American Athletic Conference teams combined to go 7-1 on Saturday, including two victories over Big 12 opposition. UCF, Memphis, UConn and Temple all collected wins at home, while No. 6 Wichita State and Houston took victories on the road; Tulsa knocked off Kansas State on a neutral court in Wichita, Kansas.
No. 6/6 Wichita State 78, Oklahoma State 66
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -- Wichita State's Landry Shamet did it all, and his Shockers needed every bit of it to hold off a spirited upset bid from Oklahoma State.
The sophomore guard scored a career-high 30 points, and the sixth-ranked Shockers defeated the Cowboys 78-66 on Saturday.
Shamet only had 11 field goal attempts, but he made 14 of 16 free throws, including 10 of 12 in the second half.
"I thought on the offensive end, he was tremendous, rushing the basket, knocking down free throws and shooting the 3-ball," Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said. "He's just a complete player."
Shamet took several hard hits in the game for his troubles. At one point, he collided with Oklahoma State's Brandon Averette, and Averette crashed down onto his back. After Shamet told reporters he took a beating, Marshall told him he'd have Sunday off.
"I lead by example," Shamet said. "I know what I do every day -- I work hard, and these guys respect me and I respect them and it's mutual. It's ever-growing. I feel like I get more and more comfortable vocally, and I feel like with my play, I'm just trying to get more aggressive and lead by example."
Conner Frankamp scored 14 points and Darral Willis, Jr. added 12 for the Shockers (8-1).
Wichita State's only loss was by a point to Notre Dame. The Shockers won at Big 12 member Baylor last Saturday and now have built a solid non-conference resume.
"We obviously needed this challenge, going on the road to win on back-to-back Saturdays," Marshall said. "It just helps us get better."
Wichita State made 12 of 26 3-point attempts and outrebounded the Cowboys 36-26.
Tavarius Shine scored a career-high 20 points and Mitchell Solomon added a career-best 17 for Oklahoma State (7-2).
Oklahoma State first-year coach Mike Boynton was trying to get his first win over a ranked team. Instead, the Cowboys had their 15-game non-conference home win streak snapped.
"I'm proud of the effort," Boynton said. "For us to go toe to toe with them is something to build upon."
Oklahoma State led for most of the first half, but Wichita State closed with an 8-0 run. Shamet made a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to give the Shockers a 26-23 lead. Oklahoma State did not score for the final 3:04 of the half and didn't make a field goal for the final 6:09, when Oklahoma State led by eight for its largest advantage before the break.
Shaquille Morris' only points came on a 3-pointer with about 8 minutes remaining, but the shot gave the Shockers a five-point lead. Wichita State remained in control the rest of the way.
Tulsa 61, #rv/rv Kansas State 54
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Junior Etou had 22 points and seven rebounds, Elijah Joiner buried a go-ahead 3-pointer in the closing minutes and Tulsa held off Kansas State 61-54 on Saturday night.
The Golden Hurricane (5-4) took the lead early in the second half, then withstood a back-and-forth affair before Joiner hit from the right wing with just over three minutes left in the game.
The Wildcats (8-2) had several chances to tie the game, but Dean Wade missed a 3-pointer and Barry Brown missed a short jumper and Kamau Stokes clanked another 3 off the back of the rim.
All told, Kansas State didn't hit a field goal in the final five minutes, missing all nine of its attempts. The Wildcats were also just 4 for 31 from beyond the arc.
Xavier Sneed had two of the 3-pointers and finished with 15 points and eight boards, while Wade had 13 points and Stokes had 11. Barry Brown scored 10 but was 0 for 7 from 3-point range.
Tulsa improved to 6-1 against the Wildcats in a series dating to 1932.
The Golden Hurricane were playing without junior guard DaQuan Jeffries, their third-leading scorer at nearly 12 points a game, who has been dealing with a hand injury. And they could have used the extra ball-handler in the first half, which was dominated by sloppiness by both teams.
The Wildcats, who entered the game 13th nationally in scoring defense, forced Tulsa into as many turnovers (11) in the first half as made field goals. Etou had four of them as he struggled to deal with the pesky hands of the Wildcats' perimeter players.
