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Morgantown, W.Va. • Javan Felix scored the final nine points for Texas and led the Longhorns to a 56-49 victory over No. 6 West Virginia on Wednesday night.
Felix, who finished with 17 points, shot 4 of 9 from the field, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range, and was 7 of 8 from the foul line against a Mountaineers team (15-3, 4-2 Big 12) that had not lost at the WVU Coliseum this season.
During the key stretch, Felix had a one-hand follow-up shot, two free throws, a 3-pointer and two more foul shots for the Longhorns (12-6, 4-2).
Because of light snow, slush and ice, Texas' team bus failed to arrive at the WVU Coliseum until 6:15 p.m., just 45 minutes before the tip.
West Virginia received double-doubles from Devin Williams — 11 points, 11 rebounds — and Jonathan Holton — 10 points, 14 rebounds.
Texas fought back from a brief deficit to take a 28-25 halftime lead over West Virginia. The Mountaineers charged ahead 34-29 with 15:24 left.
The Longhorns were ahead 42-37 with 9:18 remaining when West Virginia battled back. After Elijah Macon missed both free throws, Jaysean Paige got the ball and made a layup, and Holton followed with a score. Daxter Miles Jr.'s 3-pointer tied it.
Texas called a timeout with 6:17 left, then outscored West Virginia 14-7 the rest of the way.
The Longhorns, whose first-year coach Shaka Smart created a "havoc" press at his previous stop with VCU, turned the ball over just eight times.
The Mountaineers, who split with The AP's Nos. 1-2 teams (then Kansas and Oklahoma, respectively) last week, was turning its opponents over 27.3 percent of the game coming in. They were averaging 25 points off turnovers.
But the Mountaineers scored only seven points off turnovers against the Longhorns this night.
Neither team shot well. The Mountaineers were 19 of 60 from the field (31.7 percent) and just 3 of 21 from 3-point range (a 14.3 percent rate). Though West Virginia outrebounded Texas 49-33, the Mountaineers shot just 8 of 23 from the free-throw line.
No. 2 North Carolina 83, Wake Forest 68 • North Carolina got away with Marcus Paige having one of his lowest-scoring games because Brice Johnson came through with one of his best.
Johnson had 27 points and 11 rebounds, and the second-ranked Tar Heels beat Wake Forest 83-68 on Wednesday night for their 10th straight win.
Despite not having any other double-figure scorers, the Tar Heels (17-2, 6-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) extended their best start to conference play since 2000-01, coasting through a second half in which they made just nine field goals and shot 26.5 percent.
"We had the mentality that we were going to outscore them, not defend them," Johnson said. "We've got to not have that mentality going forward."
The Tar Heels never trailed and overcame one of their worst shooting performances of the season (38.4 percent) by forcing Wake Forest into 19 turnovers and turning them into 21 points.
North Carolina — which appears in line to return to No. 1 after Oklahoma's loss earlier this week — reeled off 12 straight points late in the first half to build a comfortable lead, then went up by 27 after halftime.
That all happened despite very little falling for Paige, who Johnson called "a ticking time bomb waiting to happen." Coach Roy Williams said he's "never had a player that I've had more confidence in in my entire life than Marcus Paige."
The star guard missed his first seven shots before he flipped one in from the lane with about 5 1/2 minutes left. He matched a career low with two points and is a combined 3 for 25 since his 30-point game at Florida State.
"As long as we win, I'm fine," Paige said. "I'll be ready when I'm needed to make shots. Tonight, we didn't need me to make very many shots. ... We just played better than them tonight, so I'm not too worried about [the slump]."
It sure helped to have Johnson, who was 8 of 12 in matching the second-highest-scoring game of his career, surpassed only by the 39 points he put up against Florida State on Jan. 4. He also matched a career high by making 11 free throws.
Bryant Crawford scored 18 points and Devin Thomas had 17 for the Demon Deacons (10-8, 1-5), who fell to 5-21 in the Dean Smith Center. They lost their third straight overall and have dropped five of six in January.
"In the second half, we did some better things," coach Danny Manning said, "but at that point it was too far in the ballgame."
