Men

Providence 76, No. 3 Villanova 71

Providence will need to play its best basketball of the season down the stretch if its hopes to earn its fifth straight NCAA tournament bid.

The Friars just took a big step toward that goal.

Kyron Cartwright scored 17 points and the Friars withstood several late surges to stun Villanova on Wednesday night.

Rodney Bullock and Alpha Diallo each added 14 points for the Friars (17-9, 8-5 Big East), who snapped a five-game losing streak to the Wildcats.

It was Providence's first win over Villanova since Jan. 24, 2016. With the victory the Friars greatly improved their at-large resume for the NCAA tournament. They moved into a tie for third-place in the Big East with Creighton, who they split with this season.

Coming off an 80-63 loss to DePaul, Diallo said this victory gives the Friars' locker room a needed jolt.

"I think this was a big game for us confidence-wise," he said. "It's not every day you basically have the No. 1 team coming into your building."

Mikal Bridges had 19 points for Villanova, but fouled out with 1:12 to play in the game. Jalen Brunson added 14 points.

Villanova (23-3, 10-3) pulled within 59-54 on a pair of free throws by Omari Spellman with 6:25 left. But the Friars outscored the Wildcats 8-4 over the next two minutes to push the lead back to 67-58.

Collin Gillespie gave the Wildcats a chance after his layup trimmed Providence's lead to 72-69 with 29 seconds left. Cartwright then connected on 1 of his 2 free throws on the other end.

Villanova missed on its ensuing possession and was forced to foul with 20.6 left. Cartwright again hit 1 of 2, and Eric Paschall made a layup on the other end to make it 74-71.

The Wildcats fouled again with 12.8 left, but this time Diallo was able to convert on a pair of free throws.

"They just outplayed us. We were ready to go. They were just better," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "I thought we would have played a little bit better. We didn't."

Spellman, who entered the night leading the team in rebounding, wore a protective mask after suffering a fracture to a small facial bone during Saturday's win over Butler.

He stayed active underneath the basket, scoring 11 points and grabbing nine rebounds. The extra opportunities helped the Wildcats outscore the Friars 44-20 in the paint.

But Villanova struggled from the outside, missing 17 of 20 3-point attempts. The Wildcats also finished with 19 turnovers.

"They were just really physical," said Wildcats guard Jalen Brunson, who finished with 14 points, but had seven of the turnovers. "We were giving up the ball. You gotta be strong with the ball."

Providence has five games remaining, including a trip to fourth-ranked Xavier.

Providence coach Ed Cooley said he's comfortable flying under the radar for now.

"We don't want to be talked about," he said. "We're the little red engine just trying to come up the street."

The Friars still need to bolster their NCAA resume, but this is their second win this season over a top 5 team, having beaten Xavier last month.

No. 4 Xavier 102, Seton Hall 90

Trevon Bluiett followed his worst shooting performance of the season with a 37-point effort, and Xavier held on to securing first place in the Big East.

Xavier (24-3, 12-2) has won nine in a row heading into its showdown with No. 3 Villanova on Saturday at the Cintas Center. Xavier leads the league by a game and a half over the Wildcats.

Bluiett missed all of his four shots from beyond the arc and finished with a season-low six points during a win at Creighton on Saturday. He had his touch from the first shot on Wednesday - a nothing-but-net 3 - and finished 8 of 11 beyond the arc, one shy of the school record for 3-pointers made in a game. His 37 points were three shy of his career high.

Naji Marshall added a career-high 20 points. Xavier went 14 of 29 from beyond the arc.

Seton Hall (17-9, 6-7) has dropped a season-high four in a row. Myles Powell scored a career-high 30 points,

No. 10 Auburn 76, Kentucky 66

Bryce Brown returned from a shoulder injury to score 18 points and make four 3-pointers in leading Auburn.

The Tigers (23-3, 11-2 Southeastern Conference) overcame a horrid shooting start to take control down the stretch, with some big baskets from Brown and clutch plays from Jared Harper.

Harper also scored 18 and had seven assists while making all nine free throw attempts for the league-leading Tigers.

Brown missed the Georgia game with a right shoulder injury and got off to a cool start against the Wildcats (17-9, 6-7), who dropped their fourth straight.

Florida State 81, No. 11 Clemson 79

Phil Cofer scored 17 points, Trent Forrest added 16 and Florida State rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half.

