With the regular season wrapping up and NCAA Tournament spots being snapped up, it’s starting to feel a lot like March.
There was plenty of drama in the college basketball world on the penultimate Saturday of the regular season. Whether it was high-major teams earning statement wins or wild finishes in the lower-tier conference tournaments, there were memorable moments up and down the slate.
Here’s our breakdown of Saturday’s top storylines, starting with North Carolina finishing its regular-season sweep of Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
More Heat Check CBB:
- NCAA Tournament Bubble Watch 2024: What will it take to reach March Madness?
- Bracketology: Heat Check CBB March Madness projections
- Tournament Index: March Madness Projections, Cinderella Predictions
North Carolina completes season-series sweep of Duke, wins ACC outright
Years, even decades from now, children and grandchildren will wonder aloud to their elders, “Where were you for the Cormac Ryan legacy game?”
Indeed, the sixth-year guard set the tone for the Heels in UNC’s wire-to-wire 84-79 win at Cameron Indoor. Before the game hit the 16-minute mark, Ryan had already drained three triples, as Carolina jumped out to a 15-4 lead.
His career-high 31 points (6-for-8 from 3) helped offset quiet nights from RJ Davis and Armando Bacot, who scored nine points apiece. The game marked the first time since Nov. 9, 2022 — the first game of Hubert Davis’ tenure (a home win over Loyola Maryland). Beyond Ryan, Carolina received a double-double from Harrison Ingram (14 points, 10 rebounds) and strong contributions from Seth Trimble, Jae’Lyn Withers and Jalen Washington off the bench.
But the biggest story might be UNC’s defense. The Heels held a scorching hot Duke offense to its lowest points per possession since Feb. 7th. Their no-middle scheme kept the Blue Devils from living in the paint, and they scored 14 points off of turnovers. It marked the latest accomplishment from one of the nation’s best defensive units.
Now, a year removed from the most disappointing campaign in program history, North Carolina has captured its first outright ACC title since 2017. It swept its rival, leading for all but 16 seconds in the two matchups. And it will likely be no lower than a 2 seed on Selection Sunday. Of course, blue bloods never adopt the underdog story, but it’s been an incredible bounce back from Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels.
“The history of the program speaks for itself,” Ryan told reporters after the game. “So to be able to leave a mark, get a win, hang a banner for the regular season all by ourselves, it’s tremendously special for this group. This is what we wanted to do. It’s a box we wanted to check.” —Riley Davis
Kentucky gets revenge with road win over SEC champion Tennessee
What a difference a month makes. On Feb. 3, Tennessee utterly dominated Kentucky in Rupp Arena, never trailing en route to a 103-92 victory. That loss was the second in a three-game home slide for the Cats, evoking panic and frustration amid the fan base.
Well, it turns out that angst was a bit premature. Kentucky has rolled over the past three weeks, winning five in a row by an average margin of 10.6 points. It delivered once more on Saturday, enacting revenge on the Vols in Thompson-Boling Arena, 85-81. Reed Sheppard continued his brilliant play, totaling 27 points, six boards and five assists.
That’s now two straight road contests where the freshman has excelled in the game’s biggest moments — recall his clutch plays against Missippi State. But Kentucky can also be encouraged by the emergence of Justin Edwards. Lost in the hysteria of the Sheppard-Rob Dillingham backcourt is that Edwards was actually the highest-ranked freshman in the Cats’ touted class. The 6-8 wing has prototypical NBA size, and now he’s adding the production to match. Against the Vols, he contributed 16 points (4-for-7 from 3) and has hit double figures in three of his past four games.
For Tennessee, Dalton Knecht turned in another huge scoring output, but his 40 points were not enough. The vaunted Vols’ defense couldn’t contain Kentucky’s torrent of hot shooting; it will certainly hope for better results in next week’s SEC Tournament. —Riley Davis
Alabama survives against Arkansas, but defensive questions abound
Just over a week ago, Alabama had positioned itself to earn a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. With Tennessee coming to Tuscaloosa, the Tide had one final Quad 1 opportunity before the postseason began. But the Vols erased a second-half seven-point lead, pulling away on Bama’s home court.