The Tar Heels broke this one open with that big run late in the first half, a burst started by Johnson's back-to-back buckets — including a pretty turnaround hook shot from the baseline. Luke Maye had two tip-ins during the run, including one that made it 42-23 with just under 3 minutes left before the break.
No. 4 Villanova 72, Seton Hall 71 • Ryan Arcidiacono hit a go-ahead layup with 32.4 seconds to play and foul-plagued Daniel Ochefu made a crucial block to preserve the lead as No. 4 Villanova held off another Seton Hall upset bid with a 72-71 victory on Wednesday night.
The win was the ninth in a row overall and the 22nd straight in the Big East Conference for Villanova (17-2, 7-0), which tried its best to give the game away in the closing seconds.
Josh Hart had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats, and Kris Jenkins scored 12.
Isaiah Whitehead had 21 points for Seton Hall (13-5, 3-3). Khadeen Carrington scored 17 and Desi Rodriguez added 14 for the Pirates, who were coming off a win over then-No. 12 Providence on Saturday.
Nebraska 72, No. 11 Michigan State 71 • J Denzel Valentine grabbed a defensive rebound, dribbled up the court and missed a shot just before the buzzer, allowing Nebraska to hold on for a 72-71 win over No. 11 Michigan State on Wednesday night.
"I thought it was good," Valentine said. "They deserved to win that game."
Michigan State (17-4, 3-4 Big Ten) has lost three straight and suddenly looks nothing like the top-ranked team it was earlier in the season.
"There's blood in the water right now," Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. "The sharks are coming."
Shavon Shields scored 28 points, playing through hip pain, to help the Cornhuskers (12-8, 4-3 Big Ten) win a fourth straight game, third on the road. They've also won three straight against the Spartans.
"That's really big for our program," Shields said. "They're a great team."
Shields, who left the game with a hip injury in the first half and came back to play after halftime, made a shot to put Nebraska ahead by eight points with 2:31 left.
"I honestly didn't think I could play," he said.
Nebraska's Glynn Watson scored 13 and Tai Webster had 10 points and missed a free throw with 4 seconds left that gave Valentine and Spartans an opportunity to avoid another loss, but he couldn't make the most of the opportunity.
"Don't blame my players; blame me," Izzo said. "I'm the one that's got to get us to play. We're going through a little mid-life crisis here, and we're going to find a way to get out of it."
The Spartans pulled within two with 45.8 seconds to go when Eron Harris made a 3-pointer. Shields lofted a floater over Valentine on the ensuing possession. Valentine's off-balance, leaning 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left cut the deficit to one point, but he couldn't connect on one more shot to win for a second straight game. The senior guard also failed to make a jumper to that could've given Michigan State a win Sunday at Wisconsin. Valentine finished with 24 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Deyonta Davis had 13 points and seven points for the Spartans, who made just 42 percent of their shots from the field and 12 of 21 at the line.
No. 13 Baylor 79, Kansas State 72, 2OT • Al Freeman scored all 11 of his points after regulation, Lester Medford hit the go-ahead free throws to start the second overtime and No. 13 Baylor stretched its home winning streak to 15 games with a 79-72 victory over Kansas State on Wednesday night.
Medford made two foul shots in the opening minute of the second overtime to put Baylor (15-3, 5-1 Big 12) ahead to stay before Freeman added a driving layup.
After assisting on Johnathan Motley's layup, Medford made a steal and then added a floater for the Bears. Medford finished with nine points and 13 assists.
Taurean Prince had 19 points and 13 rebounds for Baylor, and Motley had 15 points on 7-of-7 shooting. Rico Gathers scored 11.
Kamau Stokes led Kansas State (11-7, 1-5) with 20 points. D.J. Johnson had 11, and Wesley Iwundu scored 10.
The Bears, who trailed by as many as 10 before halftime, have won five consecutive Big 12 games for only the second time in school history. They took over first place in the league after No. 6 West Virginia (15-3, 4-2) lost 54-49 at home to Texas earlier Wednesday.
Baylor's 15-game home winning streak matches the longest in the Ferrell Center, its home for 28 years.
