Jayhawks cruise with Self on shelf

TOP 25 MEN NO. 3 KANSAS 78, WEST VIRGINIA 61

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas assistant Norm Roberts was sitting inside T-Mobile Center on Wednesday night, scouting potential Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal opponents, when he learned that Jayhawks Coach Bill Self had gone to the emergency room.

Once the shock wore off, and Roberts knew the Hall of Fame coach would be OK, he turned his attention to his team, which was less than 24 hours away from beginning the defense of its conference tournament title.

“When we found out, we didn’t really let the guys know until this morning,” Roberts said after cruising to a 78-61 win over West Virginia on Thursday, “because nothing was concrete that was going to happen.”

It wasn’t until after the Jayhawks had advanced to tonight’s semifinal against Iowa State that the school said Self would be out for the remainder of the Big 12 Tournament. Still unclear is whether Self will be back for the start of the NCAA Tournament, where the third-ranked Jayhawks are the defending national champions.

“Throughout all the adversity we’ve been through the entire season, this just brings us together,” said Big 12 player of the year Jalen Wilson, who led the top-seeded Jayhawks with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

“It’s bigger than us,” he added. “We play for our entire family. Just another moment to prove how close this group is.”

Gradey Dick had 18 points, Dajuan Harris Jr. added 13 points and eight assists, and KJ Adams also scored 13 points for the Jayhawks (26-6), who beat the Mountaineers (19-14) for the third time this season.

Erik Stevenson had 13 points for West Virginia.

“This wasn’t the team I had all year,” Mountaineers Coach Bob Huggins said glumly. “We came out with absolutely no enthusiasm. No pep in our step. It was a bad game. It was a bad game from where I was trying to watch it.”

In other Big 12 Tournament games Thursday, Sir’Jabari Rice scored 13 points and No. 7 Texas shut down Oklahoma State 61-47 Tyrese Hunter and Dylan Disu scored 11 points apiece and Arterio Morris had 10 as the second-seeded Longhorns (24-8) breezed into the semifinals against No. 6 seed TCU. The Longhorns held the Cowboys (18-15) to 27% shooting from the floor. Caleb Asberry had 16 points for the Cowboys. … Gabe Kalscheur hit six three-pointers and scored 24 points to help Iowa State beat No. 10 Baylor 78-72. Jaren Holmes scored 17 points, Tamin Lipsey had 12 and Tre King 10 for the fifth-seeded Cyclones (19-12), who followed up a win over the Bears (22-10) on Saturday by beating them for the fifth time in six conference tournament games. Baylor’s Jalen Bridges finished with a career-best 28 points. … Mike Miles and Chuck O’Bannon scored 22 points apiece, and No. 22 TCU rode the hot shooting of its two guards to an 80-67 victory over No. 12 Kansas State. JaKobe Coles added eight points and Emanuel Miller seven for the sixth-seeded Horned Frogs (21-11).

ACC

Jayden Gardner had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 13 Virginia dealt a damaging blow to North Carolina’s already shaky NCAA Tournament hopes, beating the Tar Heels 68-59 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Reece Beekman added 15 points, 5 assists and 5 steals for the second-seeded Cavaliers (24-6). R.J. Davis scored 24 points to lead the Tar Heels (20-13). Virginia advances to play Clemson in today’s semifinals. … Jordan Miller had 18 points and nine rebounds for No. 14 Miami, which held off Wake Forest’s furious comeback 74-72. ACC player of the year Isaiah Wong had 17 points and five assists and Norchad Omier (Arkansas State) had 14 points and 10 rebounds for top-seeded Miami (25-6), which will play Duke (24-8) in today’s semifinals. Tyree Appleby (Jacksonville) had 24 points behind five three-pointers for ninth-seeded Wake Forest (19-17). … Kyle Filipowski overcame an early ankle injury to score 22 points, Tyrese Proctor added 11 points and 10 assists, and No. 21 Duke cruised past Pittsburgh 96-69. Dereck Lively II had 13 points and Mark Mitchell added 12 for the fourth-seeded Blue Devils. Nike Sibande had 17 points and Guillermo Diaz Graham had 14 for Pitt (22-11). … Ian Schieffelin and PJ Hall each scored 15 points and Clemson pulled away from North Carolina State in the second half to earn an 80-54 victory. From the midway point of the first half, Clemson (23-9) scored two points for every point its defense allowed, outscoring the Wolfpack 69-34. D.J. Burns Jr. paced NC State (23-10) with 12 points.

BIG EAST

Tyler Kolek scored 19 of his points after halftime, including the tiebreaking free throws with 15.8 seconds left in overtime, and No. 6 Marquette rallied past St. John’s 72-70 in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals. Olivier-Maxence Prosper added 16 points with some highlight-reel dunks and Oso Ighodaro had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the top-seeded Golden Eagles (26-6). Dylan Addae-Wusu and David Jones each scored 16 to lead eighth-seeded St. John’s (18-15). … Jordan Hawkins scored 19 points and No. 11 UConn held off a furious second-half rally to beat Providence 73-66. The fourth-seeded Huskies (25-7) pushed their winning streak to six games and advanced to face top-seeded Marquette in tonight’s semifinals. UConn led by as many as 26 with 12:30 left. The Friars (21-11) turned up the pressure and had the lead down to five several times in the final few minutes. Bryce Hopkins scored 16 points to lead fifth-seeded Providence. … Jack Nunge had 23 points and 10 rebounds, Colby Jones scored 22 and No. 15 Xavier needed a late comeback to beat DePaul 89-84. Souley Boum added 16 points for the second-seeded Musketeers (24-8). Umoja Gibson had 22 points and six assists for the 10th-seeded Blue Demons (10-23).

