Minnesota forward Jamison Battle and guard Ta’Lon Cooper entered the transfer portal on Thursday, each with one year of NCAA eligibility remaining.

Battle and Cooper were two of the top three scorers on a Golden Gophers team that finished last in the Big Ten at 2-17 (9-22 overall).

Cooper plans to enter his name in the NBA draft as well as the portal, 247Sports reported.

Battle has averaged double-digit points in each of his four collegiate seasons, two spent at George Washington and two at Minnesota. After posting 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in 2021-22, Battle averaged 12.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and a career-best 1.7 assists per contest in 2022-23.

In 103 career games (101 starts), Battle has scored 14.4 points and grabbed 5.2 rebounds per game.

Cooper spent one season at Minnesota after three at Morehead State. He posted career highs of 9.8 points and 6.3 assists per game while also averaging 4.0 rebounds in 2022-23. He has career averages of 8.5 points, 4.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds across 126 games (83 starts).

–Field Level Media

DES MOINES, Iowa — Arkansas survived a second-half slump to put away Illinois and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 73-63 victory on Thursday.

Ricky Council IV scored 18 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead the eighth-seeded Razorbacks (21-13), who trailed for only 1 minute, 20 seconds and led by as many as 17 in the second half.

Ninth-seeded Illinois committed 17 turnovers but threatened late in the second half before another Arkansas surge.

“We felt with their size, if we didn’t put pressure and big up three-quarters court, speed them up a little bit, it would be to our advantage,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said.

Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. had 20 points and RJ Melendez added 10, as did Coleman Hawkins, who had a game-high six turnovers.

Arkansas advances to a second-round matchup Saturday with No. 1 seed Kansas. The Jayhawks handled Howard 96-68 in the opening game of the day.

“They were better today,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said of the Razorbacks. “They were very, very assertive early. I thought their defense early was the difference.”

The Razorbacks nearly fumbled the game away in the final minutes during a four-minute dry spell marked by repeated turnovers, before Davonte Davis ripped a pass at midcourt and found Council zipping through the lane for his only basket of the second half with 1:36 remaining. Council hit two free throws after a defensive stop to put Arkansas up 66-57.

“Our defense got it started. We held it strong and did what we needed to do at the other end,” Davis said.

Tempers flared as Illinois crawled within 62-57 on a steal and dunk by Melendez off pressure in the backcourt. Officials separated players with whistles honking at a play stoppage and Arkansas timeout at the 2:29 mark.

Shannon made one of two free throws with 4:15 to go after taking a defensive rebound end to end. With Arkansas squeezing each second from the shot clock without points on three consecutive possessions, Illinois missed three of four free throws, spoiling a chance to narrow the lead to five.

Makhi Mitchell’s spin move around Matthew Mayer for an easy lay-in stretched the Arkansas lead to 51-36 with 12:30 left in the game. Mitchell’s bucket completed a 10-0 run for the Razorbacks that spanned 3 minutes, 32 seconds and came as Illinois strained to maintain possession on offense and contain Arkansas’ downhill drives on the other end.

Melendez brought Illinois back with a personal 8-0 run capped by a 3-pointer from the left wing that hit all net with 8:05 on the clock, cutting it to 55-46.

Arkansas harassed Illinois’ perimeter-based scorers with suffocating on-ball defense and limited the Fighting Illini to single-shot possessions.

The Razorbacks led by 10 at halftime, holding Illinois to 26 points, which included seven made free throws. Illinois was 3-of-11 from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes with a 23.7 turnover percentage.

–By Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media

Matt Bradley scored 17 points and fifth-seeded San Diego State held off 12th-seeded Charleston 63-57 in a South Region first-round game on Thursday afternoon in Orlando, Fla.

Keshad Johnson, Jaedon LeDee and Aguek Arop scored eight points apiece for San Diego State (28-6), which will face 13th-seeded Furman in the second round on Saturday. Furman upset fourth-seeded Virginia earlier Thursday,

“I’m happy for the kids, they deserved it, they played hard,” said San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher, who got first NCAA Tournament win in his fifth try. “Charleston has a great team. We’re just blessed to move on.”

Ante Brzovic had 12 points and eight rebounds, Ryan Larson had 11 points and Dalton Bolon finished with 10 points for Charleston (31-4).

