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No. 2 Villanova 81, Seton Hall 71

Corey Stokes hit two 3-pointers during the decisive run and scored all 11 of his points in the second half, helping Villanova hold off a serious scare from Seton Hall in a victory Tuesday night.

Stokes was a non-factor for the Wildcats (20-1, 9-0 Big East) until he broke a tie with a 3. He quickly followed with another 3-pointer for a long-range start to an 11-0 run that helped put the game away and extended Villanova's winning streak to 11 straight games.

Playing with their highest ranking since they were No. 2 for two weeks in February 2006, the Wildcats could not make a serious run against Seton Hall until late.

Jeremy Hazell kept thoughts of a second Top-10 Big East upset alive, scoring 32 points on 12 of 23 shooting for the Pirates (12-8, 3-6), who were outrebounded 50-31.

Seton Hall beat then-No. 9 Pittsburgh 64-61 on Jan. 24, but the Pirates failed to build on that marquee win, losing by two points in overtime at South Florida.

Hazell made the idea of another stunner seem realistic with the way he was shooting the 3. He made six of them, but it was his layup that helped the Pirates erase a halftime deficit and grab a 58-56 lead.

At that point, the Pirates had made 23 of 46 shots from the field. They made 6 of 21 the rest of the way, costing them what would have been a monumental win for the program.

Seton Hall is 0-28 against teams ranked Nos. 1-3 The Associated Press poll.

Hazell, the only Pirate to finish in double figures, did not play the final 4 minutes of the game.

Not Villanova. The 10-deep Wildcats got some kind of production out of every player. Antonio Pena scored 16 points, Scottie Reynolds had 15 and Corey Fisher 12. Six players had at least five rebounds and 10 scored. Those are the kind of numbers usually seen in blowouts, not a 10-point win that was tight for all but the final few minutes.

Reynolds became the eighth Villanova player to score 2,000 points. He scored a beautiful finger roll for a 60-58 lead, then dished a sweet cross-lane pass to Fisher on the break for a 62-58 lead.

The Wildcats are the only Big East team unbeaten in conference play. That mark is in serious jeopardy over the next week. The Big East favorites play at No. 7 Georgetown on Saturday and at No. 6 West Virginia on Feb. 8.

No. 3 Syracuse 85, Providence 68

Reserve Kris Joseph had a career-high 23 points and Arinze Onuaku added a season-high 20 for Syracuse.

The Orange (22-1, 9-1 Big East) have won nine straight and are off to the best start in school history. They were 21-1 in 1979-80, but had never won 22 of their first 23 games to begin a season.

It was the second game of an eight-game span in which the Friars (12-10, 4-6) will face six ranked teams. They beat then-No. 19 UConn 81-66 last week to knock the Huskies out of the national rankings.

Syracuse broke open a three-point game with a 22-7 spurt to start the second half. Onuaku started it with a resounding two-hand dunk and his tip-in gave the Orange a 44-34 lead with 18:35 to play.

Jamine Peterson led Providence with 25 points.

No. 4 Kentucky 85, No. 25 Mississippi 75

Freshman John Wall shook off a recent slump with 17 points and seven assists to lead Kentucky.

DeMarcus Cousins added 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Wildcats (21-1, 6-1 Southeastern Conference), who built an early double-digit lead then held off a couple of second-half rallies by the Rebels.

Terrico White led Mississippi (16-6, 4-4) with 19 points and Chris Warren added 15 but ississippi missed freshman big man Reginald Buckner, who sat out his second straight game with a sprained ankle.

Kentucky shot 50 percent from the field and outscored the Rebels 44-30 in the paint.

Darnell Dodson hit two 3-pointers early in the second half to help Kentucky extend the lead to 58-41, but Mississippi pulled within 60-57 on a basket by White with 13:55 to play. Cousins, collecting his fifth straight double-double, started Kentucky's game-clinching 11-2 run with a putback. Patrick Patterson, who had 12 points, nailed a 3-pointer then added a three-point play as the Wildcats went back in front 71-59.

