Top 25 Capsules
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Ryan Kelly scored a career-high 23 points and No. 4 Duke held on to beat Wake Forest 79-71 on Tuesday night for its seventh straight win.
Kelly put up 20 points against the Demon Deacons for the third straight time, and Seth Curry finished with 15 points for the Blue Devils (26-4, 13-2 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Duke led by 23 points with 9½ minutes left before Wake Forest made things tense late.
Nikita Mescheriakov and Tony Chennault both had 18 points for the Demon Deacons (13-16, 4-11). Their best chance came when they had the ball down 72-66 with less than 2 minutes left.
But after Chennault missed a 3-pointer, Duke milked the shot clock and Miles Plumlee chased down the critical offensive rebound of Tyler Thornton's missed jumper with just over 1 minute left. Curry hit two free throws with 48.9 seconds left to make it 74-66.
The Blue Devils become the third team in school history -- and first since 1999-2000 -- to finish 8-0 in ACC road games and remained on a roll entering Saturday night's visit from No. 6 North Carolina.
NO. 18 INDIANA 70, NO. 5 MICHIGAN ST. 55
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Cody Zeller scored 18 points and Victor Oladipo added 13 for Indiana in its third victory over a top five team this season.
The Hoosiers (22-7, 10-7 Big Ten) are the second team to achieve that feat this season, joining Kansas which did it with a win over Missouri on Saturday. Indiana upset No. 1 Kentucky and No. 2 Ohio State in December and now the Spartans, who could have clinched their second outright Big Ten title in four seasons with a victory.
Draymond Green had 29 points for Michigan State (24-6, 13-4), which can still win the outright crown with a victory over No. 10 Ohio State on Sunday.
Michigan State had won six straight in the series and seven straight overall. It was Indiana coach Tom Crean's first win over Tom Izzo, his former boss at Michigan State.
NO. 14 WISCONSIN 52, MINNESOTA 45
MADISON, Wis. -- Jordan Taylor scored 22 points to lead Wisconsin, which clinched a first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament.
Both teams shot poorly, there were 43 fouls called and the teams combined to shoot 58 free throws.
But the Badgers (22-8, 11-6 Big Ten) found their shooting touch in the second half to secure at least a fourth-place finish in the conference.
Minnesota (17-13, 5-12) led 23-16 at halftime. But Wisconsin opened the second half on a 9-2 run to tie it at 25 on a three-point play by Mike Bruesewitz.
Minutes later, with the game tied at 27, Minnesota coach Tubby Smith was called for a technical foul, and Taylor hit both free throws to give Wisconsin its first lead since 11-10 midway through the first half. Taylor followed with a 3-pointer, and Wisconsin didn't trail the rest of the way.
Andre Hollins led the Gophers with 18 points, while Ralph Sampson III finished with eight points to give him 1,004 for his career. He is the fifth player in Minnesota history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 150 blocks.
VANDERBILT 77, NO. 16 FLORIDA 67
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- John Jenkins hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as Vanderbilt clinched a first-round bye in the Southeastern Conference tournament.
The Commodores (21-9, 10-5) outshot the nation's top 3-point shooting team behind Jenkins, and he easily topped his average of 3.9 3-pointers by hitting his first five from beyond the arc. They are tied with Florida for second in the SEC with one game left in the regular season.
Vanderbilt, which snapped a four-game losing streak to the Gators, can finish no worse than third in the SEC going into its finale Saturday at Tennessee. Jeffery Taylor added 18 points and Festus Ezeli had 11.
Bradley Beal scored 16 points, Erving Walker 15, Kenny Boynton 11 for Florida (22-8, 10-5), which has lost two straight. The Gators still can finish second by themselves if they beat No. 1 Kentucky at home on Sunday.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press
This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index
EDITORS' PICKS
- Tourney Losses Remembered
- Tournament losses tend to stick in coaches' minds.
Medcalf »
- Wins In March Help Recruiting
- One NCAA tournament run can do wonders for recruiting.
Borzello
- Epic Final Four Ahead
- Look at the teams. This Final Four just feels big.
First look »
MORE MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL HEADLINES
- Coaches: Badgers have great shot vs. UK
- Coaches: Duke will end Michigan State run
- Goodman: Grading every D-I coaching hire
- Recruiting: Eliminated teams' chances in '16
- Transfer List: Top 10 transfers, complete list
RECENT ACTIVITY
-
TOOLS
- Contact Us
- Corrections
- Daily Line
- RSS