The Cougars pulled even at 53-53 with 3:27 left but could never move ahead. Bradley was fouled on a 3-pointer and made two free throws to make it 60-55 with 25 seconds left and Micah Parrish made two more with one second to go to clinch the win.

The Aztecs trailed for much of the first half before taking a 32-29 lead into the break.

Reyne Smith converted an early four-point play to give Charleston a 6-2 lead. The Cougars missed their next six 3s, but the Aztecs were unable to capitalize as they committed their seventh turnover with 12:56 still left in the half.

Bolon ended Charleston’s 3-point drought to move the Cougars ahead 13-6 with 11:41 left in the half.

Nathan Mensah missed two free throws for the Aztecs that would have tied the score with 9:08 remaining, and Larson’s 3 extended the lead back to 18-13 with 8:14 left in the half.

Charleston was able to extend the lead back to seven on three occasions, but San Diego State strung together an 11-0 run to move ahead 28-24 with 2:53 to go. The Cougars moved in front once more, but the Aztecs scored the final four points of the half for their three-point lead.

San Diego State held Charleston to 37 percent from the floor in the first half, but committed 11 turnovers of its 14 turnovers.

The Cougars tied the score at 34-34, but San Diego State unleashed a 7-0 run to take its biggest lead with 15:21 left.

Back-to-back baskets by Lamont Butler and Arop made it 45-36 with 12:36 left.

–Field Level Media

Nick Pringle posted a double-double Thursday as top-seeded Alabama overcame a poor performance from Brandon Miller to score a 96-75 victory over 16th-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Birmingham, Ala., in a first-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament’s South Region.

Pringle totaled 19 points and 15 rebounds on 8-of-10 shooting in just 21 minutes of action for the Crimson Tide (30-5), who will face eighth-seeded Maryland in the second round on Saturday. Mark Sears added 15 points and Jahvon Quinerly went for 13.

Miller, the Southeastern Conference Player and Freshman of the Year, went scoreless for the first time this season.

He is being flanked by armed security during the NCAA Tournament due to “threats” received, Alabama coach Nate Oats said Wednesday. Miller became the focus of heightened scrutiny and media attention when police revealed details of their murder investigation involving former Alabama player Darius Miles and another man, who are charged in the fatal shooting on Jan. 15. Investigators testified it was Miller who delivered Miles’ gun to him, leading to the homicide.

Although Miller insisted Wednesday that the enhanced security was no distraction for him, on the court Thursday he missed all five of his shot attempts in his 19 minutes of action. In his 34 previous games this season, he has averaged 19.6 points and had been held under double figures only once (eight points in a victory over Houston on Dec. 10).

Oats also revealed Miller was playing through an injury.

“It was nice to be able to put up 96 without Brandon scoring a point. He’s got a groin injury that he’s been nursing since Sunday in the SEC Tournament,” Oats said. “We were trying to play him limited minutes.”

Trevian Tennyson scored a game-high 20 points Thursday for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (24-11), which shot just 34.7 percent (26 of 75) from the floor. Isaac Mushila contributed 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Owen Dease had 14 points.

The Crimson Tide came roaring out of the gate, opening the game on a 9-0 run that included a pair of 3-pointers from Noah Clowney.

After the Islanders pulled within three, Alabama pushed its lead back to nine by the 12:40 mark of the first half.

Corpus Christi once again made a push, getting a pair of free throws from Mushila and a trey from Dease to cut the lead to four before the Tide went on the game-changing run heading into intermission.

Alabama outscored the Islanders 35-19 over the final 11:32 of the first half to go into the break with a 20-point lead.

Sears led all first-half scorers with 13 points for Alabama, which sank 10 of 17 3-point attempts through the first 20 minutes of action. Mushila and Dease had nine points apiece for the Islanders.

Early in the second half, Tennyson went on a personal 8-0 run for Corpus Christi to trim the deficit to 13. But the Tide bit back with seven unanswered points in a 52-second span to reestablish a 20-point advantage and Alabama cruised from there.

The Islanders never got closer than 16 in the final 16 minutes of action, with Alabama’s largest lead 24 points.

