NEW YORK — Tristen Newton and Donovan Clingan each had 13 points and seven rebounds and UConn blitzed Xavier in the second half Thursday, opening the postseason with an 87-60 blowout in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals.
Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer both scored 12 in a balanced performance by the top-seeded Huskies, who have won five straight games and 19 of 20. The defending national champions will play No. 5 seed St. John’s in the first semifinal Friday evening at Madison Square Garden.
ST. JOHN'S 91, SETON HALL 72: Rick Pitino returned to the Big East Tournament for the first time in 11 years and led fifth-seeded St. John's over fourth-seeded Seton Hall.
PROVIDENCE 78, CREIGHTON 73: Devin Carter had 22 points and 11 rebounds as No. 7 seed Providence secured a huge victory for its postseason resume, holding off second-seeded Creighton. The Friars will play No. 3 seed Marquette in the semifinals after it beat No. 6 seed Villanova in overtime.
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ACC
NORTH CAROLINA 92, FLORIDA STATE 67: Armando Bacot scored 14 points and grabbed 10 of his team's 48 rebounds to No. 9 seed Florida State's 22, and top-seeded North Carolina rolled into the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals.
PITT 81, WAKE FOREST 69: Ishmael Leggett scored 19 of his season-high 30 points in the second half as fourth-seeded Pittsburgh turned away fifth-seeded Wake Forest.
NC STATE 74, DUKE 69: DJ Horne scored 18 points, including two clutch free throws with 15 seconds left, and 10th-seeded North Carolina State ousted No. 2 seed Duke.
VIRGINIA 66, BOSTON COLLEGE 60 (OT): Reece Beekman had 11 points and 11 assists, and third-seeded Virginia took a step toward an NCAA Tournament berth — and to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament — by beating No. 11 seed Boston College.
Big 12
TEXAS TECH 81, BYU 67: Pop Isaacs scored 22 points, Chance McMillian added 17 points and eight rebounds and fourth-seeded Texas Tech withstood a furious second-half rally by fifth-seeded BYU in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.
HOUSTON 60, TCU 45: Top-seeded Houston turned up its suffocating defense on TCU, Emanuel Sharp had 14 points and Jamal Shead scored 12, and the Cougars rolled over the eighth-seeded Horned Frogs.
IOWA STATE 76, KANSAS STATE 57: Robert Jones scored 18 points, Tre King added 16 points, and No. 2 seed Iowa State harried No. 10 seed Kansas State into 20 turnovers, allowing the Cyclones to cruise.
BAYLOR 68, CINCINNATI 56: RayJ Dennis shook off a tough start to score 13 points, Jalen Bridges had 12 points and eight rebounds, and third-seeded Baylor pulled away in the second half to beat No. 11 seed Cincinnati.
Big Ten
MICHIGAN STATE 77, MINNESOTA 67: A.J. Hoggard scored 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting, Tyson Walker added 15 points, and No. 8 seed Michigan State beat No. 9 seed Minnesota in the second round of the Big Ten Conference Tournament in Minneapolis. Michigan State will play No. 1 Purdue in Friday's quarterfinal.
WISCONSIN 87, MARYLAND 56: Freshman John Blackwell scored 18 points, Steven Crowl added 17 points, and the pair made seven of No. 5 Wisconsin's season-high 16 3-pointers in a rout of No. 12 Maryland in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. The Badgers will play No. 4 Northwestern Friday.
OHIO STATE 90, IOWA 78: Jamison Battle scored all 23 of his points in the second half as No. 10 seed Ohio State never trailed in beating seventh-seeded Iowa. Ohio State will play second-seeded Illinois Friday.
INDIANA 61, PENN STATE 59: Anthony Leal put back a missed jumper by Malik Reneau with seven seconds left to give short-handed and sixth-seeded Indiana knocked off No. 11 seed Penn State to earn a matchup with No. 3 Nebraska Friday.
Mountain West
UTAH STATE 87, FRESNO STATE 75 (OT): Great Osobor had 29 points and 17 rebounds as No. 1 seed Utah State defeated No. 9 Fresno State in overtime in a quarterfinal round game of the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas.
SAN DIEGO STATE 74, UNLV 71 (OT): Jaedon LeDee knocked down a jumper with 14 seconds left in overtime to give fifth-seeded San Diego State the lead and added two free throws to set the final margin as the Aztecs topped fourth-seeded UNLV.
COLORADO STATE 85, NEVADA 78: Jalen Lake scored 16 points, Isaiah Stevens added 15, and seventh-seeded Colorado State beat No. 2 seed Nevada.
Pac-12
ARIZONA 70, UCLA 49: KJ Lewis led a balanced scoring attack with 15 points as top-seeded Arizona avenged a loss to ninth-seeded USC to end the regular season by rolling past the Trojans in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals.
OREGON 68, UCLA 66: N’Faly Dante scored 22 points, including a jump hook with 37 seconds left, for his fourth 20-plus game of the season as No. 4 seed Oregon held off a late rally to beat No. 5 seed UCLA.
WASHINGTON STATE 79, STANFORD 62: Isaac Jones scored 16 points as No. 2 seed Washington State beat No. 10 Stanford, which fired eighth-year head coach Jerod Haase after the loss.
