Kansas is playing for more than the Big 12 tournament title on Saturday night, as the third-ranked Jayhawks also are in the mix for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

To attain the latter goal, the Jayhawks must take care of the most important matter when they play seventh-ranked Texas in the conference championship game at Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas (27-6) is the favorite to land the top overall seed, but a loss to Texas (25-8) would open the door for either Alabama or Houston to claim the spot, depending on their own results.

The top-seeded Jayhawks and second-seeded Longhorns split two regular-season meetings, and the second clash was one-sided on March 4, when Texas rolled to a 75-59 home victory.

Texas reached the championship game with a 66-60 win over sixth-seeded TCU in Friday’s semifinals. Kansas advanced with a 71-58 victory over fifth-seeded Iowa State.

The Jayhawks are looking to repeat as tournament champions, with last season’s run preceding winning the national championship.

“The great thing about this tournament is it’s win or go home,” Jayhawks star forward Jalen Wilson said. “When the stakes are highest, that’s when you have to perform the best. It’s March, it’s time for winning, and why not come out here to win a championship.”

Wilson recorded 25 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Iowa State, giving him back-to-back double-doubles in the tournament.

Friday’s victory was the second straight without coach Bill Self, who underwent an emergency medical procedure this week and won’t be with the team on Saturday, either.

Interim coach Norm Roberts said Self’s health is improving. He also said Self helped with the preparations for Iowa State.

“We talked to him (Friday) morning, going over the game plan — how we wanted to guard, what we wanted to do — and he was good with that,” Roberts said. “He talked to us right after the game and was so excited about the way the guys played. He said, ‘Hey, we really guarded today.’ He was really happy for our guys.”

Jayhawks forward Kevin McCullar Jr. departed the game in the second half due to back spasms. It was uncertain whether he would play Saturday.

Longhorns forward Timmy Allen (lower leg) sat out the past two games and is listed as day-to-day.

While Allen was exuberantly cheering from the bench, his absence created extra opportunities for Christian Bishop and Dylan Disu, and both players took advantage against TCU.

Bishop recorded 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots, and Disu added 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and collected eight rebounds.

“Disu is really rebounding the ball for us at a high clip,” Texas interim coach Rodney Terry said. “He got some grown-man rebounds. Really stepped up to the challenge.

“C.B. came in and played one of his better games of the year. Had so much energy and really lifted our team.”

Longhorns’ leading scorer Marcus Carr (15.9 points per game) had 10 points and five steals but shot just 3 of 15 from the field. Carr has made only 23.3 percent of his field-goal attempts (14 of 60) over the past five games. He is 6 of 31 (19.4 percent) from 3-point range during that span.

Texas appears to be a solid No. 2 seed for March Madness under Terry, who took over the lead duties after Chris Beard was initially suspended and later fired due to domestic violence charges that eventually were dismissed.

“We’ll have an incredible challenge (Saturday) against one of the top teams in the country,” Terry said.

–Field Level Media

Kyle Filipowski scored 17 points and had plenty of help as No. 21 Duke avenged a 22-point loss from last month by defeating No. 14 Miami 85-78 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals Friday night at Greensboro, N.C.

Dariq Whitehead scored 16 points off the bench, Tyrese Proctor supplied 15 points and Mark Mitchell had 14 points as the top four scorers for the Blue Devils were freshmen. Jeremy Roach had 13 points.

Fourth-seeded Duke (25-8), which has won eight games in a row, faces second-seeded and 13th-ranked Virginia in the final after the Cavaliers topped third-seeded Clemson 76-56. The Blue Devils are in the tournament final for the second year in a row and go for their first title since 2019.

Isaiah Wong, the ACC Player of the Year, scored 22 points for top-seeded Miami (25-7), though he sat out stretches because of foul trouble. Jordan Miller posted 17 points, Nijel Pack had 11 points, and Wooga Poplar and Bensley Joseph both provided 10 points, but the Hurricanes missed their final five shots from the field.

No. 1 Houston 60, East Carolina 46

Marcus Sasser scored 24 of his 30 points in the second half to lead the Cougars past the Pirates in a quarterfinal game of the American Athletic Conference tournament at Fort Worth, Texas.

Top-seeded Houston (30-2) moves on to play fourth-seeded Cincinnati (21-11) in the tournament semifinals on Saturday. Jamal Shead added 12 points for the Cougars, who have won 12 straight games, with J’Wan Roberts grabbing a team-high 12 rebounds.

