Cameron Boozer scored 18 points and No. 3 Duke held on to beat No. 1 Michigan 68-63 in a much-anticipated nonconference showdown Saturday night in Washington, D.C.
Isaiah Evans racked up 14 points, Caleb Foster provided 12 points and Patrick Ngongba II turned in 11 points for Duke (25-2). Boozer grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, part of the Blue Devils 13-rebound advantage on the boards (41-28), and also distributed a game-high seven assists.
Yaxel Lendeborg posted 16 of his 21 points in the first half for Michigan (25-2), which had an 11-game win streak snapped. Morez Johnson Jr. finished with 13 points and Aday Mara notched 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting through foul trouble, but the Wolverines ended at 40% from the field, including 6-for-25 from 3-point range (24%).
Earlier in the day, the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s bracket preview listed Michigan and Duke, respectively, as the top two overall seeds. Attendance was announced at 20,537, making it the largest turnout for a neutral-site game this season.
No. 4 Arizona 73, No. 2 Houston 66
Reserve Anthony Dell’Orso matched his season high of 22 points to lead the Wildcats, handing the Cougars their first home loss of the season and second since they joined the Big 12 in 2023-24.
Arizona (25-2, 12-2 Big 12) took sole possession of the conference lead with the win over Houston (23-4, 11-3), which has lost two straight after a six-game winning streak.
Jaden Bradley had 17 points and four assists for the Wildcats, while Ivan Kharchenkov added 16 points and nine rebounds. Kingston Flemings led Houston with 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
No. 5 UConn 73, Villanova 63
Alex Karaban scored eight of his 12 points in the second half as the Huskies posted a win over the Wildcats in Philadelphia.
All five starters scored between nine and 12 points for the Huskies (25-3, 15-2 Big East), who bounced back nicely from a 91-84 loss to Creighton. Tarris Reed Jr. was 5-of-5 from the field for 11 points, while Braylon Mullins pitched in 10 points.
Tyler Perkins scored 15 points to pace the Wildcats (21-6, 12-4), who had won six straight games since losing to UConn last month. Matt Hodge chipped in with 13 points for the Wildcats, while Acaden Lewis scored 11 points — all in the first half.
No. 23 BYU 79, No. 6 Iowa State 69
AJ Dybantsa recorded 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Cougars to an upset of the Cyclones in Provo, Utah.
Kennard Davis Jr. scored 17 points for the Cougars (20-7, 8-6 Big 12), who improved to 11-2 at home. Mihailo Boskovic added a career-best 13 points for BYU.
Tamin Lipsey scored 19 points and Jamarion Batemon added 14 off the bench for Iowa State (23-4, 10-4), which was coming off consecutive Top-10 wins over then-No. 9 Kansas and No. 2 Houston.
Cincinnati 84, No. 8 Kansas 68
Moustapha Thiam collected 28 points and eight rebounds to lead the Bearcats over the Jayhawks in a Big 12 Conference showdown in Lawrence, Kan.
Baba Miller contributed 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and Jalen Celestine added 14 points and eight boards for Cincinnati (15-12, 7-7 Big 12).
Flory Bidunga led Kansas (20-7, 10-4) with a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds but couldn’t prevent the Jayhawks from taking their most lopsided loss to an unranked team in Bill Self’s 23-year coaching tenure.
No. 9 Nebraska 87, Penn State 64
Pryce Sandfort scored a career-high 33 points and the Cornhuskers got back on track with a win over the Nittany Lions in Big Ten play in Lincoln, Neb.
Sandfort was 11-of-17 from the field, making a career-best 8 of 14 threes to add to the school record for 3s in a season with 98. Braden Frager had 15 points and Sam Hoiberg added 11 points and a career-high 10 assists for the Cornhuskers (23-4, 12-4 Big Ten), who earlier Saturday were projected as a No. 3 seed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
The Nittany Lions (11-17, 2-15) got 13 points apiece from Kayden Mingo and Ivan Juric, with Juric adding 10 rebounds. The Nittany Lions shot 42.1% but made only 4 of 20 3-pointers, taking their ninth double-digit loss in conference play.
UCLA 95, No. 10 Illinois 94 (OT)
Donovan Dent drove the length of court for the game-winning layup with no time remaining to give the Bruins an electric overtime victory over the Illini in Los Angeles.
Dent had 14 points and a career-high 15 assists in helping the Bruins (18-9, 10-6 Big Ten) halt a two-game slide. Eric Dailey Jr. scored 20 points before fouling out for UCLA. Tyler Bilodeau scored 18 points, Trent Perry had 17 and Xavier Booker tallied 16 on 7-of-8 shooting off the bench for UCLA. Skyy Clark had 10 points.
Keaton Wagler had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and Tomislav Ivisic scored 16 points for the Illini (22-6, 13-4), who lost for the third time in their past five games. Ben Humrichous had 15 on five 3-point baskets off the bench for Illinois. Kylan Boswell added 13 points and backup Zvonimir Ivisic had 11.
No. 11 Gonzaga 71, Pacific 62
Graham Ike scored 20 points to break a school record as the Bulldogs held off the pesky Tigers in Spokane, Wash.
Davis Fogle added 18 points off the bench, Emmanuel Innocenti scored 13 and reserve Tyon Grant-Foster had 10 for the Bulldogs (27-2, 15-1). Ike scored 20 or more points for a ninth consecutive game, eclipsing the mark of eight set by both Adam Morrison and Derek Raivio in 2006.
Justin Rochelin and Elias Ralph scored 12 points apiece for Pacific (17-13, 8-9). TJ Wainwright added 10 while Rochelin grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.
