Wednesday's college basketball: Williams keys big run for Arkansas in win over Alabama

Fayetteville, Ark. — Freshman Jaylin Williams scored 10 of his season-high 13 points during a decisive run and No. 20 Arkansas beat sixth-ranked Alabama 81-66 on Wednesday night.

It was the Razorbacks’ first win at home over a ranked team in three years.

Williams keyed the 17-2 run that turned a six-point deficit into a nine-point lead with less than 10 minutes to play. He was one of five Arkansas players to finish in double figures for Arkansas (18-5, 10-4 Southeastern Conference). Justin Smith scored 11, Jalen Tate and J.D Notae had 12 apiece and Moses Moody led all scorers with 24, 16 of which came from the free-throw line.

Alabama (18-6, 13-2) managed only the two points during that stretch, a John Petty Jr. jumper, for a span of 8:53.

►No. 11 Florida State 88, (at) Miami 71: Sardaar Calhoun scored a career-high 16 points and Florida State coasted to a win over Miami.

The Seminoles (14-3, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) were never threatened after a 19-2 run early in the first half. Anthony Polite hit consecutive 3-pointers and Scottie Barnes’ jumper with 10:32 remaining capped the surge and increased Florida State’s lead to 27-8.

RaiQuan Gray had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the conference-leading Seminoles, who have won nine of their last 10. Polite finished with 12 points and Balsa Koprivica was Florida State’s fourth double figure scorer with 13 points.

Miami (7-14, 3-13) has lost eight of its last nine. Isaiah Wong scored 29 points for the Hurricanes.

►No. 13 Creighton 77, DePaul 53: Marcus Zegarowski, Christian Bishop and Denzel Mahoney scored 13 points apiece and Creighton made fast work of DePaul.

The Bluejays (17-5, 13-4 Big East) have won seven of their last eight games, including four straight.

DePaul (4-11, 2-11) sustained its most lopsided loss since a 38-point defeat to Providence last March.

Creighton was playing its first game in 10 days because of a regularly scheduled break. The Bluejays sputtered a bit early before finding their rhythm, and they closed the half on a 21-5 run to lead 34-23.

Creighton scored 11 of the first 13 points of the second half to put the game away, with the lead ballooning to as many as 30 points.

►N.C. State 68, (at) No. 15 Virginia 61: DJ Funderburk scored nine of his 14 points in the second half and North Carolina State opened a big lead and held off Virginia 68-61 for its fourth straight Atlantic Coast Conference road victory.

Cam Hayes led the Wolfpack with 16 points and Shakeel Moore had 12 for N.C. State (11-9, 7-8 ACC), which last won four in a row on the road in the last two games of 1980-81 season and the first two the following season.

Sam Hauser led Virginia with 21 points and Jay Huff had 19 points and 11 rebounds, but the Cavaliers (15-6, 11-4) lost their third straight for the first time since the 2016-17 season.

►No. 25 Tennessee 70 (at) Vanderbilt 58: Victor Bailey Jr. made 5-of-8 3-pointers and finished with 21 points as No. 25 Tennessee beat in-state rival Vanderbilt to sweep the season series.

Tennessee (16-6, 9-6 Southeastern Conference) won its eight straight in the series and 10th in the last 11 games between the teams.

Jaden Springer added 20 points for the Vols, and Yves Pons had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Vanderbilt (6-13, 2-11) lost its third straight with Scotty Pippen Jr., the SEC’s second-leading scorer averaging 20.5 points a game sidelined by injury along with Dylan Disu, named the SEC player of the week after putting up back-to-back double-doubles last week. Clevon Brown also missed a second straight game.

Big Ten men's

►Rutgers 74, Indiana 63: Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. had 20 points apiece to help Rutgers rally from a 15-point deficit and beat Indiana 74-63 on Wednesday night.

Baker, who shot 7 of 13 from the field, set a program record with six made 3-pointers in a Big Ten conference game and had a season-high 10 assists.

Baker hit four of the Scarlet Knights’ seven 3s in a 25-6 run over a 7-plus minutes span that made it 33-29 with 55 seconds left in the first half, and Rutgers (13-13, 9-9) led the rest of the way.

Myles Johnson had 10 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks for Rutgers.

Trayce Jackson-Davis had 21 points and 11 rebounds and Aljami Durham added 20 points for Indiana (12-11, 7-9).

The Scarlet Knights went into the game on the bubble for the program’s first NCAA tournament berth since 1991. Their last two regular season games are on the road at Nebraska (5-16, 1-13) on Monday and Minnesota (13-10, 6-10) on March 6.

Anthony Leal hit a 3-pointer to trim Indiana’s deficit to 54-45 with 10:50 to play, but the Hoosiers missed their next nine shots as they went nearly 8 minutes without a field goal.

Indiana has lost back-to-back games and three of its last four. The Hoosiers play host to No. 3 Michigan on Saturday before closing out conference play with road games against Michigan State and Purdue.

State women's

►No. 25 Rutgers 63, MSU 53: Freshman Diamond Johnson scored 22 points, Arella Guirantes had 11 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and No. 25 Rutgers used a 24-7 fourth quarter to beat Michigan State 63-53 on Wednesday for its sixth double-digit victory in a row.

MSU (12-7, 7-7 Big Ten) led 46-39 heading into the fourth, but Rutgers (11-3, 7-3 Big Ten) outscored the Spartans 24-7 in the final period to claim the team's sixth-straight win.

The game took a scary turn after the final buzzer when official Angie Enlund was hurt and taken to a hospital.

Rutgers player Tekia Mack was heading back to the Scarlet Knights bench after the game ended when she inadvertently ran over Enlund at center court, hitting her hard.

Enlund was on the ground for a few minutes and taken off on a stretcher. She did have mobility and movement of her extremities and went to a hospital to be further evaluated.

A Michigan State spokeswoman said Enlund would be kept overnight at the hospital with a concussion but that she had no fractures.

►Western Michigan 66, Eastern Michigan 56: Reilly Jacobson led all scorers with 24 points as three Broncos finished in double figures to secure a much needed win against an in-state MAC opponent. 

Maddie Watters scored 16 and Taylor Williams chipped in 13 and a team-high 10 boards as Western Michigan improves to 5-13 and 4-12 in conference play. Areanna Combs scored 12 and Terrysha Banner had 10 for the Eagles (10-7, 7-5 MAC).

The win marks WMU's first road win and first back-to-back wins of the season. WMU has also won three of its last four. 

►Toledo 72, Central Michigan 67: Sophia Wiard and Sammi Mikonowicz each scored 15 for Toledo, helping lead a balanced effort and earning a road win in Mount Pleasant.

Molly Davis and Micaela Kelly each finished with 21 points and five rebounds, but the effort wasn't enough for the Chippewas (13-8, 11-6 MAC), as the rest of the roster combined for 25 points. 

Toledo (10-11, 6-11) entered the second quarter with a 22-7 lead to help set the tone the rest of the way.