Josh Dix scored 15 points shooting 7 of 10, Drew Thelwell 15 and Brock Harding 12 for Iowa (9-3) which has won two straight games after dropping back-to-back games.

Iowa (9-3) finished shooting 53.1% (34 of 64). Utah was right behind at 51.5% (35 of 68).

Tied at 75, Sandfort made consecutive layups followed by one from Dix and Iowa led 81-78 with 5:49 left and the Hawkeyes never trailed for the remainder. Harding sank two free throws, Dix added a jump shot and Harding made a 3 with 3:03 left for an 88-80 advantage. Utah never got closer than six points on a pair of layups by Lawson Lovering 21 seconds apart.

Lovering scored a career-high 25 points, shooting 11 of 14, and Mason Madsen scored 24 for the Utes (8-3).

It was Iowa’s first win over Utah which entered having won the two previous matchups between the two teams.

Utah starts Big 12 Conference play traveling to Baylor on New Year’s Eve. Iowa hosts New Hampshire on Dec. 30.

OHIO STATE 85, NO. 4 KENTUCKY 65

NEW YORK (AP) — Bruce Thornton scored 22 of his career-high 30 points in the second half and Ohio State cruised to victory over No. 4 Kentucky in the CBS Classic at Madison Square Garden.

John Mobley Jr. added 15 points and Aaron Bradshaw scored 11 for Ohio State (8-4), which shot 56.6% and scored 36 points in the paint.

Otega Oweh hit a career-high 13 free throws and scored 21 points for Kentucky (10-2), which shot a season-worst 29.8%. Andrew Carr added 13 points and Jaxson Robinson had 10 as the Wildcats were held to their lowest point total this season.

The Buckeyes fared much better in their second neutral-site game against a top-five team in a week. They were blown out 91-57 by No. 2 Auburn on Dec. 14 in Atlanta.

No. 5 DUKE 82, GEORGIA TECH 56

ATLANTA (AP) — Kon Knueppel scored 18 points, Cooper Flagg celebrated his 18th birthday by chipping in 13 and No. 5 Duke romped to a victory over Georgia Tech.

The Blue Devils (10-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) led by double figures much of the game and dominated the second half against the Yellow Jackets (5-7, 0-2).

Even though the game was in Atlanta, it sounded more like Cameron Indoor Stadium with all the blue-clad Duke fans roaring for their team.

They certainly had plenty to cheer about. Knueppel led Duke’s fabulous freshmen class, which also got 15 points from Khaman Maluach.

Baye Ndongo led Georgia Tech with 14 points.

No. 2 AUBURN 87, No. 16 PURDUE 69

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Johni Broome had 23 points and 11 rebounds in his return from a shoulder injury, and No. 2 Auburn beat No. 16 Purdue.

Broome had played only two minutes in the last game against Georgia State before hurting his right shoulder, but he and the Tigers (11-1) dominated the Boilermakers (8-4) most of the way.

Tahaad Pettiford had 18 points and five assists for Auburn, which led by 33 points with seven minutes left. Denver Jones added 15 points. The 6-foot-10 Broome shot 10 for 15 and got the crowd going with a 3-pointer just over a minute into the game.

C.J. Cox led Purdue with 16 points while Trey Kaufman-Renn had 15 points and eight rebounds. He was just 1 for 7 from the free throw line, all in the first half.

Fletcher Loyer had 12 points on 3-for-12 shooting, and Braden Smith added eight points and six assists but also committed five turnovers.

No. 7 FLORIDA 99, NORTH FLORIDA 45

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Will Richard scored a career-high 26 points, three teammates notched double-doubles and No. 7 Florida remained undefeated with a victory over North Florida

Richard made 9 of 12 shots from the floor, including 6 of 8 shots from 3-point range, and finished with five rebounds, two steals and two assists.

Sam Alexis chipped in 14 points and 12 rebounds. Alex Condon had 12 points and 10 boards. And Thomas Haugh finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for Florida.

The Gators (12-0) extended their best start since beginning the 2005-06 season with 17 consecutive wins. They won this one with relative ease, scoring the first 10 points of the game and closing the first half with a 14-0 run.