BIG TEN

Bruce Thornton scored 17 points and Roddy Gayle Jr. had all nine of his points in the final six minutes to help give 13th-seeded Ohio State to a 73-69 win over fifth-seeded Iowa in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago. Brice Sensabaugh added 16 points for the Buckeyes (15-18), who will play fourth-seeded Michigan State in today’s quarterfinals. Filip Rebraca scored 20 points for the Hawkeyes (19-13). … Donta Scott scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half, Jahmir Young scored 14 of his 15 in the second and Maryland defeated Minnesota 70-54. The sixth-seeded Terrapins (21-11) advance to play third-seeded and 19th-ranked Indiana in the quarterfinals tonight. Pharrel Payne scored 17 points off the bench to pace the Golden Gophers (9-22). … Andrew Funk hit five of his six three-pointers and scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half as Penn State defeated Illinois 79-76. Camren Wynter scored 18 points for the 10th-seeded Nittany Lions (20-12), who will take on second-seeded Northwestern in today’s quarterfinals. Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 19 points, Coleman Hawkins 17 and Dain Dainja 13 for Illinois (20-12). … Cam Spencer and Derek Simpson scored 23 of their combined 31 points in the second half and Rutgers beat Michigan 62-50. Spencer scored 18 points and Simpson 13 for the ninth-seeded Scarlet Knights (19-13). Hunter Dickinson scored 24 points for eighth-seeded Michigan (1715).

PAC-12

Freshman Amari Bailey scored a season-high 26 points and No. 2 UCLA beat Colorado 80-69 in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament quarterfinals in Las Vegas. The Bruins (28-4) kept pushing for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with their 11th consecutive win. UCLA has won 25 of 27 games overall and will next face fourth-seeded Oregon in today’s semifinals. Colorado Coach Tad Boyle was ejected with 54.4 seconds left after arguing a call. He had to be restrained by his assistants before leaving the floor. Bailey eclipsed his previous high of 24 points on Feb. 9 at Oregon State. Tristan da Silva led the Buffaloes (17-16) with 17 points. … Oumar Ballo scored 24 points and No. 8 Arizona broke away late to beat Stanford 95-84. Cedric Henderson Jr. had 23 points and Azuolas Tubelis added 20 for the Wildcats (26-6). Spencer Jones led Stanford (14-19) with 22 points. … Keeshawn Barthelemy and Jermaine Couisnard each scored 17 points and Oregon had a 19-point lead erased before closing on a 7-0 run to beat Washington State 75-70. Fourth-seeded Oregon (19-13) has won 10 consecutive games in the conference tournament. Washington State (17-16), the No. 5 seed, had a seven-game winning streak come to an end. MOUNTAIN WEST Lamont Butler scored 16 points and No. 20 San Diego State held on to beat Colorado State 64-61 in the Mountain West Conference Tournament quarterfinals in Las Vegas. The top-seeded Aztecs (25-6) never led by more than five points in the second half, and Isaiah Stevens’ three-pointer gave the eighth-seeded Rams (15-18) a 59-58 lead with 1:42 left. Jordan LeDee and Matt Bradley each hit two free throws to give San Diego State a 62-59 lead with 16 seconds remaining. Bradley had 13 points for the Aztecs, who will face San Jose State in today’s semifinals. John Tonje led Colorado State with 17 points.

SOUTHLAND WOMEN

Sophomore Taylor Bell came off the bench to score 17 of her career-high 22 points in the second half to lead Southeastern Louisiana to its first NCAA Tournament with a 66-57 win over Lamar in the championship game of the Southland Conference Tournament in Lake Charles, La. The Lions never led in the first half and after trailing 36-27 at the break they quickly went down by 11. But with Bell scoring 10 points, Southeastern Louisiana charged back and led 53-47 entering the fourth quarter. The game was tight down the stretch with the Cardinals closing to 59-57 on a Portia Adams layup with 3:55 to go but Lamar missed its last eight shots. Hailey Giaratano, the tournament MVP, added 15 points for the top-seeded Lions (21-9).

AAC WOMEN

Freshman Amiya Joyner converted the go-ahead three-point play with 1:30 to play and blocked a potential winning basket with 3.2 seconds left to give East Carolina a 46-44 win over Houston in the American Athletic Conference title game and the Pirates’ third NCAA Tournament berth. It was quite a struggle for two defensive minded teams who played 15 days earlier with East Carolina (23-9) winning 88-83 in triple overtime. Third-seeded East Carolina, picked by coaches to finish last in the AAC, got off to a miserable start, missing its first 10 shots and going 1 of 17 in the first quarter, although sixth-seeded Houston (15-16) only led 11-2.