–Field Level Media

D’Moi Hodge scored 23 points and had four steals Thursday as No. 7 seed Missouri defeated 10th-seeded Utah State 76-65 in a first-round South Regional game of the NCAA Tournament in Sacramento, Calif.

Kobe Brown scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Tigers (25-9), who won their first NCAA tournament game since 2010.

“It was definitely emotional. I was trying to hold back some tears,” Brown said afterward. “It was a lot of our’s dreams to win a game in the NCAA Tournament, really to be here. A lot of guys haven’t been here before. A couple of us have, but we lost in the first round. To get past the first round is surreal for us.”

DeAndre Gholston scored 11 points and Noah Carter added 10 for Missouri, who will play the No. 15 seed Princeton — who later shocked No. 2 Arizona — in the second round on Saturday.

Taylor Funk led the Aggies (26-9) with 16 points and seven rebounds. Dan Akin and Steve Ashworth scored 12 points each and Sean Bairstow added 10.

Missouri held Utah State to 4-for-24 shooting from 3-point range and forced the Aggies into 15 turnovers.

The Tigers broke out to a 14-6 lead, with Hodge and Carter scoring five points each, and they remained in front for the rest of the first half.

Utah State turned the ball over six times in the first six minutes and struggled to get into its offensive rhythm.

But with its aggressive pressure defense, Missouri got in early foul trouble and eventually lost its lead. Brown drew two early calls and played just 14 minutes in the first half.

Even though the Aggies missed all 11 of their shots from 3-point range in the first half, they pulled within two points with 2:06 left in the half and trailed just 35-31 at the break.

Utah State found first-half success driving to the basket, including two late layups by Ashworth.

The Aggies scored the first five points of the second half to take a 36-35 lead. Ashworth fueled the comeback by intercepting a pass at midcourt and sinking Utah State’s first 3-point basket of the game.

After two Akin dunks kept Utah State ahead at 49-47, Brown stabilized the Tigers by outscoring the Aggies 12-4 with a one-man run.

Hodge scored two 3-point jumpers and a dunk as Missouri pushed out to 67-56 lead with 3:55 remaining. The Aggies got no closer than eight points after that.

–Field Level Media

Even a No. 1 seed can find areas of improvement as the NCAA Tournament begins.

Such is the case with top-seeded Purdue as it prepares to play No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday in an East Region first-round game at Columbus, Ohio.

Fairleigh Dickinson earned the matchup against the Boilermakers by virtue of their 84-61 win over Texas Southern on Wednesday in a First Four matchup at Dayton, Ohio.

Purdue (29-5) enters the tournament having won five consecutive games and their 29 wins are the second-highest total in school history.

Purdue won the Big Ten regular season crown by three games then held off Penn State 67-65 for the conference tournament title. Now the Boilermakers look for the trifecta with a run to a first-ever national championship.

This is the fourth time Purdue has earned a No. 1 seed and first since 1996.

But Purdue coach Matt Painter would like to see his team handle the ball better, a problem that cropped up late in the Big Ten regular season.

Purdue’s only rough patch came in February when they lost three of four and four of six. In losses to Indiana and Northwestern they turned the ball over 16 times. In a win over Iowa, they committed 17. In three Big Ten tourney wins, they committed just 25 total.

“The one thing that kind of bothers us is that we had a stretch in the Big Ten where we turned it over 16 or 17 times and then we go the Big Ten tournament, and we don’t turn it over,” Painter said. “From a volume standpoint, it was just the costly turnovers and how we did it. But our total turnover number was really good in the Big Ten tournament.”

Purdue is led by 7-foot-4 All-American center Zach Edey. The junior has eight games this season with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds. He is sixth nationally in scoring (22.3 points) and second in rebounding (12.8).

FDU (20-15), coached by Iowa native Tobin Anderson, will be meeting up against Purdue for the second time in tournament history. In 1988, the Boilermakers were matched up against the Knights and prevailed 94-79, while also playing as a No. 1 seed.

“I’m an Iowa guy, grew up in the Midwest. I’m a Big Ten, Iowa basketball (follower). I’ve watched Purdue play,” Anderson said. “I think Matt Painter is one of the best coaches anywhere. He’s incredible. We run a motion offense. A lot of stuff we get is from Purdue, how they play.

