Miami gets No. 1 seed in ACC
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Wooga Poplar made a careerbest six 3-pointers for 18 points, and 16th-ranked Miami captured the No. 1 seed for the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament with a 78-76 win over No. 25 Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
Miami shares the regularseason title with Virginia, which clinched its half of the crown with a 75-60 win over Louisville earlier Saturday.
The Cavaliers cut down the nets in Charlottesville after that game — but they’ll be the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament, behind a Hurricanes team that was picked fourth in the league’s preseason poll and beat Virginia in the teams’ only meeting.
Texas A&M 67, Alabama 61:
Wade Taylor scored 28 points and No. 24 Texas A&M beat No. 2 Alabama, making its late free throws after Crimson Tide star Brandon Miller fouled out. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Crimson Tide. Alabama played the last two minutes minus Miller, who fouled out after scoring a team-leading 19 points.
Texas 75, Kansas 59: Sir’Jabari Rice scored 23 points and a smothering defensive effort carried No. 9 Texas to a win over No. 3 Kansas that earned the Longhorns a second-place finish in the Big 12. Kansas, which had already secured the league championship earlier in the week, had its seven-game winning streak snapped. Marquette 96, St. John’s 94:
Kam Jones scored 23 points and No. 6 Marquette barely avoided a lastminute collapse, topping St. John’s for its sixth consecutive victory. St. John’s erased nearly all of a 10-point deficit in the final 21 seconds of regulation and had a chance to tie the game before O’Mar Stanley missed the second of two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining. Jones got the rebound and hit one of two free throws to complete the scoring in the regular-season finale for each school.
Iowa State 73, Baylor 58: Jaren Holmes had 16 points and Iowa State ended a four-game losing streak with a win over seventh-ranked Baylor in what likely was the Bears’ final Big 12 home game in the 35-year-old Ferrell Center. The Cyclones played their first game since the dismissal of veteran guard Caleb Grill from the team earlier this week, and built as much as a 14-point lead before halftime. West Virginia 89, Kansas State 81: Erik Stevenson scored 27 points, Kedrian Johnson added 23 and West Virginia gave its NCAA Tournament hopes a big boost with a victory over No. 11 Kansas State. Emmitt Matthews added 20 points and Tre Mitchell scored 14 for West Virginia, which has won three of four heading into the conference tournament.
Auburn 79, Tennessee 70: Wendell Green Jr. scored 24 points to help Auburn boost its NCAA Tournament prospects with a victory over No. 12 Tennessee in the regular-season finale. The Tigers, who had lost eight of their last 11 games, rebounded from an overtime loss at No. 2 Alabama with their biggest win of the season. Virginia 75, Louisville 60: Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin scored 16 points each and No. 13 Virginia clinched a share of the regular season title in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a victory against Louisville.
Seton Hall 82, Providence 58:
Dre Davis scored 24 points to help Seton Hall beat No. 20 Providence. Femi Odukale had 19 points while KC Ndefo scored 15 for the Pirates.
Oklahoma 74, TCU 60: Tanner Groves scored a season-high 23 points to go with 10 rebounds and Oklahoma rode a hot start all the way, beating No. 22 TCU in the regularseason finale for both teams.
Kentucky 88, Arkansas 79:
Antonio Reeves scored a career-high 37 points, and No. 23 Kentucky handed Arkansas its third straight loss.