Still, the Golden Hurricane trailed just 30-27 at halftime, and they used an early flurry of points in the second half to pull ahead on Etou's 3-pointer with 12:38 to go.
The game remained a nip-and-tuck affair down the stretch, neither team ever leading by more than six until the final seconds, when Tulsa was able to put things away.
Temple 81, Saint Joseph’s 78
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Josh Brown made five free throws down the stretch as Temple weathered a late rally to beat Saint Joseph's 81-78 on Saturday afternoon.
Temple (6-2) sprinted to a 40-29 halftime advantage and led 63-51 midway of the second period and still had a comfortable 74-58 lead with 5:01 remaining.
Shavar Newkirk and Taylor Funk drilled back to back 3-pointers to start 14-2 run as the Hawks pulled to 76-72 with 1:32 remaining. Brown then sealed the win with five free throws.
Shizz Alston Jr. had 20 points, hitting 5 of 8 treys, for Temple. Quinton Rose added 15 points with 11 rebounds and Brown finished with 13 points with six rebounds and four assists.
Alston, who had set the school record with 52 free throws in a row over two seasons, was 1 of 2 against St. Joseph's to end his streak.
Newkirk had 18 points and Chris Clover added 17 for the Hawks (4-5).
Houston 77, Saint Louis 58
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Rob Gray was 13 of 13 from the free-throw line and finished with 24 points and Devin Davis scored 17 on 7-of-8 shooting to help Houston beat Saint Louis 77-58 on Saturday night for its seventh win in a row.
It is Houston's longest win streak since the Cougars (8-1) won seven straight in the 2012-13 season. They beat the Billikens in St. Louis for the first time since 1990 and snapped a six-game skid against their former Conference USA rival.
Five different Houston players scored during an 11-0 run that made it 25-20 with nearly six minutes left in the first half and the Cougars led the rest of the way.
Davell Roby answered with a layup but Saint Louis missed its next 10 field-goal attempts and Gray hit a jumper to give Houston a 45-30 lead with 14 minutes to go. The Billikens trailed by double figures the rest of the way.
Robey led the Billikens with 17 points and Javon Bess added 14. Saint Louis (4-5) has lost four of its last five after winning three straight -- including a 77-71 victory over Virginia Tech (8-1) -- to open the season.
UCF 78, Southern 60
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Tacko Fall scored 18 points shooting 8 of 10 from the field and grabbed nine rebounds, A.J. Davis scored 12 with eight rebounds and seven assists and UCF beat Southern 76-60 on Saturday.
The Knights led 34-32 at halftime but went on a 10-2 spurt to start the second half with Davis scoring six of the points. UCF led by double figures for most of the remainder of the game.
Aaron Ray made a pair of free throws and Emmanuel Shepherd hit a layup to bring Southern within 65-56, but the Jaguars went scoreless for more than four minutes and UCF went on a 9-0 run.
Djordjije Mumin added 12 points for UCF (6-3), which had a 38-25 rebounding advantage. The Knights have won four of five at home.
Jared Sam led Southern (2-7) with 13 points and nine rebounds, Eddie Reese and Ray each scored 11 and Shepherd and Richard Lee scored 10 apiece.
The Jaguars are winless on the road.
Memphis 90, Bryant 72
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Jeremiah Martin and Jamal Johnson combined for 42 points to lead Memphis to a 90-72 win over Bryant on Saturday afternoon.
Johnson made all his points from beyond the arc, drilling 6 of 11 attempts for 18. Martin was also hot from distance, making 6 of 7 for 24 points. He was 9 of 12 from the floor. The Tigers (6-2), who are 6-0 at home, nailed 13 of 23 from long range and hit 58 percent (34-59) from the floor.
Bryant led for most of the first half before Kyvon Davenport scored eight straight unanswered points in the closing minutes to help Memphis to a 49-34 halftime advantage. Johnson nailed two straight treys to start the second half and Memphis cruised to its sixth win in the last seven games.
Ikenna Ndugba led Bryant (1-9) with 17 points and a career-high 11 assists. Brandon Carroll added 14 points with nine boards.
UConn 72, Coppin State 59
STORRS, Conn. (AP) -- UConn's top three scorers hit just 14 of their 41 shots and the Huskies turned the ball over 15 times against winless Coppin State.
