College basketball: Virginia upsets No. 7 Duke; No. 2 Baylor falls at TCU
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 seconds remaining as Virginia ended a three-game home losing streak against No. 7 Duke with a 52-50 victory Saturday in Charlottesville, Va.
Huff led Virginia (21-7, 13-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) with 15 points, nine rebounds and 10 blocked shots, none bigger than when he rejected Carey’s attempt from in close with the Cavaliers leading 51-50. Huff also ripped the ball away, was fouled and made one of two free throws at the other end.
Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said Huff’s performance was the difference in the game.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little bit more amped up, I guess, for Duke games, in my past years and this year, obviously,” Huff said, adding that he often attended Blue Devils games growing up and has a photo of a young Huff with Coach K on his family’s refrigerator at home.
“It was fun. It was really exciting. Some of it was timing, I think, and some of it was being in the right place,” Huff said of his career-best blocks total.
Tre Jones tried an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer but missed, allowing the surging Cavaliers to claim their sixth victory in a row and leapfrog the Blue Devils into third place in the ACC standings with a week left in the regular season.
UCLA shot 33.3% but scored when necessary, closing the game on a 13-4 run to move into sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 Conference.
“It was going to be a really good, tough win for one team and a tough loss for the other, and they got the good tough win,” Krzyzewski said.
“I do think the experience of playing a game like this helps us,” Krzyzewski added, noting the Blue Devils had a starting lineup that included four freshmen.
Carey had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils (23-6, 13-5), who lost their second in a row and for the third time in four games.
Duke was 18 for 59 (31%) from the field and four for 17 on three-pointers.
at Texas Christian 75, No. 2 Baylor 72: Desmond Bane scored 23 points, with eight straight in TCU’s tiebreaking run, and the Horned Frogs (16-13, 7-9 Big 12) upended the Bears (25-3, 14-2) in Fort Worth.
Bane made a long, tiebreaking three-pointer with 4:42 left that put TCU ahead to stay. After blocking a shot by Jared Butler, Bane then made a turnaround jumper before adding another three to make it 63-55 with just more than three minutes left. That was part of a bigger 18-1 spurt.
Baylor lost for the second time in three games since winning a Big 12-record 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, which is a game ahead of them in the league standings after beating Kansas State on Saturday.
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No. 24 Michigan State 78, at No. 9 Maryland 66: Cassius Winston scored 20 points, including a buzzer-beating, 60-foot shot to end a sensational first half in College Park, Md., and the Spartans (20-9, 12-6) beat the Terrapins (23-6, 13-5) and denied Maryland’s bid to clinch a share of the Big Ten regular-season title.
Michigan State bolted to a 17-5 lead and never trailed in dealing Maryland its first home loss of the season. When the teams played two weeks earlier, the Terps scored the game’s final 14 points to pull out a 67-60 victory.
There would be no comeback in this one. Winston’s desperation heave from well behind half court put Michigan State ahead 40-29, and the Spartans upped the margin to 18 points before churning out the final minutes of their third consecutive victory.
Bidding for their first Big Ten crown since joining the league in 2014, the Terrapins stumbled at the outset and never showed the form that enabled them to win 10 of 11 to climb to the top of the standings.
The Terps’ lead over second-place Michigan State was slashed to one game with two to play. Illinois, Wisconsin, Penn State and Iowa are also in the running.
Jalen Smith had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Maryland, which dropped to 15-1 at home. The Terps can still clinch at least a share of the league title with a victory at Rutgers on Tuesday.
Xavier Tillman had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Spartans.
No. 1 Kansas 62, at Kansas State 58: Devon Dotson scored 25 points to help the Jayhawks (26-3, 15-1 Big 12) absorb the loss of center Udoka Azubuike for long stretches of the game, and cold-shooting Kansas held on to beat the Wildcats (9-20, 2-14) in Manhattan, Kan., for its 14th straight win.
Azubuike finished with six points and nine rebounds while playing just 20 minutes after hurting his ankle in the game’s opening minutes. David McCormack came off the bench to score nine points in his place, helping the Jayhawks edge closer to clinching at least a share of another Big 12 title.
Cartier Diarra scored 15 points for Kansas State, which was held scoreless for nearly 5½ minutes late in the game.
It was the teams’ first meeting since their game in Lawrence, Kan., in late January ended in a brawl that spilled into the disabled seating section of Allen Fieldhouse.
at No. 3 Gonzaga 86, St. Mary’s 76: Filip Petrusev scored 27 points, and the Bulldogs (29-2, 15-1 West Coast Conference) beat the Gaels (24-7, 11-5) in Spokane, Wash., to sweep the season series.
Corey Kispert added 20 points and Killian Tillie 13 for Gonzaga, which previously won the WCC regular-season title for the eighth consecutive season.
Jordan Ford scored 28 points and Malik Fitts 15 for St. Mary’s, which earlier in February lost 90-60 at home to Gonzaga. It was the worst home loss for the Gaels under coach Randy Bennett.
No. 5 San Diego State 83, at Nevada 76: Malachi Flynn scored 36 points on 13-for-20 shooting, and the Aztecs (28-1, 17-1 Mountain West) overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to beat the Wolf Pack (19-11, 11-6) in Reno.
K.J. Feagin briefly left the game with a rolled ankle but returned and finished with 14 points for San Diego State. He shot four for 10 beyond the arc.
