Texas and Saint Joseph’s will square off for just the second time ever on Friday night when they tip off in the Legends Classic championship game in New York.

Texas rides a four-game winning streak into the final, while Saint Joseph’s has been victorious in three straight contests. Their meeting will be their first since the Longhorns recorded a 68-50 victory on Nov. 24, 2008.

Saint Joseph’s (4-1) overcame squandering a 16-point lead in Thursday’s 78-77 victory over Texas Tech in the semifinals.

Justice Ajogbor made the second of his two free throws with 13 seconds remaining to snap a tie and cap the scoring.

Anthony Finkley successfully contested Darrion Williams’ floater at the buzzer to preserve the win for the Hawks.

“We come in here (to Barclays Center), an amazing NBA venue in Brooklyn, and I’m like, God is good,” Saint Joseph’s coach Billy Lange said. “Just to get these opportunities, regardless of the result … is the thing I’m grateful for the most right now.”

Erik Reynolds II scored 26 points and went 6 of 11 from 3-point range, while Xzayvier Brown finished with 20 points following a 13-for-13 effort from the free-throw line. Brown is averaging 17.4 points and Reynolds 16.8 over the first five games of the season.

Texas (4-1) advanced to Friday’s championship game with a 70-66 win over Syracuse on Thursday, holding on after giving up an 11-point halftime lead. Arthur Kaluma posted 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists to pace the Longhorns before fouling out.

“I take more of a facilitator role when I work the middle,” Kaluma said of his production against a zone defense. “When I get the ball in the middle, I’m able to spray the ball to my teammates to get easier shots. But when they go man (defense), it’s still that facilitation mindset even when I have more opportunities to score.”

Tre Johnson, who came in averaging 23.5 points per game, added 16 points on Thursday. Johnson went just 1 of 7 from 3-point range in what was his lowest-scoring output of Texas’ first five games.

The Longhorns struggled from deep vs. Syracuse, making just 4 of 15 shots. But Texas benefited from holding the Orange to 5-of-21 shooting from long distance, and Syracuse was a dismal 9 of 18 at the free-throw line.

–Field Level Media

There’s no shortage of ways to describe how close the St. John’s men’s basketball team was Thursday night to earning the first signature win of the Rick Pitino era.

Instead, Pitino and his squad have a short amount of time to overcome a potentially demoralizing loss.

The No. 22 Red Storm will look to produce a quick bounce-back effort Friday night when they play Virginia in the third-place game of the Baha Mar Hoops Championship in Nassau, Bahamas.

Both teams lost in opening-round action Thursday night. St. John’s suffered its first loss of the season when Jeremy Roach hit a 3-pointer as time expired in the second overtime to lift No. 13 Baylor to a 99-98 win. Virginia also fell for the first time in the nightcap, when No. 11 Tennessee pulled away from the Cavaliers in the second half for a 64-42 victory.

St. John’s (4-1) appeared primed to pull off the upset when it scored the first seven points of the game and took a pair of 18-point leads in the first half before entering the locker room with a 44-30 lead.

Baylor shot 47.1 percent (16 of 34) from the field in the second half, including 57.1 percent (8 of 14) from 3-point territory and went ahead 77-74 on Roach’s 3-pointer with 1:48 left. St. John’s scored the final three points of regulation and then overcame a five-point deficit in the final 1:47 of the first overtime before opening two five-point leads in the second extra session, the last at 98-93 when Deivon Smith split a pair of free throws with 18 seconds remaining.

V.J. Edgecombe responded with a 3-pointer for Baylor and St. John’s left the door open one more time when Zuby Ejiofor missed a pair of free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining. Norchad Omier pulled down the rebound and passed to Roach, who raced down the court and hoisted the game-winning shot just before the buzzer sounded.

“That was about as difficult a loss as you can have,” Pitino said.

Ejiofor’s missed free throws served as a harsh reminder of the narrow margin between victory and defeat. St. John’s shot 57.1 percent (16 of 28) from the line, matching the program’s worst single-game mark since Pitino took over prior to last season.

“They’re going to be disappointed — they had the game in control at the end and (Roach) made a big shot,” Pitino said. “We missed the free throws, could’ve iced it. It could’ve been over, but it wasn’t.”

There were no such remorseful what-ifs for Virginia (3-1), which trailed only 22-21 at the half after Andrew Rohde hit a 3-pointer with five seconds left.

The Cavaliers opened the second half 1 for 6 with four turnovers during the first seven minutes, a span in which Tennessee mounted a 15-3 run. Virginia got within five points at 39-34 on Taine Murray’s 3-pointer with 10:48 left, but the Volunteers ended the game with a 25-8 surge.

Virginia, which has yet to score more than 70 points in a game this season, shot 28.6 percent from the field (14 of 49) and allowed Tennessee to pull down 18 offensive rebounds and score 19 second-chance points.

“When you play against high level competition, it really shows you where you are as a team,” interim head coach Ron Sanchez said. “We’ve got to put 40 minutes together. Twenty’s just not enough.”

–Field Level Media

Seton Hall showed plenty of grit defensively through its first four games of the season. In its fifth game, the trait also appeared on the offensive side.

After opening the Charleston Classic in South Carolina with a thrilling overtime victory over Virginia Commonwealth, the Pirates (3-2) will face a quick turnaround when they meet Vanderbilt (5-0) on Friday.

The Pirates will play their first opponent from a power conference after rallying from an eight-point deficit in the second half to earn a 69-66 win on Thursday.

Held under 60 points in their first four games against mid-majors in the New York/New Jersey area, Seton Hall produced its best offensive showing of the season on Thursday. Leading scorer Chaunce Jenkins scored all of his season-best 22 points after halftime.

