It was the first poll after then-No. 1 Baylor became the first-ever top-ranked team to drop two home games in the same week and the Tigers – which rank No. 14 nationally in terms of programs that have been ranked the most often in the AP poll without being No. 1, according to – was squarely in the mix for consideration for the top spot. (Click here for a breakdown of the schools that have been ranked the most without reaching No. 1.)
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Auburn had to settle for No. 2 in the AP poll, but Saturday, the Tigers showed why they could be deserving of the No. 1 spot for the first time in school history after they defeated the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats 80-71.
Here's how it happened.
In a matchup between some of the country's premier frontcourt players – Auburn's Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler versus Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe – each performed admirably, with Tshiebwe recording a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double with four blocks, while Kessler scored a team-high 19 points, repeatedly finishing on uncontested alley-oops following Auburn drives, and Smith had 14. Both Tigers also had seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Tshiebwe had two more rebounds than the rest of his teammates combined.
Kentucky's backcourt had a challenging afternoon, physically. Freshman guard TyTy Washington Jr. played just nine minutes and he was forced to leave the game in the first half after he landed awkwardly on Tshiebwe's foot after attempting a shot. Another 'Cats guard, Sahvir Wheeler, twice crashed to the ground hard after collisions with Kessler.
One of Auburn's emotional and offensive spark plugs, guard K.D. Johnson had an efficient 17-point afternoon on 4-of-6 shooting.
Auburn got to the free throw line repeatedly, where it made 24 of 29 attempts. Kentucky shot well from the line, 80 percent, but took just 10 attempts.
Given the slim margin between Gonzaga and Auburn in the AP poll, it could only take one AP poll voter to move the Tigers up significantly for the Tigers to reach No. 1 for the first time ever.
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Florida State wins at Miami to claim share of ACC lead
What a week for Florida State. The team went 3-0 this week, with one-point wins over ACC foes No. 6 Duke and Miami sandwiching a non-conference win over North Florida. The victory over the Blue Devils came at home in overtime and on Saturday, Florida State went to Miami and became just the second team to beat the Hurricanes in Coral Gables this season.
Since the start of December, Miami is 0-2 against Florida State (with both losses coming in a 12-day span) and the 'Canes are 10-0 against everyone else they've played. While Florida State made just three of 12 3-point attempts, it shot 55 percent inside the arc and dominated the glass on both ends of the floor, grabbing 36.7 percent of available offensive rebounds and 77.8 percent of possible defensive rebounds, per .
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The rebound margin was 39-27 in favor of Florida State.
Florida State appeared to be on track to coast to a road win, leading by 24 points at halftime, 43-19, thanks to a last-second three from Wyatt Wilkes. Florida State still carried a double-digit lead with seven minutes to play, but in front of its home crowd, Miami roared back in the second half. Miami's Isaiah Wong scored nine consecutive of Miami's points, including a four-point play that cut Florida State's lead to 61-58 with 1:22 remaining. Wong's steal of Florida State's Caleb Mills led to a dunk from Sam Waardenburg, which cut the deficit to 61-60, and Miami was able to force a shot-clock turnover on Florida State's next possession, but Wong missed the potential game-winner and Florida State was able to escape with a road win.
Now, Florida State and Miami are tied atop the ACC standings, each with a 6-2 conference record and one win ahead of Duke, and with Florida State responsible for both of Miami's conference losses.
Baylor follows 0-2 week with 2-0 week
One week after becoming the first-ever No. 1-ranked team to lose two home games in the same week, Baylor – now ranked No. 5 – got back to its winning ways, following up the losses with a road win at West Virginia, which is never an easy task, and another road victory over Oklahoma.
Despite the less-than-fortunate history the Bears made last week, the sky is not falling in Waco, as Baylor is now 17-2 (5-2 Big 12) and squarely in contention for another regular-season conference title and potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
On Saturday, four Bears scored in double figures in a balanced scoring effort with Adam Flagler scoring a team-high 16 points, followed by LJ Cryer's 14, Matthew Mayer's 12 and Kendall Brown's 10.
It wasn't a banner day for ball-handling or passing, with 42 combined turnovers, but Oklahoma committed 25 of them, including seven from guard Jordan Goldwire. Baylor finished with 16 steals and five Bears had multiple steals.
Next up for Baylor is a home game against Kansas State before a trip to Alabama in Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Kansas overcomes 17-point deficit against Kansas State
After Baylor and Texas Tech won on Saturday to improve to 5-2 in Big 12 play, Kansas rallied to beat rival Kansas State 78-75 on the road to hold onto its conference lead. The Jayhawks are 5-1 in conference play.
Kansas State scored 50 points in the first half and its first basket after halftime, a 3-pointer by Nijel Pack, gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game, 53-36. But Kansas State managed just 22 points in the final 19 minutes, while Kansas scored 42. Kansas scored some of its most pivotal points at the free throw line – Ochai Agbaji made one of two to cut Kansas State's lead to 75-70, then David McCormack sank a pair and Agbaji made two more, bringing the Jayhawks within one.
Kansas' Christian Braun blocked Markquis Nowell and then Nowell missed a three, setting up Agbaji to put Kansas ahead 76-75 with a layup with seven seconds left. Pack missed a potential go-ahead three and Agbaji made two more free throws to reach the game's final margin.
Agbaji scored a game-high 29 points, while three other Kansas starters scored in double figures. Kansas nearly doubled up Kansas State on the boards, 47-24.
Unranked TCU beats No. 15 Iowa State by 15
Iowa State, once one of the country's last remaining undefeated teams after a 12-0 start, has come back down to Earth as it has embarked on Big 12 play – the conference that labels as the best in the country. On Saturday, the Cyclones lost their second game in a row, while scoring just 44 points in a 15-point home loss to unranked TCU.
In Sports Reference's database, which dates back to the 2010-11 season, that's Iowa State's lowest point total in the last decade-plus. The Cyclones are now 2-5 in Big 12 play.
In the loss, Iowa State made just 3 of its 26 3-point attempts, or 11.5 percent, and TCU wasn't all that much better with a 4-for-15 3-point shooting performance. The Cyclones also made fewer than 50 percent of their 2-point attempts.
Izaiah Brockington scored 19 points but no other Cyclone scored more than seven. TCU's Damion Baugh scored a game-high 23 points.
Tennessee holds LSU to lowest point total since 2016
In one of two top-25 matchups in the SEC that took place Saturday, No. 24 Tennessee handed No. 13 LSU a 64-50 loss, which was the first time the Tigers had scored 50 points or fewer since November 2016, when they scored 47 against Wichita State.
Tennessee, led by Santiago Vescovi's 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, made 10 3-pointers, while LSU made just four of its 19 attempts from deep. The Tigers had 14 turnovers and only had seven free throw attempts.
Tennessee is now 4-3 in the SEC, while LSU is 3-4 and the Tigers are riding a three-game losing streak.
UCLA squeaks out win at Colorado
In a day filled with hot starts in the first half, another team gets outscored in the second half and still won. This time No. 9 UCLA beat Colorado 71-65. The Bruins got out to a 43-28 lead at the half thanks to a 17-7 run to close out the first.
Things would get closer in the second with Colorado bringing it within three with around three minutes left to play. But, UCLA would stave off the Buffaloes to win.
Johnny Juzang led the team in scoring with 23 points along with six rebounds and two assists. Only one other Bruin scored double digits (Jaime Jaquez Jr. - 14).
UCLA will face off with No. 3 Arizona Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. This will be the one of the Bruins' biggest tests so far this season and will play a factor in the hunt for the Pac-12 regular season championship with both teams currently sitting atop conference standings.
