MBB Minute – Behind a monster performance by Joel Soriano, St. John’s defeated West Virginia 79-73 on the road Friday night in a BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle game. UConn, DePaul and Xavier fell short in their respective battle matchups.
 
St. John’s (5-2) collected its third straight win on the year taking down the Mountaineers at WVU Coliseum. Senior Joel Soriano propelled the Johnnies to their fourth consecutive win in its series with the Mountaineers with a career-high 24 points, shooting 8-for-11 from the field. The Yonkers native also recorded nine boards and three blocks in 29 minutes of action. The Red Storm was dominant on the interior, finishing with 32 points in the paint. St. John's pulled down 18 offensive boards and scored 26 second-chance points.
 
Despite 31 points from graduate guard Tristen Newton No. 4 UConn (7-1) dropped a 69-65 decision at No. 5 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. After the two sides traded early points, Kansas rattled off a 10-0 run that gave the Jayhawks a 16-5 lead and forced a UConn timeout with 14:43 to go in the first half. Overall, the Jayhawks shot 50 percent in the opening frame to take a 38-31 halftime lead. After Newton drilled a three to give the Huskies their first lead of the game, midway through the second, the Huskies extended the lead to 54-50 before an 11-0 spurt by Kansas. UConn pulled back within two late and had a look at a 3-pointer to take a lead in the final seconds, but it rimmed out and the Jayhawks were able to ice the game.
 
Quincy Olivari and Desmond Claude hit double figures as Xavier‘s comeback fell short against No. 6 Houston, 66-60, at Cintas Center on Friday. Trailing 36-31 at the break, Xavier (4-4) cut the Houston lead to three to open the second half before the Cougars went on a 10-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 46-33. Xavier responded with a 10-0 run of its own to cut it down to another one-possession deficit, 46-43. The Musketeers continued to chip away, retaking the lead, 52-51, with 6:57 to play, but a 6-0 Houston run put the Cougars ahead for good. Olivari led the Musketeers with 17 points and drilled four 3-pointers, while Claude added 14 points and five rebounds.
 
Iowa State opened the second half with a 21-2 run and pulled away from DePaul 99-80. The Blue Demons (1-6) were led by Jeremiah Oden’s 25 points, which included 6-of-7 from 3-point range. As a team, DePaul made a season-high nine 3-pointers in the setback.

Four games are scheduled for Saturday, beginning with an in-state rivalry at Noon ET on FOX, when No. 3 Marquette hits the road against Wisconsin. At 2 p.m. on Peacock, Villanova hosts Drexel at Wells Fargo Center.
 
The BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle continues at 5:30 p.m. with Georgetown hosting TCU on FS1. Closing out the night, Providence hosts Rhode Island in an in-state rivalry game at 7:30 p.m. on FS1.