No. 1 Auburn easily beats No. 15 Mississippi State

By Canadian Press on January 14, 2025.

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Chad Baker-Mazara scored 20 points, and No. 1 Auburn beat No. 15 Mississippi State 88-66 on Tuesday night in its first game without star center Johni Broome.

Chaney Johnson, who replaced Broome in the starting lineup, had 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for Auburn (16-1, 4-0 Southeastern Conference). Broome is out indefinitely with a left ankle sprain that he sustained last Saturday in Auburn’s 66-63 win at South Carolina.

Baker-Mazara shot 8 for 11, including 3 for 5 on 3-pointers. Miles Kelly and Denver Jones both scored 13, while Tahaad Pettiford added 12.

Mississippi State (14-3, 2-2) shot just 35%. Josh Hubbard scored 17 points but was only 2 for 12.

No. 21 MISSISSIPPI 74, No. 4 ALABAMA 64

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Malik Dia’s 23 points, 19 rebounds and two blocks led No. 21 Mississippi to a win over No. 4 Alabama.

Sean Pedulla scored 12 points and had three steals and Matthew Murrell scored 11. Jaylen Murray and Jaemyn Brakefield both scored 13 points off the bench for Ole Miss (15-2, 4-0 Southeastern Conference).

Aden Holloway led Alabama (14-3, 3-1) with 15 points, and Mark Sears added 11.

No. 7 MARQUETTE 85, DEPAUL 83, OT

CHICAGO (AP) — David Joplin made two of his seven 3-pointers in overtime, and No. 7 Marquette outlasted DePaul for a rugged victory.

Joplin finished with 30 points on 9-for-17 shooting. Kam Jones had 18 points and 11 assists for Marquette (15-2, 6-0 Big East), which earned its sixth consecutive win.

Joplin’s two 3s at the beginning of overtime lifted the Golden Eagles to a 73-67 lead. Two second-chance baskets by Stevie Mitchell made it 77-69 with 1:22 to go.

Chase Ross had 15 points for Marquette, and Ben Gold finished with 14.

CJ Gunn led DePaul with 21 points. Isaiah Rivera added 20, and Conor Enright finished with 11 points and 11 assists.

No. 8 KENTUCKY 81, No. 11 TEXAS A&M 69

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Jaxson Robinson scored 22 points to lead No. 8 Kentucky to a victory over 11th-ranked Texas A&M.

Robinson made five of Kentucky’s nine 3-pointers, including four in the first half as the Wildcats (14-3, 3-1 SEC) improved to 5-0 against ranked opponents this season.

Andrew Carr added 13 points and Otega Oweh finished with 11 for Kentucky.

Zhuric Phelps led the Aggies (13-4, 2-2) with 21 points, followed by Pharrel Payne with 15 and Manny Obaseki with 12.

No. 19 ILLINOIS 94, INDIANA 69

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Kylan Boswell scored 22 points, Kasparas Jakucionis added 21 and No. 19 Illinois opened a 28-point halftime lead in a blowout of Indiana.

Tomislav Ivisic had 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Fighting Illini (13-4, 5-2 Big Ten) bounced back from a double-digit loss at home to Southern California.

This time, Illinois left no doubt as Jakucionis and Ivisic combined for 34 first-half points to give the Illini a 60-32 halftime lead thanks largely to their dominance inside.

Indiana scored the first 10 points of the second half but never got closer than 16.

The Associated Press