Kentucky Stays Perfect, Duke & Virginia Upset Friday
Second-ranked Duke and No. 3 Virginia may have damaged their shots at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament by falling in the ACC semifinals on Friday.
Marcus Paige hit a huge shot in the final minute and added two free throws with 3.9 seconds left to lift No. 19 North Carolina past the Cavaliers 71-67. Freshman Justin Jackson scored a season-high 22 points for the Tar Heels, who never trailed and led by as many as 13 before dropping Virginia to 29-3.
Malcolm Brogdon scored 22 of his 25 points after halftime for the Cavaliers.
Next up for the Tar Heels is No. 11 Notre Dame, which knocked off the Blue Devils 74-64. Bonzie Colson scored 17 points, Demetrius Jackson added 15 points and the Irish led by as many as 17 before holding off Duke's late rally.
Jahlil Okafor (jah-LIHL OH'-kah-fohr) had 28 points on 13-of-18 shooting in the Blue Devils' first loss in 13 games.
Checking out the other men's conference tournament games:
- Aaron Harrison and Karl-Anthony Towns each scored 13 points as top-ranked Kentucky defeated Florida 64-49 in the SEC quarterfinals to improve to 32-0. Kentucky benefited by a huge edge at the free throw line, hitting 19 of 23 while the Gators were just 3 of 5.
- Fourth-ranked Villanova pulled out a 63-61 win over Providence on Ryan Arcidiacono's (ahr-see-dee-ah-KOH'-nohz) two free throws with 3.1 seconds left. Josh Hart had 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting to help the Wildcats advance to the Big East final.
- Arizona is in the Pac-12 title game after Brandon Ashley scored 24 points to send the fifth-ranked Wildcats past UCLA 70-64. Arizona scored 15 straight second-half points to pull away.
- Sixth-ranked Wisconsin beat Michigan 71-60 in the Big Ten quarterfinals as Sam Dekker scored a team-high 17 points in the victory. Frank Kaminsky added 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Badgers, who were tied at 54 until Dekker and Kaminsky combined to score all of Wisconsin's points in a 9-2 run.
- Dez Wells scored 22 points and Melo Trimble added 17 to lead eighth-ranked Maryland to a 75-69 win over Indiana in the Big Ten quarterfinals. The Terrapins sealed the victory in their first Big Ten tournament game by going 7 of 8 from the line in the final 39 seconds.
- Ninth-ranked Kansas silenced No. 16 Baylor 62-52 as Wayne Seldon Jr. scored 20 points to lead the Jayhawks into the Big 12 tournament title game. Perry Ellis added 11 points in his return from an injury, but he had to leave the game after appearing to injure his left knee in a collision late in the game.
- No. 13 Iowa State rallied from a double-digit deficit for the fourth straight game, but the Cyclones needed Ryan Spangler to miss a point-blank layup at the buzzer to beat 15th-rated Oklahoma 67-65. Georges Niang had 13 points and Jameel McKay added 12 as Iowa State advanced to the Big 12 final.
- Joseph Young poured in 25 points and Oregon earned the right to face number 5 Arizona in the Pac-12 title game by surprising No. 17 Utah 67-64. Brandon Taylor shot 6-for-9 from 3-point range and finished with 24 in a losing cause.
- Nic Moore scored 20 points and 20th-rated SMU advanced to the American Athletic Conference semifinals by downing East Carolina 74-68. Markus Kennedy added 15 points and six rebounds for the top-seeded Mustangs.
- No. 22 Arkansas coughed up most of a 20-point lead in the second half before Rashad Madden made four late free throws to push the Razorbacks over Tennessee 80-72 in the SEC semifinals. Bobby Portis scored 18 of his 26 points in the first half for Arkansas.
- Xavier saw a 21-point lead shrink to one before the Musketeers made five of six in the final 10.3 seconds to beat No. 23 Georgetown 65-63 in the Big East semifinals. Matt Stainbrook had 20 points and nine rebounds as Xavier earned the right to play Villanova for the league crown.
- Tyler Kalinoski beat the clock with a driving layup to cap a comeback by No. 24 Davidson in a 67-66 triumph over La Salle in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals. Jack Gibbs led Davidson with 22 points and helped the Wildcats erase a nine-point deficit in the final five minutes.
- Josh Adams scored 27 points and Larry Nance Jr. added 20 to lead Wyoming to a 71-66 overtime victory over No. 25 Boise State in the Mountain West semifinals. The Cowboys got four points from Riley Grabau and Derek Cooke Jr. in OT.