The Seminoles (18-8, 7-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) didn't take their first lead until 1:05 remaining in overtime when Forrest made a driving layup to put them up 75-74. After Clemson was called for a 5-second violation on the inbounds, Forrest came up big with another driving layup to put FSU up by three.

Clemson scored four of the next six points to get within 79-78 but Forrest made both free throws with 5.3 seconds remaining to extend the margin to three.

Forrest also had a layup with 8 seconds remaining in regulation that tied it at 70 and sent it into overtime.

Terance Mann added 13 points as the Seminoles snapped a two-game losing streak and gave coach Leonard Hamilton his 500th career win and 300th at Florida State.

Marcquise Reed scored 23 points while Gabe Devoe and David Skara had 11 each for Clemson (20-5, 9-4).

No. 12 Duke 74, Virginia Tech 52

Grayson Allen scored 25 points and matched a career high with seven 3-pointers as Duke won without freshman star Marvin Bagley III.

Freshman Gary Trent Jr. added 19 points for the Blue Devils (21-5, 9-4 Atlantic Coast Conference). Bagley III, the league's leading scorer and rebounder, missed his second game with a sprained right knee.

It was Allen's best output in an ACC game after several struggle-filled nights this season. And Trent had his own big performance on the perimeter by knocking down five 3s, part of Duke's 15-of-33 showing from behind the arc.

Duke led 36-28 at halftime, then used a 9-0 burst midway through the second half to blow the game open.

Justin Bibbs scored 15 points to lead the Hokies (18-8, 7-6), who never looked in sync against Duke's zone defense.

No. 22 Michigan 74, Iowa 59

Duncan Robinson scored 18 points to lead Michigan.

The Wolverines (21-7, 10-5 Big Ten) won for the second straight game and the fourth time in five games.

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman scored 16 points for the Wolverines and Moritz Wagner added 14 points. Charles Matthews scored 10 points and pulled down eight rebounds for Michigan, as the Wolverines held the Hawkeyes under 60 points for just the third time this season.

Luka Garza scored 22 points to pace the Hawkeyes (12-16, 3-12).

No. 24 Nevada 77, Boise State 72

Kendall Stephens tied his career-high with 21 points and Caleb Martin also had 21 to lead Nevada past Boise State.

Nevada (22-5, 11-2 Mountain West) never led by more than six points in a physical game and held Boise State leading scorer Chandler Hutchinson to 13 points, well below his 20.3 average.

Boise State (20-6, 10-4) lost at home for the first time this season, ending a school-record 13-game home winning streak.

Women

No. 6 Texas 87, Texas Tech 72

Brooke McCarty and Joyner Holmes scored 13 points apiece to help Texas beat Texas Tech.

Five Longhorns reached double figures as they beat Tech for the 10th straight time. Sug Sutton scored 12, Jatarie White 11 and Ariel Atkins 10 also reached double figures for Texas (21-4, 12-2 Big 12).

Dayo Alabode led Tech (7-18, 1-13 Big 12) with 19 points. She made five 3-pointers. Jada Terry added 17 for Tech, which has lost seven in a row.

No. 22 South Florida 64, SMU 54

Maria Jespersen scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her 14th double-double and South Florida won its sixth straight, defeating SMU.

Jespersen had 10 points in the third quarter when the Bulls (21-5, 10-2 American) stretched a 22-18 halftime lead to 45-31. The Mustangs (10-16, 4-9) cut the lead to six with 1:10 to play but USF made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to secure the win.

Kitija Laksa, coming off a career-high 41 points that led to big win over ranked Ohio State and got the Bulls ranked after a six-week absence, added 16 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

Kiara Perry led SMU, which is 0-12 against USF and is 0-12 on the road this season, with 18 points.

The teams shot a combined 13 of 63 (21 percent) in the first half.

Minnesota 93, No. 23 Michigan 87

Carlie Wagner scored 26 points and Minnesota outscored Michigan 11-4 in the final three minutes for the win.

Katelynn Flaherty's 3 pointer gave the Wolverines an 83-82 lead with five minutes left but they missed their next three shots while Gadiva Hubbard sandwiched two baskets around a Kehinde Bello bucket for the Gophers. After Nicole Munger ended the four-minute drought the Gophers made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 31 seconds.

Hubbard finished with 17 points and seven assists for Minnesota (20-6, 9-4 Big Ten), which reached 20 wins for the 13th time, three times in four years under coach Marlene Stollings. Kenisha Bell had 16 points, Destiny Pitts 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Flaherty had 26 points for the Wolverines (20-8, 9-6).