North Carolina survives Duke comeback, advances to ACC title game

NEW YORK — This rivalry, man.

It never disappoints, and Friday night was no different.

Duke used a 13-0 run to cut a 72-56 North Carolina lead to three and, after a turnover by Theo Pinson with just 11.8 seconds left on the clock, Duke had a chance to tie the game. But Grayson Allen missed a three, Pinson redeemed himself by hitting both ends of a one-and-one and the Tar Heels escaped, 74-69.

For the first time since Duke made the decision to play a zone full-time a month ago, the Blue Devils looked exposed in it.

North Carolina’s small-ball lineup, the one featuring Luke Mate at the five and Theo Pinson at the four, carved up that zone. Pinson finished with six points, seven assists and four boards — numbers that would have looked more impressive if his teammates had shot better from three or if he hadn’t gotten himself into foul trouble — while Luke May added 17 points, 10 boards and four assists of his own in the win.

North Carolina will take on Virginia in the title game on Saturday night.

PLAYER OF THE DAY

How good is Deandre Ayton?

The 7-foot-1 freshman put up 32 points and 14 rebounds as Arizona defeated UCLA, 78-67 in overtime. He made 13 of 16 shots and 5 of 6 from the line while also posting three assists and a pair of blocks and steals each.

Simply, he was dominant. And that’s something we need to talk more about.

There will be debates in draft rooms across the NBA about who to take No. 1, but Ayton continues to make his case that it should be a short conversation. Luka Doncic could very well be awesome, Marvin Bagley III is great and Michael Porter, Jr. is intriguing, but Ayton has put up huge numbers night in and night out for a team embroiled in chaos more often than not.

He was great again. And he’s the player of the day.

THE REST OF SATURDAY’S STARS

• JORDAN DAVIS, Northern Colorado: Who cares what his numbers were. He did this. If you don’t click that link, you’re depriving yourself of one of life’s greatest gifts.
• KYRON CARTWRIGHT, Providence: Had 15 points, six assists and drew a charge that might have cost Xavier its No. 1 seed.
• LUKE MAYE, North Carolina: The senior had 17 points, 10 rebounds , four assists and three steals as the Tar Heels survived a late run by rival Duke to win a spot in the ACC title game.
• MAKOL MAWIEN, Kansas State: The Wildcats lost to Kansas, but not because of Mawien, who had 29 points on 13 of 19 shooting.

BUBBLE BANTER: Everything that happened on the cut-line

TEAM OF THE DAY

Remember when Alabama lost five-straight to finish the year and entered the SEC tournament on the bubble? After Collin Sexton’s heroics Thursday and domination Friday, that seems like an awfully long time ago.

The Crimson Tide got 31 points and seven boards from Sexton and defeated rival Auburn, 81-63, to not only strengthen their NCAA tournament team, but to suddenly have a look of a team that should have top seeds running scared.

It’s amazing what a difference a couple of days in March can make.

GAME OF THE DAY

There are plenty of candidates for this one given what a wildly entertaining day Friday was, but let’s give it to a game that was decidedly uncompetitive.

San Diego State 90, No. 22 Nevada 73. Final.

The Aztecs led by as many as 30 and just ran roughshod over a really good Wolf Pack team. All five SDSU starters scored in double figures and they shot 51.9 percent as a team. Now they’ve got a shot to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015.

That’s good news for the Mountain West, which instantly just became a multi-bid league, but it’s really bad news for the teams hovering around the cut line.

WTF???? OF THE DAY

Tubby Smith’s lawyer accused Penny Hardaway of sabotage.

Yeah, you read that right. the Memphis coach’s long-time attorney threw a pretty big allegation in Hardaway’s direction, positing that the potential Smith replacement and the leader of grassroots powerhouse Team Penny has been steering high-level Memphis kids away from their hometown team.

