San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
KANSAS CLINCHES SHARE OF BIG 12 TITLE
Chris Beard, coach of No. 21 Texas, made the calculated decision to take away the f lotilla of Kansas sharpshooters in their showdown at Allen Fieldhouse, where the sixth-ranked Jayhawks were trying to clinch a share of the Big 12 title Saturday.
It worked for 40 minutes. It didn’t work for the 5 minutes of overtime.
With few other options on offense, the Jayhawks turned to bruising big man David Mccormack, who responded with a memorable senior night sendoff. He poured in 22 points with 10 boards, going 10 for 10 from the foul line and throwing down the clinching dunk in the extra session, as Kansas persevered for a 70-63 victory.
“You can’t take away everything,” Beard said. “If you double Mccormack, the shooters are ready. There were a couple possessions we’d like to have back, but give him a lot of his credit. A lot of his field goals were just tough March baskets.”
Jalen Wilson had 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Christian Braun had 13 points and 11 boards, helping to make up for an off game from Ochai Agbaji and help the Jayhawks (25-6, 14-4) clinch the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament.
They will play the Kansas State-west Virginia winner in Thursday’s quarterfinal round in Kansas City, Mo.
The Jayhawks tied the game 61-all when Agbaji, who was 0for-10 shooting at that point, hit his only field goal with 2:37 left in overtime. Courtney Ramey came up empty at the other end for Texas (21-10, 10-8), and Mccormack made two foul shots to give Kansas the lead before Wilson added two more to provide some breathing room.
Mccormack’s dunk punctuated a big performance on senior night for the bruising big man.
“It was definitely a battle throughout the game,” he said. “They fought hard. We’re playing at home. We knew the stakes on the line. We did what we were supposed to do. It’s just a great feeling, all the practices and workouts we put in.”
No. 2 Arizona 89, California 61: Oumar Ballo scored 16 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 13 as host Arizona became the first Pac-12 team to win 18 conference games.
The Wildcats (28-3, 18-2) finished 17-0 at home in its first season under coach Tommy Lloyd. Pelle Larsson and Justin Kier scored 13 points each.
Cal (12-19, 5-15) played well for stretches but couldn’t recover from a big early Arizona run. Jordan Shepherd led the Bears with 16 points.
No. 3 Baylor 75, Iowa State 68: James Akinjo scored 20 points and host Baylor (26-5, 14-4) clinched a share of the Big 12 title by beating Iowa State (20-11, 7-11) for its fifth consecutive win.
Akinjo put the Bears ahead to stay with a 3-pointer with 3:37 left, followed seconds later by a driving reverse layup. They had fallen behind after building a 25-point lead in the game’s first 12 minutes.
No. 5 Auburn 82, South Carolina 71: Jabari Smith scored 21 points, K.D. Johnson had 18 and host Auburn won the Southeastern Conference title by beating South Carolina (18-12, 9-9).
It’s the fourth regular season SEC title for the Tigers (27-4, 15-3). Auburn players celebrated on the court amid a flurry of orange and blue confetti. The team held at least a share of the SEC lead all season.
No. 7 Kentucky 71, Florida 63: Oscar Tshiebwe had 27 points and 15 rebounds for his 25th double-double of the season as the visiting Wildcats (25-6, 14-4) secured the No. 3 seed in next week’s SEC tournament with a win over the Gators (19-12, 9-9).
No. 8 Purdue 69, Indiana 67: Eric Hunter Jr. scored 17 points and Sasha Stefanovic added 15 to help host Purdue (25-6, 14-6 Big Ten) rally past its archrival Indiana (18-12, 9-11).
No. 11 Villanova 78, Butler 59: Justin Moore scored 16 points and Jermaine Samuels added 15 as visiting Villanova (23-7, 16-4 Big East) built a big early lead, handed Butler (13-18, 6-14) its fifth straight loss will be the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.
Oklahoma State 52, No. 12 Texas Tech 51: Bryce Thompson made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 19.4 seconds left as the host Cowboys eliminated the Red Raiders from the Big 12 title race.
Terrence Shannon missed a contested jumper just before the buzzer for Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State (15-15, 8-10) celebrated a win in its season finale. Oklahoma State is banned from postseason play because of NCAA rules violations, so the Cowboys can’t play in the Big 12 Tournament next week.
The Red Raiders (23-8, 12-6) needed a victory and losses by Baylor and Kansas to finished tied for the Big 12 lead.
No. 13 Tennessee 78, No. 14 Arkansas 74: Freshman guard Zakai Zeigler, whose family was left homeless by a fire in New York City last weekend, made two key free throws in the final seconds to help the Vols (23-7, 14-4) hold on to beat the Razorbacks (24-7, 13-5) and wrap up the No. 2 seed for the SEC tournament.
No. 18 Uconn 75, Depaul 68: Adama Sanogo scored a gamehigh 26 points as Uconn (22-8, 13-6 Big East) snapped the three-game winning streak of Depaul (15-15, 6-14).
No. 22 Murray State 71, Morehead State 67: Tevin Brown scored 23 points to lead host Murray State over Morehead State, giving the Racers their 20th consecutive victory, the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
LSU 80, No. 25 Alabama 77 (OT): Tari Eason scored 20 points and had a key block that led to his go-ahead dunk with 38 seconds left in overtime as LSU (21-10, 9-9 SEC) scored the final six points to escape visiting Alabama (19-12, 9-9).