VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) — Eric Dixon scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half and Villanova held on for a 68-66 victory over No. 9 UConn on Wednesday night after the Huskies’ Alex Karaban missed two free throws with 3.1 seconds left.
Wooga Poplar added 18 points for Villanova (11-5, 4-1 Big East), which led by as many as 12 points in the second half.
Solo Ball scored 16 points to lead UConn (12-4, 4-1). The Huskies had won eight in a row since dropping all three games in the Maui Invitational in November.
The Huskies played without star freshman Liam McNeeley, out with a right foot injury.
UConn had several chances to take the lead late, the last when Karaban was long on both free-throw attempts after being fouled by Jordan Longino. Karaban finished with 10 points.
No. 5 ALABAMA 88, SOUTH CAROLINA 68
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Mark Sears scored 22 points — hitting of 4 of 6 3-pointers — to help No. 5 Alabama beat South Carolina for its seventh straight victory.
Aden Holloway added 13 points for the Crimson Tide (13-2, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) in their 10th straight victory over the Gamecocks (10-5, 0-2).
Jacobi Wright led South Carolina (10-5, 0-2) with 20 points. Jamarii Thomas added 15.
No. 23 MISSISSIPPI 73, ARKANSAS 66
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) —Malik Dia scored 21 points to lead No. 23 Mississippi to a win over Arkansas, the Rebels’ first win in Fayetteville since 2015.
Sean Pedulla scored 16 and Dre Davis 10. Pedulla and Dia made back-to-back buckets with less than nine minutes left to build Ole Miss’ lead to double digits after Arkansas (11-4, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) had cut it to six.
Adou Thiero led the Razorbacks with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. The rest of the Arkansas team shot just 32%.
Dia, Pedulla and Davis scored 14 straight points for the Rebels (13-2, 2-0) over a five-minute stretch midway through the second, outscoring the Hogs over that span by four to keep the lead at double digits.
The Razorbacks, who fell out of the Top 25 last week after a loss at Tennessee, have started 0-2 in league play for the second straight season.
