MATTHEW MAYER

Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 12 of his 16 points in overtime, including the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:34 remaining, and No. 17 Illinois rallied for an 85-78 victory over second-ranked Texas in the Jimmy V Classic.

Matthew Mayer scored a career-high 22 points and defending national champion Baylor opened the NCAA Tournament with an 85-49 victory over Norfolk State.

Christian Braun and Ochai Agbaji each scored 18 points and No. 10 Kansas bolted to a big lead and routed No. 8 Baylor 83-59 to hold the top spot in the Big 12 Conference race.

Baylor coach Scott Drew knew his sixth-ranked Bears might need time to blend a changed roster after losing four starters from a national-championship run.

Scott Drew uttered the far-fetched idea of Baylor being national champion when he was introduced as coach nearly 18 years ago.

Jared Butler scored 17 points to lead five Baylor players in double figures, and the Bears roared to a 78-59 victory over Houston in the Final Four.

Gonzaga has given fans the NCAA championship game they wanted with a shot for the ages.

Two days after the Bears clinched their first Big 12 title with an overtime win at No. 17 Oklahoma State on Thursday night, ending the Cowboys' five-game winning streak. “You want to be content with winning the Big 12, but at the same time you don’t want to lose a game,” Butler said. AdFreshman standout and Big 12 leading scorer Cade Cunningham had 20 of his 24 points after halftime for Oklahoma State (17-7, 10-7), whose winning streak was the longest active in the Big 12. I didn’t see anything unusual other than stepping on a guy’s foot,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said.

6 West Virginia 94-89 Tuesday for the Bears' first Big 12 regular-season title. Ad“At the end of the day, they just did more of the little stuff at the end to win the game," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. But the Bears went scoreless for nearly six minutes before halftime, allowing West Virginia to keep it close the rest of the game. They shot 51% (36 of 70) from the floor against West Virginia. West Virginia hosts TCU on Thursday.

Baylor forward Flo Thamba (0) celebrates a score against Texas during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)AUSTIN, Texas – Texas played Baylor tougher than most teams have this season. 2 Baylor used a big run to pull away for an 83-69 victory over sixth-ranked Texas on Tuesday night. Texas (11-4, 5-3) was within six points late before Baylor pulled away behind open 3-pointers from Adam Flagler and Mitchell. Instead of rallying the Longhorns, Jared Butler made his free throws and another quick basket put Baylor up by 10.

2 Baylor stayed undefeated with an 84-72 win over Auburn in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Saturday. Adam Flagler, another transfer, led the Bears with a season-high 19 points, while Butler had 16, MaCio Teague 15 and Mayer 13. He played 34 games at Auburn as a freshman in 2017-18 before transferring to Baylor, and Butler was initially enrolled at Alabama, though he never played for the Crimson Tide. AdBaylor: The Bears trailed for only 61 seconds against Auburn, and have trailed only 45:21 of 640 minutes played this season. Baylor is 7-1 in Big 12/SEC Challenge games, the best record by any team in either league in the annual showdown.

Baylor guard Jared Butler (12) shoots a three-point basket past Kansas guard Marcus Garrett (0) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, in Waco, Texas. Butler had a season-high 30 points and eight assists as the Bears remained undefeated with a 77-69 victory Monday night over No. 9 Kansas, which has lost consecutive Big 12 games for the first time in nearly eight years. “To win the Big 12, we’re going to need all 15 guys, we need everybody, we need the staff. “They were real focused, like we’ve been for every game,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said.