Kansas takes down Baylor
First loss for No. 1 team
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas finally put a blemish on secondranked Baylor’s perfect season.
David McCormack bruised his way to 20 points, Marcus Garrett added 14 on his senior night, and the No. 17 Jayhawks beat the Bears 71-58 on Saturday to leave topranked Gonzaga as the nation’s only unbeaten team.
They also made the sure Baylor would need to wait at least a few more days to clinch its first conference title since 1950.
Kansas (18-8, 12-6) improved to 17-5 against top-10 teams in Allen Fieldhouse under coach Bill Self.
Baylor (18-1, 11-1) led wire-towire when the teams met last month in Waco, Texas.
MaCio Teague scored 18 points and Davion Mitchell added 13 for the Bears.
No. 3 Michigan 73, Indiana 57 — Franz Wagner scored 21 points and Isaiah Livers had 16 points and 10 rebounds, helping Michigan pull away for the win.
The Wolverines (18-1, 13-1) took another major step toward the Big Ten title by winning their seventh straight. They also improved to 5-0 since resuming play following a COVID-19 pause.
Aljami Durham led Indiana (1212, 7-10).
No. 5 Illinois 74, No. 23 Wisconsin 69 — Kofi Cockburn scored 19 points and Illinois completed its first regular-season sweep in this series since 2005. Andre Curbelo scored 17 points and Da’Monte Williams had 12 for Illinois, which won despite a season-high 20 turnovers. Micah Potter had 15 points for Wisconsin (16-9, 10-8 Big Ten).
Illinois (18-6, 15-4) was playing without All-American candidate Ayo Dosunmu, who missed a second straight game after breaking his nose Tuesday.
Oklahoma St. 94, No. 7 Oklahoma 90 — Freshman Cade Cunningham scored 10 of his season-high 40 points in overtime. Oklahoma State (16-6, 9-6 Big 12) posted its fourth straight victory. De’Vion Harmon matched a career high 23 points for Oklahoma (15-7, 8-7).
No. 6 Alabama 64, Mississippi St. 59— Jaden Shackleford scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half, and Alabama clinched its first Southeastern Conference regularseason championship since 2002.
The Crimson Tide (19-6, 14-2) led by double digits for much of the game, but the Bulldogs (13-12, 7-9) closed to 56-53 on Iverson Molinar’s layup with 4:17 left. Mississippi State had a chance to draw even closer over the next three minutes, but Alabama came up with a couple big stops and James Rojas drained a 3 from the right corner to make it 59-53 with 43 seconds remaining.
No. 10 West Virginia 65, Kansas St. 43 — Sean McNeil scored 16 points and Derek Culver added 11 points for West Virginia (17-6, 10-4 Big 12). Davion Bradford scored 11 points, and Mike McGuirl had 10 for Kansas State (7-19, 3-14).
North Carolina 78, No. 11 Florida St. 70 — Freshman Walker Kessler scored a season-high 20 points to help North Carolina earn a needed victory to boost its NCAA Tournament chances while giving coach Roy Williams his 900th career victory. Trailing 41-29 at halftime, the Tar Heels (15-8, 9-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) shot 50% after halftime. RaiQuan Gray scored 17 points to lead the Seminoles (14-4, 10-3).
Xavier 77, No. 13 Creighton 69 — Paul Scruggs scored 23 points and Zach Freemantle added 17, helping Xavier (13-5, 6-5) bolster its NCAA Tournament hopes. Damien Jefferson led Creighton (17-6, 13-5 Big East) with 19 points.
No. 18 Texas Tech 68, No. 14 Texas 59— Mac McClung had 16 points to lead the Red Raiders (15-8, 7-7 Big 12), and was one of six different players who scored scored in a 19-6 run to open the second half after the game was tied at the half. That spurt came over a nearly nine-minute span when the Longhorns (14-7, 8-6) got their points on free throws while missing 11 shots in a row.
No. 16 Virginia Tech 84, Wake Forest 46 — Keve Aluma scored 23 points as Virginia Tech (15-5, 9-4) recorded its largest margin of victory for an Atlantic Coast Conference game. Jonah Antonio led the Demon Deacons (6-13, 3-13) with 12 points.