Ezra Ausar led the Pirates (16-17) with 18 points and 19 rebounds. East Carolina outshot 31.4 percent to 28.1 percent but turned over the ball 17 times, leading to 19 points for Houston.

No. 2 UCLA 75, Oregon 56

Tyger Campbell scored a career-high 28 points and took over during a key stretch after another starter was injured as the Bruins advanced to the Pac-12 tournament title game by beating the Ducks in Las Vegas.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 18 points and 10 rebounds for top-seeded UCLA (29-4), which played the final 16:16 without shot-blocking big man Adem Bona, who sustained a left shoulder injury while diving for a loose ball. The Bruins were already playing without Jaylen Clark, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. UCLA will square off with second-seeded and eighth-ranked Arizona in the final on Saturday.

Will Richardson and Quincy Guerrier each scored 10 points for fourth-seeded Oregon (19-14). N’Faly Dante posted eight points and 10 rebounds.

No. 3 Kansas 71, Iowa State 58

Jalen Wilson collected 25 points, 10 rebounds and three steals to lift the top-seeded Jayhawks to a victory over the fifth-seeded Cyclones in a Big 12 tournament semifinal game in Kansas City, Mo.

Wilson, the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, recorded his 12th double-double of the season. Gradey Dick scored 15 points and Dajuan Harris contributed 11 points, six assists and four steals for the Jayhawks (27-6), who posted their ninth win in 10 games.

Kansas advances to the championship game Saturday to face second-seeded Texas. The Longhorns beat sixth-seeded TCU 66-60. Jaren Holmes scored 16 points and Robert Jones added 11 for the Cyclones (19-13), who committed 22 turnovers.

No. 4 Alabama 72, Mississippi State 49

Brandon Miller scored 18 points as the Crimson Tide rolled to a victory over the Bulldogs in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

Miller added nine rebounds and five assists for the SEC regular-season champion Crimson Tide (27-5), who will face fourth-seeded Missouri (24-8) in the semifinals on Saturday.

Noah Gurley had 11 points and Charles Bediako added 11 points, six rebounds and five blocks for top-seeded Alabama, which is seeking its second conference tournament title in the past three seasons. Mississippi State (21-12) was led by Tolu Smith’s 17 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 5 Purdue 70, Rutgers 65

Mason Gillis scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help the Boilermakers hold off the Scarlet Knights in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals in Chicago.

The top-seeded Boilermakers (27-5) advanced to the semifinals on Saturday, where they will face 13th-seeded Ohio State, which beat Michigan State. Purdue center Zach Edey scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. David Jenkins Jr. added 12 points off the bench.

Ninth-seeded Rutgers (19-14) will now await its NCAA Tournament fate. Derek Simpson led the Scarlet Knights with 18 points despite shooting 5-for-16 from the field. Cam Spencer added 13 points and Paul Mulcahy and Clifford Omoruyi each had 10.

No. 6 Marquette 70, No. 11 UConn 68

Chase Ross hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 6:14 remaining and the Golden Eagles dominated defensively in the final minutes to advance to the Big East tournament championship game with a hard-fought victory over the Huskies in New York.

The top-seeded Golden Eagles (27-6) won their eighth straight to earn a matchup with second-seeded Xavier in Saturday’s title game. The Musketeers routed Creighton 82-60 in the other semifinal game.

Tyler Kolek scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half while battling foul trouble. Key reserve David Joplin also finished with 17 while Kam Jones contributed 14 and Olivier-Maxence Prosper chipped in 11. Adama Sanogo led the Huskies (25-8) with 19 points while Alex Karaban and Nahiem Alleyne contributed 10 apiece.

No. 7 Texas 66, No. 22 TCU 60

Christian Bishop recorded 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots to help the Longhorns post a victory over the Horned Frogs to advance to the Big 12 championship game in Kansas City, Mo.

Dylan Disu added 15 points and eight rebounds for the second-seeded Longhorns (25-8), who never trailed in the semifinal contest. Marcus Carr was just 3-of-15 shooting while contributing 10 points and five steals for Texas, which will face No. 3 Kansas in Saturday’s title game.

Mike Miles Jr. scored 15 points and Chuck O’Bannon added 12 for sixth-seeded TCU (21-12). Damion Baugh collected 10 rebounds for the Horned Frogs.

No. 8 Arizona 78, Arizona State 59

Azoulas Tubelis scored 17 points to lead a balanced scoring effort from the Wildcats, who led the Sun Devils almost wire to wire in a semifinal win at the Pac-12 Conference tournament in Las Vegas.