But Connecticut held on to win 72-59 on Saturday, behind 15 points from Jalen Adams, 14 from Terry Larrier and 13 from Christian Vital.
"We're not going to be sorry for winning the game," said Vital. "Would we like to have won the game in a better fashion? Absolutely. But that's why it's a long season. We're student-athletes and we're going to try and learn from this."
UConn (7-3) dominated in the paint, outscoring Coppin State 26-16, outrebounded the Eagles 50-26, including 21-5 on the offensive glass, and getting 21 second-chance points to just seven for their opponents from Baltimore.
Lamar Morgan scored a career-high 30 points to lead Coppin State (0-10). Morgan, a junior college transfer, came into the game averaging just 5 points, but hit eight of his 12 shots, including seven of 11 from 3-point range. Morgan's previous season high was eight points.
"He's shown it in preseason; he's shown it in practice," said Juan Dixon, the former Maryland star who is in his first season coaching Coppin State. "It's just a matter of Lamar getting comfortable."
The entire Coppin State team seemed comfortable early. KeAndre Fair opened the game with a 3-pointer and the Eagles scored the game's first eight points.
UConn didn't take its first lead until midway through the first half, 16-14 on a leaner in the lane by David Onuorah.
Consecutive baskets by Isaiah Whaley sparked the Huskies to a 12-0 run that broke a 20-20 tie.
Led by Morgan, Coppin State scored 11 of the final 15 points of the first half and trailed just 36-31 at the break.
The Huskies turned up their pressing defense and stretched the lead to 40-31 early in the second half, then held off the Eagles the rest of the way.
"We can't allow a lot of guys to get their career highs against us and that's the third game in a row that some guy's got their career high," said UConn coach Kevin Ollie. "A guy coming in here averaging 5 points and gets 30? That's something we want to take pride in and we have to cut that out."
No. 5/5 Florida 66, No. 17/17 Cincinnati 60
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Seconds after the final buzzer sounded, more than a couple of players on No. 5 Florida exhaled deeply.
When your team is that highly ranked, avoiding a four-game losing streak deserves a sigh of relief.
Chris Chiozza scored the final six points of the game and the Gators sidelined what would have been their first four-game slide since late in coach Mike White's first season with a 66-60 victory over No. 17 Cincinnati on Saturday in the second game of the Never Forget Tribute Classic at the Prudential Center.
"I didn't realize we had a three-game losing streak," White quipped. "I'm sure there is a sense of relief. Did it provide a sense of urgency? Probably. When the horn blows I'm sure our guys had a sense of relief. We seemed to make plays down the stretch that we needed to."
Chiozza put the Gators (6-3) ahead 62-60 with a drive across the lane with 1:12 to play.
The senior guard added two free throws with 20.1 seconds to go and he closed out the scoring with a fastbreak layup after a turnover by Cincinnati (7-2), which lost its second straight game.
"I'm not trying to take the game over at all," Chiozza said. "I just was trying to play for my team. And I just happened to get a lateral break out from Jalen (Hudson) and two free throws and a layup. I just had a chance to get one. I wasn't really looking for shots. I was just trying to make good plays and then just fell into my hands."
Egor Koulechov had 21 points to lead Florida. Hudson added 17 and Chiozza finished with 15 and six assists.
Backup guard Cane Broome had 15 points to lead Cincinnati. Jacobs Evans III added 13, Kyle Washington had 11 and Jarron Cumberland 10. Gary Clark had nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
"It becomes a one-possession game and when that happens, you can look back to a million things," Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said. "Break down here, break down there, but at the end of the day, they were just a little bit better than us."
After Chiozza gave Florida the lead, Evans missed a jumper. Florida then milked the clock and Keith Stone slammed a dunk attempt against the back of the rim. The ball bounded to the sideline, where Hudson got the rebound.
Chiozza was quickly fouled and Cincinnati never recovered.
After Cincinnati tied the game at 40-all early in the second half on a basket by Evans, neither team led by more than four points until the final margin.
Koulechov scored 11 points and Hudson had nine in the opening half in helping Florida take a 34-28 lead.