Cardiac Cats rally from huge deficit
Nick Richards scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half and No. 6 Kentucky rallied from 18 points down to stun Florida 71-70 on Saturday in Gainesville, Fla.
The shorthanded Wildcats (25-6, 15-3 Southeastern Conference) needed the comeback to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time in nearly three months.
Richards, Keion Brooks Jr. and EJ Montgomery led the shocker in Gainesville. Brooks hit a floater in the lane with 59 second remaining to cut the lead to 70-69. Florida followed with a shot-clock violation on the other end, giving the Wildcats a chance to take their first lead of the game.
Brooks missed a driving layup, and Montgomery’s tip-in was initially waived off as a cylinder violation. Officials reviewed it and gave Montgomery the basket for a 71-70 lead.
Richards missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving Florida a final chance to win it. But Andrew Nembhard’s 3-pointer bounced twice off the rim before missing, setting off Kentucky’s raucous celebration.
Scottie Lewis scored a career-high 19 for Florida (19-12, 11-7). Noah Locke added 14, and Keyontae Johnson 12. Florida led by 18 points with 11:48 left in the game.
No. 1 Kansas had the outright Big 12 title wrapped up before going back on the court after halftime. The Jayhawks then finished off something that hadn’t been done in the conference in a decade.
Devon Dotson scored 17 points while Udoka Azubuike had 15 points and 11 rebounds as the Jayhawks beat Texas Tech 66-62. They became the Big 12’s first champion with only one loss in league play since they were 15-1 in 2009-10, two seasons before the conference expanded to an 18-game round-robin schedule.
“Everyone in the locker room, that was our goal, to win it outright and don’t share anything,” Dotson said. “For us to go 17-1 is big. Hopefully we can build off of it. We’re not satisfied. We have bigger goals and aspirations, but we can build off of this for sure.”
The Jayhawks (28-3, 17-1 Big 12) had already clinched at least a share of their 19th Big 12 title, the 15th in 16 seasons, with a win Wednesday night over TCU. The Jayhawks were outright champions by halftime Saturday, when second-place and No. 4 Baylor lost 76-64 at West Virginia.
Emmitt Matthews scored a seasonhigh 18 points, freshman Oscar Tshiebwe had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Mountaineers (21-10, 9-9). The Bears (26-4, 15-3) went more than eight minutes without a field goal midway through the second half to take themselves out of contention.
Nate Reuvers scored 17 points and No. 24 Wisconsin held host Indiana to just one basket over the final 10 minutes, rallying for a 60-56 victory and clinching at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title.
Micah Potter added 14 points and 11 rebounds for Wisconsin (21-10, 14-6), which has won eight straight. Now the Badgers must wait until Sunday to see if No. 9 Maryland and No. 15 Michigan State remain tied atop the conference standings.
Kihei Clark scored 18 points, including a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left, and No. 22 Virginia recovered after blowing a 14-point second half lead to beat No. 10 Louisville 57-54.
The Cavaliers (23-7, 15-5 ACC) won for the 10th time in 11 games and moved into a tie with the Cardinals (24-7, 15-5) for second place in the league standings, leaving the door open for No. 7 Florida State (26-5, 16-4) to claim the title with an 80-62 victory over Boston College.
Vernon Carey Jr. had 25 points and 10 rebounds, while graduate reserve Justin Robinson offered a huge spark to help 12th-ranked Duke beat visiting North Carolina 89-76.
Robinson — son of retired NBA great David Robinson — matched career highs with 13 points and six rebounds to go with four blocks for the Blue Devils (25-6, 15-5 ACC). They never trailed in this one but didn’t put away the Tar Heels (13-18, 6-14) until the final six minutes.