COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP
Horizon men
Oakland 75, Purdue Fort Wayne 65: The top-seeded Golden Grizzlies are headed to the Horizon semis for the first time since 2021, rolling over the eighth-seeded Mastodons at the O’rena despite hitting just six of 18 shots from beyond the 3point line. OU was sharp inside, however, with 21 makes on 35 2-point tries and a 34-20 edge on point in the paint. Rocket Watts soared in just 18 minutes on the court, making seven of 10 shots to finish with 18 points, while DQ Cole added 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting before fouling out. Chris Conway chipped in 11 points and Horizon League Player of the Year Trey Townsend had 11 rebounds.
Next up, the Golden Grizzlies (21-11) will face seventh-seeded Cleveland State, which upset 2-seed Youngstown State on Thursday night, in the Horizon semis at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis on Monday, with the time to be announced. The 7 p.m. semi will be broadcast on ESPNU and the second, at approximately 9:30 p.m., will air on ESPN2, with the winners of each advancing to Tuesday’s final at 7 p.m. for an auto-bid to the NCAA tournament. OU and CSU split the season series, with each team winning at home; the Golden Grizzlies prevailed by 12 points in the teams’ most recent meeting, on Feb. 3.
Horizon women
Purdue Fort Wayne 66, Detroit Mercy 35:
The visiting Titans won’t be heading to Indianapolis for the Horizon League semifinals, as UDM struggled with its shot all night in Fort Wayne. The Titans shot just xx%, including a first quarter in which they hit just two of 11 shorts from the field in falling behind 15-6 after 10 minutes. Emma Trawally Porta led UDM with 10 points and added seven rebounds while Irene Murua chipped in nine points and nine rebounds. Barring a postseason invite, the Titans (17-16) will finish with a winning record for the first time since the 2016-17 season (18-14).
Big Ten women
Maryland 75, Illinois 67: The eighthseeded Terrapins opened their Big Ten tournament by knocking off the Illini for the second straight season, thanks to a third quarter in which they hit nine of 13 shots (69.2%) from the field. Shyanne Sellers had seven points in the third en route to 11 points overall, and Bri McDaniel had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Terps. Maryland (18-12) advances to face top-seeded Ohio State at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Target Center in Minneapolis.
Nebraska 64, Purdue 56: Jaz Shelley poured in 16 of her 19 points over the final three quarters as the fifth-seeded Cornhuskers recovered from a seven-point first quarter. Nebraska made just three of 18 shots over the first 10 minutes to trail the Boilermakers, 12-7, entering the second quarter. Shelley added seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals to her teamhigh point total and guard Callin Jake needed just 20 minutes to score 15 points. Next up, the Cornhuskers (20-10) face fourthseeded Michigan State at approximately 3 p.m. Friday.
Penn State 80, Wisconsin 56: The seventh-seeded Nittany Lions scorched the Badgers by hitting 17 of 28 shots (60.7%) from the floor in the first half for a commanding 16-point lead at the break. That included a 13-for-17 mark on 2-pointers for PSU, which got 22 points from Ashley Owusu and Makenna Marisa combined over the opening 20 minutes. Kylie Lavelle came off the bench to lead the Nittany Lions with 14 points in just 17 minutes and Owsus finished with 13 points. The Nittany Lions (1911) will face second-seeded Iowa in what should be a Caitlin Clark-enthused crowd at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
— Ryan Ford