Utah 71, No. 19 USC 61 — Alphonso Plummer scored 19 points, Timmy Allen added 15 points and eight assists, and Utah (10-11, 7-10 Pac-12) pulled away late in the second half.
Drew Peterson scored 19 points for suddenly struggling USC (19-6, 13-5).
No. 20 Arkansas 83, LSU 75 — Justin Smith had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Arkansas. The Razorbacks (19-5, 11-4 Southeastern Conference) had four players score in double figures in their sixth
straight win. Arkansas grabbed control with a 16-2 run in the second half. LSU, one of the highest scoring teams in Division I, went without a field goal for more than five minutes during the key stretch. LSU (14-8, 9-6) committed 22 fouls.
No. 21 Loyola Chicago 65, Southern Illinois 58 — Cameron Krutwig had 20 points and Loyola Chicago scored the last eight points in overtime. The Ramblers (21-4, 16-2) closed the regular season by winning 14 of 15 games. They won the Missouri Valley Conference title outright after Bradley beat Drake about 45 minutes after the game ended. Loyola has won at least a share of the conference title in three of the last four years.
Lance Jones led Southern Illinois (11-13, 5-13) with 30 points.
No. 22 San Diego St. 62, Boise St. 58 — Matt Mitchell hit two free throws with 3.3 seconds left and fellow senior Jordan Schakel made four free throws in the final 8.7 seconds for San Diego State’s 10th straight victory.
Sweeping the two-game series against the Broncos means the Aztecs (19-4, 13-3 Mountain West) can repeat as regular-season conference champions if they win at UNLV on Wednesday night.
BSU (18-6, 14-5) came into the series with a half-game lead.
Auburn 77, No. 25 Tennessee 72 — The Auburn Tigers, who don’t have a postseason to look forward to, at least gave themselves something to celebrate with March looming. Allen Flanigan scored a season-high 23 points and had seven rebounds to lead Auburn (12-13, 6-10 Southeastern Conference).
The Tigers had all five starters score in double figures against the Volunteers (16-7, 9-7).
BU 75, Army 63 — Jonas Harper posted 18 points, making 6-of-9 three-pointers and adding six rebounds, and Jack Hemphill had 11 points for Boston University (6-9, 6-9 Patriot League). Walter Whyte added 11 points. Sukhmail Mathon had nine rebounds.
Javante McCoy, the Terriers’ leading scorer heading into the matchup at 16 points per game, shot only 1 of 7. BU posted a season-high 15 3-pointers.
Alex King had 17 points for the Black Knights (10-8, 6-7). Josh Caldwell added 15 points. Jalen Rucker had 10 points.
UMass-Lowell 64, Stony Brook 62 — Obadiah Noel scored 23 points as UMass-Lowell erased a 16-point deficit in the opening round of the America East Conference tournament.
Noel scored the game-winner in a short drive with 6.6 seconds left. The win marks the first time at the Division I level that the River Hawks have advanced in the post season. They face No. 3 seed New Hampshire this afternoon.
Kalil Thomas had 15 points for UMass-Lowell (9-11). Connor Withers added 11 points. The River Hawks forced a season-high 21 turnovers.
Juan Felix Rodriguez had 22 points for the Seawolves (9-14).
UConn 80, Marquette 62 — James Bouknight had 24 points and R.J. Cole added 21 points for UConn (12-6, 9-6 Big East Conference). Dawson Garcia had 18 points and eight rebounds for the Golden Eagles (11-13, 6-11).
Clemson 66, Miami 58 — Aamir Simms and Al-Amir Dawes each scored 19 points and Clemson n (15-5, 9-5 ACC) got its fifth straight victory. Isaiah Wong led Miami (7-15, 3-15), which only had six scholarship players, with 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting.
Georgia Tech 84, Syracuse 77 — Moses Wright dunked his way to 31 points, tying his season high, and Georgia Tech strengthened its NCAA Tournament chances with a fourth consecutive win.