LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Flory Bidunga had a double-double and No. 9 Kansas defeated top-ranked and previously unbeaten Arizona 82-78 on Monday night.
Arizona (23-1, 10-1 Big 12) entered Allen Fieldhouse with the second-longest winning streak in Division I men’s basketball.
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Kansas (19-5, 9-2) played without freshman guard Darryn Peterson, who was a late scratch with flu-like symptoms. Peterson has missed 11 games with a combination of hamstring, calf and ankle issues.
Arizona held a three-point lead at halftime and led by as many as 11 before Kansas took its first lead of the game at the 9:32 mark in the second half.
Bidunga put the Jayhawks ahead with a layup, which capped a personal seven-point run. He finished with 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting and added 10 rebounds.
Arizona closed within one point with 34 seconds left in the game, but senior guard Melvin Council Jr. shot 3 of 4 from the line in the final minute and 10 of 11 in the game to help seal the victory for Kansas. He finished with 23 points. Tre White also added a pair of late free throws.
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Four Kansas players scored double digits. Bryson Tiller finished with 18 points and Jamari McDowell added 10.
Freshman guard Brayden Burries led Arizona with 25 points. Motiejus Krivas scored 14 and Ivan Kharchenkov 13.
NO. 7 ST. JOHN’S 87, XAVIER 82, OT
NEW YORK (AP) — Zuby Ejiofor scored six of his 25 points in overtime and St. John’s outlasted pesky Xavier at Madison Square Garden for its 10th consecutive victory.
With his 904th career win on the court, Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino passed Roy Williams for third place in Division I history behind Mike Krzyzewski (1,202) and Jim Boeheim (1,116).
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It was Pitino’s second victory in 17 days over his son, Richard, the first-year coach of the Musketeers. In the previous meeting, the elder Pitino earned his 900th win when the Johnnies rallied from a 16-point deficit in the second half for an 88-83 victory at Xavier.
Bryce Hopkins added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Red Storm (19-5, 12-1 Big East), who won for the 15th time in 17 games and tied No. 6 UConn atop the conference standings.
St. John’s was coming off a rousing win Friday night at The Garden over the rival Huskies.
Dylan Darling had 16 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench for the Johnnies. Ejiofor provided seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.
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St. John’s went 28 for 41 (68%) at the free-throw line, its most foul shots since taking 44 against Lehigh in November 2011.
Tre Carroll, the Big East’s leading scorer, had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Musketeers (12-12, 4-9), who have lost five of six and eight of 11.
NO. 24 LOUISVILE 118, NC STATE 77
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Mikel Brown Jr. had 10 3-pointers and scored an Atlantic Coast Conference freshman single-game record 45 points as Louisville routed N.C. State.
Ryan Conwell added 31 and the Cardinals (18-6, 8-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) shot 60% for the game.
Brown eclipsed the previous ACC freshman record of 42 points, set last season by Duke’s Cooper Flagg. The 45 points also tied Hall of Famer Wes Unseld’s single-game Louisville scoring mark, set on Dec. 1, 1967, against Georgetown College.
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After up-and-down scoring outputs in five games since returning from a lower back injury, the heralded freshman guard had 21 points with five 3s by halftime before erasing LaBradford Smith’s school freshman mark of 32 midway through the second.
Brown’s record-tying 3 came with 2:09 remaining, bringing a huge cheer from a white-clad crowd of 14,389 eager to see if he’d approach Unseld’s school mark.
He finished 14 of 23 from the field with a career-best 10 of 16 from beyond the arc, topping his previous best of 29 points against rival Kentucky in December. That had ranked fourth-best all time among Louisville freshmen coming in.
Louisville started off hot and didn’t cool off much, shooting 58% in the first half and finishing 39 of 65 overall. The Cardinals’ total included 18 3-pointers on 30 attempts, tying their second-highest output this season.
Ven-Allen Lubin had 20 points and Tre Holloman 19 for N.C. State (18-7, 9-3), which had won six in a row and entered 6-0 in ACC road games. The Wolfpack shot 41% and made just 18% from deep.
