No. 4 Tennessee clinches first SEC crown in 16 years
COLUMBIA, S.C. >> Dalton Knecht scored 26 points and No. 4 Tennessee withstood a late run by No. 17 South Carolina for a 66-59 victory Wednesday night that wrapped up its first Southeastern Conference regular-season title since 2018.
The Gamecocks (24-6, 12-5 SEC) cut a 14-point second-half deficit to 5956 on Meechie Johnson’s inside shot with 1:13 to go.
But the Volunteers (246, 14-3) hit seven foul shots the rest of the way to seal an outright league championship.
Tennessee shared the SEC regular-season crown six years ago with Auburn. The last time the Vols had won it outright was 2008.
NO. 1 HOUSTON 67, UCF 59>> L.J. Cryer scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half as top-ranked Houston rallied past UCF to clinch at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title in the Cougars’ first season in the conference.
Houston (27-3, 14-3) led by nine after Cryer’s 3-pointer with 2:18 to play. UCF (15-14, 6-11) closed within four with just over a minute left, but Cryer hit another clutch shot to help the Cougars put it away.
The Cougars trailed by as many as seven and never led in the first half. They didn’t take their first lead until Jamal Shead drained a 3 to make it 45-42 with about 12 minutes remaining.
Shead finished with 16 points and eight assists. J’wan Roberts had 12 points and seven rebounds.
C.J. Walker led UCF with 15 points.
NO. 2 UCONN 74, NO. 8 MARQUETTE 67>> Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer shot a combined 10 of 16 from 3-point range and Big East champion Uconn defeated Marquette 74-67 for its first road win over an AP Top 25 team in a decade.
Uconn (27-3, 17-2 Big East) had lost 21 straight true road games against ranked opponents since 2014. This marked Uconn’s first road win over a top-10 team since a 9382 triumph at No. 8 Marquette in February 2009.
NO. 6 IOWA STATE 68, NO. 20 BYU 63>> Tamin Lipsey scored 19 points and Curtis Jones added 18 to help No. 6 Iowa State finish the season undefeated at home for the first time in 23 years with a 68-63 win over No. 20 Brigham Young.
The Cyclones (24-6, 13-4 Big 12) completed their home schedule 18-0 and remained within a game of conference leader Houston heading in the final weekend.
NO. 15 KENTUCKY 93, VANDERBILT 77 >> Rob Dillingham scored 23 points, including consecutive 3-pointers just before halftime, Antonio Reeves added 20 in his home finale and No. 15 Kentucky rode 56% second-half shooting to pull away from Vanderbilt 9377 for its fourth victory in a row.
The Wildcats (22-8,
12-6 Southeastern Conference) went back and forth with the Commodores (822, 3-14) for much of the first half before taking the lead for good just before the break.
NO. 22 UTAH STATE 90, SAN JOSE STATE 70>> Darius Brown II scored 21 points on seven 3-pointers, Mason Falslev had 20 points and No. 22 Utah State beat San Jose State 9070 on Wednesday night to clinch a share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season title.
Great Osobor added 16 points and eight rebounds, and Javon Jackson had 15 points.