Oklahoma State knocks off Baylor
Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham and Baylor’s Jared Butler split the Big 12 Conference men’s basketball player of the year awards. Cunningham’s team is moving on in the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Mo. The No. 5-seeded Cowboys (20-7) pulled off the stunner, 83-74, over second-ranked and topseeded Baylor (22-2), and Cunningham was a major factor down the stretch. Oklahoma State scored 11 consecutive points to overcome a two-point deficit with 2:47 remaining with Cunningham making five free throws, and his pass to Rondel Walker turned into a three-point play. Oklahoma State will meet third-seeded Texas for the Big 12 championship at 5 p.m. Saturday in T-Mobile Center. The Longhorns advanced when semifinal opponent Kansas dropped out of the tournament because of a positive COVID19 case.
Big Ten: Michigan coach Juwan Howard was ejected midway through the second half after getting a shouting match with the Maryland bench, and the No. 4 Wolverines (20-3) won, 79-66 ,to reach the semifinals in Indianapolis. ... Seth Towns scored a season-high 12 points in 11 minutes and made the tiebreaking free throw to start overtime as the ninth-ranked Buckeyes (20-8) beat No. 21 Purdue, 87-78. ... Ayo Dosunmu scored 23 points and No. 3 Illinois (21-6) easily beat Rutgers, 90-68.
ACC: Anthony Polite hit the goahead 3-pointer with 2:06 left, and No. 15 Florida State (16-5) held off North Carolina, 69-66, in the semifinals. That sent the Seminoles to the championship game to face Georgia Tech in Greensboro, N.C.
Big East: Jamorko Pickett scored 19 points, Chudier Bile made big plays on both ends down the stretch and Georgetown (12-12) reached its first championship game in 11 years with a 66-58 victory over Seton Hall in New York. The resurgent Hoyas face secondseeded Creighton, ranked No. 17 in the nation, after the Bluejays beat No. 3 seed Connecticut, 59-56.
SEC: Jaden Shackelford had 13 points, Jahvon Quinerly added 14 off the bench and top-seeded
Alabama (22-6) blew out No. 9 seed Mississippi State, 85-48, in a quarterfinal matchup in Nashville, Tenn. The No. 6 Crimson Tide (226) will face Tennessee in Saturday’s semifinals. ... Santiago Vescovi scored 14 points to lead five Volunteers (18-7) in double figures, and Tennessee beat Florida, 78-66, to advance to the semifinals for a third straight tournament. ... Reserve JD Notae scored a seasonhigh 27 points and No. 8 Arkansas (22-5) overcame a 10-point deficit to beat Missouri, 70-64.
Pac-12: Ethan Thompson scored 16 points, Rodrigue Andela added 13 and Oregon State (16-12) withstood a late rally to beat top-seeded Oregon, 75-64, in the semifinals in Las Vegas. The Beavers will face the winner between Colorado and No. 23 Southern California in Saturday’s championship game.
AAC: DeJon Jarreau had his first career triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, helping No. 7 Houston (22-3) to a 7752 victory over Tulane in the quarterfinals in Fort Worth, Texas. Houston will play the UCF-Memphis winner in the semifinals Saturday night.
Women’s tournaments
Big Ten: Monika Czinano scored 27 points, Caitlin Clark added 20 points and 11 assists and sixthseeded Iowa (18-8) beat seventhseeded Michigan State, 87-72, to advance to the championship in Indianapolis. ... Alaysia Styles scored 15 points off the bench to lead a balanced attack as seventh-ranked Maryland (23-2) routed Northwestern, 85-52, in the other semifinal.
Big 12: NaLyssa Smith scored 26 points, Dijonai Carrington had 17 and No. 6 Baylor (23-2) beat TCU, 92-55, to advance to the semifinals in Kansas City, Mo. Baylor will face Texas Saturday in the semifinals. ... Kyra Lambert scored 23 points with six 3-pointers, both career highs, and Texas (18-8) beat Iowa State, 84-82, with Longhorns star Charlie Collier on the bench in overtime. ... Kirsten Deans scored seven points in the last 36 seconds, including a layup at the buzzer, and No. 17 West Virginia (20-5) rallied to defeat 10th-seeded Kansas State, 58-56.