Wade Taylor IV scored a career-high 28 points to fuel No. 24 Texas A&M to a 67-61 win over No. 2 Alabama on Saturday in College Station, Texas.
Taylor made five free throws in the final three minutes, including two big ones after Andersson Garcia’s steal with the Aggies (23-8, 15-3) nursing a 61-59 lead. Tyrece Radford, who had 21 points, canned all four of his attempts from the charity stripe in the final 15 seconds to seal their fifth straight win overall against Alabama.
In losing for the seventh time in nine games at College Station, the Crimson Tide (26-5, 16-2) got 19 points and 10 rebounds from Brandon Miller before the freshman star fouled out in the final two minutes. Jahvon Quinerly had 12 points, while Noah Clowney scored 11 and added seven rebounds.
The top two seeds in the SEC tournament, Alabama and Texas A&M, will receive double-byes and not play until Friday.
No. 9 Texas 75, No. 3 Kansas 59
Sir’Jabari Rice scored 23 points and Tyrese Hunter added 20 as the Longhorns cruised past the Jayhawks.
Rice shot 9 of 14 from the field, including 2 of 6 from 3-point range, and grabbed seven rebounds as Texas (23-8, 12-6 Big 12) ended a two-game slide. The Longhorns’ 23 wins are already their most in a season since earning 24 when they reached the NCAA Tournament’s round-of-32 during the 2013-14 season.
Kansas (25-6, 13-5), which had already clinched the Big 12 regular-season title and the top seed in next week’s conference tournament, was led by Jalen Wilson’s 23 points and 10 rebounds.
No. 4 UCLA 82, No. 8 Arizona 73
Jaime Jaquez Jr. had a double-double and Tyger Campbell scored 21 points as the Bruins furthered their case for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with a victory over the Wildcats in Los Angeles.
Jaquez had 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Bruins (27-4, 18-2 Pac-12) ended the regular season with a four-game lead in the Pac-12 standings and will enter the Pac-12 tournament on a 10-game winning streak. The Wildcats (25-6, 14-6), who will be the No. 2 seed in the league tourney, got 24 points and 10 rebounds from Azuolas Tubelis.
The Bruins, who finished 17-0 at Pauley Pavilion this season, erased an 11-point first-half deficit on Senior Night, led by three points at halftime and established control by scoring the first eight points of the second half to take a 48-37 lead. David Singleton scored 17 points and made 5 of 9 3-point attempts as the Bruins split the season series with Arizona.
No. 6 Marquette 96, St. John’s 94
Kam Jones scored 23 points and Big East player of the year candidate Tyler Kolek collected 18 points and 10 assists as the Golden Eagles edged the visiting Red Storm in Milwaukee.
Marquette (25-6, 17-3 Big East) also received 14 points from Stevie Mitchell, 13 points and seven assists from Oso Ighodaro and 10 points from Olivier-Maxence Prosper.
Dylan Addae-Wusu scored 25 points to lead St. John’s (17-14, 7-13). Posh Alexander contributed 18 points, David Jones had 17, O’Mar Stanley added 15 and Joel Soriano recorded 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Iowa State 73, No. 7 Baylor 58
Jaren Holmes had 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Tre King recorded 13 points and seven rebounds to lead the Cyclones to a stunning rout of the Bears in Big 12 play.
Gabe Kalscheur scored 12 points as the Cyclones (18-12, 9-9 Big 12) snapped a four-game losing streak and won for just the third time in 11 contests. Iowa State led for more than 35 1/2 minutes while beating the Bears by 15 points for the second time this season.
Adam Flagler scored 20 points and LJ Cryer added 13 for Baylor (22-9, 11-7), which lost for the third time in the past five games. Leading scorer Keyonte George (ankle) returned from a one-game absence but had just seven points on 3-of-10 shooting.
West Virginia 89, No. 11 Kansas State 81
Erik Stevenson scored 27 points as the host Mountaineers knocked off the Wildcats in Big 12 play.
Stevenson was one of three Mountaineers (18-13, 7-11 Big 12) with at least 20 points. They also got a career-high 23 points from Kedrian Johnson and 20 from Emmitt Matthews Jr. Tre Mitchell added 14 for West Virginia.
The Wildcats (23-8, 11-7) were led by Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell with 24 points apiece. All of Nowell’s points came in the second half. Cam Carter had 13.
Auburn 79, No. 12 Tennessee 70
Wendell Green Jr. scored 24 points and Johni Broome added 17 as the host Tigers posted a resume-enhancing victory over the Volunteers.
Green scored seven points in the final 1:37 as the Tigers (20-11, 10-8 SEC) finished on a 17-7 run to spoil Tennessee’s opportunity to clinch a double-bye in the upcoming SEC tournament.
Santiago Vescovi led Tennessee (22-9, 11-7) with 21 points. Freshman Tobe Awaka had 10 boards to help the Volunteers to a 35-29 rebounding advantage.
No. 13 Virginia 75, Louisville 60
In the final home game of his college career, Jayden Gardner scored 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting to help propel the Cavaliers to a wire-to-wire victory over the Cardinals in Charlottesville, Va.
