Saturday was another busy day full of games with bubble implications for the NCAA Tournament. We also saw a few teams that at one time had been on top in their conference lose again, and a long streak is now in serious jeopardy as a team that has done nothing but win conference championships of late no longer controls their own destiny.
In other words, there’s a lot to look at. And with that, here are notes from a number of the day’s games.
Duke 75, Syracuse 65: An impressive win for Duke after the way they lost at home on Wednesday and still without their star, although they have a couple of other stars who are still pretty good. The road team wins both games between these two this season.
Virginia 64, Louisville 52: They’re not getting much attention now since, unlike a year ago, they aren’t the unquestioned best team in the country. But after their fifth road win over a ranked team, let’s remember something: this Virginia team is pretty good.
North Carolina 77, Florida State 59: The battle of two hot teams went to the home team, especially in the second half as North Carolina pulled away.
Gonzaga 102, BYU 65: BYU has had some success in Spokane in recent years, but certainly not this time as the Bulldogs ran away from them.
Santa Clara 68, San Francisco 65: The Dons had a nice win a couple of nights earlier, but couldn’t use it as a building block for a big weekend on the road.
LSU 82, Tennessee 80 (OT): This win is impressive enough just on the surface, but even more impressive coming without Tremont Waters, who didn’t play due to illness.
Kentucky 80, Auburn 53: This was never a ballgame, and Auburn continues to look rather unimpressive.
Florida 64, Missouri 60: It’s not a quality win, but it is the fourth straight for Florida as they are now surging.
Maryland 72, Ohio State 62: The Buckeyes could have used a win here, much as it was not an easy one coming in College Park.
Texas Tech 91, Kansas 62: The Streak is officially in serious jeopardy. Nothing more needs to be said at this point, aside from noting that 16 three-pointers by Texas Tech went a long way towards this result.
Kansas State 85, Oklahoma State 46: This game was basically over by halftime as the Wildcats stay a game up in the Big 12.
TCU 75, Iowa State 72: The Horned Frogs now look a bit safer as far as the NCAA Tournament goes, though it wouldn’t hurt if they won a few more games down the stretch.
Baylor 82, West Virginia 75: The Bears move into a tie for third with Kansas with their second straight win after losing three of four.
Oklahoma 69, Texas 67: A bad first half doomed Texas, as they rallied but came up just short. Once again, they can’t build any real momentum.
St. John’s 78, Seton Hall 70: Whoever won this game would be in a little better shape, though both teams might well make the NCAA Tournament.
Creighton 82, Georgetown 69: The Hoyas couldn’t build on their win over Villanova with this one, going down in Omaha and thus having more work to do to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Washington 64, Colorado 55: At this point, it’s all about taking care of business for the Huskies, and they did so here to clinch a share of the Pac-12 regular season title with four games to go.
UCLA 90, Oregon 83: Call it a tale of two halves, the comeback of the day, or what have you. UCLA turned the game on its head in the second half, outscoring Oregon 62-39 to take over the game and win going away. Jaylen Hands had a second half that lots of players would love to have for an entire game: 27 points on 8-11 shooting, including 7-8 on three-pointers.
Temple 84, Tulsa 73: The Owls need to keep winning to keep any remote at-large hopes alive, and they did that here.
Georgia Southern 92, Appalachian State 69: Combined with Georgia State losing at Coastal Carolina, the Eagles pull into a tie for second in the Sun Belt a game back of Texas State.
James Madison 104, Hofstra 99 (OT): Hofstra could have clinched a tie for the regular season title with a win on Senior Night, but Matt Lewis (40 points) and the Dukes had other ideas. Northeastern still has a chance to top them after beating Towson to stay a game back with two to play.
Wofford 72, Furman 64: The Terriers clinch at least an NIT bid as they will win the Southern Conference regular season title outright. If they keep this up, though, even a loss in the Southern Conference Tournament shouldn’t stop them, although the Selection Committee is likely to have a different view.
Harvard 88, Yale 86: The Ivy League race gets a little more interesting, especially since this gives Harvard a season sweep of the Bulldogs. Princeton is tied with the Crimson a game back of Yale after taking care of Columbia 79-61.
Campbell 74, Longwood 72: Chris Clemons had 41 more points, but it was a blocked shot that saved the day for the Fighting Camels.
