Jabari Smith scored 21. K.D. Johnson scored 18 points, K.D. had 18. With a victory over South Carolina, Auburn won the Southeastern Conference title by beating 82-71 on Saturday.
This is the fourth consecutive regular season SEC championship for the Tigers (27-4; 15-3 SEC). Auburn players celebrated the victory on the court with confetti galore. All season, the team held at least a portion of the SEC lead.
Smith was able to make 3 of 3 3-pointers. He’s 21 of 37 in the six previous games. Smith is averaging 25 minutes per game. Kessler scored 11, while Wendell Green scored 10. Kessler, who sustained an injury last weekend against Tennessee, had to wear a brace on the left shoulder for his second consecutive game.
South Carolina’s Jermaine Couisnard scored 22 points and South Carolina had 16 in the second period. James Reese V had 18 points, Erik Stevenson had 13 and eight rebounds.
After trailing 19 minutes into the second half, the Gameocks (9-12, 9-9) rallied.
NO. NO.
TUCSON (AZ) — Oumar Balo scored 16 points, and Bennedict Mathurin added 13. Arizona became the first Pac-12 conference team to win 18 games.
In its first season of Tommy Lloyd’s coaching, the Wildcats (18-2) and 28-3 were 17-0 at home. Pelle Larsson, Justin Kier each scored 13 points.
Cal (12-19, 5-15), played well for some time but couldn’t recover after a huge run in Arizona. Jordan Shepherd was the Bears’ leading scorer with 16 points.
NO. 6 KANSAS 70. NO. 6 KANSAS 70, NO.
LAWRENCE (Kansas) — David McCormack scored 22 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and threw down overtime’s clinching dunk to win Kansas the No. The Big 12 Tournament was the No. 1 seed.
Jalen Wilson scored 17 points and had 13 rebounds. Christian Braun added 13 points and 11 boards to help the Jayhawks (25-6 and 14-4) win at least a part of the regular-season conference championship title.
Ochai Agbaji’s field goal was the only one that the Jayhawks had left with overtime at 2:37. Courtney Ramey was unsuccessful at Texas’ other end. McCormack scored two foul shots to give Kansas a lead, before Wilson added two more for some breathing space.
Ramey was awarded 18 points by the Longhorns (21-10 and 10-8).
NO. 7 KENTUCKY, FLORIDA. 63
GAINESVILLE (Fla.) — Oscar Tshiebwe scored 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to secure the No. Next week, the Southeastern Conference Tournament will be held in 3rd seed.
The Wildcats (25-6 and 14-4 SEC) won their fourth consecutive in Gainesville after ending a two-game road trip in league play. Tshiebwe was the reason they never lost in this game.
In just 7 1/2 minutes, the 6-foot-9 forward and 255-pound national player of year candidate for Kentucky scored 17 of Kentucky’s 19 point. The junior scored 11 of the first half’s points for the Wildcats, all in the paint.
Colin Castleton was the Gators’ (19-12, 9-9), with 23 points and 11 boards.
NO. NO.8 PURDUE 69 INDIANA 67
WEST LAFAYETTE (Ind.) (AP) — Eric Hunter Jr. scored 17 and Sasha Stefanovic added 15, to help Purdue defeat its archrival.
Zach Edey scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help the Boilermakers (25-6-14-6 Big Ten) end a two-game losing streak.
Xavier Johnson was the Hoosiers’ leading scorer with 18 points, a career-high 12 assists and his half-court heave that won it with 0.3 seconds remaining was an air ball.
Trayce Jackson Davis had 15 points and six boards, while Miller Kopp scored fourteen points for Indiana (18-12-9-11).
NO. NO.
INDIANAPOLIS, (AP) — Justin Moore scored 16 and Jermaine Samuels added 15. Villanova took a huge lead early and lost to Butler for the fifth time in a row.
Caleb Daniels, Collin Gillespie and Jordan Longino each scored 11 points for Villanova.
The No. 2 seed will be the Wildcats (23-7, 16-4 Big East), The conference tournament will be held as the 2nd seed.
Chuck Harris scored 19 points to lead Butler (13-18 and 6-14), while Bo Hodges added 12 points and six rebounds.
Villanova scored 11 consecutive points in a 20-1 run, making it 23-4 at the beginning and 28 by halftime.
OKLAHOMA STATE 52 (NO. 12 TEXAS TECH 51
STILLWATER (Okla.) — With 19.4 seconds remaining, Bryce Thompson hit a decisive 3-pointer to eliminate Oklahoma State from the Big 12 title race.
Terrence Shannon missed a contested leaper just before Texas Tech’s buzzer, and Oklahoma State (15-15 (8-10) celebrated its season finale win. Because of NCAA rules violations Oklahoma State has been barred from playing in postseason play. The Cowboys will not be able to participate in the Big 12 Tournament next Wednesday.
To tie for the Big 12 lead, the Red Raiders (23-8 and 12-6) had to win and lose by Baylor or Kansas.
Texas Tech’s Kevin Obanor was the leading scorer with 16 points, 10 rebounds.
Rondel Walker was the Cowboys’ leader with 12 points, while Thompson had 11.
NO. 13 TENNESSEE, NO. 13 TENNESSEE 78, NO.
KNOXVILLE (TN) — Zakai Zeigler, a freshman guard whose family was made homeless in New York City by a fire last weekend, made two crucial free throws in overtime to ensure that the Vols held on.
Tennessee won the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.
Zeigler ended with 13 points. With 14 seconds remaining, his foul shot made it 77-74. With 10 seconds remaining, Arkansas’ JD Notee had made an open 3-pointer. Zeigler made a free shot to seal it.
Kennedy Chandler and Santiago Vescovi both scored 15 points, while Josiah Jordan James got 12 for Tennessee.
Notae scored 15 points of his 20 in the second period for the Razorbacks (24.7-7, 13-5). Chris Lykes and Stanley Ummude both had 15.
Zeigler’s family had several members who lived in the apartment that was set on fire. The university set up a GoFundMe campaign for the family, raising over $350,000.
NO. NO.
STORRS (Conn.) — Adama Sanogo scored a game record 26 points to end DePaul’s three-game winning streak.
Sanogo had 11 rebounds to complete his eighth double-double season.
UConn’s Tyrese Martin scored 19 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to give it a 49-31 lead on the boards. UConn has won six of the last seven games (22-8, 13-6 Big East).
Javon Freeman–Liberty was the DePaul (15-15 and 6-14) leader with 22 points. Brandon Johnson had 14.
UConn was awarded the No. The No. 3 seed in the Big East Tournament is UConn. DePaul is the No. 10.
LSU 80, NO. LSU 80, NO.
BATON ROUGE (La. (AP) — Tarie Eason scored 20 and had a crucial block that allowed him to score his go-ahead dunk in the final 38 seconds of overtime. LSU won the game with six more points.
Darius Days scored 24 points, while Brandon Murray had 17 points for LSU (21-10 and 9-9 Southeastern Conference), who had just lost three of its four games.
Alabama’s Keon Ellis had 19 points (19-12, 9-9), and Jahvon Quinerly had 16 (including a 3-pointer at OT) that gave the Crimson Tide a lead of 75-74. With 1:31 left, Ellis increased the lead to three points with his layup. Alabama did not score again.