Armaan Franklin added 16 points and five assists as Virginia (23-6, 15-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) won a share of the league title and clinched the No. 2 seed in next week’s ACC tournament.
It is the sixth regular-season banner for the Cavaliers since 2014. They tied Miami, which beat Pitt on Saturday night, for first place in the ACC. Miami beat Virginia in the regular season and owns the tiebreaker for the top seed for the conference tournament.
No. 14 UConn 71, Villanova 59
Jordan Hawkins scored 24 points, Alex Karaban added 16 points and three blocked shots, and the Huskies defeated the host Wildcats in Philadelphia.
Andre Jackson Jr. contributed 10 points and seven rebounds, and Adama Sanogo had nine points and nine rebounds for the Huskies (24-7, 13-7 Big East), who won their final five regular-season games.
Justin Moore led Villanova (16-15, 10-10) with 17 points, while Cam Whitmore added 14.
No. 16 Miami 78, No. 25 Pitt 76
Wooga Poplar scored 18 points and Norchad Omier had 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Hurricanes to a thrilling victory over the Panthers in Coral Gables, Fla.
The Hurricanes (24-6, 15-5 ACC) clinched a share of the regular-season conference title with Virginia, which also finished 15-5. But Miami secured the top seed in next week’s ACC tournament by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Cavaliers. Miami’s Jordan Miller finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Nijel Pack and Isaiah Wong each added nine points.
The Panthers (21-10, 14-6) ended the regular season with back-to-back losses. Blake Hinson led Pitt with 24 points and made 6 of 12 3-point attempts. Nike Sibande finished with 16 points and five rebounds, while Jamarius Burton added 13 points. Nelly Cummings had 10 points and six assists.
No. 18 San Diego State 67, Wyoming 50
Jaedon LeDee scored 21 points and collected eight rebounds to lead the Aztecs to an easy victory over the visiting Cowboys in Mountain West Conference play.
Adam Seiko made four 3-pointers while adding 14 points as the Aztecs (24-6, 15-3 MWC) never trailed while winning for the 17th time in 20 games. Matt Bradley added 11 points for San Diego State, which won the regular-season title and is the No. 1 seed for next week’s MWC tournament in Las Vegas.
Jeremiah Oden scored 17 points and Xavier DuSell added 16 for Wyoming (9-21, 4-14), which dropped its 15th straight game at San Diego State since a victory in 2007. Cowboys star Hunter Maldonado had just three points on 1-of-11 shooting.
No. 19 Xavier 78, Butler 66
Colby Jones had a game-high 20 points and Adam Kunkel added 18 on Senior Night in his final home game to lead the 19th-ranked Musketeers past the visiting Bulldogs in Cincinnati.
Souley Boum added 11 and Jack Nunge had 10 for Xavier (23-8, 15-5 Big East), which entered the game already locked into the No. 2 seed in this week’s conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. Xavier is off until Thursday night, when it plays the winner of the DePaul-Seton Hall game in the conference quarterfinals.
Jayden Taylor had 16 points and Chuck Harris added 13 for Butler (14-17, 6-14), which will be the No. 9 seed and will play No. 8 St. John’s in a first-round game Wednesday afternoon to open the tournament.
Seton Hall 82, No. 20 Providence 58
Dre Davis scored a career-high 24 points as the visiting Pirates posted a victory over the Friars in the final regular-season game for each team.
Davis made 9 of his 10 field goal attempts, including each of his four 3-pointers. Seton Hall (17-14, 10-10 Big East) received a career-high 19 points from Femi Odukale and 15 from KC Ndefo.
Devin Carter (14), Ed Croswell (13) and Jared Bynum (12) were the leading scorers for Providence (21-10, 13-7).
Oklahoma 74, No. 22 TCU 60
Tanner Groves had a season-high 23 points to lead the Sooners past the Horned Frogs in Norman, Okla.
Grant Sherfield added 20 points in the latest stunning win for the Sooners. Oklahoma (15-16, 5-13 Big 12) has won just four of its last 14 games, but all four victories have come over ranked opponents. The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Horned Frogs (20-11, 9-9) and kept them from finishing above .500 in conference play for the first time since 2001.
Mike Miles Jr. scored 17 points to lead TCU, while Damion Baugh finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. TCU will be the No. 6 seed in next weekend’s Big 12 tournament. The Sooners were already locked into the No. 10 spot.
No. 23 Kentucky 88, Arkansas 79
Antonio Reeves scored a career-high 37 points to fuel the Wildcats’ win over the Razorbacks in Fayetteville, Ark.
Reeves made 12 of 17 field goals — including 2 of 4 from 3-point range — and all 11 of his free-throws attempts while playing all 40 minutes. Jacob Toppin added 21 points and Oscar Tshiebwe collected 12 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out for the Wildcats (21-10, 12-6 SEC), who secured one of the four double-byes in next week’s conference tournament.
Nick Smith Jr. scored 25 points, Ricky Council IV contributed 16, Anthony Black had 14 and Jordan Walsh added 10 to lead Arkansas (19-12, 8-10).
–Field Level Media