“Yeah, I’ve seen them play a lot. They’re a special team, great coach, unbelievable program, tremendous respect for them. Love watching them play, but we’re going to go try to — let’s play on Friday night.”

Ansley Almonor led FDU with 23 points in the win over Texas Southern but the task for the 6-foot-6 forward will literally be much bigger when he and the front court try to contain Edey on Friday.

“He’s a special guy because he’s not just a big guy, he can play, got great hands,” Anderson said. “He knows how to play. It’s going to be a tall, tall task for us on Friday night.

In the moments after FDU’s First Four win, Almonor already was looking ahead.

“I never met anybody who was 7-4,” Almonor said. “I’ll try to get into his legs a little bit, because tall guys don’t like when people get into their legs. So, I’ll just take it one step at a time. We’re going to scout him and go from there.”

–Field Level Media

JP Pegues’ 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining lifted 13th-seeded Furman to a 68-67 victory over fourth-seeded Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament’s South Region on Thursday in Orlando, Fla.

Pegues’ historic shot from the right wing gave the Paladins their first NCAA Tournament victory since 1974 after rallying from a four-point deficit in the final 19 seconds.

The Paladins (28-7), who are playing in their first NCAA Tournament since 1980, will face fifth-seeded San Diego State in the second round on Saturday.

“What an unbelievable college basketball game,” said Furman coach Bob Richey. “All year we’ve been saying that this team just knows how to win. What a day to be a Paladin.”

Jalen Slawson had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, while Marcus Foster added 14 points. Pegues and Mike Bothwell finished with 11 points apiece for Furman, which won for the 15th time in its past 16 games.

Trailing 67-63 with 19 seconds left, Furman’s Garrett Hein sank a pair of free throws to cut the margin to two with 12 seconds to go.

But Virginia’s Kihei Clark, trapped near the Cavaliers’ baseline, launched a deep pass that Hein intercepted. He found Pegues wide open on the right wing for what proved to be the game-winning shot.

“I was like, ‘I want the ball,'” Pegues said. “I feel like those are moments I’ve created my whole life, and I feel like I’m built for … all I could do at that point was just ride up and shoot it, and I had full belief that it was going in — and it did.”

For Virginia, Reece Beekman’s long 3-point attempt bounced off the backboard as time expired.

Kadin Shedrick had 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Beekman had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists for Virginia, which led by as many as 12 in the second half.

Isaac McKneely added 12 points for the Cavaliers (25-8), who have lost in the first round in three of their past four NCAA Tournaments. Virginia won the national title in 2019.

“You know, this game is — interesting might be the word I’d use,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “You feel like, ‘We got it, we got it,’ and then all of a sudden in a moment’s notice, it changes at the end. That’s tough.”

Virginia led 50-38 with 11:54 remaining, but the Paladins went on a 19-4 run, which featured 11 points by Slawson, to take its first lead of the game, 57-54, on Slawson’s three-point play with 5:02 to go.

After Pegues’ two free throws pushed Furman’s advantage to 63-60 with 2:33 left, Shedrick’s tip-in made it a one-point game before Beekman’s two free throws gave the Cavaliers a 64-63 lead with 1:37 to go.

Shedrick hit a pair of free throws to make it a three-point game with 1:21 left.

Virginia controlled the first half, leading by as many as 10 before taking a 32-27 halftime advantage against the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament champion Paladins.

–Field Level Media

Julian Reese led No. 8 seed Maryland with 17 points and nine rebounds in a 67-65 win over No. 9 West Virginia to tip off South Region action in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon in Birmingham, Ala.

Hakim Hart had 15 points with four assists and scored the go-ahead basket as the Terrapins (22-12) ended the game on an 11-6 run. They advanced to the second round to face No. 1 Alabama, who later defeated No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Erik Stevenson put West Virginia (19-15) ahead 59-56 with a 3-pointer with 5:45 left, but Donta Scott answered with his own 72 seconds later.

West Virginia went for a steal and the ball was batted in the air volleyball-style six times before Reese recovered and fed Hart for a wide-open layup to move Maryland ahead 61-59 with 3:41 to go.

