The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season!
Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here.
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Baraka Okojie scored all of his career-high 19 points in the second half, and George Mason rallied past No. 16 Dayton 71-67 on Wednesday night for the first home victory over a ranked foe in program history.
Keyshawn Hall added 17 points for the Patriots (18-8, 7-6 Atlantic 10), who trailed 40-29 early in the second half before their physical defense keyed a 24-2 run. George Mason won its third straight and improved to 13-2 at home this season, and this victory ended with the Patriots’ student section pouring onto the court to celebrate.
DaRon Holmes II scored 26 points for Dayton (21-5, 11-3), but the Flyers struggled at times getting the ball to their 6-foot-10 national player of the year candidate. The Flyers fell one-half game behind first-place Loyola Chicago in the A-10 standings.
Ronald Polite III added 13 points and Amari Kelly scored 12 on 5-of-5 shooting for the Patriots. The Flyers made 11 3s, but Holmes was their only double-figure scorer.
NO. 7 MARQUETTE 105, DEPAUL 71
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Tyler Kolek had a school-record 18 assists, Kam Jones scored a career-high 34 points and Marquette bounced back from its most-lopsided loss of the season to rout DePaul.
Marquette (20-6, 11-4 Big East) returned to form four nights after an 81-53 loss at No. 1 UConn that snapped the Golden Eagles’ eight-game winning streak. DePaul (3-23, 0-15) has lost 15 straight by an average margin of 24.1 points.
Oso Ighodaro added 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for Marquette, which shot 59.5% from the floor as a team.
DePaul’s Jaden Henley and Elijah Fisher had 19 points each. DePaul had 22 turnovers and only six assists.
NO. 8 DUKE 84, MIAMI 55
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Jeremy Roach scored 16 points to lead Duke to its fifth straight win.
Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell each had 15 points for the Blue Devils (21-5, 12-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won 16 of 18.
Duke’s Tyrese Proctor returned from a one-game absence on concussion protocol and scored 12 points in 23 minutes while Caleb Foster added 11.
Wooga Poplar and Bensley Joseph finished with 15 points each for the Hurricanes (15-12, 6-10) who shot 31% from the field and lost their fifth straight. It is their longest skid since a six-game slide in Febraury and March 2021.
PENN STATE 90, NO. 12 ILLINOIS 89
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Zach Hicks made three free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer with three seconds left to give Penn State the win over Illinois, playing at the nearly 100-year-old Rec Hall for just the fourth time since leaving in 1996.
Nick Kern Jr. scored a career-high 22 points, and Hicks and Qudus Wahab added 13 apiece to help Penn State (13-14, 7-9 Big Ten) overcome a 14-point deficit in the second half. The Nittany Lions snapped a three-game losing streak.
Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 19 of his 35 points in the second half for Illinois (19-7, 10-5). Marcus Domask added 15 points.
Penn State played basketball at the 6,500-seat Rec Hall until moving to Bryce Jordan Center and its 16,000-plus capacity in 1996. Before Wednesday, the Nittany Lions had returned to their original home three times and went 2-1 in those nonconference games.
NO. 13 ALABAMA 89, NO. 24 FLORIDA 93, OT
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Grant Nelson had 22 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots and Alabama (19-7, 11-2 Southeastern Conference) started fast in overtime to beat newly ranked Florida.
Aaron Estrada scored on a follow shot with 7 seconds left after Sam Walters kept the ball alive. Estrada finished with 20 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Mark Sears had 17 points and eight of Alabama’s 19 assists.
Walters had 14 points and four 3-pointers. Nick Pringle scored 13 points before fouling out in overtime and Griffen scored 10.
Walter Clayton Jr. led Florida (18-8, 8-5) with 27 points but missed a potential tying 3-pointer at the end. Clayton also had eight rebounds and five assists. Zyon Pullin and Will Richard scored 17 apiece, Tyrese Samuel had 14 and Alex Condon 10.
LSU 75, NO. 17 KENTUCKY 74
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Tyrell Ward capped a 17-point performance with a short floater as time expired, and LSU pulled out a second straight comeback victory over a ranked team with a victory over Kentucky.
The Wildcats nearly sealed a dramatic, last-minute comeback when Adou Thiero blocked Jordan Wright’s driving shot in the final seconds, but Wright was able to push the ball back up toward Ward, who leapt to grab the ball and quickly release his decisive shot before he came down.
Wright and Jalen Reed each scored 13 points for LSU (14-12, 6-7 Southeastern Conference), which erased a 15-point, second-half deficit.
Antonio Reeves scored 25 points for Kentucky (18-8, 8-5), which has now stumbled to five losses in its past nine games. Rob Dillingham scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half.
NEW MEXICO 68, NO. 22 COLORADO STATE 66
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Donovan Dent drove the length of the court to lay in the winning shot with 2.8 seconds to play and give New Mexico a win over Colorado State.
Dent, who finished with 16 points, barreled straight up the floor with the Lobos trailing by one, found a seam through the lane and banked the ball in off the glass as he was fouled. He then made the foul shot.
New Mexico (21-6, 9-5 Mountain West) had four players in double figures, including Jamal Mashburn Jr. with 16 and Jaelen House with 14.
Colorado State was led by Isaiah Stevens with a game-high 20 points and Joel Scott with 17.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here.
___
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Leave a Reply