College Hoops

Oklahoma routs No. 2 Alabama, No. 13 Xavier falls on upset-full Saturday

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The final weekend of January continued an exciting men’s college basketball season. Here’s what you need to know from Saturday’s action, which featured notable upsets right from the day’s first tip.

SCOREBOARD: Click or tap here to see every score

Oklahoma handed No. 2 Alabama its first loss since the middle of December in impressive fashion. The Sooners blew out the Crimson Tide 93-69.

Oklahoma’s 24-point victory comes after it entered on a three-game losing streak and lost by 27 to TCU on Tuesday. Saturday was a different story, however, after Grant Sherfield and Jalen Hill combined for 56 points (30 and 26, respectively). The Sooners shot 59.6 percent from the field and were a lethal 75 percent from 3, making nine of their 19 attempts.

Defensively, the Sooners shut down top NBA draft prospect Brandon Miller, limiting him to 4-for-14 shooting and just 11 points. The impressive performance led to Oklahoma fans storming the court.

Tennessee celebrates

In the SEC-Big 12 challenge, No. 4 Tennessee handily blew past No. 10 Texas 82-71 at home. 

The Longhorns kept it close early in the first half, but Tennessee jumped out to 9-0 run which kept Texas at bay throughout. The Volunteers later took a 22-point lead, their largest of the game. 

However, Texas made two concerted efforts to cut the deficit in the second half, but the nation’s best defense staved of any comeback hopes. 

Olivier ​​Nkamhoua topped all scorers with season-high 27 points on an impressive 12-for-15 shooting. Zakai Zeigler followed with 22 points and 10 assists. Meanwhile, Sir’Jabari Rice led Texas with season-high 21 points off the bench.  

Tennessee shot 55.6% in the game and outrebounded the Longhorns 38-24 including 11 offensive rebounds. 

The Vols improve to 18-3 while Texas falls to 17-4. The wins set some balance in the cross-conference challenge, but the Big 12 still leads 4-3.  
 

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Kansas celebrates

The battle of the blue bloods between the two winningest programs in NCAA DI men’s basketball ended with the No. 9 Kansas outlasting Kentucky on the road…

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at NCAA.com > basketball-men d1 articles and video…