No. 16 Wisconsin 67, No. 5 Michigan St. 49

Jason Bohannon scored 19 points to lead Wisconsin to a victory over Michigan State, snapping the Spartans perfect Big Ten start and leaving them without leading scorer Kalin Lucas.

Jordan Taylor added 17 points as Wisconsin (17-5, 7-3) won its third game over a team ranked sixth or better this season and its 18th straight at the Kohl Center despite senior guard Trevon Hughes' early foul trouble.

Michigan State (19-4, 9-1) may have lost a lot more after Lucas, last season's Big Ten player of the year, left with just under 11 minutes to play when he came down awkwardly on the foot of Wisconsin's Keaton Nankivil and injured his ankle.

Lucas, averaging 16 points per game, did not return, finishing with seven points to snap a string of 33 consecutive games in double figures.

No. 10 Kansas St. 76, Nebraska 57

Denis Clemente scored 23 points and Jamar Samuels added 15 as Kansas State bounced back from its overtime loss to archrival Kansas.

Clemente matched his season high with five 3-pointers, including three straight early in the second half to break open the game.

Kansas State (18-4, 5-3 Big 12), coming off Saturday's 81-79 overtime home loss to a Kansas team that moved from No. 2 to No. 1 in The Associated Press poll, won for the first time in Lincoln since 2006.

The Wildcats had a double-digit lead 9 minutes into the game and never led by fewer than seven points the rest of the way.

Jacob Pullen had 13 points and Curtis Kelly added 12 for the Wildcats.

Jorge Brian Diaz had 13 points and Ryan Anderson 10 for Nebraska (13-9, 1-6).

No. 12 BYU 76, TCU 56

Jimmer Fredette scored 26 points and Jackson Emery had 12 points and six assists as Brigham Young beat Texas Christian.

BYU (22-2, 7-1 Mountain West) scored the game's first 10 points and held a double-digit lead for most of the game while remaining unbeaten against TCU since the Horned Frogs joined the conference.

Noah Hartsock added 14 points and Chris Miles pulled down 11 rebounds for the Cougars, who have won 17 of 18.

Greg Hill and Garlon Green led TCU (10-13, 2-6) with 11 points apiece.

TCU is 0-10 against BYU in Mountain West regular season and tournament games.

Rutgers 84, St. John's 72

Mike Rosario scored a career-high 33 points as Rutgers defeated St. John's.

Hamady Ndiaye had 19 points and nine blocks for Rutgers (11-11, 2-8), a school record in a Big East game. Jonathan Mitchell added 18 points for the Scarlet Knights, who have won two straight conference games for the first time in two years.

St. John's (12-9, 2-7), which has lost four straight, got 27 points and nine rebounds from D.J. Kennedy, while Sean Evans had 11 points and Justin Burrell 10.

Rosario's output was the most by a Scarlet Knight since Quincy Douby scored 36 at St. John's on March 5, 2006. Rosario had 21 in the first half, when Rutgers opened its biggest lead at 15. St. John's got within 60-54, but a 9-2 run sealed it for Rutgers.

The last time the Scarlet Knights won two straight Big East games was in January, 2008, when they beat Villanova and Pittsburgh.

WOMEN

No. 18 Georgetown 67, No. 25 St. John's 57

Sugar Rodgers scored 15 of her game-high 17 points in the first half and Georgetown nearly let an early 18-point lead slip away before pulling away late for a win over St. John's.

The Hoyas (19-3, 8-1 Big East) raced out to a 37-21 halftime lead, but the Red Storm opened the second half on a 15-4 run and pulled within three at 48-45 with over nine minutes remaining. Led by Monica McNutt and Jaleesa Butler, the Hoyas countered with 15 straight points to go back up by 18 points.

McNutt scored 15 points, Butler scored 13 points and Latia MaGee added 12 points for the Hoyas.