Aden Holloway scored 20 points, while Labaron Philon Jr. and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. added 19 apiece as Alabama held off a game South Carolina squad, 89-75, in a Southeastern Conference contest in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Alabama (18-7, 8-4 SEC) won its fourth straight game and triumphed for the seventh time in nine outings. They are likely to be ranked in next week’s Associated Press poll after receiving 72 votes last week, only eight less than 25th-ranked Kentucky.

South Carolina (11-14, 2-10) dropped its sixth consecutive game and fell for the 26th time in their last 30 SEC games.

Gamecocks guard Meechie Johnson scored 24 of his game-high 26 points in the second half. Kobe Knox added 21 points and also contributed six assists and six rebounds. Mike Sharavjamts added 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

The spunky Gamecocks stayed in contact with the Tide during the early stages of the second half, but could not get inside double digits until Johnson drained a long 3-pointer from the left wing to cut the deficit to 63-56, capping a 9-0 run with 8:20 remaining.

But after each team came away empty on their next possessions, Wrightsell answered with his third trey of the evening.

Johnson continued to keep the pressure on, knocking down his third 3-pointer of the half to close the gap to 75-67 with 3:23 remaining. But a Holloway trey to increase the lead to 83-70 with 1:33 left sealed Alabama’s 11th consecutive series win over South Carolina.

The Tide, which entered the game second in the nation in scoring at 91.9 points per game, continued their onslaught from 3-point range, converting 14 of 34. Alabama has buried 12 or more 3-pointers in six consecutive games.

Aiden Sherrell also scored in double figures for Alabama with 11 points, while Amari Allen added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Both teams were efficient in the early going, as South Carolina converted 10 of its first 19 shots, while Alabama countered with 9 of 14, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc.

Knox scored 12 of the Gamecocks’ first 23 points as his dunk with 9:50 to play in the half knotted the score at 23. But he would not score the rest of the half and South Carolina’s offense came to a screeching halt.

Alabama ended the half on a 22-9 run, starting with a Holloway 3-pointer and punctuated by an Allen fast-break dunk with 11 seconds to play in the stanza.

The Tide knocked down 9 of 17 shots from long range in the first 20 minutes, paced by a 3-of-4 effort by Philon.

The Gamecocks misfired on 10 of their final 14 looks of the half and faced their largest deficit in the first 20 minutes at 45-32 at the break.

Johnson was held to one field goal in the first half, but sunk 8-of-17 shots for the game.

–Field Level Media

Hannes Steinbach scored 26 points on 12-of-17 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds as Washington snapped a three-game skid with a 69-57 Big Ten Conference victory against short-handed Minnesota on Saturday night in Seattle.

Zoom Diallo added 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting with four assists for the Huskies (13-13, 5-10).

Cade Tyson scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Golden Gophers (11-14, 4-10), who lost for the ninth time in their past 10 games. Because of injuries, Minnesota had just six scholarship players available. Bobby Durkin scored 13 and Isaac Asuma added 11.

The Huskies shot 63.0% from the field (29 of 46), while limiting Minnesota to 42.9% (21 of 49), with more than half of those attempts coming from 3-point range (7 of 28). Washington had a 44-26 edge in points in the paint, 10-0 in bench scoring and 14-4 in fast-break points.

There were 10 lead changes before the Huskies closed the first half with a 14-0 run over the final 3:57 to turn a one-point deficit into a 39-26 lead.

A 3-pointer from the top of the lane by a wide-open Durkin gave the Golden Gophers a 26-25 lead, causing Washington coach Danny Sprinkle to call a timeout.

The Huskies got the message, holding Minnesota to 0-for-4 shooting and forcing four turnovers the rest of the half.

A step-back jumper in the lane by Courtland Muldrew sparked the Huskies’ closing run. Steinbach followed with a driving layup off a turnover and Franck Kepnang made a jumper in the lane off an offensive rebound.

Muldrew blocked a 3-point attempt by Isaac Asuma and made a layup off a pass from Steinbach on the fast break.

Two free throws by Yates, a turnaround jumper by Kepnang and a tip-in by Steinbach on the fast break following another turnover closed the half.

Grayson Grove, the lone big man available for Minnesota, picked up his second foul with 12:34 left in the first half, leaving the Golden Gophers with a five-guard lineup.

Fifth-year senior Maximus Gizzi, who enrolled at Minnesota after starring at NAIA schools Marian and Huntington, appeared for eight minutes in the first half and 11 overall. Gizzi had made six previous appearances this season, totaling 14 minutes. Gizzi got his first rebound and second steal of the season but shot an airball on his lone 3-point attempt.

–Field Level Media

Tessa Johnson scored a season-high 21 points as No. 3 South Carolina beat No. 6 LSU 79-72 on Saturday night in Baton Rouge, La.

Johnson shot 4-of-5 from 3-point land to power the Gamecocks (25-2, 11-1 Southeastern Conference) to their sixth straight win. Raven Johnson scored a career-best 19 points for South Carolina and also tallied seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. Madina Okot added a double-double of 12 points and 17 boards, while Joyce Edwards chipped in 10 points.

In defeat, the Tigers (22-4, 8-4) were paced by Flau’jae Johnson’s 21 points and eight rebounds, while Mikaylah Williams added 11 points.

Facing her former team, LSU guard MiLaysia Fulwiley — who won a national championship with South Carolina two years ago — finished with just six points on 1-of-8 shooting. She also had four steals, four rebounds and three assists.

It was South Carolina’s 18th consecutive victory over LSU, and the win also made Gamecocks’ coach Dawn Staley the fourth in SEC history to win 500 games along with Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, Georgia’s Andy Landers and Auburn’s Joe Ciampi.

LSU led by as many as six points in the first half, but Tessa Johnson scored 11 points in the second frame – sinking a trio of 3-pointers – to push the Gamecocks ahead by a single point at the break.

South Carolina then opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run, bookended by layups from Edwards. That gave the Gamecocks their largest lead of the game at eight points.

Flau’jae Johnson kept LSU in the game late, scoring seven points and grabbing four offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter. With about 45 seconds to play, she drew the call that fouled out Edwards for South Carolina and – trailing by just one point – went to the charity stripe with the chance to take the lead for the Tigers. But both of Johnson’s free-throw attempts were off the mark.

On South Carolina’s next possession, Raven Johnson killed some clock before driving inside and dishing to Okot, who sank a close-range shot to push the Gamecocks’ advantage to three points with 25 seconds to go.

On the next possession, Flau’jae Johnson missed a would-be game-tying 3-pointer for LSU. Okot hit two free throws and Raven Johnson flushed two more in the game’s final moments to seal the victory for South Carolina.

Prior to the start of the game, the selection committee for the women’s NCAA Tournament unveiled its projection of the top 16 seeds. South Carolina was slotted in as the third No. 1 seed, while LSU was the fourth No. 2 seed. Currently, six SEC teams are projected to host games during the opening weekend of March Madness, tied with the Big Ten for the most in the country.

–Field Level Media