TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Anthony Dell’Orso scored a season-high 22 points after coming off the bench, Ivan Kharchenkov added 18 and No. 4 Arizona bounced back from its first two losses of the season by beating No. 23 BYU 75-68. Arizona started the season with 23 consecutive wins, spending nine straight weeks as the nation’s No. 1 team before losing back-to-back games to No. 9 Kansas and No. 16 Texas Tech. Dell’Orso helped the Wildcats get back in the win column after shooting 8 of 15 from the field, including 4 of 8 on 3-pointers. BYU was led by freshman star AJ Dybantsa, who finished with 35 points on 13-of-28 shooting.
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — No. 8 Kansas defeated Oklahoma State 81-69 as freshman Darryn Peterson scored 20 of his 23 points before halftime. He hit six three-pointers and bounced back after a recent shooting slump. Tre White scored 16 points and Elmarko Jackson added 14 for Kansas. Parsa Fallah scored 21 points and Anthony Roy added 16 for Oklahoma State. Kansas made 11 of 24 3-pointers and bounced back from a loss at Iowa State last Saturday. Oklahoma State was coming off a tough overtime home loss to TCU and could have used a quality win to strengthen its NCAA Tournament resume.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Seydou Traore scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds and Utah held off West Virginia’s desperate rally beating the Mountaineers 61-56. Reserve Chance Moore and Honor Huff scored 12 points for West Virginia. Utah led 59-56 with 5.6 seconds left when West Virginia intentionally fouled Traore who missed both foul shots. Jasper Floyd grabbed the defensive rebound but then threw a pass attempt out of bounds trying to connect with Huff. Brown made a pair of foul shots to seal it.
HOUSTON (AP) — Marta Suarez scored 21 points with the help of 5-for-10 shooting from 3-point range and No. 12-ranked TCU women throttled Houston 72-50. Kyndall Hunter scored 20 points for Houston. TCU built an 11-6 lead through the midway the first quarter and never trailed. The Horned Frogs led 19-8 at the end of one and 41-19 at the half. Houston produced its best offensive quarter in the third scoring 18 points shooting 6 of 16 but were still outscored 22-18.
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Reserve Snudda Collins scored 23 points on 9-for-15 shooting and 20th-ranked Texas Tech waylaid No. 15 Baylor 87-56. The Lady Raiders shot 56% (34 of 61). Taliah Scott and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs each scored 13 for Baylor, which shot 36%. The Lady Raiders built a 12-6 lead by the midway point of the first quarter and never trailed. Collins made a 3-pointer and followed with a layup to give Texas Tech a 22-12 lead. A 10-2 run highlighted by a pair of Maupin 3s to start the second pushed the advantage to 32-17 with 7:54 left before halftime. Texas Tech went to the half up 48-28.
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech standout forward JT Toppin will miss the rest of the season because of a torn ACL in his right knee. The school announced Wednesday that an MRI confirmed the ACL tear after Toppin got hurt late in the 13th-ranked Red Raiders’ 72-67 loss at Arizona State. Toppin had 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four blocks before the injury, which occurred when he drove to the basket with about six minutes left. The 6-foot-9 Toppin, a preseason AP All-America selection, is the Big 12’s leading rebounder with 10.8 a game and ranks third in the league with 21.8 points a game.
UNDATED (AP) — Frustrated coaches in men's and women's college basketball haven't been holding back in publicly criticizing their teams in recent weeks. That notably includes Vic Schaefer of the fourth-ranked Texas women and now-fired Kansas State men's coach Jerome Tang. Schaefer had said his team had “no heart” after a recent loss at No. 5 Vanderbilt. But he praised the team's response in a win against Tennessee days later. It’s a delicate dance for coaches in finding the balance between tough-love motivation and a softer-touch inspiration. Florida State men's coach Luke Loucks said coaches have to “find ways to squeeze the orange."
UNDATED (AP) — Louisville freshman Mikel Brown Jr. is The Associated Press men's college basketball national player of the week. That comes after the 6-foot-5, 190-pound guard had two huge scoring performances in wins against N.C. State and Baylor. Brown went for an ACC single-game freshman-record 45 points with 10 3-pointers in a rout of the Wolfpack. He followed with 29 points in a win against Baylor. He also had eight steals in the two games. Wisconsin's Nick Boyd was runner-up after two big performances in back-to-back wins against top-10 teams Illinois and Michigan State.
