No. 3 Illini show some fight, top No. 5 Iowa
Pitino leads Iona to the tourney in his first year
Kofi Cockburn scored 18 of his 26 points in the first half, and No. 3 Illinois beat No. 5 Iowa 82-71 on Saturday to advance to the Big Ten Tournament title game.
The Fighting Illini (22-6) have won six straight, with three coming against top-10 foes. If Illinois wins one more, against No. 9 Ohio State, it would claim its first tourney title since 2005.
Ayo Dosunmu scored 18 points for Illinois, and reserve guard Andre Curbelo finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Luka Garza had 21 points and 12 rebounds for Iowa (21-7). Jordan Bohannon scored 20 points.
No. 3 Texas 91, Oklahoma St. 86 — Texas finally won the Big 12 Tournament championship.
Don’t try telling the Longhorns they didn’t earn it.
After getting a free pass through the semifinals when Kansas withdrew due to a positive COVID-19 test, and avoiding mighty Baylor once they reached the title game, embattled coach Shaka Smart’s bunch took advantage of the situation with a victory over No. 12 Oklahoma State.
Matt Coleman poured in a career-high 30 points, Jericho Simms had a career-best 21 to go with 14 rebounds, and the thirdseeded Longhorns stayed poised during the tense final minutes to win for the first time in seven trips to the finals.
No. 9 Ohio St. 68, No. 4 Michigan 67 — Duane Washington Jr. scored 24 points, E.J. Liddell had 18 and Ohio State advanced to the Big Ten Tournament championship.
The Buckeyes (21-8) will play their fourth game in four days against No. 3 Illinois on Sunday.
Hunter Dickinson had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Wolverines (20-4).
No. 6 Alabama 73, Tennessee 68 — Herbert Jones had 21 points, 13 rebounds and four assists, helping Alabama rally for the win. Jahvon Quinerly had 19 points for the Crimson Tide, including two free throws with 15.5 seconds left.
Top-seeded Alabama (23-6) faces LSU in Sunday’s championship in search of its first SEC Tournament title since 1991. Tennessee (18-8) awaits an NCAA Tournament seeding on Sunday.
LSU 78, No. 8 Arkansas — Cameron Thomas scored 21 points, and LSU reached the Southeastern Conference Tournament champi onship for the first time since 1993.
The Tigers (18-8) will play No. 6 Alabama on Sunday looking to improve their NCAA Tournament seeding even more. LSU has won this tournament only once — back in 1980.
Javonte Smart scored 19 points for LSU, and Darius Days had 13 points and eight rebounds.
Georgetown 73, No. 17 Creighton 48 — Patrick Ewing climbed the ladder — only a few steps needed for the 7-footer — clipped the last string and held the net high.
Georgetown is the Big East champion again, with the greatest Hoya of them all leading the way.
Ewing is taking his team back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015 after the eighth-seeded Hoyas completed a surprising run to a Big East crown with a stunning rout of Creighton.
The Hoyas (13-12) closed the first half on a 23-2 run that put them up 18 at the break against second-seeded Creighton (20-8). Then they started the second half with a 16-3 spurt. Chudier Bile knocked down a 3-pointer — holding the follow through for a beat — with 14:58 left that made it 52-21.
Iona 60, Fairfield 51 — Rick Pitino’s vagabond coaching career bathed in scandal and success brought him back to the NCAA Tournament. Asante Gist scored 18 points and Pitino took his fifth school to the tournament as Iona defeated Fairfield in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament championship.
The 68-year-old Pitino was already the first coach to win national titles at two schools (Kentucky, Louisville) and the first to take three schools (Providence) to the Final Four. He led Boston University to the tournament in 1983.
Pitino was hired at Iona (12-5) last March to — yes, to keep the Gaels among the perennial favorite to come out of the MAAC in March — but in large part to rehabilitate his image after an ignominious end at Louisville.
Pitino had a trying first season trying to navigate a tourney bid through a pandemic. He contracted coronavirus and the Gaels were forced to stop four times this season because of virus issues — including a 51-day hiatus that sidelined them longer than any team in the country.