The result sets up a rematch of last year’s Pac-12 championship game between the Wildcats and top-seeded UCLA, which beat Oregon 75-56 in the other semifinal. Arizona won last year’s final 84-76.

Oumar Ballo and Cedric Henderson Jr. put up 14 points each. Ballo also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, and Tubelis had nine boards for Arizona. Frankie Collins and Jamiya Neal paced Arizona State (22-12) with 11 points each.

No. 13 Virginia 76, Clemson 56

Jayden Gardner recorded 23 points and 12 rebounds as the Cavaliers slammed the Tigers in an ACC semifinal at Greensboro, N.C.

Armaan Franklin added 16 points and Kihei Clark chipped in 13 for second-seeded Virginia (25-6), which will face fourth-seeded Duke in the ACC tournament title game.

Hunter Tyson led the Tigers (23-10) with 15 points on 4-of-8 3-point shooting. PJ Hall contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Brevin Galloway chipped in with 12 points.

No. 19 Indiana 70, Maryland 60

Trayce Jackson-Davis finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to lead the Hoosiers past the Terrapins in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal in Chicago.

The third-seeded Hoosiers (22-10) will next take on 10th-seeded Penn State, in the semifinals on Saturday. Indiana’s Jalen Hood-Schifino contributed 19 points and six rebounds.

Hakim Hart led Maryland (21-12) with 16 points and four assists. Jahmir Young scored 12 points, but he shot just 3 of 15 from the floor.

No. 15 Xavier 82, No. 24 Creighton 60

Souley Boum scored 23 points and added five rebounds and six assists for the Musketeers, which advanced to the Big East tournament championship game with a win over the Bluejays in New York.

Xavier, the second seed, advanced to face top-seeded Marquette in Saturday’s championship game. The No. 6 Golden Eagles edged No. 11 Connecticut, 70-68, in Friday’s first semifinal. The championship game appearance is the first for Marquette and the second for Xavier, which fell to Villanova, 69-52, in 2015.

Colby Jones (14 points, 10 rebounds) had a double-double for Xavier (25-8), which has won five straight. Jack Nunge had 17 points and seven rebounds while Desmond Claude scored 11 points off the bench. Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 18 points while Baylor Scheierman had 15 points for Creighton (21-12).

No. 25 Missouri 79, No. 17 Tennessee 71

D’Moi Hodge scored 26 points and Kobe Brown added 24 to lift the Tigers over the Volunteers in a Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinal clash in Nashville, Tenn.

Hodge sank four 3-pointers and Brown contributed three to go along with nine rebounds for fourth-seeded Missouri (24-8), which won its fifth straight game to advance to face top-seeded Alabama on Saturday afternoon. The Crimson Tide (27-5) breezed to a 72-49 victory over Mississippi State on Friday.

DeAndre Gholston, whose deep 3-pointer at the buzzer knocked off Tennessee earlier this season, had 10 points on Friday. Tennessee’s Santiago Vescovi drained five 3-pointers to highlight his 17-point performance. Tyreke Key scored 16 points off the bench for the fifth-seeded Volunteers (23-10).

No. 18 Texas A&M 67, Arkansas 61

Henry Coleman III scored 16 points and led a furious second-half comeback as the Aggies rallied past the Razorbacks in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals in Nashville, Tenn.

The Aggies will play sixth-seeded Vanderbilt in Saturday’s second semifinal after the Commodores beat third-seeded and 23rd-ranked Kentucky 80-73. Trailing by 13 at halftime, the second-seeded Aggies (24-8) got 11 points from Coleman, including going 5-of-5 at the foul line, in the second half’s first eight minutes.

Wade Taylor IV had a game-high 18 points while Coleman collected 11 rebounds. Tyrece Radford and Dexter Dennis had 11 points apiece for the Aggies. The tenth-seeded Razorbacks (20-13) got 16 points from Nick Smith Jr. and 15 from Makhi Mitchell.

No. 20 San Diego State 64, San Jose State 49

Darrion Trammell and Keshad Johnson scored 15 points each to lead the top-seeded Aztecs to a win over the Spartans in the semifinals of the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas.

Micah Parrish paced the reserves with nine points for San Diego State (26-6), which advanced to play third-seeded Utah State in the final on Saturday. The Aggies defeated second-seeded Boise State 72-62 in the second semifinal.

Omari Moore, who came in averaging 17.8 points for San Jose State (20-13), was held to seven on 3-for-13 shooting. Tibet Gorener scored 15 points off the bench as the lone player in double figures for the Spartans.

