Marquette’s Jordan King, right, knocks the ball from Connecticut’s Christyn Williams during the first half in the Big East tournament finals at Mohegan Sun Arena Mondayat Uncasville, Conn.  Jessica Hill/Associated Press

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Paige Bueckers scored 23 points to lead top-ranked UConn over Marquette 73-39 on Monday night for the program’s 19th Big East Tournament championship.

The standout freshman hit 10 of 15 shots, grabbed six rebounds and had four assists for the Huskies (24-1), who rejoined the league this season after winning seven straight titles in the American Athletic Conference.

Christyn Williams added 16 points as UConn won its 160th straight game in conference play.

Camryn Taylor had 11 points and 13 rebounds for Marquette (19-6), which lost in the conference final for the fourth straight season after winning the title in 2017. Selena Lott, who came into the game averaging just over 15 points, was held to two points on five shots and was hounded by Williams all game.

UConn never trailed during the tournament and celebrated by gathering in a circle near center court and jumping up and down.

Evina Westbrook hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to open the scoring, part of a 9-0 run. Another 3-pointer from the Tennessee transfer capped a 15-2 run, and the Huskies led 29-10 after 10 minutes.

Marquette slowed the pace in the second quarter and outscored UConn 13-12, but the Huskies went into halftime up 41-23.

The Golden Eagles cut the lead to 16 early in the third quarter, but Nika Muhl (11 points) followed a 3-pointer with a steal and a basket to push the lead back to 21.

The Huskies led 56-30 after three quarters.

Connecticut held Marquette to 22% shooting and scored 28 points off of 21 Golden Eagle turnovers.

(6) BAYLOR 96, (17) WEST VIRGINIA 73: Queen Egbo had a career-high 26 points along with 10 rebounds, DiJonai Carrington also had a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and host Baylor (22-2, 17-1 Big 12) beat West Virginia (19-5, 13-5) in the Big 12’s final regular-season game.

NaLyssa Smith had 13 points for the Lady Bears, who had already wrapped up their 11th consecutive regular season conference title. They clinched it outright with a win at Texas a week ago.

Kirsten Deans had 22 points to lead West Virginia before fouling out of the game.

(18) GONZAGA 72, SANTA CLARA 62: Jill Townsend led a balanced attack with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Gonzaga (22-3) defeated Santa Clara (14-11) in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament  at Las Vegas.

Cierra Walker had three 3-pointers in the second half and scored 13 points for the top-seeded Bulldogs,.

POLL: Buoyed by an impressive run to the Pac-12 Conference championship, Stanford jumped two spots to No. 2 in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll.

The Cardinal won three games in the conference tournament by an average of 31 points, including a 20-point victory over then-No. 9 UCLA on Sunday for the title.

Coach Tara VanDerveer’s team received five of 29 first-place votes from a national media panel. Stanford (25-2) trails only UConn in the AP Top 25..

North Carolina State stayed at No. 3 after edging Louisville for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. Texas A&M and South Carolina rounded out the top five teams in the poll.

Baylor was No. 6, with Louisville and Maryland tied for seventh. Indiana and UCLA finished off the top 10.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

INDIANA STATE: Indiana State will not extend the contract of Coach Greg Lansing.

Lansing was 181-164 in 11 seasons at Indiana State, including 15-10 this season. The Sycamores won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and played in the NCAA tournament during Lansing’s first season. He had six winning seasons.

CREIGHTON: Creighton announced it has lifted Greg McDermott’s suspension for making racially insensitive remarks to his players after a game last week.

McDermott created a firestorm for twice using the term “plantation” as part of an analogy urging team unity. The university suspended McDermott indefinitely on Thursday after he had coached in a Wednesday loss at Villanova.

Assistant coach Alan Huss was in charge of the 17th-ranked Bluejays for their 93-73 home win over Butler on Saturday. McDermott will be with team for the Big East Tournament this week and the NCAA Tournament that begins next week.

Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen said he and university President the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson had discussions with players and their parents, former players and recruits as well as other stakeholders.

“I also witnessed the courage of our student-athletes when they used their voices to share their true feelings about last week’s remarks,” Rasmussen said, referring to a video shown at CHI Health Center before the Butler game. “Let me be clear: Coach McDermott’s use of the `plantation’ analogy was egregious and has absolutely no place in our society. His remarks have caused significant hurt to many on our campus and in our community.”

Noting McDermott’s public apologies and difficult discussions with his players and others, Rasmussen said the coach has shown a willingness to learn from the mistake.

“I believe his apology, his commitment to grow from this, to learn, and to regain the trust of his student-athletes and others impacted by his words,” Rasmussen said. “From our conversations, he understands that forgiveness must be earned, and he is willing to work for it. His actions during his career reveal an individual committed to his team and his community.”

McDermott will participate with other campus leaders beginning next month in the school’s Racial Equity Institute. The program is designed to develop the capacity of participants to better understand racism in its institutional and structural forms.

“We will use this as an opportunity to grow and invest in being better,” Rasmussen said. “We must.”

The 56-year-old McDermott was disciplined for his choice of words while talking to his team following a loss at Xavier on Feb. 27.

“I need everybody to stay on the plantation. I can’t have anybody leave the plantation,” McDermott told the players, using a term evocative of slavery and the antebellum South.

The remarks were revealed publicly last Tuesday when McDermott apologized in a Twitter post. He apologized again Wednesday after the loss at Villanova. Rasmussen announced McDermott had been indefinitely suspended the next night, with McDermott tweeting that he merited the suspension.

Five Black Creighton players explained in a short pregame video Saturday why they were hurt by McDermott’s words. Star guard Marcus Zegarowski, who didn’t speak in the video, said after the game that McDermott made a mistake but that he loves and supports all of his players.

The Bluejays have won at least 20 games nine times and played in the NCAA Tournament five times in McDermott’s 10 seasons at Creighton.

POLL: Gonzaga’s bid to go wire-to-wire No. 1 is in its final week.

Gonzaga received 61 of 63 first-place votes from a media panel in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll as they attempt to become the first wire-to-wire No. 1 since Kentucky in 2014-15.

Baylor had two first-place votes and moved back into the No. 2 slot after dropping a spot last week.

Illinois, Michigan and Iowa rounded out the top 5. No. 8 Arkansas is in the top 10 for the first time since reaching No. 1 in 1994-95.

ACC: The Atlantic Coast Conference named Georgia Tech senior Moses Wright its player of the year and Virginia Tech’s Mike Young as its coach of the year.

The 6-foot-9 Wright ranks third in the league in scoring (18.0) and rebounding (8.1) and helped the Yellow Jackets (15-8, 11-6 ACC) win their last six regular-season games and earn a fourth-place finish in the regular season.

Wright is joined on the All-ACC First Team by Carlik Jones of Louisville, Justin Champagnie of Pittsburgh, ACC scoring leader Matthew Hurt of Duke and Sam Hauser of regular-season champion Virginia.

FOOTBALL

MEDIA: Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops will replace Urban Meyer on Fox’s college football pregame show, the network announced.

Meyer, the former Ohio State coach, spent two seasons with “Big Noon Kickoff” before leaving to become an NFL head coach for the first time with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Stoops, 60, stepped down at Oklahoma in June 2017 after 18 years leading the Sooners. He was 190-48 and won a national championship in 2000 with Oklahoma. Stoops was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame in January.