Oregon clinches regular season Pac-12 title with win over Oregon St.
Will Richardson scored a career-high 22 points and Oregon made a season-high 15 3-pointers in beating Oregon State 80-67 on Sunday night to finish as the Pac-12 Conference’s regular season champion for the second straight year.
Oregon has won five straight in just a span of 11 days and is 10-2 since Feb. 4.
Richardson finished with career-high six-made 3s and only missed once from beyond the arc. As a team, it was the most made 3s by a Ducks unit since 2017 when they went 11 for 24. Oregon finished 15-for-23 (65.2%) from deep.
Oregon (19-5, 14-4) built a 26-10 lead and never trailed. They led by double figures for most of the remainder.
Ethan Thompson scored 16 points for Oregon State (14-12, 10-10), Warith Alatishe 14, Jarod Lucas 12 and Roman Silva 10.
Oregon State faces UCLA on Thursday in the post-season conference tournament in Las Vegas.
MICHIGAN ST. 70, NO. 2 MICHIGAN 64
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Rocket Watts scored 21 points and Aaron Henry had 18 to lead Michigan State (15-11, 9-11 Big Ten) to a victory over Michigan (19-3, 14-3) that seems to seal coach Tom Izzo’s 23rd consecutive NCAA Tournament bid.
The Spartans have won five of their last seven games, beating No. 4 Ohio State, No. 5 Illinois and their second-ranked rivals during the late-season surge.
Michigan senior guard Eli Brooks hurt his left ankle early in the game at the Breslin Center and did not return in what potentially could be a problem going into the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments. Coach Juwan Howard did not have an update on Brooks after the game.
NO. 3 BAYLOR 88, NO. 18 TEXAS TECH 73
WACO, Texas — MaCio Teague scored 35 points while matching a school record with 10 made 3-pointers and Baylor (211, 13-1 Big 12) finished undefeated at home for the first time in 73 years with a win over Texas Tech (17-9, 9-8) in a regular-season finale. The Big 12 champion Bears never trailed.
NO. 5 IOWA 77, NO. 25 WISCONSIN 73
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Luka Garza scored 21 points and had 16 rebounds as Iowa (20-7, 14-6) defeated Wisconsin (16-11, 10-10).
It was the 12th double-double of the season for Garza, who leads the Big Ten in scoring and is third in the nation.
NO. 20 LOYOLA CHICAGO 75, DRAKE 65
ST. LOUIS — Cameron Krutwig and Braden Norris scored 20 points apiece to lead Loyola Chicago (24-4, 16-2) to a win over Drake (25-4, 15-3) in the Missouri Valley Conference championship game for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The Ramblers will be making their seventh NCAAs appearance and first since the 2018 team reached the Final Four as a No. 11 seed.
WOMEN’S AP TOP 25
NO. 1 UCONN 84, VILLANOVA 39
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Christyn Williams scored 26 points and UConn used a stifling defense to overwhelm Villanova in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament.
NO. 3 NC STATE 58, NO. 5 LOUISVILLE 56
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Raina Perez hit a jumper from near the left elbow with 2.1 seconds left to help North Carolina State beat Louisville in the championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
NO. 4 STANFORD 75, NO. 9 UCLA 55
LAS VEGAS — Kiana Williams scored 26 points to lead Stanford to the Pac 12 Tournament championship with a win over No. 9 UCLA.
Stanford, which has made the Pac-12 championship game 18 times in 20 total tournaments, improved to 14-4 in the finals while winning its third title in five years.
NO. 7 S. CAROLINA 67, NO. 16 GEORGIA 62
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Aliyah Boston had 27 points and 10 rebounds as South Carolina pulled away in the third quarter to beat Georgia and win its second straight SEC Tournament title — and sixth in the past seven years.