NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dorian Finney-Smith scored 19 points, and No. 1 Florida held off Vanderbilt 57-54 on Tuesday night to clinch at least a share of its second straight Southeastern Conference title and seventh overall. ADVERTISING NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dorian
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dorian Finney-Smith scored 19 points, and No. 1 Florida held off Vanderbilt 57-54 on Tuesday night to clinch at least a share of its second straight Southeastern Conference title and seventh overall.
Patric Young added 12 points for the Gators (26-2, 15-0 SEC), who continued the best season in school history by winning their 20th straight game, and now they will have a chance to claim their third SEC title in four years all to themselves with a win against LSU on Saturday.
The Commodores (15-12, 7-8) beat Florida 83-70 the last time the Gators came into Memorial Gym ranked No. 1, on Feb. 17, 2007. Coach Kevin Stallings only has seven healthy scholarship players right now, and they proved no match for Florida’s smothering defense.
Kyle Fuller missed a tying 3 in the final seconds, and Dai-Jon Parker missed a putback attempt.
No. 2 Wichita St. 69, Bradley 49
PEORIA, Ill. — Ron Baker scored 15 points to lead four Wichita State players in double figures and the Shockers became the first Division I team to reach 30-0 in the regular season.
Wichita State is the 11th team to reach 30-0, the previous 10 all hitting the 30-win mark during postseason play. The last team to reach 30-0 was UNLV in 1990-91. The Runnin’ Rebels went 34-0 that season before losing to Duke in the national semifinals.
The Shockers (30-0, 17-0 Missouri Valley Conference) have one more regular-season game, at home Saturday against Missouri State. The last team to finish a regular season unbeaten was Saint Joseph’s in 2003-04 at 27-0. The next season, Illinois got to 29-0 before losing its regular-season finale at Ohio State.
A barrage of 3-pointers early in the second half broke it open for Wichita State, which beat Bradley (12-18, 7-10) for the 10th straight time and second this season.
No. 6 Duke 66, Virginia Tech 48
DURHAM, N.C. — Rodney Hood scored 21 points to lead Duke.
Rasheed Sulaimon added 15 points for the Blue Devils (23-6, 12-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who jumped to a 24-4 lead midway through the first half and never trailed — though they struggled to land a game-finishing blow on the Hokies.
The last-place Hokies (9-18, 2-13) had a strong start to the second half and got within seven points, but never seriously threatened what would have been an improbable comeback in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Blue Devils finished the game shooting 39 percent, including 10 for 33 from 3-point range — well below their ACC-leading 40.7 percent.
No. 13 San Diego St. 90, San Jose St. 64
SAN DIEGO — Winston Shepard, Dwayne Polee II and JJ O’Brien each scored 12 points to lead a balanced offense as San Diego State breezed past San Jose State.
Coming off their third loss of the season, the Aztecs (24-3, 13-2 Mountain West) had an easy time against the overmatched Spartans (7-20, 1-14).
No. 14 Wisconsin 69, Indiana 58
MADISON, Wis. — Sam Dekker scored 16 points as Wisconsin shrugged off a slow start.
The Hoosiers (15-12, 5-9 Big Ten) held Wisconsin (23-5, 10-5) to its lowest point production in the first half this season, taking a 29-19 lead.
But Wisconsin outscored Indiana 9-2 over the first 3 minutes of the second half. The Badgers shot 26 percent in the first half and they hit 62 percent of their shots in the second. They went 6 of 11 from the 3-point line after making just 1 of 10 in the first half.
Minnesota 95, No. 20 Iowa 89
MINNEAPOLIS — Austin Hollins scored a career-high 27 points on 8-for-10 shooting and DeAndre Mathieu had 19 points and seven assists as Minnesota bounced back from a monthlong slump.
Hollins made all seven of his free throws for the Gophers (18-11, 7-9 Big Ten), who won for just the third time in their last nine games by making 13 of their last 14 free throws over the final 70 seconds. Charles Buggs added a career-high 13 points.
Roy Devyn Marble had only five of his 24 points in the second half for the Hawkeyes (19-8, 8-6), who have their first two-game losing streak of the season. Aaron White added 21 points, and Josh Oglesby scored 16 in his first start of the season.
No. 25 New Mexico 67, Utah St. 58
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Cullen Neal scored nine of his 12 points in a decisive run in the second half for New Mexico.
Cameron Bairstow had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Lobos (22-5, 13-3 Mountain West) while Alex Kirk added 13 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