Jenkins was 6 of 10 from the field in the final 25 minutes after taking just two shots due to foul trouble in the first half. He made the go-ahead basket with 2:21 remaining in overtime off an inbounds play.

“The guys fought, man,” Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said after his team earned a potential Quad 1 win by beating the Atlantic 10 preseason favorite. “Super proud of these guys. They clawed, they scratched, they made plays when we had to make plays.”

Isaiah Coleman added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Pirates, who shot 41.8 percent from the floor. David Tubek hit all three of his 3-point tries, and Seton Hall went 7 of 12 from deep and is 15 of 30 from behind the arc in its past two games.

Like VCU, Vanderbilt represents another potent offense to challenge Seton Hall’s stingy defense. The Commodores averaged 91.5 points in four double-digit victories before posting a 73-71 win over Nevada on Thursday.

After facing a team projected to finish third in the Mountain West Conference, Vanderbilt is seeking its first 6-0 start since beginning the 2007-08 season with 16 straight wins.

“We got a perfect record, but we’re not perfect,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said this week. “We got a lot of things to work on. Our guys know it, and I know it.”

Similar to Seton Hall, the Commodores made plays down the stretch after squandering virtually all of a 12-point lead in the second half. AJ Hoggard scored 18 points for Vanderbilt, which overcame 53.7 percent shooting from the floor by Nevada.

–Field Level Media

Syracuse and Texas Tech can feel each other’s pain.

In Thursday’s semifinal round of the Legends Classic, both teams forged late rallies that came up a few points short, leading to their first losses of the season. Now the Orange (3-1) will face the Red Raiders (4-1) in the tournament’s consolation game on Friday night in New York.

Syracuse fell in a 14-3 hole early and was down 16 early in the second half before Eddie Lampkin started the comeback with a personal 7-0 run featuring a 3-point play and a dunk. Lampkin scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half.

The Orange took a pair of one-point leads as time wound down, but they made only one field goal in the final 3:17 as Texas secured a 70-66 win at the free-throw line.

“There’s no consolation prizes,” said Syracuse coach Adrian Autry, who bemoaned three late turnovers as well as missed rebounds. “We had a chance to win the game, and we didn’t. That’s on us, that’s on me.”

Lampkin added six assists and five rebounds to continue a stellar start to his Syracuse career. The former TCU and Colorado center is averaging 14.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists through four games.

JJ Starling, one game removed from a 38-point performance in a double-overtime win over Youngstown State, led the Orange against Texas with 16 points.

Like Syracuse in its game, Texas Tech was behind by as many as 16 points in the latter semifinal game against Saint Joseph’s. The trio of JT Toppin, Darrion Williams and Chance McMillian scored 34 of the Red Raiders’ 42 second-half points to fuel a comeback.

McMillian’s bucket and foul gave Texas Tech a 64-62 advantage at the 6:44 mark — its first lead since 2-0. But the defense was lacking as Saint Joseph’s made four shots in a row with less than four minutes left. After Toppin tied the game with 1:07 to go, he was called for an over-the-back foul on a rebound attempt, and Justice Ajogbor made 1 of 2 free throws to deliver the Hawks a 78-77 win.

Toppin had 22 points and a remarkable 18 rebounds — 12 on offense. His season averages rose to 20.8 points and 11.2 rebounds through five games.

Before the Red Raiders hit the big city, Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said there were ways Toppin could be even better.

“I think the area of improvement needs to be, how active can we continue to get him defensively where he’s not just surviving a possession?” McCasland said. “Because he’s going to play against great players in our league, but now he’s been tremendous. I’ll tell you what I love about JT: He really does want to know how to get better.”

–Field Level Media

The Miami Hurricanes and Oklahoma State Cowboys — both coming off upset losses against mid-major schools — will meet Friday afternoon in a Charleston Classic consolation game.

On Thursday afternoon in the first round at Charleston, S.C., Miami (3-1) never led while falling 80-69 to Drake.

Later on Thursday, the Cowboys (3-1) squandered a 10-point lead in an 86-78 loss to Florida Atlantic.

The Friday matchup will be special for Cowboys backup point guard Arturo Dean, who is from Miami.

Dean played for Florida International the past two seasons, and he led the nation in steals in 2023-24 with 104. He also led the Panthers in scoring (13.4 points per game), rebounds (5.1 boards per game) and assists (4.0 per game).

“He takes tremendous pride on defense,” Oklahoma State coach Steve Lutz said. “You don’t get 100-plus steals by accident.”

Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga believes that the Cowboys will test Miami.

“They’ve got some really big guys,” he said. “We haven’t played that type of size yet (this season).”

Up front, Oklahoma State starts 6-foot-10, 245-pound Abou Ousmane and 6-7, 230-pound Robert Jennings II. Jennings amassed 14 points and 11 rebounds against Florida Atlantic, while Khalil Brantley scored a team-high 16 points.

This is supposed to be a rebuilding season for the Cowboys, who were predicted to come in 14th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 based on a preseason vote of the conference’s head coaches. The Cowboys have earned just one NCAA Tournament berth in the past seven years.

Lutz, after coaching Western Kentucky last season, is in his first year with the Cowboys, who lost four starters from 2023-24.

Miami, meanwhile, has a lot to prove after a Thursday game in which Drake logged a 14-5 edge in the offensive rebounds. The Bulldogs also posted a 36-18 advantage in paint points.

Miami’s defense had trouble with Drake’s voluminous screens.

Two Miami starters — center Lynn Kidd and power forward Brandon Johnson — will be looking for bounce-back games on offense. Kidd had just two points against Drake, while Johnson had seven.

Nijel Pack topped the Hurricanes with 17 points, raising his team-leading scoring average to 15.3 per game. Matthew Cleveland and Jalen Blackmon each put up 12 points vs. the Bulldogs.

–Field Level Media