Reese added a fast-break dunk before West Virginia pulled within 66-65 on free throws and Tre Mitchell’s layup. Jahmir Young went to the line with 4.7 seconds left and went 1-for-2, and Kedrian Johnson’s running 3-pointer at the buzzer didn’t go.

The Mountaineers lost despite Johnson’s career-high 27 points. Mitchell added 13 points and six rebounds.

Scott had 11 points and eight rebounds and Young scored 10 points for Maryland, which reached the Round of 32 for the third time in the past four tournaments (2019, 2021).

“This group, they have come together, they have asked to do everything that I’ve asked them to do,” first-year Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “They have had an unbelievable work ethic. You know, we have been down all year at certain points in the game. They have never turned on each other. They just have a great attitude.”

After scoring on each of their first two possessions, the Terrapins went ice cold, as West Virginia forced six turnovers over the first seven minutes of the game.

The Mountaineers went ahead 16-4 on Joe Toussaint’s 3-pointer before Young made two free throws to end a scoring drought of 7:39. After Toussaint drilled another trey for a 19-6 lead, Reese ended the 8:28-long field-goal drought. His jumper launched a 16-2 run, and Young knocked down a 3-pointer to give Maryland a 22-21 lead with 6:09 left in the half.

The first half wound up seeing six ties and five lead changes. Patrick Emilien’s turnaround jumper with 34 seconds left made the difference in Maryland’s 32-30 halftime edge.

Johnson pulled off a personal 10-0 run by making three straight baskets and foul shots — the latter a four-point play. Seth Wilson drained a 3-pointer and Johnson made another to cap a 16-0 Mountaineers surge that gave them a 47-38 lead with 15:05 to play.

The Terrapins stormed back from a 51-43 deficit with nine straight points, fueled by Reese’s consecutive tough layups.

–Field Level Media

DES MOINES, Iowa — Defending national champion Kansas shifted into high gear in the second half to smother Howard, 96-68, in the NCAA Tournament first-round matchup on Thursday afternoon.

All-American Jalen Wilson collected 20 points and seven rebounds, freshman Gradey Dick had 19 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals and the top-seeded Jayhawks (28-7) had five players with 10 or more points in the West Region matchup.

The Jayhawks advanced to play eighth seed Arkansas on Saturday. Arkansas eliminated ninth seed Illinois 73-63 on Thursday.

“Howard has a good team, they’re good, they can shoot, they have length. They played faster than I think even we thought they would,” KU assistant coach Norm Roberts said. “In that second half, there wasn’t a foul called for about five minutes and it was up and down, and our guys were begging to come out, and I think their guys were just as tired.”

Dick whipped a skip pass from the left wing to the opposite corner for Wilson’s 3 with 3:28 remaining to kick-start the KU celebration with the Jayhawks up 89-63.

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year Shy Odom had 15 points and eight rebounds for the 16th-seeded Bison (22-13), who went 5 of 20 from 3-point range in the second half.

Despite head coach Bill Self missing his fourth consecutive game since undergoing a heart procedure last week, the Jayhawks won their opening NCAA Tournament game for the 16th consecutive season.

KU claimed control in the second half with a focused effort on pounding the ball inside and capitalizing on Howard’s lack of size. The Jayhawks scored 54 points in the paint and tallied 20 second-chance points thanks to 15 offensive rebounds.

Dajuan Harris’ uncontested lefty layup gave Kansas a 21-point advantage with 9:40 left, catching Howard flat-footed for the first time in the game. The Bison went 1 of 6 with four turnovers during a three-minute stretch capped by Dick’s follow-up slam.

Howard didn’t flinch in the opening 12 minutes against Kansas. The Bison weren’t bashful about punching back even with three underclassmen in the starting lineup.

Howard led 32-31 at the six-minute mark in the first half with Wilson on the bench, but Kansas went to the halftime locker room with a 50-37 edge thanks to 23 combined points from Wilson and Dick.

–By Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media

Arkansas State dismissed coach Mike Balado on Thursday after six seasons, ESPN and Stadium reported.

The Red Wolves went 13-20 (4-14 Sun Belt) this past season.

Balado, 47, posted an 82-100 record during his time with Arkansas State. His best season was in 2021-22, when the Red Wolves went 18-11.

–Field Level Media