Coach K reaches ACC championship in his final tournament
NEW YORK — Mike Krzyzewski’s last Atlantic Coast Conference tournament will end in the final game.
Paolo Banchero had 18 points and 11 rebounds and No. 7 Duke held off Miami with free throws in the final minute as the Blue Devils and their retiring Hall of Fame coach advanced to the ACC championship with an 80-76 victory Friday night.
Top-seeded Duke (28-5) will face the winner of the second semifinal between third-seeded North Carolina and seventh-seeded Virginia Tech in Saturday night’s championship at Barclays Center.
Banchero was asked during a postgame interview with ESPN who he wanted to face in the final and responded: “UNC.”
Krzyzewski put an end to that in his postgame news conference saying, “We’ll be honored to play either team.”
Less than a week ago, the Tar Heels upset Duke in Krzyzewski’s home finale to spoil the retirement party.
AJ Griffin, who went to high school just north of New York City in White Plains, scored 21 points, including three free throws in the final 20 seconds to seal Coach K’s 22nd appearance in the ACC title game.
Krzyzewski has won a conference-record 15 ACC championships, but he is trying hard to move the focus away from his farewell tour and onto his players.
“I’m trying to get away from all that, it’s really too much,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s their season. It’s all about them. I don’t want to be a distraction to them. They only get it once. I’ve had it numerous times.”
Kameron McGusty scored 24 points to lead the Hurricanes (23-10), who beat the Blue Devils on the road earlier this season and appear to be in solid shape for an NCAA Tournament bid.
The size and strength of the Blue Devils in the paint was hard to handle for the Hurricanes. Banchero, coming off a poor shooting game in a win against Syracuse that also went down to the wire, was 8 for 10 from the field with almost all of his damage coming inside.
“I was just out there playing, but doing it aggressively,” the star freshman said.
But Krzyzewski has been complaining about Duke’s defensive play recently and this was another soft performance on that end — until the last five minutes.
McGusty and Jordan Miller (17 points, 11 rebounds) got plenty of good looks on mid-range jumpers and near the rim. The two combined to shoot 19 for 35 as the Hurricanes finished 47 percent from the floor.
Sam Waardenburg made a corner 3 for Miami with 5 minutes left that tied the score at 65 with 5:00 left. The ‘Canes then went more than four minutes without another field goal.
Wendell Moore Jr. made two free throws for Duke with 58.6 seconds left to put the Blue Devils up 72-69.
Duke nudged the lead up to 77-71 with more free throws before another corner 3 by Waardenburg cut the lead to 3 with 16.7 seconds left, but the Hurricanes never got another chance to tie or take the lead.
The Hurricanes led by as many as 11 in the first half, but Griffin scored 12 straight points late for Duke and Jeremy Roach closed the half with a full-court dash and layup to tie it at 36.
Duke last won the ACC Tournament in 2019 with Zion Williamson. The Blue Devils also won the first ACC Tournament played in Brooklyn in 2017.
TEXAS A&M 67, AUBURN 62
TAMPA, Fla. — Tyrece Radford scored 19 points and Quenton Jackson made five throws in the final minute Friday as Texas A&M beat fourth-ranked Auburn 67-62 in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, a loss that could wind up costing the Tigers a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Jackson also had a dunk and a key block late, finishing with 17 points to help Texas A&M (22-11) follow up an 83-80 overtime victory over Florida with another strong outing that enhanced the surging Aggies’ chances of landing at least an at-large berth in the NCAA field.
Jabari Smith led Auburn (27-5) with 17 points. Walker Kessler had 16 points, while Wendell Green Jr. made four long 3-pointers to fuel a late comeback that fell short when Jackson delivered a dunk coming out of a timeout and went 5 of 6 from the foul line down the stretch.
Auburn, ranked No. 1 much of the winter and the SEC regular-season champion, fell to 3-3 over its last six games.
Texas A&M won its sixth straight and seventh of eight since a midseason tailspin.
NO. 6 KANSAS 75, TCU 62
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ochai Agbaji scored 22 points, two of them coming on a jaw-dropping ally-oop dunk midway through the second half, and Kansas cruised over TCU and into the Big 12 Tournament title game.
Mitch Lightfoot added 15 points while playing extended minutes in place of injured big man David McCormack, and Remy Martin finished with 10 as the top-seeded Jayhawks advanced to play Texas Tech or Oklahoma on Saturday night.
The Jayhawks (27-6) will be going for their 16th conference tournament title and 12th in the Big 12 era.
Chuck O’Bannon had 15 points to lead TCU (20-12). Mike Miles shook off a shooting slump to add 14.