It’s quite the accusation, but it’s also kind of a self-own. Smith’s lawyer is essentially admitting that Memphis would maybe, probably, potentially be getting Memphis kids – highly-ranked Memphis kids – if Hardaway took over the program. Even if there is something underhanded going on – and there doesn’t appear to be any evidence right now there is – telling the world your guy is essentially getting out-recruited by the favored replacement isn’t exactly a winning strategy. Especially on a day that Memphis was, ya know, actually winning.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?

Bruce Pearlgot mad.

The federal investigation into college basketball has been awfully quiet – aside from leaks detailing ASM Sports’ business plan – but the feds apparently aren’t done digging. The Raleigh News & Observer reported Friday that NC State has been served with a subpoena seeking documents.

Virginia remains a total buzzsaw.

Mississippi State’s Nick Weatherspoon suffered what looked to be a very scary injury when a Tennessee player inadvertently stepped on his head. The school later announced that the freshman, whose brother is a junior on the team, was awake and had feeling throughout his body.

NEW YORK (AP) — Mikal Bridges had 18 points and second-ranked Villanova scored the first 19 points and cruised toward its fourth straight trip in the Big East Tournament championship game in an 87-68 win over Butler on Friday night.

About 30 minutes after top-seeded Xavier was upset by Providence in overtime, the Wildcats (29-4) hit the court and showed how a favorite should play in a tournament semifinal.

The Wildcats scored five seconds into the game and used near-perfect execution on a 16-0 run before Butler coach LaVall Jordan finally called a timeout at the 15:37 mark. He could have waved a white flag to signal for the TO.

Omari Spellman buried a 3 to make it 19-0 and the Wildcats proved why the Big East tournament title always goes through the Main Line and straight to MSG. Butler finally scored and heard some mock cheers for the jumper.

Hey, at least the Bulldogs (20-13) were only down 17.

Butler called a 30-second timeout with 11:35 left in the second half and trailed by 25 points. Yes, this was a tournament semifinal game.

The Wildcats hit 10 of their first 12 shots that made for an anticlimactic final 35 minutes at the Garden. Providence had rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit and stunned top-seeded and No. 3 Xavier 75-72 in the first conference semifinal that had MSG rocking.

This seemed like a tune-up for a coronation.

Big East player of the year Jalen Brunson scored 17 points and Spellman had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Villanova won the tournament in 2015 and 2017 and lost to Seton Hall in 2016.

The Wildcats did split two games against Providence but the Friars are coming off overtime games on consecutive nights and will be a heavy underdog.

Villanova vs. Xavier — the No. 2 and 3 teams in the AP Top 25 — had been an anticipated final. The Wildcats lost the outright regular-season title even though it beat the Musketeers twice.

The sixth-seeded Bulldogs stunned third-seeded Seton Hall 75-74 for its first career Big East Tournament victory and a win over the Wildcats on Dec. 30 made it seem like this should have been competitive.

Instead, Kelan Martin, who averaged 21.1 points, scored just four for the Bulldogs in the first half. He finished with 12.

The Wildcats hit six 3s, including Phil Booth’s at the buzzer, to send them into the break ahead 44-25.

BIG PICTURE

Butler: The Bulldogs are still in good shape for an NCAA Tournament bid and should be in the mix for No. 8 or No. 9 seed. Butler has lost three of four games.

Villanova: The Wildcats have won six of seven games and likely clinched a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats have won 10 of 11 Big East Tournament games.

UP NEXT

Butler: Butler waits to find out its NCAA Tournament fate

Villanova: The Wildcats beat the Friars 89-69 on Jan. 23 and lost at Providence 76-71 on Feb. 14.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Devin Watson scored 20 points to lead San Diego State to a 90-73 blowout victory over No. 22 Nevada on Friday night in the Mountain West Conference semifinals.

The Aztecs, who haven’t won a tournament championship since 2011, will play in the title game for the fourth time in five years, and eighth time in 10 seasons.

Jalen McDaniels had his ninth double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

San Diego State, which trailed for only 42 seconds in the game, faces the winner of Friday’s late semifinal between New Mexico and Utah State.

