North Carolina, Kentucky lead men’s basketball weekend winners, losers
Beating your archrival is good. Beating your archrival in its storied home venue is even better. Beating your archrival on the road to secure your conference championship? Well, Saturday night was most assuredly all right for North Carolina.
In what will go down in the lore of the rivalry as the Cormac Ryan game, UNC led wire-to-wire and staved off Duke’s late rally, capping the night by waving goodbye to the Cameron Indoor Stadium crowd. Ryan finished with a career-high 31 points, keying the Tar Heels’ first-half surge with a barrage of three-pointers and sealing the deal with the clinching free throws in the final minute.
That win, the biggest of the weekend, keeps the Tar Heels in the mix for a No. 1 NCAA regional seed with the major conference tournaments on deck this week.
Here are a few of the other winners and losers from the close of the regular season.
Winners
Kentucky
The Wildcats claimed a measure of revenge against Tennessee, putting on a shooting exhibition on the Volunteers’ home floor just as the Volunteers had done to the Wildcats last month in Rupp Arena. Kentucky went 15-for-29 from behind the arc in Knoxville and needed just about all of them to overcome Dalton Knecht’s 40-point outburst for Tennessee. Kentucky enters the SEC tournament as the No. 2 seed, but the Wildcats’ high level of play down the stretch will make them a team no one wants to see in their part of the bracket on Selection Sunday. The loss isn’t all that damaging for Tennessee, which already had the regular-season conference title wrapped up, but the Vols have company in their quest for a top regional seed.
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Purdue
The Boilermakers had the Big Ten sewn up but took care of business against Wisconsin Sunday anyway, keeping their record at Mackey Arena unblemished. As usual, Zach Edey led the way with 25 points and 14 rebounds in the 78-70 victory on an emotional Senior Day in which the big man from Toronto had his number retired in pregame ceremonies.
Houston
It’s one thing to beat Kansas. It’s quite another to crush the Jayhawks – albeit a short-handed group – by a 30-point margin. Regardless, it was an impressive statement by the Cougars as they wound up winning the Big 12 by two games in their first season in the league.
Loyola-Chicago
The Ramblers’ first season as Atlantic 10 members didn’t go well to say the least. Their second has been considerably better. Saturday’s 64-54 win against La Salle in their home finale completed their improbable reversal from last place a year ago to a share of the regular-season title. Whether it’s been Drew Valentine’s coaching or Sister Jean’s prayers, there’s no disputing the Ramblers head to Brooklyn for the A-10 tournament with momentum on their side.
Mountain West Conference viewers
The league that had already produced some of the craziest endings of the season delivered more of the same. You’d be forgiven if you missed one of the best finishes of the weekend Friday night/Saturday morning. But if you haven’t seen highlights of it yet you’ll definitely want to seek it out, as Max Rice’s shot-clock beating bomb from near halfcourt that helped the Broncos get out of San Diego State with a needed victory must be seen to be believed. Not to be outdone a night later in the wild wild Mountain West, Darius Brown’s huge tiebreaking three-pointer lifted the Aggies to an overtime victory against New Mexico that clinched the regular-season title for the Aggies. Nevada’s 75-65 triumph over in-state rival UNLV, paced by a 26-point outing by Jarod Lucas, didn’t quite have that level of late-game drama but was just as important as the Wolfpack secured the No. 2 seed behind the Aggies for the conference tourney and are well-positioned to be among the conference’s multiple March Madness entries. However things shake out in Las Vegas this week, anyone who’s been watching this league all season has certainly been entertained.
Losers
Arizona
The Wildcats had a chance to keep their name in the No.-1 seed discussion with Tennessee leaving the door ajar. But they failed to take advantage, taking a bad 13-point loss to a sub-.500 Southern California squad. Turnovers, 18 of them, and an off night from Caleb Love, limited to just two points, undid Arizona, which is still the Pac-12’s top finisher but likely has no path to the top seed line.
Iowa State
Houston didn’t leave the door open for the Cyclones to grab a share of the Big 12 lead, but the Cyclones didn’t help themselves anyway as Iowa State dropped its final road contest at Kansas State. The Cyclones weren’t going to have an easy path in the conference tournament regardless, and the competition to stay in the upper quadrant of the NCAA bracket will be fierce.
South Florida
The Bulls saw their 15-game winning streak snapped, dropping a 76-70 decision at Tulsa on a cold-shooting Saturday. USF had the top spot in the American Athletic Conference tournament locked up but might still have to secure the auto bid to feel safe on Selection Sunday.
Richmond
The Spiders dropped their Atlantic 10 regular-season finale at George Mason and fell into a first-place tie atop the standings with the afore-mentioned Loyola Ramblers. Richmond will be the top seed via league tiebreakers, but neither of the co-champs has much of an at-large profile, so it’s win or look to the NIT.
Indiana State
In the end, the Sycamores dug themselves too big a hole in Sunday’s Missouri Valley Conference final against Drake. They are now in the unfortunate position of hanging in limbo for a week as they await the committee’s verdict on their at-large fate.
Iowa
The Hawkeyes had moved into tournament contention with four wins in five games that included road wins against Michigan State and Northwestern. With Illinois coming to town Sunday, there was an opportunity for another Quad 1 victory that could move them into the projected field. Instead, the Illini dominated, leaving the Hawkeyes in need of a couple wins at the Big Ten tournament to earn at-large consideration.