BYU hands top-ranked Gonzaga its 1st loss
SPOKANE, Wash. — Eric Mika had 29 points and 11 rebounds to help BYU upset No. 1 Gonzaga 79-71 on Saturday night, ending the Bulldogs’ quest to go undefeated in the final game of the regular season.
Nigel Williams-Goss scored 19 points for Gonzaga (29-1, 17-1 West Coast), which was seeking to become the first team since Kentucky in 2014-15 to finish the regular season without a loss.
Mika’s basket with a minute left gave BYU (21-10, 12-6) a 73-71 lead. Gonzaga lost the ball on its next two possessions. UCLA 77, ARIZONA 72
Thomas Welsh scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, and the No. 5 Bruins dominated the offensive boards to beat the No. 4 Wildcats in a Pac-12 showdown.
UCLA (26-3, 13-3) snapped Arizona’s 21game home court winning streak and dropped the Wildcats (26-4, 15-2) into a tie with Oregon for first place in the Pac-12 heading into the final week of the regular season. The Ducks hold the tiebreaker by beating Arizona in the teams’ only meeting.
UCLA trailed 53-49 at the half but took control with a 19-4 second-half run. KENTUCKY 76, FLORIDA 66
Freshman guard Malik Monk wasn’t aware until afterward of how many points he had piled up, but he knew that they helped the 11th-ranked Wildcats earn their biggest victory this season.
Monk scored 30 of his 33 points in the second half, Bam Adebayo added 18 points with 15 rebounds, and host Kentucky rallied past the No. 13 Gators to take over the SEC lead. MIAMI 55, DUKE 50
Bruce Brown had 25 points, and the host Hurricanes held the No. 10 Blue Devils 32 points below their season average.
Brown shot 11-for-18 and had four assists, while his teammates shot just 11-for-40 with four assists combined. Yet it was enough for Miami (20-8, 10-6 Atlantic Coast Conference), which dominated inside and outscored Duke 40-20 in the paint. OREGON 75, STANFORD 73
Jordan Bell scored on a putback with 14 seconds left to give the No. 6 Ducks a Bay Area sweep.
Bell’s game-winner followed Dillon Brooks’ last-second, tiebreaking 3-pointer three nights earlier at California to give Oregon (26-4, 15-2 Pac-12) its second sweep of its conference Bay Area rivals since 1976. VILLANOVA 79 CREIGHTON 63
Eric Paschall scored a season-high 19 points, and Josh Hart added 16 to help the No. 2 Wildcats clinch their fourth straight Big East regular-season title by beating the visiting No. 23 Bluejays.
Marcus Foster scored 25 points for Creighton, which has lost six of 10 after an 18-1 start. NORTH CAROLINA 85 PITTSBURGH 67
Justin Jackson scored 23 points, Joel Berry added 19, and the No. 8 Tar Heels continued their march to the ACC regular-season title with a rout of the host Panthers. MICHIGAN 82, PURDUE 70
Moe Wagner scored 22 of his 24 points in the first half, while Derrick Walton added 17 points and 11 rebounds as the host Wolverines whipped the No. 14 Boilermakers.
Caleb Swanigan scored 18 points for Purdue (23-6, 12-4 Big Ten), which had its six-game winning streak snapped. VIRGINIA 70 NORTH CAROLINA ST. 55
Freshman Kyle Guy scored 19 points to help the No. 18 Cavaliers end a four-game losing streak with a road win.
Devon Hall added 18 points for Virginia (19-9, 9-7 ACC), which hit 11-of-16 3s. FLORIDA ST. 76 CLEMSON 74
Xavier Rathan-Mayes scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half, including the go-ahead basket with 1:22 left, to lift the No. 19 Seminoles past the host Tigers.
Jonathan Isaac of Florida State (23-6, 11-5 ACC) blocked Shelton Mitchell’s drive with 11 seconds left and Marcquise Reed missed a jumper with 5 seconds to go.