Nevada connected on 22 of its first 37 shots and held a 54-39 lead with 16:52 left in front of 10,855 fans on Senior Night. But the Aztecs went on a 31-12 run over the next 10 minutes.
Jalen Harris led Nevada with 24 points, while seniors Lyndsey Drew and Jazz Johnson added 13 each.
at Clemson 70, No. 6 Florida State 69: Freshman Al-Amir Dawes hit a twisting, driving bucket with a second left, and the Tigers (15-13, 9-9 ACC) toppled another highly ranked team, rallying past the Seminoles (24-5, 14-4) in Clemson, S.C.
Trent Forrest put Florida State up by a point with a short jumper with 8.4 seconds left. Dawes then took the ball down the right side of the lane and flipped up the game-winning shot.
The Seminoles’ last-chance heave was way off the mark and gave the Tigers another big win in their puzzling season that includes victories over then-No. 3 Duke and No. 5 Louisville.
Clemson overcame a 10-point lead in the second half. Dawes finished with 18 points.
Jonah Mathews had 23 points and Daniel Utomi added 19 points and 10 rebounds as USC beat Arizona State 71-61 for a weekend sweep of the Arizona teams.
at No. 8 Kentucky 73, No. 15 Auburn 66: Immanuel Quickley had 18 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in Lexington, Ky., and the Wildcats (24-5, 14-2) used a big run in the first half before holding off the Tigers (24-5, 11-5) to clinch the Southeastern Conference regular-season championship.
Kentucky entered with a two-game lead on second-place Auburn but had to overcome a 20-11 deficit before responding with a 20-3 spurt over 5:47 and eventually build an eight-point advantage.
The Wildcats made 27 of 33 free throws and the Tigers hit 13 of 22 in a game featuring 23 fouls by each team.
Providence 58, at No. 12 Villanova 54: Luwane Pipkins scored 27 points to lead the Friars (17-12, 10-6 Big East) to their fifth win over a top-25 team in February, holding off the Wildcats (22-7, 11-5) in Philadelphia.
Providence boosted its NCAA tournament resume with a victory in which it led for the balance of the game. The Friars already knocked off Butler, Creighton, Seton Hall and Marquette during their ranked-win streak in February. Providence won its fourth straight game overall and has put behind a disastrous start to the season.
No. 13 Seton Hall 88, at Marquette 79: Myles Powell scored 28 points and Sandro Mamukelashvili added 26 as the Pirates (21-7, 13-3 Big East) built a big second-half lead and then held off the Golden Eagles (18-10, 8-8) in Milwaukee.
Markus Howard, the Big East’s leading scorer and second in the nation at 27.2 points per game, had 37 points for Marquette, which has lost four of its last five.
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at No. 18 Iowa 77, No. 16 Penn State 68: Luka Garza scored 25 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, and the Hawkeyes (20-9, 11-7 Big Ten) pulled away in the second half to beat the Nittany Lions (21-8, 11-7) in Iowa City, Iowa.
Garza extended his streak of 20 or more points against Big Ten teams to 14 games, a school record. It was the 13th consecutive home win for Iowa.
Lamar Stevens led Penn State with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
No. 17 Brigham Young 81, at Pepperdine 64: Yoeli Childs scored a career-high 38 points, and the Cougars (24-7, 13-3 West Coast Conference) completed a perfect February as they rallied for a victory over the Waves (15-15, 8-8) in Malibu.
Childs, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, also grabbed 14 rebounds for his seventh double-double this season and 44th of his career. His previous high in points was 33 against St. Mary’s in 2018.
The Cougars wrapped up the second seed and a double bye for the conference tournament. Kessler Edwards led the Waves with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Oklahoma 73, at No. 20 West Virginia 62: Kristian Doolittle scored 19 points two days after undergoing surgery to repair a broken nose, and the Sooners (18-11, 8-8 Big 12) boosted their NCAA tournament hopes with a victory over the Mountaineers (19-10, 7-9) in Morgantown, W.Va.
Oklahoma completed a regular-season sweep of reeling West Virginia. Brady Manek added 15 points for the Sooners, who broke a six-game road skid.
Texas 68, at No. 22 Texas Tech 58: Andrew Jones had a career-high 22 points and the Longhorns (18-11, 8-8 Big 12) scored the game’s last eight points over the final minute, stretching their winning streak to four with a victory over the Red Raiders (18-11, 9-7) in Lubbock, Texas.
Royce Hamm Jr. had a putback layup to put Texas up 62-58 with 50 seconds left. Texas Tech then had a chance to cut the gap, but freshman Jahmi’us Ramsey’s dunk attempt ricocheted off the back of the rim. Matt Coleman III got the rebound and turned that into a fastbreak layup for the Longhorns.
The Red Raiders, the Big 12 co-champions last season when they made it to the NCAA title game, didn’t score again. Tech lost both of its games this week.
at California 86, Utah 79 (OT): Matt Bradley scored six of his 21 points in overtime before fouling out, and the Golden Bears (13-16, 7-9 Pac-12 Conference) defeated the Utes (15-14, 6-11) in Berkeley.
Andre Kelly had 15 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five blocks, Grant Anticevich added 17 points and eight rebounds, and Paris Austin contributed 15 points and four assists for Cal.
Timmy Allen scored 26 points for Utah, and Alfonso Plummer scored a career-high 23.
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