NO. 9 TENNESSEE 72, MISSISSIPPI STATE 59
TAMPA, Fla. — Josiah-Jordan James led five players in double figures 16 points and scored 14 of them during a six-minute stretch in which Tennessee pulled away for the win over Mississippi State in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament.
The Volunteers (24-7) won for the 10th time in 11 games to advance to Saturday’s semifinals against either No. 5 Kentucky or Vanderbilt. Kennedy Chandler had 11 points despite missing time in the first and second half after suffering what appeared to be a right foot or ankle injury.
Shakeel Moore led Mississippi State (18-15) with 15 points. Tolu Smith had 14 and Iverson Molina, the SEC’s third-leading scorer, finished with 10 on 3 of 9 shooting.
CREIGHTON 85, NO. 11 PROVIDENCE 58
NEW YORK — Arthur Kaluma scored 17 points and keyed an overwhelming blitz that sent Creighton to a stunning rout of Providence and into the Big East championship game.
Alex O’Connell had 18 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 15 points and nine rebounds as the fourth-seeded Bluejays (22-10), who reached their fourth conference final since joining the league before the 2013-14 season.
Trey Alexander scored all 15 of his points after halftime for Creighton, which has all but wrapped up an NCAA Tournament bid by winning nine of 11 down the stretch. The Bluejays will play eighth-ranked Villanova or 20th-ranked UConn for the crown.
Al Durham had 21 points on a miserable night for the top-seeded Friars (25-5), who won their first regular-season conference championship after 43 years in the Big East as a charter member. It was the most lopsided defeat for a No. 1 seed in Big East Tournament history.
MICHIGAN STATE 69, NO. 12 WISCONSIN 63
INDIANAPOLIS — Marcus Bingham Jr. matched his career high with 19 points and Tyson Walker scored nine of his 11 points in the final minute and a half to send seventh-seeded Michigan State past Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
The Spartans (22-11) lost five of their last seven regular-season games but have reached the conference tourney semifinals by winning two straight in Indianapolis.
Brad Davison led the Badgers (24-7) with 23 points. Big Ten player of the year Johnny Davis played through an ankle injury but wasn’t himself. He missed his first eight shots, went 3 of 19 from the field with no 3-pointers and finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
NO. 15 ARKANSAS 79, LSU 67
TAMPA, Fla. — Au’Diese Toney scored 22 points, JD Notae added 19 and Arkansas beat LSU in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
Chris Lykes chipped in 18 points as the fourth-seeded Razorbacks (25-7) won for the 15th time in their last 17 games and advanced to face red-hot Texas A&M in the first of two semifinal games Saturday.
The Tigers (22-11) went 0-3 against the Razorbacks in the last two months.
Darius Days led the Tigers with 14 points and 10 boards. Tari Eason, the league’s sixth man of the year, had 15 points.
INDIANA 65, NO. 16 ILLINOIS 63
INDIANAPOLIS — Trayce Jackson-Davis scored 21 points, including three free throws in the closing seconds, and Indiana beat top-seeded Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
Jackson-Davis knocked down two free throws with 26.1 seconds left to put the Hoosiers ahead 64-63. The Illini had two possessions with a chance to take the lead, but Trent Frazier threw a bad pass and Andre Curbelo missed a layup.
Jackson-Davis then made the first of two free throws with 1.7 seconds to go. He missed the second, and time expired as players scrambled for the rebound.
Ninth-seeded Indiana (20-12) beat the defending tourney champ to reach the Big Ten semifinals for the first time since 2013.
Kofi Cockburn had 23 points and 10 rebounds for Illinois (22-9). Coleman Hawkins had 18 points and made four 3-pointers for the Fighting Ilini, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.
NO. 18 HOUSTON 69, CINCINNATI 56
FORT WORTH, Texas — Fabian White Jr. had 18 points with eight rebounds and Houston overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half to beat Cincinnati in an American Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal.
White had two jumpers and fellow first-team All-AAC forward Josh Carlton also added two baskets in a 12-0 run for the Cougars (27-5) that put them ahead to stay.
Jamal Shead had 15 points and seven assists for the Cougars, and Kyler Edwards had 12 points.
Jeremiah Davenport and John Newman III had 13 points each for Cincinnati (18-15).
NO. 24 IOWA 84, RUTGERS 74
INDIANAPOLIS — Keegan Murray had 26 points and eight rebounds to lead Iowa past Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
Jordan Bohannon and Tony Perkins each scored 16 points for the fifth-seeded Hawkeyes (24-9). Kris Murray added nine points and five rebounds.
Geo Baker led fourth-seeded Rutgers (18-13) with 23 points. Clifford Omoruyi had 17 points, and Ron Harper Jr. and Paul Mulchay each scored 13. The Hawkeyes led by as many as 18 points midway through the second half.
