Tennessee knocks off No. 1 Alabama

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi each scored 15 points and No. 10 Tennessee took down newly minted No. 1 Alabama 68-59 on Wednesday night.

Playing its first game as the top-ranked team since the 2002-03 season, the Crimson Tide (22-4, 12-1 SEC) led just once in the early going and committed 19 turnovers.

Unlike football, when Tennessee fans stormed their home field after beating No. 3 Alabama 52-49 in October, this sellout crowd stayed in the seats when it was over. “Rocky Top” loudly blared as the Volunteers (20-6, 9-5) ended a two-game skid.

Alabama became the last Power 5 men’s team to lose a conference game this season. The Tide reached No. 1 in the latest poll by The Associated Press on Monday, but its only lead in this game came at 12-11.

Jonas Aidoo had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Tennessee.

Brandon Miller led Alabama with 15 points, Jaden Bradley added 14 and Nimari Burnett had 11.

NO. 7 VIRGINIA 61, LOUISVILLE 58: Armaan Franklin and Kihei Clark each scored 14 points and visiting Virginia endured a stern challenge from struggling Louisville and its own poor free-throw shooting to win its third straight game.

The Cavaliers (20-4, 12-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) led 58-50 with 3:47 remaining but missed five free throws down the stretch to give the ACC-worst Cardinals (3-23, 1-14) a chance. JJ Traynor’s jumper with 31 seconds left got Louisville within three, and Clark missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

But the Cardinals bled valuable time off the clock during their final possession while trying to get free for an open 3-pointer, and Kamari Lands’ off-balance 3 barely hit the rim with 3 seconds left. Ben Vander Plas got the rebound and Virginia escaped with its sixth consecutive win over the Cardinals while moving into a first-place tie with Pittsburgh in the ACC.

El Ellis had 21 points for Louisville, which has lost four straight since its lone ACC victory. The Cardinals were coming off another close game against one of the league’s best teams, a 93-85 loss at Miami.

NO. 11 MARQUETTE 69, NO. 16 XAVIER 68: Olivier-Maxence Prosper tipped in a putback with 1.6 seconds left and host Marquette edged Xavier to extend its slim Big East lead.

Marquette (21-6, 13-3), picked to finish ninth by the league’s coaches in the preseason poll, moved 1 1/2 games ahead of Xavier (19-7, 11-4), No. 24 Providence and No. 18 Creighton.

After a layup by Jack Nunge put the Musketeers ahead 68-67 with 8.3 seconds remaining, Marquette raced up the floor. Kam Jones missed his driving layup attempt, but Prosper used his right hand to tip in the offensive rebound and put the Golden Eagles back in front.

Xavier’s Jerome Hunter threw a long inbounds pass to Nunge, whose deep 3-point try caromed off the backboard as the buzzer sounded.

NORTHWESTERN 64, NO. 14 INDIANA 62: Boo Buie scored the tiebreaking basket with two seconds remaining and host Northwestern followed up its first win over a top-ranked team by beating Indiana.

After defeating Purdue on Sunday for the program’s first victory over an opponent ranked No. 1 in the AP poll, the Wildcats (19-7, 10-5 Big Ten) came away with another big win after the Hoosiers (18-8, 9-6) rallied from 19 down at halftime to tie it in the final minute.

Northwestern took sole possession of second place in the conference standings with its program-record fourth victory over a ranked opponent this season. Northwestern hadn’t beaten Top 25 teams in consecutive games since January 2009. And this one sure wasn’t easy in the end.

NO. 19 IOWA ST. 70, TCU 59: Aljaz Kunc had career highs of 22 points and five 3-pointers in his first start in nearly two months, and host Iowa State never trailed in a victory over TCU.

Jaren Holmes added 16 points for the Cyclones (17-8, 8-5), who took sole possession of fourth place in the Big 12, one game behind co-leaders Kansas, Texas and Baylor.

TCU (17-9, 6-7) lost its fourth straight while playing its fifth game without injured conference preseason player of the year and leading scorer Mike Miles Jr.