No. 1 Ohio State 82, Penn State 61: Jon Diebler hit a Big Ten record 10 threes as the Buckeyes ruined Penn State’s senior night and, in all likelihood, bubble hopes.
Boston College 76, Virginia Tech 61: This loss by the Hokies essentially took all the good they did for their resume by beating Duke, and handed it to Boston College.
No. 14 Florida 78, Alabama 51: Believe it or not, this game was tied at the half. Florida clinched at least a share of the SEC title with the win.
Nebraska 69, No. 24 Missouri 58: The Tigers lost yet another road game this season.
No. 23 Kentucky 68, No. 20 Vanderbilt 66: With all the bubble talk and with the start of the conference tournaments (not to mention Charlie Sheen), a great game at Rupp Arena was more or less overlooked last night. Twice, Kentucky pushed out to big leads on the Commodores, taking a 14 points lead in the first half and, after Vandy cut that deficit to just one, using a big second half run to open up a 13 point lead again.
But the ‘Dores weren’t going anywhere, as they took the lead with about four minutes left and set up a back and forth down the stretch. Kentucky nearly blew the game, as Terrence Jones was called for a travel in the back court with Kentucky up 68-66 and 1.1 seconds left, but a lob to Fetsus Ezeli was broken up by the Wildcats. Hate Kentucky if you want, but the way that they sent off senior Josh “Jorts” Harrellson was pretty awesome.
No. 6 Purdue 75, Illinois 67: For about ten minutes in the first half of this game, we saw what the Illini could be. They moved the ball crisply, they defended well, they knocked down shots, and they were up 29-16. But then the real Illini showed up, their shots stopped falling, they stopped putting in effort defensively, and everything turned into a one-on-one. Can’t say I’m surprised.
Oklahoma State 71, Baylor 60: Oklahoma State isn’t making the tournament, and Baylor only has a chance to do so if they can knock off No. 8 Texas on Saturday. This game was trivial. Well, Baylor played like it was.
Other Notable Scores
- No. 9 San Diego State 85, Wyoming 58
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.