The Ospreys (7-6) lost for the fourth time in six outings in December and played their second straight game without leading scorer Josh Harris (ankle).

Jasai Miles and Liam Murphy led North Florida with 13 points apiece.

No. 9 MARQUETTE 72, XAVIER 70

CINCINNATI (AP) — Kam Jones scored 20 points and David Joplin added 19 as No. 9 Marquette overcame a late rally by Xavier.

Marquette (11-2, 2-0 Big East) led by as many as 15 points in the second half, but the Musketeers fought back with a 12-0 run to take a 64-63 lead with 2:07 left.

Jones made one of two free throws to put Marquette ahead 72-70 with 3.6 seconds left. Conwell went to floor but no foul was called on Chase Ross as the buzzer sounded.

Marcus Foster led Xavier (8-5, 0-2 Big East) with 16 points.

No. 10 OREGON 76, STANFORD 61

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Kwame Evans Jr. made 10 free throws on the way to a team-high 13 points and No. 10 Oregon beat Stanford.

Evans made just one basket from the field — a 3-pointer — but managed to get to the line repeatedly to lead a balanced scoring attack for the Ducks (11-1) . Jackson Shelstad added 10 points as Oregon had nine players score at least five points.

Maxime Raynaud had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Cardinal (9-3), who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

This was the first nonconference game between the former Pac-12 rivals since the 1967 Portland Far West Classic as Oregon is playing its first season in the Big Ten and Stanford is now in the ACC.

The Ducks used a 16-3 run in the first half to take an 11-point lead and were never threatened in the second half on the way to the win

No. 11 UCONN 78, BUTLER 74

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Alex Karaban scored 21 points, including two late 3-pointers, and No. 11 UConn won its sixth straight game, beating Butler.

Liam McNeeley added 17 points and Hassan Diarra 12 for the Huskies (10-3, 2-0 Big East)

Andre Screen and Patrick McCaffery each scored 17 points and Pierre Brooks added 13 points for the Bulldogs (7-6, 0-2).

Butler used an 8-0 run to tie it at 63-all but could never get the lead. McNeeley’s three-point play put UConn ahead 66-63 with 4:18 remaining.

Diarra sank a shot-clock jumper to give UConn a 71-67 lead with 1:34 left. After McCaffery’s two free throws closed the gap to 71-69, Karaban hit a 3-pointer to make it 74-69 with 59 seconds to go.

McCaffery’s driving layup closed the lead to 76-74 with 8.3 seconds left, but McNeeley’s two free throws to ice the game.

No. 13 GONZAGA 85, BUCKNELL 65

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP0 — Graham Ike had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 13 Gonzaga moved past an early cold spell to beat Bucknell.

Ben Gregg scored 15 points and Nolan Hickman added 14 for the Bulldogs (9-3), who improved to 6-0 at home.

Ike was the only Zag to score in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the game. He kept Gonzaga afloat with a trio of buckets in the paint and a 3-pointer from the left wing. Gregg’s 3 tied the game at 12-all with 12:31 left in the first half.

From there, the Zags ran out to a 38-27 halftime lead and stretched their lead to 20 points with a 9-0 run to open the second half.

Noah Williamson led Bucknell (4-8) with 16 points and Josh Bascoe added 14.

No. 15 HOUSTON 87, TEXAS A&M-CC 51

HOUSTON (AP) — Emanuel Sharp scored 18 points, L.J. Cryer added 17 and No. 15 Houston beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for its fourth straight win.

Sharp had 15 points in the first half as Houston (8-3) led 46-27 after shooting 61% and going 8 of 13 on 3-pointers. The Cougars finished shooting 49% and made a season-high 14 of 29 from 3.

Terrance Arceneaux scored 13 points, and Milos Uzan had 12 points and six assists as Houston extended its nation-best home winning streak to 29 games.

Garry Clark had 17 points and nine rebounds, and Damarion Dennis scored 10 points for the Islanders (7-6). Texas A&M-Corpus Christi shot 32%.

No. 17 MISSISSIPPI 80, QUEENS (NC) 62

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Sean Padulla scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half, and No. 17 Mississippi pulled away in the final 15 minutes to beat Queens University of Charlotte.

