Anaheim, Calif. ? The last time the rest of the country looked in on UCLA, the Bruins played their way into the national championship game with defense. They needed a big dose of it Saturday.

The Bruins survived their first serious challenge at No. 1 with late-game defensive stops in a 65-62 victory over No. 6 Texas A&M in the John R. Wooden Classic.

“That was two teams fighting at it pretty hard,” Aggies coach Billy Gillispie said. “A lot of mistakes made, but a lot of big-time plays.”

Josh Shipp scored 18 points, and foul-plagued Arron Afflalo had eight of his 13 over the final nine minutes for the Bruins. Darren Collison added 15 points, but had six of the team’s 13 turnovers.

“They came off a loss to LSU, so we knew we were going to get their best shot,” Shipp said.

Acie Law scored 21 points for Texas A&M, which controlled the boards 34-23 and outshot UCLA in the second half. Dominique Kirk added 12 points for the Aggies, and Joseph Jones had 11 points and 13 rebounds.

“They stepped it up a little bit, and they made plays, and we didn’t,” Law said. “The last five minutes, we were in position to win, but we didn’t.”

UCLA forced 20 turnovers that led to 22 points.

“It was like we couldn’t dribble the ball past one defender at halfcourt,” Gillispie said. “Those exchanges are the ones that killed us.”

Texas A&M came into the game leading the country in field-goal-percentage defense, holding opponents to 32.2 percent. Both teams shot 25-of-51 (49 percent) in the nationally televised matchup of up-tempo, defensive-minded teams that didn’t feature any major scoring runs.

“The intensity was going to remain high as long as the score was tight,” Afflalo said. “Neither team got a chance to pull away.”

UCLA's Darren Collison, left, celebrates his buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of the first half. Collison led UCLA to a 65-62 victory against Texas A&M on Saturday in Anaheim, Calif.

UCLA’s Alfred Aboya sustained a scratched eye after being hit by Law late in the first half.

Wooden received a standing ovation from the announced crowd of 15,811 during a timeout late in the game, and the Aggies’ bench joined in applauding the 96-year-old coach who led UCLA to 10 national championships before retiring in 1975.

Purdue 79, Missouri 62

West Lafayette, Ind. – Carl Landry had 23 points and 12 rebounds, helping hand the Tigers their first loss of the season in their first game away from home.

Trying for its first 10-0 start in 15 years, Missouri stayed close early with a pressing defense, but went cold in the second half as Purdue pulled away for good.

Missouri was led by Stefhon Hannah, who matched his career-high with 21 points, and freshman J.T. Tiller, who had a season-high 12, with 10 of them in the first half.

Texas Tech 98, Centenary 64

Lubbock, Texas – Bob Knight moved two wins behind all-time leader Dean Smith on the Div. I career coaching list.

Knight’s 877th victory broke his tie for second place with Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp and left him behind only the former North Carolina coach.

If the Red Raiders beat Arkansas in Little Rock on Saturday, Knight could tie Smith at home on Dec. 23, against Bucknell.

Jarrius Jackson went 5-of-7 from three-point range and scored 25 points for Texas Tech on Saturday, while Charlie Burgess added 20 points on 9-of-9 shooting.

Kansas State 83, North Dakota State 81

Fargo, N.D. – Lance Harris scored 24 points and the game-winning three-pointer to lift Kansas State.

Harris’ three with 21 seconds left gave the Wildcats an 82-78 lead. After Ben Woodside nailed a three-pointer for NDSU, Harris made one of two free throws for the final margin.

Woodside, who led all scorers with 31 points, missed a contested shot in the final moments.

NDSU led 38-31 at halftime.

Cartier Martin scored 18 points and David Hoskins 17 for Kansas State.

No. 22 Oklahoma St. 75, Ball St. 56

San Diego – Mario Boggan scored 24 points, and Oklahoma State used a 16-0 run to remain undefeated.

The Cowboys kept Sean Sutton’s record as a head coach perfect.

When Ball State went cold from the field, the Cowboys took advantage and blew the game open.

Leading 27-23, Oklahoma State scored the last eight points of the first half and the first eight of the second to open a 20-point lead.

South Carolina 64, Baylor 59

Waco, Texas – Tre Kelly scored 26 points, including 17 in the second half, to lift South Carolina.

Baylor went on a 16-4 run to take a 45-38 lead with 10 minutes left, but the Gamecocks withstood the barrage and went on a 13-5 run of their own to take a 51-50 lead with 31â2 minutes left.

Kelly scored seven points and hit two three-pointers in the final two minutes, and South Carolina hit four of four free throws to secure the win.

Oklahoma 64, Coppin St. 47

Norman, Okla. – Michael Neal scored a season-high 19 points to lead Oklahoma.

Longar Longar added 15 points and 11 rebounds to record his second double-double of the season as the Sooners rebounded after having the nation’s longest nonconference home winning streak snapped at 49 by Villanova three days earlier.

Oklahoma shot 51 percent for the game and outrebounded the smaller Eagles, 37-27.

Oregon 68, Nebraska 56

Portland, Ore. – Bryce Taylor hit a three-pointer with 39.8 seconds to go, and Oregon remained undefeated.

Taylor finished with 18 points for the Ducks, who are 7-0 for their best start since 1996-97, when they started 10-0.

Ryan Anderson had 15 points for Nebraska. The loss ended a six-game Husker winning streak in the series against Oregon.