The Wolf Pack was led by Jordan Caroline, who scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds before fouling out. Caleb Martin added 13 for Nevada, while Elijah Cooke had 10.

Nevada opened the game with a 3-pointer from Jordan Caroline. From there it was all San Diego State, which ending up shooting 61.3 percent (19 of 31) in the first half, including 7 of 15 (46.7) from 3-point range. The Aztecs converted eight Nevada turnovers into 14 points, while they outscored the Wolf Pack 14-3 with second-chance points.

And as the Aztecs were scorching the nets at one end, Nevada struggled to find its groove at the other, hitting just 10 of 26 (38.5 percent) from the floor, and shooting a bleak 27.3 percent (3 of 11) from long range. San Diego State’s 55 points in the first half set a Mountain West tournament record.

Another glaring difference early on, the Aztecs went to the free throw line 12 times, and hit 10, while Nevada split four free throws from the charity stripe over the first 20 minutes. The Aztecs finished the game 26 of 34 from the free throw line, while Nevada went 12-for-17.

BIG PICTURE

San Diego State: The Aztecs continued their domination in the league’s postseason event, as they own the highest winning percentage in Mountain West tournament history. With its victory Friday night, San Diego State improved to 29-14 (.674).

Nevada: The Wolf Pack reserves came into the game averaging 17.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Friday night, Nevada’s bench scored 14 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.

UP NEXT

San Diego State: Earns the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Nevada: Despite the loss, expect the Wolf Pick to receive an at-large bid into the Big Dance.

When you list out what Arizona has gone through this season, it’s pretty remarkable.

An assistant coach arrested. A preseason broken foot for one of its best players. The fall from No. 2 to out of the rankings after a three-game losing streak. A(nother) failed drug test for a star. The head coach alleged to be on a wiretap talking about a six-figure payment to secure a player. A federal probe ever-present.

It’s a striking list, isn’t it?

Chaos has been the constant for the Wildcats. Well, chaos and Deandre Ayton being awesome.

The Arizona big man put up another monster performance, posting 32 points and 14 rebounds, on Friday as the Wildcats outlasted UCLA in overtime, 78-67, to advance to Saturday’s Pac-12 tournament title game.

Jalen Brunson or Trae Young might be your pick to be national player of the year, but Ayton is a singular force in the game. He’s clearly the best NBA draft prospect in college – given we really haven’t seen Michael Porter, Jr. but for one game.

It’s hard to call Ayton underrated or undervalued given he’s at the top of most draft boards, a consensus All-American and the best player on a top-20 team, but it just seems like the level of excitement about him and for him by the sport at large is muted when compared to his outsized frame and game.

He’s averaging 19.6 points, 11.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 62.7 percent on 2-pointers and a respectable 34.4 percent on 32 3-point attempts. And he’s doing it all as 19-year-old with David Robinson’s physique. He moves as well as any player of his size that I can remember.

Whether it’s that he’s playing on the west coast, a conference that is “power” in name only or often on a network that seems more myth than reality, Ayton seems to have flown under the radar a bit, or at least as much as a 7-foot-1 beast can.

Maybe it’s just because there’s been so dang much other stuff to talk about when it comes to Arizona. Talking about a dominant big man is fun, but it’s not as interesting as a coach getting arrested, a failed PED test or a freaking federal wiretap.

There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to Arizona. I mean, look at that list. Just don’t forget to make sure Ayton is on it, too. At the top.

The Big Sky is home of Big Air.

Northern Colorado’s Jordan Davis delivered an absolutely filthy, absurd, violent and magnificent dunk Friday in a semifinal contest against Montana.

😮👀@UNCJD0 DID IT AGAIN!!!! #SCTop10pic.twitter.com/o47bGKXVai

— UNC Men's Basketball (@unco_mbb) March 10, 2018

Just a brutal and beautiful dunk.

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