Stanford bows out of league tourney
LAS VEGAS — Stanford had already beaten No. 8 Arizona in the season's lone meeting, and Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd was not at all surprised the Cardinal were a tough out Thursday night.
Behind a balanced scoring attack and a late run, the Wildcats finally put away Stanford, winning the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal 95-84.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” Lloyd said. “Their size matches up with us pretty well. They have a tendency to make real timely shots against us, and they just kept doing that over and over and over again. Our guys hung with it.”
Oumar Ballo scored 24 points, Cedric Henderson Jr. had 23 and Azuolas Tubelis added 20 for the Wildcats (26-6), the defending tournament champions.
Spencer Jones led Stanford (14-19) with 22 points, Brandon Angel had 19, Michael Jones scored 13 and Harrison Ingram finished with 12.
The Cardinal didn't make it easy on Arizona, which entered the game having lost two of three and had gone 3-3 over its previous six. Plus, Stanford had won three of four entering this game and had claimed the season's only meeting, 88-79 on Feb. 11.
Stanford threatened to sweep the season series, absorbing Arizona runs of 15-2 and 14-3 in the first half and 10-0 in the second to remain in striking distance most of the game.
“That's just kind of the growth of our team,” Spencer Jones said. “We've been talking about that throughout the season, our ability to handle runs like that. Each team's going to go on a run, and credit to Coach, he really instilled that in us, even though we were failing doing it at the beginning of the season. So we started hitting back and that was the key.”
Lloyd won his 59th game at Arizona, an NCAA record for most victories in a coach's first two seasons. Former North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge held the previous mark.
Courtney Ramey had 15 points for Arizona, which used a 12-2 run to take a 92-78 lead. The Wildcats shot 64 percent.
Pastner ousted at Georgia Tech
Josh Pastner was fired Friday as Georgia Tech's basketball coach, two seasons after he guided the Yellow Jackets to a surprising Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title. Pastner was dumped after seven seasons as coach of the Atlanta school, his fate sealed by a second straight losing season and few signs of progress in a program that was once a national powerhouse. The Yellow Jackets ended their season Wednesday with a 89-81 loss to Pittsburgh in the second round of the ACC tournament. They finished 12-20 last season.
Anderson’s time at St. John’s over
St. John's fired men's basketball coach Mike Anderson on Friday, one day after his fourth season in charge ended with an overtime loss to No. 6 Marquette in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals. The decision comes just two years after Anderson was the Big East coach of the year, earning him a contract extension. But the Red Storm never made the NCAA Tournament under Anderson.
Mizzou extends Gates after win
Missouri extended first-year basketball coach Dennis Gates ' contract another year through the 2028-29 season, announcing the deal Friday night soon after he guided the Tigers to their first semifinal berth at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
University officials said its board unanimously approved the extension Thursday. The deal was made public shortly after No. 25 Missouri beat 17th-ranked Tennessee 79-71 in the SEC quarterfinals in Nashville.