Vanderbilt 80, No. 23 Kentucky 73

Ezra Manjon scored 25 points and the Commodores defeated the Wildcats in the SEC tournament quarterfinals in Nashville, Tenn.

Tyrin Lawrence and Jordan Wright added 18 points each for the sixth-seeded Commodores (20-13), who won for the fifth straight game and 10th time in 11 games. They will face No. 2 seed Texas A&M in the semifinals Saturday.

Antonio Reeves scored 22 points before fouling out, Jacob Toppin had 21 points and 11 rebounds and Oscar Tshiebwe added 19 points and 15 rebounds to lead the third-seeded Wildcats (21-11).

–Field Level Media

No. 1 Houston has plenty more to show beyond trying to extend its 12-game win streak when it faces Cincinnati in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament on Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Cougars (30-2), the top seed in this event and the winner of the past two AAC tournament championships, advanced to the semifinals with a 60-46 win over ninth-seeded East Carolina in the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon.

Marcus Sasser scored 30 points, 24 of those in the second half, to lift the Cougars to the win. Jamal Shead added 12 points for Houston, with J’Wan Roberts taking a team-high 12 rebounds.

The Cougars won even though they shot just 28.1 percent from the floor (their worst shooting game of the year), made just one of their final nine shots and gave up 24 points in the paint.

“Just seemed like it was a struggle today making shots,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said afterward. “Going forward, we’re just going to have to play better. We were kind of out of character today on a lot of things. We’ll get it back, I think.

Houston’s defense always seems to be the deciding factor, and it was in the win over East Carolina, which shot just 31.4 percent and committed 17 turnovers, which the Cougars converted to 19 points.

“We had a lot of open shots and we were moving the ball pretty well,” Shead said. “Sometimes it just doesn’t go down. But like Coach said, we need to get back to our culture and get back to offensive rebounding.”

Houston beat the Bearcats both times the teams played in the regular season, by 13 points on the road and by six at home.

Cincinnati, the fourth seed in this event, earned a spot in the semifinals with a dominating 84-54 quarterfinal win over Temple, the fifth seed. Landers Nolley II led the Bearcats (21-11) with 22 points, Mika Adams-Woods and Dan Skillings Jr. had 20 points apiece and Ody Oguama took 12 rebounds.

“To win with that margin, you’re obviously really pleased and proud of the guys,” Cincinnati coach Wes Miller said. “We played well. (Temple) is a good basketball team. We’re proud of that. It’s about tomorrow now. Now it’s time to get ready for a big-time game tomorrow.”

Nolley has scored in double figures for 22 straight games. The output was a season best for Adams-Woods and career-high for Skillings, who keyed a mid-first half rally with seven straight points. Cincinnati carried a 10-point lead to the half and poured it on after halftime.

“That’s the way we played off (Skillings), honestly,” Nolley said of his teammate. “He was rolling, so we’re just trying to find the hot guy any time no matter who it is. He lifted us up, and we were able to take off after that.”

Houston and Cincinnati will play in the AAC championship game for the fourth time in the past five renditions of the event. The Cougars beat Cincinnati in the quarterfinals last year on the way to the title.

–Field Level Media

Penn State and No. 19 Indiana met just once during the regular season, but the Nittany Lions canned enough 3-pointers for at least two games.

Penn State sank a school-record-tying 18 3-pointers on just 31 attempts to roll to an 85-66 win on Jan. 11 in State College – the Nittany Lions’ largest victory margin over the Hoosiers in school annals.

Chances are good third-seeded Indiana (22-10) will remember how that game played out when they meet 10th-seeded Penn State (21-12) in Saturday’s second Big Ten tournament semifinal. Penn State seniors Seth Lundy and Andrew Funk cashed seven 3-pointers apiece as the Hoosiers didn’t exactly defend them how head coach Mike Woodson directed them to.

So what might change Saturday?

“We’ve just got to listen to Coach Woodson and our defensive philosophy,” said Indiana All-America forward Trayce Jackson-Davis. “We know what we need to do in order to be in the game. We’ve just got to be able to guard the 3-point line and stay in front of them on drives.”

Both teams are enjoying rare Big Ten tournament air. For the Nittany Lions, who have won seven of their last eight to presumably get off the NCAA Tournament bubble, it’s just their fourth Big Ten tournament semifinal appearance and they reached their only final in 2011.