Ole Miss (11-1) used a 16-6 run, capped by Padulla’s twisting layup, to build a 61-48 lead with 8:20 remaining. Queens never got closer than nine points again as the Rebels improved to 7-0 at home.

Ole Miss guard Matthew Murrell, a preseason All-SEC selection, returned to play 23 minutes after missing three games with what was listed as a lower body injury. He finished with 10 points and six rebounds.

Dre Davis scored 11 points and Jaylen Murray added 10 for the Rebels.

Maban Jabriel had 15 points and seven rebounds for Queens (7-6). Chris Ashby added 14 points and Leo Colimerio had 13.

The Royals, who trailed just 38-33 at halftime, had their four-game winning streak snapped.

NORTH CAROLINA 76, No. 18 UCLA 74

NEW YORK (AP) — RJ Davis made the tying and go-ahead free throws with 13 seconds left, and North Carolina erased a 16-point deficit for a victory over No. 18 UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden.

Davis scored 17 points and gave the Tar Heels (7-5) their first lead since the opening minutes. Ian Jackson scored a career-high 24 points. Seth Trimble added 12 and forced a UCLA turnover that set up the free throws by Davis as North Carolina outscored UCLA 33-15 over the final 12-plus minutes and shot 46.8%.

Tyler Bilodeau tied a career high with 26 points but the Bruins (10-2) had a nine-game winning streak stopped. Sebastian Mack added 22 for UCLA, which shot 49.1%.

The Tar Heels forged a 72-all tie with 1:32 left on a basket by Jalen Washington. After Bilodeau missed a 3, Mack hit two free throws for a 74-72 lead with 48 seconds left. Davis made one free throw to trim it to a point, and after Trimble forced a turnover on Dylan Andrews, Davis hit two more for a 75-74 edge.

No. 20 MICHIGAN ST. 86, FAU 69

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Coen Carr had career highs of 17 points and eight rebounds, lifting No. 20 Michigan State to a victory over Florida Atlantic.

The Spartans (10-2) have won five straight and eight of nine.

The Owls (7-6) had won three straight, averaging 87-plus points in those games.

Florida Atlantic’s Tre Carroll scored 24 points and Baba Miller had 12.

Michigan State got off to a rough start and the Owls took advantage, leading for four-plus minutes before Carr made a pair of crowd-pleasing dunks.

Carr shot 7 of 9, including a 3-pointer, and made both of his free throws in a performance that surpassed his previous career highs in points and rebounds set in a win over then-No. 12 North Carolina last month at the Maui Invitational.

MISSISSIPPI ST. 79, No. 21 MEMPHIS 66

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Riley Kugel scored 19 points and KeShawn Murphy added 13 points and nine rebounds to lead Mississippi State past No. 21 Memphis.

Josh Hubbard also had 13 points and Cameron Matthews added 12 points and six assists as the Bulldogs (11-1) built an early 20-point lead and were never really threatened in winning their fifth straight.

PJ Haggerty led Memphis (9-3) with 24 points and Tyrese Hunter finished with 19.

The Mississippi State defense caused a 36% shooting day for the Tigers, including 8 of 27 from outside the arc. Memphis also added 18 turnovers.

No. 23 SAN DIEGO ST. 71, CALIFORNIA 50

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Nick Boyd shook off a rough shooting first half to score all 17 of his points after halftime and No. 23 San Diego State beat California.

After missing all six of his shots in the first half, Boyd hit two 3-pointers in the first minute of the second half to help send the Aztecs (8-2) to their fifth straight win.

BJ Davis and Miles Byrd each added 12 points for San Diego State.

Jeremiah Wilkinson scored 13 points and Andrej Stojakovic added 10 for the Golden Bears (7-5). Cal shot 25.5% for the game and lost its 19th straight game against a ranked

No. 25 CLEMSON 73, WAKE FOREST 62

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Chase Hunter had 16 points and Jake Heidbreder 15 as No. 25 Clemson bounced back from two straight losses to beat Wake Forest and start ACC play 2-0 for the second time in three seasons.

The Tigers (10-3, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) had lost a pair of non-conference games in overtime to Memphis and South Carolina. But Clemson opened a double-digit lead in the first half and held off the Demon Deacons (9-4, 1-1).

