HOUSTON (AP) — Jamal Shead scored a career-high 29 points and also had 10 assists, J’Wan Roberts added 12 points and No. 5 Houston snapped a two-game losing streak with a 77-54 win over No. 25 Texas Tech. The Cougars, who have now won 15 straight at home, were coming off losses at Iowa State and TCU last week. Kerwin Walton scored 18 points and Pop Isaacs added 12 points for Texas Tech, which had its nine-game winning streak snapped. The Red Raiders shot 37% and were 11 of 27 on 3-pointers.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Jaylin Sellers had 24 points, Shemarri Allen scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and UCF rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half to beat Texas 77-71. UCF trailed 59-46 with 11:59 remaining before holding Texas to four made shots — all from 3-point range — the rest of the way. The Knights finished the game on a 24-9 run. Ithiel Horton scored 20 points to lead Texas (12-5, 1-3), which has lost three of its last four games.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The Big 12 says two TCU women’s basketball games have been canceled because the team does not have enough available players. The Horned Frogs had been scheduled to host No. 7 Kansas State on Wednesday night and visit No. 24 Iowa State on Saturday. The TCU athletic department says those games were canceled “due to injuries within the program and in the interest of the health and safety of our student-athletes.” The program announced it would hold open tryouts Thursday and Friday for women interested in walking on for the remainder of the season. Iowa State and Kansas State each will be credited with a win in the league standings and TCU will pick up two losses.
UNDATED (AP) — Those last-second shots and breathtaking upsets that make the NCAA Tournament so great tend to get remembered the most by fans. But some of college basketball's greatest games have actually occurred during the regular season, and helped shape the AP Top 25, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary. The final poll traditionally is released before postseason games commenced, so all those NCAA Tourney games would have had no bearing on its ranking. But games like UCLA-Houston on Jan. 20, 1968, billed as “The Game of the Century,” most assuredly impacted the way voters looked at the teams the following week.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes will be hitting the road for the first time in the playoffs when the Kansas City Chiefs visit the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round Sunday night. His previous 15 playoff games have been played at Arrowhead Stadium. In fact, Mahomes has only played in Buffalo once, winning a 2020 game during the pandemic in which the stadium was largely empty. Mahomes and the Chiefs have ended Buffalo's season twice in the past three years. The first came in the AFC championship game in the 2020 season, and the other the following year when they made a late field goal that tied the game and Kansas City won in overtime.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Neither frigid blowing winds, the prospect of another 2 feet of snow being dumped on the region nor an Erie County-imposed travel ban could prevent the Buffalo Bills from showing up for practice. Bills coach Sean McDermott credited snow removal crews for having the roads clear, and also got a break with the storm moving north. Buffalo is already facing a short week in preparing to host the Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional round playoff game on Sunday. Buffalo lost a day after a snowstorm pushed back its playoff opener against Pittsburgh from Sunday to Monday. The second storm in less than a week is not expected to affect Buffalo's game against Kansas City.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The manufacturer of the helmet that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes shattered during their AFC wild-card game with Miami says it “did its job” by protecting him on a helmet-to-helmet collision Saturday night. The game was the fourth-coldest in NFL history. The temperature at kickoff was minus-4 degrees Fahrenheit, and winds gusting to more than 25 mph made the wind chill approach minus-30 during the game. Certor Sports, which makes the VICIS helmet that Mahomes was wearing, said the extreme conditions “are bound to test the limits of even the highest-performing products.” But the helmet still protected the NFL MVP.
UNDATED (AP) — Kyle Juszczyk remembers the different feel when he took the field for the first time in the playoff rivalry between his San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers. Two storied franchises with rich traditions that produced big stars facing off against each other on the playoff stage. The teams are set to meet for the third time in the past five postseasons on Saturday night in the divisional round. The Packers visit the 49ers in the record-setting 10th playoff meeting between the franchises. The teams that have combined for nine Super Bowl titles will meet with a spot in NFC championship game on the line.
UNDATED (AP) — Eight teams remain. Four games to determine the NFL’s Final Four. Plenty of story lines. Josh Allen and the Bills have a third chance to get their first playoff win over Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers hit the road to get respect from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and the Detroit Lions. Lamar Jackson and the No. 1 seed Ravens aim to change their playoff narrative when they host C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans. The No. 1 seed 49ers and the Green Bay Packers renew their playoff rivalry with two new quarterbacks leading the way this time around.
UNDATED (AP) — Mike McCarthy will get another chance to end a nearly three-decade stretch without a deep playoff run for the Dallas Cowboys. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones says McCarthy will be back for a fifth season as coach after a stunning 48-32 wild-card loss to Green Bay. The Cowboys were the first No. 2 seed to lose to the last team to get in since the 14-team format was adopted in 2020. They haven't been past the divisional round since the 1995 season. That was when Dallas won the last of the storied franchise's five Super Bowl titles. Jones says there is “great benefit” to the continuity of bringing McCarthy back.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he will not sign a proposed ban on tackle football for kids under 12. A bill to gradually phase out tackle football for kids under 12 had passed a legislative committee last week. The bill had to pass the state Assembly by the end of January to have a chance at becoming law this year. But Newsom's pledge not to sign the bill into law effectively ends the proposal's chances. Advocates say the ban would protect kids from the risk of brain injury. But opponents say the ban would have cut off kids from a source of activity and exercise.
WEDNESDAY SCORES
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (1)UConn 62 (18)Creighton 48
Final (4)North Carolina 86 Louisville 70
Final (5)Houston 77 (25)Texas Tech 54
Final (8)Kentucky 90 Mississippi St. 77
Final (12)Arizona 82 Southern Cal 67
Final (13)Auburn 80 Vanderbilt 65
Final (15)Oklahoma 77 West Virginia 63
Final LSU 89 (22)Mississippi 80
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Golden State at Utah 9 p.m. (Postponed)
Final Minnesota 124 Detroit 117
Final Boston 117 San Antonio 98
Final Toronto 121 Miami 97
Final Cleveland 135 Milwaukee 95
Final Atlanta 106 Orlando 104
Final New York 109 Houston 94
Final New Orleans 132 Charlotte 112
Final L.A. Lakers 127 Dallas 110
Final Portland 105 Brooklyn 103
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Chicago at Buffalo 7:30 p.m. (Postponed)
Final Montreal 3 New Jersey 2