Turnover-prone Rice falls to UAB in quarterfinals
Travis Evee scored 20 points in a losing effort for Rice as the Owls fell to UAB 87-60 in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA tournament. Max Fiedler added 14 points, but the Owls turned the ball over 21 times in the loss.
In earlier C-USA quarterfinals, Johnell Davis had 14 points in Florida Atlantic’s 75-51 win over WKU; Camryn Weston led Middle Tennessee with 22 points in a 66-65 win over Charlotte; and Aaron Scott had 19 points in North Texas’ 74-46 win over Louisiana Tech.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC RJ Felton and Jaden Walker scored 22 points each as East Carolina rolled to a 73-58 win over South Florida in the first round of the tournament. … CJ Kelly tallied 21 points as UCF took down SMU 76-70 in the opening round. … James Rojas, Kenny Pohto and Jaron Pierre Jr. all scored 13 points to lead Wichita State to a 81-63 win over Tulsa in the first round.
SWAC
Ken Evans scored 22 points as Jackson State took down Prairie View A&M 62-60 in overtime in the quarterfinals.
SEC
Josiah-Jordan James tallied 20 points to lead No. 17 Tennessee past Mississippi 70-55 in the quarterfinals. … Tolu Smith scored 28 points, including the go-ahead basket with 4.3 seconds left in OT, as Mississippi State beat Florida 69-68 for a semifinals spot. … Anthony Black scored 19 points as Arkansas topped Auburn 76-73 in the second round. … Tyrin Lawrence had 22 points as Vanderbilt rolled to a 77-68 victory over LSU.
ACC
Jordan Miller had 18 points for No. 14 Miami in a 74-72 quarterfinal win vs. Wake Forest. … Kyle Filipowski scored 22 points as No. 21 Duke topped Pittsburgh 96-69 in the quarterfinals. … Jayden Gardner had 17 points as No. 13 Virginia topped UNC 68-59 in the quarterfinals. … Ian Schieffelin and PJ Hall each scored 15 points as Clemson took down N.C. State for an 80-54 victory in a quarterfinal game.
PAC-12
Freshman Amari Bailey scored 26 points as No. 2 UCLA beat Colorado 80-69 to advance to the semifinals. … Jermaine Couisnard’s 17 points paced Oregon to a 75-70 quarterfinals win vs. Washington State. … Oumar Ballo scored 24 points as No. 8 Arizona beat Stanford 95-84 to reach the semifinals.
BIG TEN
Cam Spencer and Derek Simpson scored 23 of their 31 points after half as Rutgers beat Michigan 62-50 in the second round. … Bruce Thornton scored 17 points to help Ohio State top Iowa 73-69 in the second round. … Andrew Funk scored 17 of his 20 points after half as Penn State topped Illinois 79-76. … Donta Scott scored 20 points as Maryland defeated Minnesota 70-54 in the second round.
BIG EAST
Tyler Kolek scored 19 points as No. 6 Marquette rallied for a 72-70 OT win vs. St. John’s in the quarterfinals. … Jordan Hawkins had 19 points as No. 11 Connecticut beat Providence 73-66 for a semifinal spot. … Jack Nunge had 23 points and 10 rebounds as No. 15 Xavier beat DePaul 89-84 in the quarterfinals. … Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 21 points as No. 24 Creighton defeated Villanova 87-74.
WAC
Donte Powers scored 21 points in Sam Houston’s 64-51 quarterfinal win vs. California Baptist.
HOYAS’ EWING FIRED
Patrick Ewing was fired as Georgetown’s coach after the latest in a series of rough seasons. He was 75-109 during his tenure.
CAL OUSTS FOX
California coach Mark Fox was fired after the team went 3-29, the worst season in school history.