Moore’s 20 points lead No. 21 OU to big win

NORMAN — Jalen Moore scored 20 points to lead No. 21 Oklahoma past winless Alcorn State 94-78 on Saturday night.

Freshman guards Jeremiah Fears and Dayton Forsythe each had 14 points and seven assists for the Sooners (9-0), who finished with five players in double figures.

Omari Hamilton scored 16 points and Davian Williams added 13 points and seven assists for Alcorn State (0-10), which made 10 of 20 3-pointers but committed 18 turnovers leading to 27 OU points.

Alcorn State jumped out to a 25-18 lead before the Sooners went on a 31-16 run to lead 49-41 at halftime. Oklahoma shot 54.7% from the field but just 32.4% from beyond the arc.

Takeaways

Alcorn State: The Braves came out shooting and made their first seven 3-point shots. But Alcorn State was sloppy with the ball and gave the Sooners several fast-break opportunities.

Oklahoma: The Sooners started slowly but started to click in all phases of the game to open up a big lead against a team that looked like they could pull off the upset early on.

Key moment

Oklahoma led 49-41 at halftime and started the second half on a 19-7 run that featured four steals — two by Duke Miles — and two dunks to open up a 68-48 advantage with 14:40 remaining.

Key stat

The Sooners 43 bench points included 12 each from Brycen Goodine and Mohamed Wague.

Oklahoma hosts Oklahoma State on Dec. 14, and Alcorn State visits Rice on Dec. 16.

No, 5 MARQUETTE 88, No. 11 WISCONSIN 74

MILWAUKEE — Kam Jones scored 32 points to lead No. 5 Marquette to an 88-74 victory over No. 11 Wisconsin on Saturday.

Coming off their first loss of the season earlier this week at Iowa State, the Golden Eagles (9-1) also got double-digit efforts from David Joplin, Chase Ross and Stevie Mitchell, who combined for 37 points, while shooting 50% (31 for 62) from the floor.

The Badgers (8-2) dropped their second straight despite 22 points from Max Klesmit and 17 from John Blackwell.

Wisconsin led 39-37 at halftime after both teams went 11 for 25 from the field in the first 20 minutes.

Marquette took control after the break, making its first two 3-pointers and taking a 53-47 lead with 15:41 to play. The lead grew to seven on Ross’ layup with 13:07 left, forcing a Wisconsin timeout.

The Golden Eagles took control from there, pushing the lead to 15 points after Mitchell converted a three-point play to make it 70-55 with 8:49 to play.

Jones made back-to-back buckets with 15:05 to play, turning a 47-all game into a four-point lead that the Golden Eagles would never relinquish.

Wisconsin turned the ball over a whopping 16 times which Marquette converted into 18 points while also being outscored 44-28 in the paint.

No. 17 HOUSTON 79, BUTLER 51

HOUSTON — L.J. Cryer scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, Emanuel Sharp added 16 points and No. 17 Houston used a big second half to rout Butler 79-51 on Saturday night.

Terrance Arceneaux had 14 points off the bench, and Milos Uzan scored 13 points for Houston (5-3), which won its 26th straight at home.

Patrick McCaffery and Augusto Cassia had 11 points each to lead Butler (7-2), which had its six-game winning streak snapped.

The Cougars, who outrebounded Butler 41-22, shot 53% and were 9 of 18 on 3-pointers. Houston shot 67%, including 7 of 11 on 3s, in the second half. Cryer, Sharp, Arceneaux and Uzan combined to score 47 of Houston’s 51 points in the second half.

The Bulldogs shot 28% and were 9 of 28 on 3-pointers.

Takeaways

Butler: The Bulldogs had issues getting going on both ends of the floor. Butler, which entered ranked fifth nationally in field-goal percentage defense at 36.1%, had issues cooling Houston off, especially in the second half. The Bulldogs, who entered shooting nearly 48% from the field and 42% on 3-pointers, were held well below those averages.

Houston: After dropping two out of three games in Las Vegas last week, the Cougars bounced back, especially on the defensive end. Houston improved to 5-0 this season when holding opponents to fewer than 70 points.

After McCaffery opened the second half with a 3-pointer to cut Houston’s lead to 28-21, Cryer responded with a 3-pointer, and Uzan followed with a layup. Houston’s lead never dropped below nine the rest of the way.

Houston held a 28-6 advantage in points in the paint.

Butler hosts North Dakota State on Tuesday night, while Houston hosts Troy on the same day.

No. 20 N. CAROLINA 68, GEORGIA TECH 65

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Seth Trimble scored 19 points and No. 20 North Carolina held off upset-minded Georgia Tech for a 68-65 victory in the ACC opener for both teams Saturday.

Trimble was 5 for 6 from the field and 8 for 9 on free throws for the Tar Heels (5-4, 1-0 ACC). RJ Davis added 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Ian Jackson chipped in 15 points off the bench.

Lance Terry scored 22 points for Georgia Tech (4-5, 0-1). Baye Ndongo had 19 points and 12 rebounds.

UNC played without graduate transfer Ty Claude, who spent last season at Georgia Tech, because of an injury to his right eye.

Takeaways

North Carolina: The Tar Heels snapped a three-game losing streak, avoiding what would have been their first four-game slide since 2020, and avoided matching their worst start to a season since 2001-02.

Georgia Tech: Had a season high-tying 14 turnovers and a season low-tying eight assists.

For the fifth consecutive game, the Tar Heels had double-digit turnovers, giving the ball away a season-high 18 times.

North Carolina: La Salle visits Chapel Hill next Saturday.

Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets will play against Northwestern on Dec. 15 in a neutral site game in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.