Jackson leads Texas A&M to SEC finals; Vols edge Wildcats
Surging Texas A&M isn’t leaving its NCAA Tournament hopes to chance.
With three wins in three days over favored opponents, the eighth-seeded Aggies not only have landed an unlikely spot in the championship game of the SEC Tournament, but almost certainly ensured their inclusion in the NCAA field of 68, too.
The Aggies can earn the SEC’s automatic berth by beating either fifth-ranked Kentucky or No. 9 Tennessee on Sunday. But even with a loss in the final, they’re likely in — only weeks after looking like they had no shot.
“That’s not up to me. I just go out there, and I play my game. That’s up to the higher-ups,” leading scorer Quenton Jackson said after his 20-point performance helped the Aggies take down No. 15 Arkansas 82-64 in the semifinals on Saturday in Tam. “I try to make sure that me and my team are on the same page and we play as hard as we can every night.”
The Aggies (23-11) took down a ranked opponent for the second straight day, with Jackson also contributing six assists, five rebounds and four steals.
“I think it’s really just a testament to what we’ve been preaching to each other all week. We know that for us to have a chance to win any game, it’s got to start with our energy level and how we attack the game,” the Aggies’ Hayden Hefner said.
Hassan Diarra, whose clutch three-pointer in the closing seconds of overtime gave the Aggies an 83-80 victory in A&M’s tournament opener, had 12 points. Tyrece Radford and Henry Coleman contributed 12 of 11 points, respectively, after playing key roles in a fivepoint upset of fourth-ranked Auburn in the quarterfinals.
Arkansas (25-8) split a pair of games with the Aggies in January but was no match for them Saturday after falling behind by double digits in the first half.
Stanley Umude led the Razorbacks with 20 points. Au’Diese Toney added 18, but leading scorer JD Notae was slowed by foul trouble and limited to five points — nearly 14 below his average — on 2-of-8 shooting.
No. 9 Tennessee 69, No. 5 Kentucky 62: Kennedy Chandler scored 19 points, Zakai Zeigler added 11 and the Volunteers held off the Wildcats in the final minutes to reach the Southeastern Conference Tournament final for the third time in the last five years.
The Volunteers (25-7) have won 11 of 12 and taken a huge step toward potentially securing a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Tennessee will face eighth-seeded Texas A&M on Sunday in the SEC title game.
The Wildcats (26-7) had been penciled into a top seed, but losing to Tennessee twice in three meetings could flip the script. Chandler, Ziegler and Josiah-Jordan James helped author the changes.
Chandler, a freshman guard from Memphis, made 8 of 16 shots and seemingly had an answer every time third-seeded Kentucky looked like it would make a run in front of a pro-Big Blue crowd inside packed Amalie Arena. Chandler added three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
No. 9 Purdue 75, Michigan State 70: Jaden Ivey had 22 points and nine rebounds and Eric Hunter Jr. made two back-breaking three-pointers late and the Boilermakers (26-7) beat the Spartans (22-12) for their first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament title game since 2018.
The third-seeded Boilermakers will face No. 24 Iowa (25-9) on Sunday.
No. 18 Houston 86, Tulane 66: Tyler Edwards had 20 points with six three-pointers and big man Josh Carlton added 16 points as the Cougars (28-5) routed the Green Wave (14-15) to advance to theire fourth consecutive American Athletic Conference championship game.
The Cougars (28-5) matched their win total from last season, when they won their first AAC tournament title and then made it to the Final Four.
No. 24 Iowa 80, Indiana 77: Jordan Bohannon banked in a three-pointer from just inside the midcourt logo with 0.8 seconds left as the Hawkeyes (25-9) shocked the Hoosiers (2013)in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
America East — Vermont 82, UMBC 43: Ryan Davis scored 20 points, Ben Shungu added 19 and the Catamounts (28-5) completed a dominant America East season with its fourth conference tournament title in six years with a rout of the Retrievers (18-14).
WOMEN’S TOP 25
No. 4 Baylor 91, No. 21 Oklahoma 76: NaLyssa Smith scored a career-high 37 points to help the Bears (27-5) rout the Sooners (24-8) in the Big 12 women’s semifinals at Kansas City, Missouri. The Bears will face No. 7 Texas in the title game Sunday.
No. 7 Texas 82, No. 10 Iowa State 73 (OT): Rori Harmon scored 12 of her 30 points in overtime and the Longhorns (25-6) outlasted the Cyclones (26-6) in the Big 12 women’s semifinals.
No. 24 Princeton 77, Columbia 59: in Ivy League championship in Cambridge Mass., 5 p.m.CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Kaitlyn Chen scored a career-high 30 points and the Tigers (24-4) beat the Lions (22-6) to win the Ivy League tournament, earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAAs.
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Metro Atlantic — Fairfield 73, Manhattan 68: Lou Lopez-Senechal scored 24 points and Fairfield won the Metro Atlantic championship, defeating Manhattan, despite 35 points from the Jaspers’ Dee Dee Davis.
Western Athletic — Stephen F. Austin 74, Grand Canyon 57: Zya Nugent scored 20 points with 12 rebounds plus six assists and the Ladyjacks (28-4) beat the Antelopes (22-9) to win the Western Athletic Conference tournament in its first year as a league member.
Stephen F. Austin is headed to the NCAAs for the 18th time, the previous 17 trips coming during its 34 years in the Southland Conference.
Mid-Eastern Athletic — Howard 61, Norfolk State 44: Destiny Howell scored a career-high 25 points and the Bison
(20-9) captured their first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament championship and first NCAA Tournament berth in 21 years, beating the Spartans (17-11) on their home court.