San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
• No. 2 Baylor loses at unranked TCU 75-72.
Baylor coach Scott Drew always enjoys watching Desmond Bane play, except when the TCU guard is going against the Bears.
This time, Bane may have cost No. 2 Baylor a shot at its first Big 12 title.
Bane scored 19 of his 23 points after halftime, with eight in a row during TCU’S big tiebreaking run, in a 75-72 win on Saturday. It was the highest-ranked opponent the Horned Frogs have ever beaten on their home court, and fans streamed onto the court at the buzzer to celebrate.
“I’m so glad Desmond’s a senior. I love cheering for him when we’re not playing him. He’s a hard worker and a great kid,” Drew said. “He’s a monster. What makes him so good is he’s so efficient. He’s 5 for 8 from the 3 and everybody’s trying to stop him from shooting 3s.”
Baylor (25-3, 14-2) lost for the second time in three games since winning a Big 12record 23 games in a row. The Bears were the nation’s No. 1 team when they lost a week ago to now-no.1 Kansas (26-3, 15-1), which is a game ahead of them in the league standings after beating Kansas State on
Saturday.
This was only the third Big 12 game this season when Baylor, which is also trying to lock up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, trailed in the second half.
“We’ve got to control what we can control,” Drew said. “We’ve got two games (the Jayhawks) have two games to go. People probably thought we would have won here today. That’s the Big 12.”
Bane made a long tiebreaking 3-pointer with 4:42 left that put the Frogs (1613, 7-9) ahead to stay. After blocking a shot by Jared Butler, Bane then made a turnaround jumper before adding another 3 to make it 63-55 with just over three minutes left.
“Desmond Bane is a senior and wants to win. In the last five minutes he wanted to win and it showed,” Butler said.
That was part of 13 points in a row by TCU, and a bigger 18-1 spurt that Bane had started with another 3-pointer.
“My teammates got the most confidence in me and support. It makes it easy for me to keep going,” said Bane, who was 2-of-10 shooting before halftime, then was 7-of-8 and made all five of his 3pointers after that. “I just stayed aggressive and they started falling.”
No. 1 Kansas 62, Kansas State 58: Devon Dotson scored 25 points to help visiting Kansas (26-3, 15-1 Big 12) absorb the loss of center Udoka Azubuike for long stretches of the game, and the cold-shooting Jayhawks held on to beat Kansas State (9-20, 2-14) for their 14th straight win. Azubuike finished with six points and nine rebounds while playing just 20 minutes after hurting his ankle in the opening minutes of the game.
No. 3 Gonzaga 86, Saint Mary’s 75: Filip Petrusev scored 27 points and Corey Kispert added 20 as host Gonzaga (28-2, 15-1 WCC) pulled away from Saint Mary’s (24-7, 11-5) in the second half.
Clemson 70, No. 6 Florida State 69: Freshman Al-amir Dawes hit a twisting, driving bucket with a second left and host Clemson (15-13, 9-9 ACC) toppled another highly ranked team, rallying past Florida State (24-5, 14-4).
Virginia 52, No. 7 Duke 50: Mamadi Diakite made a short, go-ahead jumper with 37 seconds left and Jay Huff blocked Vernon Carey Jr.’s shot under the basket with 3.7 remaining as host Virginia (21-7, 13-5 ACC) ended a threegame home losing streak against Duke (23-6, 13-5).
No. 8 Kentucky 73, No. 15 Auburn 66: Immanuel Quickley had 18 points and a careerhigh 12 rebounds as Kentucky (24-5, 14-2) used a big run in the first half before holding off Auburn (24-5, 11-5) and clinch the Southeastern Conference regular-season championship.
No. 24 Michigan State 78, No. 9 Maryland 66: Cassius Winston scored 20 points, including a buzzer-beating, 60foot shot to end a sensational first half as visiting Michigan State (20-9, 12-6) denied a bid by Maryland (23-6, 13-5) to clinch a share of the Big Ten regular-season title.
Providence 58, No. 12 Villanova 54: Luwane Pipkins scored 27 points to lead visiting Providence (17-12, 10-6 Big East) to its fifth win over a Top 25 team this month, holding off Villanova (22-7, 11-5).
No. 13 Seton Hall 88, Marquette 79: Myles Powell scored 28 points and Sandro Mamukelashvili added 26 as visiting Seton Hall (21-7, 13-3 Big East) built a big secondhalf lead and then held off Marquette (18-10, 8-8).
No. 18 Iowa 77, No. 16 Penn State 68: Luka Garza scored 25 points and had 17 rebounds as host Iowa (20-9, 11-7 Big Ten) pulled away in the second half for a win over Penn State (21-8, 11-7).
No. 17 BYU 81, Pepperdine 64: Yoeli Childs scored a career-high 38 points and visiting BYU (24-7, 13-3 WCC) completed a perfect February as it rallied for a victory over Pepperdine (15-15, 8-8).
Oklahoma 73, No. 20 West Virginia 62: Kristian Doolittle scored 19 points two days after undergoing surgery to repair a broken nose and visiting Oklahoma (18-11, 8-8 Big 12) boosted its NCAA Tournament hopes with a victory over West Virginia (19-10, 7-9).
Texas 68, No. 22 Texas Tech 58: Andrew Jones had a career-high 22 points and Texas (18-11, 8-8 Big 12) scored the game’s last eight points over the final minute, stretching its winning streak to four games with a victory at Texas Tech (18-11, 9-7).