HAWKEYES HIT STRIDE, TOP HOOSIERS
Iowa 90, No. 15 Indiana 68
Iowa came into Tuesday night’s game weary of playing catch-up. So, the Hawkeyes avoided the trap completely.
Just three days after a completing a historic comeback, Kris Murray scored 26 points, Tony Perkins flirted with the first triple-double in school history and the Hawkeyes never trailed in a 90-68 rout at No. 15 Indiana.
“I thought him making those first two 3-pointers was big,” coach Fran McCaffery said, referring to Murray. “I thought our ball movement and screening and cutting with a purpose was critical.”
Whatever the explanation, the Hawkeyes (19-11, 11-8 Big Ten) did everything right.
Murray made five of Iowa’s 13 3pointers and grabbed seven rebounds. Perkins finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds and a careerhigh eight assists while returning to his home state. Flip Rebecca and Payton Sandfort each had 16 points and the conference’s highest-scoring team also played defense.
The combination was virtually unbeatable and seemingly at the perfect time after rallying from a 13point deficit in the final 94 seconds of regulation to beat Michigan State 112-106 in overtime Saturday — the highest-scoring Big Ten game all season. For the encore, Iowa produced the highest-scoring first half (47-36) in a conference game this season and claimed its fourth straight win in the series and its most lopsided ever in Bloomington.
Indiana (20-10, 11-8) meanwhile, struggled all night in its worst home loss since a 20-point shellacking against Purdue Fort Wayne in December 2017.
Trayce Jackson Davis led the Hoosiers with 26 points and 13 rebounds and passed Alan Henderson and Walt Bellamy to become the school’s career rebounding leader with 1,096.
No. 3 Kansas 67, Texas Tech 63:
Jalen Wilson scored 21 points in his Allen Fieldhouse farewell, fellow senior Kevin McCullar Jr. added 14 points and nine rebounds, and Kansas (25-5, 13-4) held off Texas Tech (16-14, 5-12) to clinch a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship.
No. 6 Marquette 72, Butler 56:
Tyler Kolek had 21 points and 10 assists, and Marquette clinched its first outright Big East championship by beating host Butler (1416, 6-13). The victory was the fifth in a row and 10th in 11 games for the surprising Golden Eagles (24-6, 16-3), picked ninth by the league’s coaches in the preseason poll. This week, Marquette ascended to its highest ranking in the AP Top 25 since it was No. 1 in 1978.
No. 12 Tennessee 75, Arkansas 57: Olivier Nkamhoua scored 16 points to lead host Tennessee to a victory over Arkansas (19-11, 8-9 Southeastern Conference). Despite the win, the Volunteers (22-8, 11-6) may have sustained a significant loss. Three minutes into the game, sophomore point guard Zakai Zeigler, who brings energy on offense and defense, went down with an injury to his left knee.
No. 13 Viginia 64, Clemson 57: Jayden Gardner had 12 points and nine rebounds, Armaan Franklin and Isaac McKneely each scored 12, and Virginia (22-6, 14-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) outlasted visiting Clemson (21-9, 13-6) to stop a two-game skid.
No. 24 Texas A&M 69, Mississippi 61: Tyrece Radford scored 13 points as Texas A&M (22-8, 14-3 Southeastern Conference) erased an early 12-point deficit to beat host Mississippi (11-19, 3-13).
Women No. 22 UNLV 71, Nevada 66:
Desi-Rae Young scored 20 points, Alyssa Durazo-Frescas added 18 and visiting UNLV (28-2, 18-0) rallied to beat Nevada (9-20, 6-12) to finish the regular season undefeated in the Mountain West.