Freeman, who was 0-for-5 shooting and scoreless in regulation, had seven points in the first overtime. But his potential game-winning jumper at the buzzer ricocheted off the back of the rim.
After a breakaway layup off the overtime tip, Freeman had another go-ahead layup and his 3-pointer with 37 seconds left put Baylor up 66-64. Iwundu had a follow-up basket for Kansas State with 8 seconds left to tie it.
The Bears led 59-57 after Prince made the first of two free throw attempts with 5.8 seconds left in regulation. K-State called timeout after Johnson's rebound.
Stokes went to the free throw line when Medford was called for a holding foul near midcourt before the inbounds pass. Stokes made both free throws to tie the game.
Baylor had one more chance in regulation but Medford, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer in a victory at Texas Tech on Saturday, had his 15-footer bounce off the rim as time expired.
No. 15 Miami 67, Boston College 53 • Sheldon McClellan scored 19 points, Ja'Quan Newton had 12 and No. 15 Miami rebounded from consecutive losses with a 67-53 win over Boston College on Wednesday night.
It was the 11th straight victory for the Hurricanes (14-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) against Boston College. Tonye Jekiri matched his career high with 17 rebounds, and Angel Rodriguez scored 12 points.
Jerome Robinson led the Eagles (7-11, 0-5) with 20 points and leading scorer Eli Carter had 12 on 4-for-18 shooting.
It was BC's fifth straight loss. The previous four — all in conference games — were by an average of 22.5 points.
Closing a stretch of three road games in nine days, Miami rode a solid start in the second half by Rodriguez, who scored nine points to help the Hurricanes open a 45-35 lead with 14:15 to play.
BC sliced it to 45-41 on Darryl Hicks' 3-pointer from the right corner with just more than 14 minutes to play.
Miami, which seemed to be relaxing on the defensive end of the floor on many possessions early in the second half, pushed its lead to 56-49 on Newton's baseline jumper with 5:45 to go.
The Eagles never trimmed their deficit below five points the rest of the way. They didn't have a basket in the final 7 minutes.
In the first half, the Hurricanes pounded the ball inside early and took advantage of nine BC turnovers in the opening 11 minutes to build a six-point edge before the Eagles answered with a 10-1 spree.
Miami closed the half by scoring eight of the final 12 points to grab a 29-28 advantage at halftime.
Neither team was crisp offensively in the opening 20 minutes, at times turning the ball over on consecutive possessions.
No. 17 Louisville 84, Florida State 65 • Quentin Snider scored 20 points, Damion Lee added 14, and No. 17 Louisville had no problem with Florida State in an 84-65 victory on Wednesday night.
Louisville (15-3, 4-1 ACC) was rarely challenged in winning its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference game, shooting 48 percent while outrebounding Florida State 44-36. Chinanu Onuaku had 14 rebounds and 11 points for his fifth straight double-double, all coming in league play.
Freshman guard Donovan Mitchell added 13 points for the Cardinals, including a monstrous one-handed dunk in the first half that charged a crowd of 21,349 in the late-evening game. Leading 22-15 at that point, Louisville never looked back in building a lead that reached 32.
Malik Beasley scored 23 points and Devon Bookert had 18 in his first start of the season for Florida State (12-6, 2-4), which had its two-game winning streak stopped.
Snider made 8 of 12 from the field including 3 of 4 3-pointers to finish a point off his career high achieved two weeks ago against North Carolina State.
Dwayne Bacon had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Seminoles, who played without sophomore guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who did not play on the decision of coach Leonard Hamilton. His presence might not have made much of a difference against a Louisville squad that returned from a six-day layoff with an impressive effort.
Though Louisville was hard pressed to match the 29-percent field-goal defense that beat Pittsburgh last week, it held the long and athletic Seminoles to 42 percent shooting. The Seminoles also made just 9 of 21 free throws.
FSU was definitely no match on the glass against Louisville, which had a 10-3 advantage in offensive rebounds in the first half alone and finished with a 17-14 edge. Overall, the Cardinals owned the boards 24-14 in the first half and outscored FSU 11-0 in second-chance points to build a 41-27 halftime lead that kept growing.