Virginia now unanimous No. 1

Virginia is now the unquestioned No. 1 in the AP Top 25.

The Cavaliers earned all 65 firstplace votes in Monday’s poll after finishing four games ahead of the field in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season race. This was Virginia’s fourth straight week at No. 1, with the Cavaliers acquiring more firstplace votes each time until claiming them all this week.

Virginia joined fellow ACC team Duke as teams to be unanimous No. 1 in the AP Top 25 this season.

The Cavaliers (28-2, 17-1 ACC) open ACC tournament play in Thursday’s quarterfinals with a chance to sweep the league regular-season and tournament titles for the second time in five seasons.

Big 12 runnerup Texas Tech gave coach Chris Beard a new $19 million contract that goes through the 2023-24 season.

No. 14 Texas Tech goes into this week’s Big 12 tournament as the No. 2 seed with a 23-8 overall record. The 23 wins already match the most for the Red Raiders since they went 30-2 in the 1995-96 season.

Beard is 41-22 at Texas Tech since replacing Tubby Smith two years ago.

Roland Griffin scored a career-high 29 points to help Iona earn its third straight NCAA tournament berth with a 83-71 win over Fairfield in the Metro Atlantic tournament final in Albany, N.Y. ... Demetrius Troy and Jordy Kuiper each scored 13 points to lead UNC Greensboro to a 62-47 win over East Tennessee State in the Southern tournament final in Asheville, N.C. The Spartans last played in the NCAA tournament in 2001.

Arizona C Deandre Ayton was named Pac-12 player of the year and freshman of the year. Ayton, who averaged 19.9 points and 11.4 rebounds in 31 regular-season games, is the just the third player in conference history to do so. ... Freshman G Mark Smith will transfer from Illinois. Smith averaged 5.8 points per game.