Missouri outlasts Georgia in opener
SEC MISSOURI 71, GEORGIA 61
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jordan Geist scored a career-high 30 points and No. 12 seed Missouri outlasted No. 13 seed Georgia 71-61 on Wednesday in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.
Missouri (15-16) won for the third time in its past four games to advance to a second-round matchup today with No. 22 Auburn (22-9), the fifth seed. Missouri lost 92-58 at Auburn on Jan. 30 in their only regular-season matchup.
Georgia (11-21) finished the first season of Tom Crean’s coaching tenure with 12 losses in its last 13 games.
The two teams were meeting exactly one week after Missouri won 64-39 at Georgia, holding the Bulldogs to their lowest point total at home since a 36-30 victory over Georgia Tech during the 1945-1946 season.
Jordan Harris scored a career-high 26 points for Georgia.
TEXAS A&M 69, VANDERBILT 52
Savion Flagg scored 17 of his career-high 29 points in the first half, and 11th-seeded Texas A&M beat Vanderbilt to keep Coach Billy Kennedy around for at least another game.
Texas A&M (14-17) snapped a twogame skid.
ACC
NORTH CAROLINA STATE 59, CLEMSON 58
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Markell Johnson hit two free throws with 2.6 seconds left and North Carolina State came from 18 down in the first half to beat Clemson in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
Johnson had 23 points for the eighth-seeded Wolfpack (22-10).
LOUISVILLE 75, NOTRE DAME 53
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jordan Nwora had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Louisville notched its 20th victory of the season, defeating Notre Dame.
Ryan McMahon added 12 points and Steven Enoch had 10 for the Cardinals (20-12).
VIRGINIA TECH 71, MIAMI 56
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kerry Blackshear had 19 points and 10 rebounds to help No. 16 Virginia Tech beat Miami.
Ty Outlaw added 14 points — all in the first half — for the fifth-seeded Hokies (24-7).
SYRACUSE 73, PITTSBURGH 59
Buddy Boeheim had a career-high 20 points, and Syracuse defeated Pittsburgh despite playing without leading scorer Tyus Battle.
Elijah Hughes and Frank Howard each had 18 points for the Orange.
BIG EAST
PROVIDENCE 80, BUTLER 57
NEW YORK — Maliek White scored a career-high 19 points and Providence overcame a slow start to post a victory over Butler in the first round of the Big East Conference Tournament.
Alpha Diallo added 18 points and 8 rebounds as the eighth-seeded Friars (18-14) shot 56 percent from the field after making 2 of 12 in the early going at Madison Square Garden.
ST. JOHN’S 82, DEPAUL 74
Shamorie Ponds scored 18 points, had seven assists and led a second-half surge as St. John’s (21-11) gave its NCAA hopes a boost with a much-needed victory against DePaul.
BIG TEN
NEBRASKA 68, RUTGERS 61
CHICAGO — James Palmer Jr. tied a career high with 34 points, and Nebraska beat Rutgers in the opening round of
the Big Ten Tournament.
Palmer scored 27 in the second half to carry Nebraska.
The Cornhuskers (17-15) went on a 15-0 run to grab a 10-point lead in the closing minutes on the way to their second consecutive victory after dropping 11 of 13.
ILLINOIS 74, NORTHWESTERN 69, OT
Giorgi Bezhanishvili scored 26 points, Trent Frazier added 21, including the go-ahead three-pointer late, and Illinois rallied for an overtime victory against Northwestern.
Andres Feliz had 11 points and 10 rebounds as Illinois (12-20) won for the second time in seven games.
PAC-12
USC 78, ARIZONA 65
LAS VEGAS — Bennie Boatwright had 22 points and 11 rebounds, helping Southern Cal roll over Arizona in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
The No. 8 seed Trojans started slowly, but went on 18-2 runs in each half.
Derryck Thornton scored 12 points and USC shot 48 percent.
COLORADO 56, CALIFORNIA 51
McKinley Wright IV scored 18 points and Colorado held off California.
The fifth-seeded Buffaloes (20-11) had a hard time holding onto the ball, committing a season-high 23 turnovers.
UCLA 79, STANFORD 72
Jaylen Hands had 22 points and 11 rebounds, helping UCLA top Stanford.
The seventh-seeded Bruins (17-15) built a 26-point lead before Stanford pulled within 69-62. UCLA hit 10 of 12 free throws in the final 1:05.
BIG 12
TCU 73, OKLAHOMA STATE 70
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Desmond Bane hit a corner three with 16 seconds left to give TCU a one-point lead as they held off Oklahoma State in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament.
Kouat Noi scored 20 points to lead TCU (20-12). Lindy Waters and Yor Anei had 17 points apiece for Oklahoma State (12-20).
WEST VIRGINIA 72, OKLAHOMA 71
West Virginia (13-19) held on to beat Oklahoma 72-71 when the Sooners’ Christian James, who appeared to knock down a buzzer-beating three-pointer to force overtime, was determined to have had his foot on the line.
PATRIOT LEAGUE
COLGATE 94, BUCKNELL 80
HAMILTON, N.Y. — Jordan Burns had a career-high 35 points and Will Rayman added 18 to lead top-seeded Colgate to a victory over No. 2 Bucknell in the championship game of the Patriot League Tournament, giving the Raiders their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1996.
Rapolas Ivanauskas added 12 points for the Raiders (24-10, 14-5 Patriot League), who have now won a school-record 11 consecutive games.