No. 4 Villanova escapes with a 94-85 win over Marquette; mid-afternoon games

Villanova's Ryan Arcidiancono (center) made several critical plays for the Wildcats against Marquette. (Jeffrey Phelps/AP) The Wildcats may have been hungover

Villanova's Ryan Arcidiancono (center) made several critical plays for the Wildcats against Marquette. (Jeffrey Phelps/AP)

The Wildcats may have been hungover from the horrors of Monday night’s three-point barrage against Creighton. The cold sweats didn’t end on Saturday, as Villanova needed overtime and some late heroics from Ryan Arcidiancono to beat Marquette, 94-85.

‘Nova missed critical free throws in crunch time, and a Tony Chennault game-winning drive was waved off on a questionable charge call to send the game to overtime. Here is the play via Troy Machir of Sporting News:

The Wildcats were able to regain control in overtime, with Arcidiancono (20 points, 11 assists, zero turnovers) making critical plays to will the Wildcats to a victory.

The Golden Eagles didn’t make it easy on Villanova, getting it down to a one-point lead with 13.2 seconds to play off a stepback three from Todd Mayo (18 points, 7-of-10 shooting). Mayo then tied it up with five seconds to play, making all three free throws when he was fouled from behind the arc. Marquette never led.

Unfortunately Marquette hasn’t been able to put together any sort of run in 2014 – going win-lose-win-lose since the first of the year. James Bell had 30 for ‘Nova, which is now 17-2 (6-1 Big East) on the year. The faster the Wildcats forget the Creighton loss, the better. And the officiating crew might want to forget the Chennault call, which prompted a bit of befuddlement from the interwebs.

Oh my goodness. Offensive foul wipes out Villanova game-winner. Jay Wright actually unbuttoned his coat, that's what this came to.

— Brian Hamilton (@_Brian_Hamilton) January 25, 2014

Jay Wright is about to catch a murder charge on national television. And I don’t blame him.

— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) January 25, 2014

Tony Chennault game winner waved off for charging. Bad call. Defender was in the circle.

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) January 25, 2014

No, it is not. RT@zhayes9: That's a charge!

— Nick Fasulo (@nickbfasulo) January 25, 2014

Texas 74, No. 24 Baylor 60: Baylor’s free fall continued, and suddenly the Bears’ NCAA hopes are drowning a bit. Scott Drew’s team hasn’t been able to score consistently, and was done in against the Longhorns by a 32.1-percent shooting performance, including going 3-of-17 from beyond the arc. The resurgence of Texas has been one of the better surprises of the 2013-14 season, as the Longhorns moved to 16-4 (5-2 Big 12). Isaiah Taylor led Texas with 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting, while Cameron Ridley had eight points and 14 rebounds.

No. 16 Iowa State 81, No. 22 Kansas State 75: The Cyclones had dropped three in row after starting the season 14-0, and a win over Kansas State wasn’t going to come easy. The Wildcats stumbled out of the gate, starting the season 2-3 before putting together 10 straight in the W column, including a 74-71 win over Oklahoma State on Jan. 4. Bruce Weber’s team gets it done on defense, as Kansas State is a KenPom top 20 defense. Iowa State got hot from beyond the arc, hitting 9-of-18, and was able to ground out the tough, much-needed victory.

No. 11 Oklahoma State 81, West Virginia 75:Marcus Smart is struggling, but thankfully Le’Bryan Nash and Markel Brown were able to pick up the slack to carry the Cowboys in a sludge-filled game against West Virginia. A choppy flow was the only way the Mountaineers were going to stay in it against an athletic OSU team, and it was closer than the Cowboys wanted it to be throughout. Nash finished with 29 points on 10-of-13 shooting, while Brown added 15 and this highlight dunk in the second half:

No. 14 Kentucky 79, Georgia 54:

Bulldogs

James Young

Julius Randle

Willie Cauley-Stein

Alex Poythress