SEC
MISSISSIPPI STATE 70, LSU 60: Josh Hubbard scored 14 of his 24 points in the second half when he helped No. 9 Mississippi State pull away late and beat No. 8 LSU in the second round of the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., earning a match with No. 1 Tennessee Friday.
SOUTH CAROLINA 80, ARKANSAS 66: Collin Murray-Boyles scored 24 points and fifth-seeded South Carolina beat No. 12 Arkansas, and will advance to play No. 4 seed Auburn in the quarterfinals.
TEXAS A&M 80, MISSISSIPPI 71: Wade Taylor IV scored 20 points, Tyrece Radford added 18 and nine rebounds, and Andersson Garcia had a double-double to help No. 7 seed Texas A&M beat No. 10 seed Mississippi for the second time in five days. The Aggies will play No. 2 seed Kentucky on Friday.
American
EAST CAROLINA 84, TULSA 79: Ezra Ausar scored 28 points to lead eighth-seeded East Carolina and RJ Felton sealed the victory with a layup with 34 seconds left as the Pirates knocked off No. 9 Tulsa in the American Athletic Conference Tournament. ECU will play No. 1 South Florida on Friday.
WICHITA STATE 71, MEMPHIS 65: Fifth-seed Memphis likely saw any hope of making the NCAA Tournament end in an upset loss to No. 12 seed Wichita State. The Shockers will play No. 4 seed UAB on Friday.
NORTH TEXAS 81, TULANE 71: C.J. Noland helped lead No. 7 seed North Texas past No. 10 seed Tulane with 23 points off of the bench. The Mean Green advance to play No. 2 seed FAU Friday.
TEMPLE 75, SMU 60: Hysier Miller scored 21 points and dished out seven assists as 11th seed Temple knocked off No. 6 seed SMU. The Owls will play third-seeded Charlotte Friday.
A-10
SAINT JOSEPH'S 66, RICHMOND 61: Erik Reynolds II scored 30 points and No. 9 seed Saint Joseph's beat top-seeded Richmond to advance to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.
VCU 73, UMASS 59: Fifth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth got 18 points from Joe Bamisile and 17 points from Zeb Jackson to help knock off No. 4 seed UMass and reach the A-10 semifinals.
ST. BONAVENTURE 75, LOYOLA CHICAGO 74 (2OT): Daryl Banks III scored 22 points, including three free throws with 12.7 seconds left in the second overtime, and seventh-seeded Bonaventure defeated No. 2 seed Loyola Chicago.
DUQUESNE 65, DAYTON 57: Jimmie Clark III scored 16 points as No. 6 seed Duquesne held off star big man DaRon Holmes II and No. 3 seed Dayton.
Big West
HAWAII 75, CS NORTHRIDGE 68: Justin McKoy scored 16 points to lead third-seeded Hawaii over No. 7 seed CS Northridge in the Big West Tournament in Henderson, Nev.
C-USA
UTEP 66, LIBERTY 57: Zid Powell had 13 points in fifth-seed UTEP's 66-57 victory against fourth-seeded Liberty in the Conference USA semifinals in Huntsville, Ala.
WESTERN KENTUCKY 89, NEW MEXICO STATE 69: Rodney Howard scored 20 points to lead five players in double figures as third-seeded Western Kentucky made it past sixth-seeded New Mexico State.
MAAC
MARIST 65, NIAGARA 59: Jadin Collins had 20 points in No. 3 seed Marist's victory against No. 6 seed Niagara on Thursday night in the quarterfinal round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament in Atlantic City, N.J.
SAINT PETER'S 50, RIDER 48: Fifth-seeded Saint Peter's got 20 points and eight boards from Michael Houge as it advanced past No. 4 seed Rider despite shooting just 28.8 percent from the field.
MAC
KENT STATE 67, TOLEDO 59: VonCameron Davis scored 26 points and No. 8 seed Kent State beat top-seeded Toledo in the opening game of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
BOWLING GREEN 66, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 56: Trey Thomas had 20 points in No. 5 seed Bowling Green's victory against No. 4 Central Michigan on Thursday in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
AKRON 75, MIAMI (OHIO) 63: The second-seeded Zips got 30 points and 12 rebounds from Enrique Freeman to advance past seventh-seeded Miami (Ohio).
OHIO 82, WESTERN MICHIGAN 55: Shereef Mitchell had 15 points as third-seeded Ohio knocked off sixth-seeded Western Michigan.
MEAC
HOWARD 78, MORGAN STATE 65: Fourth-seeded Howard got 28 points and nine rebounds from Bryce Harris in a victory over No. 5 Morgan State in Norfolk, Va.
DELAWARE STATE 71, SOUTH CAROLINA STATE 58: Deywilk Tavarez had 29 points and five steals, while Martaz Robinson added 22 points and 12 boards as No. 6 seed Delaware State knocked off third-seeded South Carolina State.
SWAC
TEXAS SOUTHERN 73, JACKSON STATE 62: Jonathan Cisse had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists as third-seeded Texas Southern topped No. 6 Jackson State in the quarterfinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament in Birmingham, Ala.
BETHUNE-COOKMAN 73, SOUTHERN 58: Fifth-seeded Bethune-Cookman held a two-point halftime lead before pulling away from No. 4 seed Southern in the second half to advance.
WAC
SEATTLE 81, CAL BAPTIST 57: Cameron Tyson scored 18 points to lead fourth-seeded Seattle past No. 8 seed California Baptist in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.