Thus, the Tide found themselves again searching for answers — primarily regarding their much-maligned defense. With a visit from lowly Arkansas on Saturday, they had a chance to right the ship (or at least show signs of progress) ahead of the SEC Tournament. For context, the Razorbacks rank 12th in the conference in adjusted offensive efficiency, 11th in 2-point percentage and 12th in 3-point percentage.
However, Arkansas gave Alabama all it could handle, leading by as many as 15 and holding a six-point advantage with two minutes to go. But late-game heroics from Grant Nelson (14 points) and Latrell Wrightsell (20 points, 4-for-8 from 3) sent the game to overtime. Arkansas couldn’t generate any stops in the bonus period, falling 92-88.
While Bama would rather learn from an ugly win than a crippling loss, the defensive struggles still persist. The Hogs feasted on the Tide frontcourt, racking up 42 points in the paint. Makhi Mitchell led the way with 18, scoring over Nelson and Nick Pringle with little resistance. If he wasn’t scoring on post-ups, he was finishing easy dump-offs after Arkansas’ guards beat their defenders off the bounce.
Now, we’ve covered this before — Alabama has a historically good offense — but cold shooting nights happen in March. The Tide escaped yesterday. But they may not be so fortunate two to three weeks from now. —Riley Davis
USC’s late-season surge continues with convincing upset of Arizona
After coming into the season with high expectations, USC has fallen well short of projections. However, the Trojans are making a late push for relevance — and a 78-65 home win over No. 5 Arizona is the latest example.
Kobe Johnson and DJ Rodman each dumped in 19 points for USC in the victory, while top-rated freshman Isaiah Collier had 16 and a team-high five assists. The Trojans shot a blistering 56.4 percent from the field on the night, securing their third win in a row going into the Pac-12 Tournament.
Though it is a small sample size, USC has been playing like a different team since March 1. According to Bart Torvik, the Trojans have been the 21st-best team during this month, which makes this squad one to watch in the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament.
Remember: Just a few seasons ago, Oregon State went on a miracle run to win the Pac-12’s automatic bid and parlayed it into an Elite Eight appearance. With the amount of talent on this USC roster, it’s not difficult to envision a similar scenario playing out for the Trojans.
If USC can continue this hot run of form, the final Pac-12 Tournament (as we know it) could become very, very interesting. —Andy Dieckhoff
Morehead State punches first ticket as top seeds struggle in conference tourneys
The Champ Week chaos started earlier this week when top-seeded Eastern Kentucky crashed out of the ASUN Tournament in the quarterfinals. And where the past few days have lacked the same kind of drama, Saturday did certainly provide.
For starters, Morehead State officially became the first team to make the NCAA Tournament field. The third-seeded Eagles won the Ohio Valley Conference after toppling No. 1 Little Rock 69-55 behind 26 points from Riley Minix and 21 from Drew Thelwell. After four consecutive losing seasons to start his tenure at Morehead, coach Preston Spradlin has put together four consecutive 20-win campaigns — and now has two conference tournament titles to his name.
Little Rock wasn’t the only top seed to fall on Saturday, either.
The first No. 1 seed to fall this weekend was High Point, regular-season champions of the Big South Conference. The Panthers were angling for their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament, but Longwood had other ideas. The fifth-seeded Lancers prevailed 80-79 in overtime, ruining what had been a dream season for HPU. Now, Longwood will face UNC Asheville in the Big South championship game on Sunday in a battle of the league’s last two auto-bid winners.
Later in the day, the NEC Tournament was flipped on its head when top-seeded Central Connecticut fell to No. 6 Wagner. The Blue Devils went from 20-game losers a year ago to 20-game winners this time around, but they couldn’t beat the Seahawks for a third time this season. In each of the previous two matchups, CCSU won by a single point. On Saturday, Wagner got its revenge with a 66-56 win and is now the only thing standing in the way of Merrimack’s first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.
There were a couple of other top-seed scares along the way, too.
For starters, App State needed overtime to put away No. 9 seed Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt Conference. Meanwhile, the America East nearly saw its top seed Vermont lose a shocker at home to UAlbany thanks to TJ Long’s late 3-pointer. —Andy Dieckhoff