Live roundup of the 10th annual Big 12/SEC Challenge:
West Virginia 80 Auburn 77
Erik Stevenson scored a career-high 31 points and West Virginia withstood a late rally from No. 15 Auburn to beat the Tigers 80-77 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday. The Mountaineers have won two straight for the first time in a month and now head into the teeth of the Big 12 schedule that will determine an NCAA Tournament berth. Auburn couldn’t overcome another slow start and has lost two straight, something it hasn’t done in two years. After Stevenson staked the Mountaineers to a 45-29 halftime lead, Auburn cut the deficit to a point late but never took the lead. Jaylin Williams led Auburn with 18 points.
Mizzou 78 Iowa State 61
Kobe Brown scored 20 points and D’Moi Hodge scored 17 points to help Missouri beat No. 12 Iowa State 78-61 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Brown scored 14 of his points in the first half and led Missouri with 12 rebounds. Nick Honor added 12 points for Missouri, and DeAndre Gholston scored 10. Jaren Holmes led Iowa State with 19 points, and Gabe Kalscheur added 14. The 78 points scored against Iowa State were a season-high for an opponent in regulation, dropping the Cyclones to 0-3 on the season when allowing at least 70 points in regulation.
Oklahoma 93 Alabama 69
Grant Sherfield scored a season-high 30 points, and Oklahoma beat No. 2 Alabama 93-69 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Jalen Hill added a career-high 26 points on 9-for-11 shooting, helping second-year Oklahoma coach Porter Moser to his biggest win with the program. Tanner Groves had 14 points and 12 rebounds. The Sooners had lost three straight. Rylan Griffen led Alabama with 15 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Brandon Miller finished with 11 on 4-for-14 shooting.
Texas Tech 76 LSU 68
Kevin Obanor scored 22 points, Kerwin Walton added 17 points, De’Vion Harmon had 14 points with eight assists, and Texas Tech defeated LSU 76-68. All five starters scored in a 13-5 LSU run to open the second half and give the Tigers a 46-45 lead with 13:30 remaining. For the second time in the game Kerwin Walton hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Texas Tech jumped ahead by five. The last of the game’s 12 lead changes came when Walton buried his fifth 3-pointer, giving the Red Raiders a 60-58 lead with 7:13 remaining. Texas Tech went on to build a 69-60 lead with 2:48 remaining.
Baylor 67 Arkansas 64
Keyonte George scored 24 points for No. 17 Baylor in a 67-64 victory over Arkansas in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The 16-5 Bears never trailed again after Flo Thamba made two free throws for a 55-53 lead with 3:37 left. True freshman George then scored seven points in a row. LJ Cryer added 20 points for the Bears, who shot a season-low 34% from the field. Ricky Council IV scored 25 points for 14-7 Arkansas and Davonte Davis had 16 points.
Mississippi State 81 TCU 74
Tolu Smith had 27 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to lead Mississippi State to an 81-74 overtime victory over No. 11 TCU on Saturday. Dashawn Davis added 16 points to help Mississippi State (13-8) snap a five-game losing streak. Shakeel Moore had 11, including six in overtime, while Cameron Matthews had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Tyler Stevenson also added 10 points off the Bulldogs’ bench. Damion Baugh led TCU (16-5) with 19 points and Emanuel Miller had 13. Shahada Wells and Jakobe Coles each had 12 for the Horned Frogs and Chuck O’Bannon had 10.
Kansas State 64 Florida 50
Keyontae Johnson had 13 points and 11 rebounds against his former team, and No. 5 Kansas State beat Florida 64-50 in the Big 12-SEC Challenge. Markquis Nowell finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Wildcats. They improved to 18-3 to equal the 1972-73 team for the best start through 21 games in school history. Colin Castleton scored 13 points and Myreon Jones had 11 for the Gators. They dropped to 0-3 against the Big 12 this season.
Tennessee 82 Texas 71
Olivier Nkamhoua scored 27 points and Zakai Zeigler had 22 points and 10 assists to lead No. 4 Tennessee over No. 10 Texas 82-71 on Saturday night in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Josiah-Jordan James added 14 and Santiago Vescovi had 12 for Tennessee, which led by as many as 22 midway through the second half. Sir’Jabari Rice scored 21 to lead Texas. Marcus Carr and Brock Cunningham finished with 11 each.