Milan Momcilovic scored 18 points and No. 5 Iowa State’s ferocious defense smothered No. 9 Kansas for a 74-56 Big 12 victory on Saturday in Ames, Iowa, to snap the Jayhawks’ eight-game winning streak.

Joshua Jefferson, Tamin Lipsey, Jamarion Batemon and Blake Buchanan added 11 points apiece for the Cyclones (22-3, 9-3 Big 12), who moved into a third-place tie with the Jayhawks (19-6, 9-3). Jefferson and Lipsey each added four assists while Buchanan grabbed six rebounds.

Iowa State made 11 of 30 (36.7%) from long range while forcing 13 turnovers and limiting Kansas to 37.2% percent shooting from the floor.

Melvin Council Jr. paced Kansas with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Flory Bidunga had 11 points and 13 rebounds, but prized freshman Darryn Peterson was limited to a season-low 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting in 24 minutes.

Kansas went up 6-2 during a rugged start as Bidunga, Peterson and Bryson Tiller made baskets, but the home crowd came to life when Buchanan threw down a vicious slam dunk off Lipsey’s missed layup at 12:11 to knot it 6-6. Killyan Toure then sank a 24-footer to cap a 9-0 run and give Iowa State its first lead at 11:43.

Council sparked the Jayhawks by canning a trio of three-pointers and adding an alley-oop assist on Bidunga’s dunk to give the visitors a 20-16 lead at the 6:41 mark.

With his team struggling from long range, Jefferson drove past Bidunga on one possession and Peterson on another to make layups while being fouled. Jefferson completed both 3-point plays to make it 29-22 with 3:37 left in the half.

Iowa State forced 10 first-half turnovers and closed the on a 21-7 run to take a 37-27 lead into the break.

Momcilovic, who made 4 of 9 3-point attempts for the day, connected on his first two treys in the opening 90 seconds of the second half before Lipsey hit two from deep for a 49-29 lead at 17:06.

When Momcilovic cashed the Cyclones’ fifth straight 3-point attempt to start the second half, Iowa State held a 52-32 lead with 15:56 to go.

Kansas got as close as 68-56 on Council’s jumper with 4:22 left, but the Jayhawks didn’t score again as Iowa State wrapped up its sixth win in seven games.

–Field Level Media

Jarin Stevenson and Seth Trimble scored 19 points apiece on Saturday to help short-handed No. 11 North Carolina post a 79-65 victory over visiting Pittsburgh in Atlantic Coast Conference play in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Zayden High had 15 points and seven rebounds for North Carolina (20-5, 8-4 ACC), which played without its two leading scorers in Caleb Wilson (19.8 points per game) and Henri Veesaar (16.4 ppg), who both missed the game with injuries. Luka Bogavac added 15 points for the Tar Heels, who won their sixth game in seven tries.

Cameron Corhen led Pittsburgh (9-17, 2-11) with 23 points, six rebounds, and six assists. Roman Siulepa scored 14 points and Barry Dunning Jr. contributed 10 in the Panthers’ fifth straight loss.

After building a 14-point halftime lead, North Carolina extended the margin to 19 on Bogavac’s mid-range jumper and High’s dunk with 15:26 left. The Tar Heels took their first 20-point lead on Trimble’s layup at the 13:41 mark.

Trailing 62-41, Pittsburgh pulled within 14 as Nojus Indrusaitis’s layup began a 7-0 spurt. From there, North Carolina opened the lead back up as Bogavac’s 3-pointer put the Tar Heels ahead by 22 at the 7:57 mark.

Corhen’s dunk with 4:55 remaining pulled the visitors within 16, before the Panthers cut the deficit to 76-62 on Dunning’s 3-pointer. Trimble then made three free throws to ice North Carolina’s comfortable victory.

After Siulepa’s layup trimmed Pittsburgh’s early deficit to 8-5, Trimble’s 3-pointer stamped an 8-0 spurt to push the Tar Heels’ edge to 11 with 15:04 remaining in the first half.

Siulepa’s floater later sliced North Carolina’s lead to 20-15, before Trimble and Jonathan Powell’s back-to-back layups gave the Tar Heels a 30-19 edge. Jaydon Young hit a triple to extend the lead to 36-23 with 6:10 left in the opening half.

Stevenson scored the Tar Heels’ final four points of the first half, giving North Carolina a 46-32 lead at the break. Stevenson’s 14 first-half points paced the Tar Heels, while Corhen’s 17 led all scorers before halftime.

–Field Level Media

Reserve Martin Somerville scored 18 points after halftime to lead Florida State’s second-half eruption in a 92-69 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg, Va.

Somerville finished with a season-high-tying 23 points, making all seven of his second-half field-goal attempts. Chauncey Wiggins added 19 points, Lajae Jones tallied 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds and Robert McCray V scored 17 for the Seminoles, who have won two straight road games and four of their last five games overall.

Florida State (12-13, 5-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) outscored the Hokies (17-9, 6-7) 53-27 in the second half after trailing by three points at intermission. Its 92 points are the team’s most in a conference game this season.

Ben Hammond and Tobi Lawal led the Hokies with 16 points apiece, while Jailen Bedford (13), Amani Hansberry (10) and Neoklis Avdalas (10) also scored in double figures for the Hokies, who were unable to build off Wednesday’s road upset of No. 20 Clemson.

Virginia Tech shot 36% in the second half compared to the Seminoles’ scorching 78.3%. Florida State also shot a season-best 52.2% (12 of 23) from 3-point range.

Virginia Tech led 42-39 at the end of a torrid first half which saw each team shoot exactly 50% from the floor. The Hokies used a 7-2 run to charge ahead 21-13 with 12:35 left in the first half.

The Seminoles gradually chipped into the deficit, leveling the score at 34-all on a 3-pointer by AJ Swinton with 4:18 left. Virginia Tech responded with a surge to lead 42-39 at the break.

Hammond led the Hokies with 11 first-half points, with Lawal providing 10. Wiggins was the lone Seminole in double figures with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting (2 of 3 from three).

After trailing almost the entire first half, Florida State took control with a 19-4 surge, turning a five-point deficit into a 63-53 lead with 11:06 left. Somerville scored the final four points of a 13-0 run which put the Seminoles ahead during that span.

Somerville then scored seven straight points after the Hokies cut the lead to six, giving Florida State a 70-57 lead with under eight minutes left.

It never got closer from there, as the Seminoles iced the game with an 11-0 run to take an 84-60 lead with four minutes left.

–Field Level Media