Indiana, meanwhile, also has earned just one tournament final appearance. That came in 2001 when former Indiana star Luke Recker led Iowa to a 63-61 title-game triumph.

“What we’ve been doing lately and the fight from this team, everyone’s on the same page, everyone’s engaging,” Jackson-Davis said. “We came here for one reason: That’s to win a championship, and I think everybody understands that. We’re going to play as hard as we can to get that done.”

Indiana didn’t have senior power forward Race Thompson for the first meeting with Penn State – as he was in the early stages of recovering from a knee injury. Thompson’s presence gives Indiana an even bigger size and strength advantage.

Penn State, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to fret about such issues. Per KenPom, the Nittany Lions rank last in the country in offensive rebound percentage and free throws per field-goal attempt.

But Penn State more than makes up for it by ranking sixth nationally in turnover percentage (13.7 percent of possessions) and eighth in 3-point accuracy (38.8 percent). The Nittany Lions found a way to overcome Northwestern in Friday’s quarterfinals despite committing a season-worst 15 turnovers and hitting just five 3-pointers in regulation. They added two more in overtime.

“I’m proud of our guys,” said Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry. “I think (Friday night) was the definition of probably gritty, not pretty. We’re showing that we can win in a couple different ways. We can go bombs away from three. We can be a great offensive team.

“But you can’t have that night every night. And here recently, our defense has been really good. If we’re not making shots, we can guard people and grind out some tough wins.”

–Field Level Media

No. 18 Texas A&M looks to advance the Southeastern Conference tournament title game for the second straight year when it faces Vanderbilt in the semifinals on Saturday in Nashville.

The second-seeded Aggies (24-8) used a second-half surge to rally from a 13-point, second-half deficit and pull out a 67-61 win against Arkansas on Friday. The sixth-seeded Commodores (20-13) enhanced their NCAA Tournament chances with an 80-73 victory over No. 23 Kentucky later Friday night.

The winner faces either top-seeded and fourth-ranked Alabama (27-5) or 25th-ranked and fourth-seeded Missouri (24-8) in Sunday’s title game.

The Aggies fell to Tennessee 65-50 in last year’s SEC final, costing Texas A&M a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Trailing 40-27 with 18:27 remaining, the Aggies went on a 26-11 run to take a 53-51 lead they wouldn’t relinquish on Julius Marble’s three-point play with 7:42 left.

“We just have to go 1-0 every possession,” Texas A&M forward Henry Coleman said when asked about the Aggies’ second-half mindset. “We weren’t focused on the next possession. We were focused on the possession we were in — whether that was on offense or on defense. We tried to go 1-0 and that’s what the guys did.”

The Aggies stretched the lead to 61-54 on Wade Taylor IV’s two free throws with 2:55 remaining and never looked back while winning for the ninth time in their past 10 games.

Taylor scored 18 points and Coleman added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Aggies. Dexter Dennis and Tyrece Radford chipped in 11 points apiece.

Texas A&M outrebounded the Razorbacks 43-26.

The Commodores continued their winning ways without SEC Defensive Player of the Year Liam Robbins, the team’s leading scorer (15 points per game), rebounder (6.8 boards per game) and shot blocker (3.2 rejections per game), who is out for the season after sustaining a leg injury against Kentucky on March 1.

On Friday, Vanderbilt opened the second half on a 13-6 run to take a 52-40 lead with 15:43 remaining.

Kentucky pulled to within 63-60 on Antonio Reeves’ two free throws with 7:02 to play, but the Commodores countered with an 8-4 run to extend their advantage to seven points on Wright’s free throw with 3:02 left.

“It is unexplainable,” said Vanderbilt guard Ezra Manjon, whose team hasn’t reached the title game since winning it in 2012. “It’s been a fight, but we have fighters. We just wanted to be aggressive and go out there and create plays.”

Manjon set a season high with 25 points, while Tyrin Lawrence and Jordan Wright chipped in 18 points apiece for the Commodores, who have won 10 of their past 11 games.

“All year long has been a buildup with a lot of tests,” Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse said. “Once we stopped beating ourselves, we were going to turn the corner.”

Texas A&M defeated visiting Vanderbilt 72-66 in the teams’ lone regular-season meeting on Jan. 28. Coleman scored 18 points, while Radford and Taylor added 14 points apiece.

The Commodores were led by Myles Stute, who came off the bench to score 22. Wright added 15 points, and Trey Thomas contributed 13 points.

–Field Level Media

Azoulas Tubelis scored 17 points to lead a balanced scoring effort from No. 8 Arizona, which led Arizona State almost wire to wire on Friday in a 78-59 semifinal win at the Pac-12 Conference tournament in Las Vegas.

