USC 65, No. 10 Arizona 57: Not only did the Trojans tighten up the Pac-10 race, they may have put themselves into the bubble conversation.
No. 13 Florida 71, Georgia 62: So. Is Florida for real?
Marquette 74, No. 15 UConn 67 OT: The Golden Eagles move the Big East that much closer to an 11th NCAA Tournament bid for the Big East.
Gonzaga 89, St. Mary’s 85 OT: The Zags picked a huge win on Thursday night as Sam Dower scored 21 points, including four huge free throws in overtime to give Gonzaga the win. St. Mary’s came into this game having had their WCC lead cut to just one game, and with three straight losses, the Gaels have seen their NCAA Tournament at-large chances go out the window. In fact, the WCC appears as if it will be a one-bid league this season.
No. 6 Pitt 71, West Virginia 58: The Panthers lost Talib Zanna to a broken thumb prior to tip-off, but that didn’t slow Pitt down. Nasir Robinson led four Panthers in double figures with 15 points as the Panthers used a 17-2 run to open the second half and take complete control of this game.
George Mason 67, Northeastern 61: The Patriots pushed their winning streak to 14 games by holding off the Huskies. They also happened to clinch the CAA regular season title outright.
Milwaukee 87, Cleveland State 83: The Panthers moved into a first place tie with Cleveland State and Butler in the Horizon League standings thanks to 28 points and nine boards from Tony Meier. It sets up a wild Saturday, where all three teams tip within the span of an hour. If all three win, Milwaukee is the No. 1 seed and Butler is the No. 2 seed.
Loyola 68, Valpo 48: The Crusaders would have been part of that three-way tie atop the conference if they hadn’t gotten blown out Thursday.
Murray State 70, Morehead State 62: The Racers clinched at least a share of the Ohio Valley Conference title with this win over the Eagles. BJ Jenkins led the way with 25 points for Murray State.
Florida Atlantic 77, Troy 60: FAU officially clinched the Sun Belt’s regular season title.
Long Beach State 61, Cal Poly 55: LBSU is now officially the Big West regular season champion.
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.