No. 12 Florida 94, Ole Miss 75
Alex Condon scored 24 points as the Gators won their seventh consecutive game by defeating the Rebels in Oxford, Miss.
Thomas Haugh added 20, and Xaivian Lee collected 11 points and 10 assists. Florida (21-6, 12-2 Southeastern Conference) won for the 12th time in 13 games, shooting 57.1% from the floor and holding a 39-24 rebounding edge.
Malik Dia scored 24 points and Ilias Kamardine added 14 to lead Ole Miss (11-16, 3-11), which lost its ninth consecutive game.
No. 13 Texas Tech 100, Kansas State 72
Donovan Atwell scored 21 of his game-high 26 points in the first half as the Red Raiders overcame a Tuesday loss and a season-ending injury to star forward JT Toppin to dust the Wildcats in Lubbock, Texas.
Christian Anderson added 21 points and nine assists for Texas Tech (20-7, 10-4 Big 12), while LeJuan Watts hit for 19 points. Luke Bamgboye contributed 12 as the Red Raiders shot 54.8% from the field, including 13-of-28 (46.4%) from 3-point range.
PJ Haggerty scored 17 points for the Wildcats (11-16, 2-12) and Nate Johnson added 15 but it wasn’t nearly enough to earn Kansas state a second straight win under interim coach Matthew Driscoll. He took over last Sunday after the university fired coach Jerome Tang for criticizing players after a recent loss to Cincinnati.
No. 14 Virginia 86, Miami 83
Chance Mallory made three free throws with 3.6 seconds left and the Cavaliers extended their winning streak to eight with a win over the Hurricanes in Charlottesville, Va.
Reserve Jacari White led six players in double figures with 17 points for Virginia (24-3, 12-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), which improved to 13-1 at home.
Sam Lewis had 15 points, De Ridder scored 14, Mallory and Johann Grunloh each tallied 12 and Malik Thomas had 10 points for Virginia. Tre Donaldson and Shelton Henderson led Miami (21-6, 10-4) with 18 points apiece.
No. 16 North Carolina 77, Syracuse 64
Henri Veesaar scored 19 points in his return to the lineup the Tar Heels notched a road win over the Orange.
North Carolina (21-6, 9-5 ACC) improved to 2-1 since star freshman Caleb Wilson fractured his hand. The team’s first two games without Wilson coincided with a two-game absence by Veesaar (lower-body injury and illness), but the center returned in this one to shoot 9 of 13 from the field to go with three blocks.
Syracuse (15-13, 6-9) had only two double-digit scorers — JJ Starling with 22 points and Tyler Betsey with 10.
No. 17 St. John’s 81, Creighton 52
Dylan Darling scored 17 points as the Red Storm extended their winning streak to 13 with a wire-to-wire victory over the Bluejays in New York.
St. John’s (22-5, 15-1 Big East) moved a game ahead of UConn for the conference lead. St. John’s is on its longest winning streak since 1985. The Red Storm also are also on a 13-game winning streak in conference games.
Bryce Hopkins notched a double-double for the second straight game by collecting 15 and 10 rebounds. Fedor Zugic led Creighton with nine points.
Tennessee 69, No. 19 Vanderbilt 65
The Volunteers, behind 17 points from Ja’Kobi Gillespie and 13 from Nate Ament, scored a road upset of the Commodores in SEC play before a sellout crowd in Nashville.
The Volunteers (20-7, 10-4) shot 43.1% from the floor and outrebounded the smaller Commodores 39-30 in winning their fourth consecutive game and handing Vanderbilt its second straight loss. Ament’s contested, mid-range jumper with 54 seconds left gave Tennessee the lead for good, and Gillespie canned two free-throw attempts in the final 13.2 seconds.
Tyler Tanner led Vanderbilt with 16 points, and the Vols held Tyler Nickel — who entered the game averaging 14.7 points — to three.
No. 20 Arkansas 94, Missouri 86
Billy Richmond III scored 21 points, Darius Acuff Jr. added 20 and the Razorbacks overcame an early eight-point deficit for a victory over the Tigers in Fayetteville, Ark.
Reserve Malique Ewin had 16 points and eight rebounds while Meleek Thomas had 14 points and eight rebounds for Arkansas (20-7, 10-4 SEC).
Mark Mitchell scored 26 points, Trent Pierce had 22 and Shawn Phillips Jr. added 11 points for Missouri (18-9, 8-6), which had won four of five.
No. 21 Louisville 87, Georgia Tech 70
After a rough loss at SMU earlier this week, the Cardinals scorched the Yellow Jackets in a wire-to-wire home victory.
Mikel Brown Jr. scored 19 points, including three made 3-pointers, to lead Louisville(20-7, 9-5 ACC). J’Vonne Hadley had 17 points, Ryan Conwell scored 15 points and four assists and Isaac McKneely added 14.
Georgia Tech (11-17, 2-13) dropped its ninth straight. Baye Ndongo led the way for the Yellow Jackets with 17 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
No. 25 Alabama 90, LSU 83
Aden Holloway had 17 points and four assists while Aiden Sherrell posted his second straight double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Crimson Tide defeated the Tigers in Baton Rouge, La.
Amari Allen added 16 points and six rebounds for the Crimson Tide (20-7, 10-4 SEC), who won their sixth straight game. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line and scored 14 points off the bench, while London Jemison contributed 12 points and six rebounds.
Marquel Sutton, who came in averaging 18 points in his last three outings, had 21 points for the second consecutive game to lead the Tigers (14-13, 2-12), who dropped their fifth straight to fall to 1-6 at home in SEC play.