Wake Forest trailed by 15 points in the first half, but cut the lead to 44-41 on Hunter Sallis’ three-point play with 15:51 to play. The Tigers followed with a 19-6 burst the next eight minutes to extend the lead back to double digits.

Sallis finished with 26 points to lead Wake Forest.

NCAA FOOTBALL ROUNDUP

NO. 6 PENN ST. 38, NO. 11 SMU 10

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Dominic DeLuca and Tony Rojas returned interceptions for touchdowns and Penn State toyed with mistake-prone SMU in the opening round of the College Football Playoff.

The sixth-seeded Nittany Lions (12-2) advanced to face third-seeded Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve by hounding Mustangs quarterback Kevin Jennings into three turnovers, including a pair of ill-thrown floaters in the first half DeLuca and Rojas converted into Pick-6s that sent the white-out crowd at wintry Beaver Stadium into a frenzy and SMU (11-3) into a funk from which it never recovered.

Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen ran for scores for the Nittany Lions. Drew Allar completed 13 of 22 passes for 127 yards while playing every meaningful snap after backup Beau Pribula — who occasionally and effectively spelled Allar throughout the year — entered the transfer portal earlier this week.

Jennings, whose electrifying play fueled SMU’s undefeated regular-season sprint through the ACC, finished 20 of 36 for 195 yards with a late touchdown and three picks. He began the day by missing a wide-open tight end Matthew Hibner at the goal line to end the Mustangs’ promising opening possession, and things only got worse from there.

No. 5 TEXAS 38, No. 12 CLEMSON 24

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Jaydon Blue ran 146 yards and two touchdowns, the last a 77-yard burst in the fourth quarter, and Texas beat Clemson in the first round of the expanded College Football Playoff.

Blue’s fourth-quarter touchdown came after Clemson rallied from down 31-10 to 31-24 on Cade Klubnik’s third touchdown pass.

Texas (12-2) advanced to the Jan. 1 Peach bowl to play Big 12 champion Arizona State.

Blue also scored on 38-yard cut-and-dash burst in the second quarter. On his second, he dove into the line, shook a tackler, and then outraced three more to the end zone with just 11 minutes left.

Quintrevion Wisner added 110 yards rushing and two first-half touchdowns for Texas. Quinn Ewers passed for 202 yards and a touchdown.

No. 8 OHIO ST. 42, No. 9 TENNESSEE 17

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Will Howard threw two touchdown passes to freshman Jeremiah Smith and Ohio State routed Tennessee n a first-round College Football Playoff game, setting up a New Year’s Day rematch with No. 1 Oregon at the Rose Bowl.

Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson rushed for two touchdowns apiece as the Buckeyes (11-2) gave their fans an early Christmas present that should quiet some of the outcry following the devastating fourth straight loss to Michigan three weeks ago.

Howard finished 24 for 29 for 311 yards, his second 300-yard game of the season. Smith had six catches for 103 yards, the sixth freshman to have over 100 receiving yards in a CFP game.

Eighth-seeded Ohio State scored on its first three drives while forcing three straight Tennessee punts. The ninth-seeded Vols (10-3) finally got on the board with a second-quarter field goal and touchdown but couldn’t generate anything in the second half until getting a meaningless touchdown late in the game.

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava was 14 for 31 for 104 yards and rushed a career-high 20 times for 47 more.

NO. 7 NOTRE DAME 27, NO. 10 INDIANA 17 (FRIDAY)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Jeremiyah Love tied a school record with a 98-yard touchdown run, Riley Leonard added two more scores and Notre Dame shut down the highest-scoring team in the College Football Playoff, overwhelming Indiana.

The seventh-seeded Fighting Irish (12-1) won their 11th straight — and their first playoff victory. They’ll face second-seeded Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman earned the biggest win of his three-year career by extending his Irish record to 12 victories over ranked teams in three seasons.

Tenth-seeded Indiana (11-2) completed a magical season by finishing with its second fewest points this season on a cold, brisk night in the first CFP game ever played on a campus site. Both of the Hoosiers’ losses came to top-five opponents. Indiana set a single-season school record for wins but still hasn’t won at Notre Dame since 1898.