The result sets up a rematch of last year’s Pac-12 championship game between the Wildcats and top-seeded UCLA, which beat Oregon 75-56 in the other semifinal on Friday. Arizona won last year’s final 84-76.

Arizona (27-6) only trailed for 1:43 early into the contest, but Arizona State went on a 7-0 run midway through the second half to pull within four points with 7:06 remaining.

The Wildcats responded resoundingly, outscoring Arizona State 22-7 the rest of the way.

All seven Arizona players who logged more than a minute of game time recorded at least five points. Oumar Ballo and Cedric Henderson Jr. put up 14 points each. Ballo also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, and Tubelis had nine boards.

Tubelis and Ballo combined to hit 15 of 21 shots from the floor.

Courtney Ramey added nine points, all scored on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.

Kerr Kriisa, who sustained a shoulder injury in Arizona’s quarterfinal win over Stanford on Thursday, contributed five points and a game-high seven assists.

Frankie Collins and Jamiya Neal paced Arizona State (22-12) with 11 points each. DJ Horne added nine points, and Desmond Cambridge Jr. and Warren Washington each finished with eight points.

Cambridge powered Arizona State to a quarterfinal romp against Southern California, and he hit a three-quarter-court buzzer-beater to sink Arizona on Feb. 25, but he shot just 3 of 10 on Friday.

The Sun Devils were 21 of 65 (32.3 percent) from the floor as a team, including 6 of 26 (23.1 percent) from 3-point range.

Arizona, meanwhile, shot 10 of 19 (52.6 percent) from beyond the arc, 31 of 55 (56.4 percent) from the floor.

–Field Level Media

Top-seeded Alabama regained its midseason form when it made its SEC tournament debut with a 72-49 rout of ninth-seeded Mississippi State on Friday afternoon in Nashville, Tenn.

Next the No. 4-ranked Crimson Tide (27-5) will face fourth-seeded Missouri (24-8), which defeated No. 5 seed Tennessee 79-71 on Friday in one semifinal on Saturday afternoon.

Alabama’s level of play slipped down the stretch and it was coming off a 67-61 loss at Texas A&M on March 4 in College Station, Texas.

“We needed to bounce back,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said. “We’ve bounced back off of losses all year, and we did that again today. The question is can we continue to play like this for the next two days? I thought our guys were focused. They were really into the defensive end, which is what they needed to be.”

The loss to the Aggies was the Tide’s second in the final six regular-season games, a stretch that started with a 68-59 loss at Tennessee on Feb. 15. In between the two losses, Alabama had two overtime wins, a three-point win and just one decisive victory — a 108-59 rout of Georgia on Feb. 18.

But on Friday Alabama looked like the team that rolled to victories in its first 12 SEC games.

The Tide never trailed and made 8 of 20 3-pointers in building a 41-21 halftime lead that featured a 23-6 run.

“I feel like we just have a great group of guys that just want to win, that just are willing to make all the dirty plays on the floor,” said Brandon Miller, who had 18 points and nine rebounds. “It’s all about blue-collar stuff with Alabama basketball.”

SEC co-Sixth Man of the Year Jahvon Quinerly, MVP of Alabama’s SEC tournament title run two years ago, entered the starting lineup and made his first three shots, finishing with 10 points.

D’Moi Hodge scored 26 points and Kobe Brown had 24 points and nine rebounds to lead No. 25 Missouri in its victory against No. 17 Tennessee, the defending SEC tournament champion.

The Tigers finished the game, which featured 15 ties and 13 lead changes, with a 10-2 scoring run during the final 1:45. They shot 60 percent (18 of 30) from the floor in the second half, which included 58.3 percent on 3-pointers (7 of 12).

“We’ve got a huge chip on our shoulder,” Hodge told the SEC Network.

Missouri, which had lost in the last three quarterfinals, advanced to the SEC tournament semifinals for the first time since joining the conference for the 2012-13 season.

“We didn’t achieve our first goal, which was to be regular-season champions,” first-year coach Dennis Gates said. “Although our four seed was great, it was a failure in our program. The next step is to try and win a championship here.”

The Tide beat the Tigers 85-64 on Jan. 21 in Columbia, Mo., as Noah Clowney had 17 points and 14 rebounds and Mark Sears had 17 points and eight rebounds. Brown missed the game because of an ankle injury, ending a streak of 87 consecutive starts.

–Field Level Media