No. 4 Tennessee wins 66-59 at No. 17 South Carolina to clinch first outright SEC crown in 16 years

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Dalton Knecht scored 26 points and No. 4 Tennessee withstood a late run by No. 17 South Carolina for a 66-59 victory Wednesday night that wrapped up its first Southeastern Conference regular-season title since 2018.

The Gamecocks (24-6, 12-5 SEC) cut a 14-point second-half deficit to 59-56 on Meechie Johnson’s inside shot with 1:13 to go. But the Volunteers (24-6, 14-3) hit seven foul shots the rest of the way to seal an outright league championship.

Tennessee shared the SEC regular-season crown six years ago with Auburn. The last time the Vols had won it outright was 2008.

Johnson led South Carolina with 18 points.

NO. 1 HOUSTON 67, UCF 59

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — L.J. Cryer scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half as top-ranked Houston rallied past UCF to clinch at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title in the Cougars’ first season in the conference.

Houston (27-3, 14-3) led by nine after Cryer’s 3-pointer with 2:18 to play. UCF (15-14, 6-11) closed within four with just over a minute left, but Cryer hit another clutch shot to help the Cougars put it away.

The Cougars trailed by as many as seven and never led in the first half. They didn’t take their first lead until Jamal Shead drained a 3 to make it 45-42 with about 12 minutes remaining.

Shead finished with 16 points and eight assists. J’Wan Roberts had 12 points and seven rebounds.

C.J. Walker led UCF with 15 points.

NO. 2 UCONN 74, NO. 8 MARQUETTE 67

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer shot a combined 10 of 16 from 3-point range and Big East champion UConn defeated Marquette 74-67 for its first road win over an AP Top 25 team in a decade.

UConn (27-3, 17-2 Big East) hadn’t defeated a ranked team in a true road game since 2014. The Huskies beat ranked Memphis teams at the FedEx Forum twice that year, in January and again two months later in the American Athletic Conference Tournament. Memphis was technically the visiting team on its home floor during the AAC Tournament game as the lower seed.

This marked UConn’s first road win over a top-10 team since a 93-82 triumph at No. 8 Marquette in February 2009.

Karaban scored 23 points while shooting 5 of 9 from beyond the arc to help the reigning national champion Huskies win for the 17th time in 18 games. Spencer went 5 of 7 on 3-point attempts and had 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Kam Jones scored 18 and Oso Ighodaro had 16 for Marquette (22-8, 13-6), which played a second straight game without injured Tyler Kolek, the 2023 Big East player of the year.

NO. 6 IOWA STATE 68, NO. 20 BYU 63

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Tamin Lipsey scored 19 points and Curtis Jones added 18 to help Iowa State finish the season undefeated at home for the first time in 23 years with a win over BYU.

The Cyclones (24-6, 13-4 Big 12) completed their home schedule 18-0 and remained within a game of conference leader Houston heading into the final weekend.

BYU (21-9, 9-8) failed in its bid to knock off a top-10 team for the second time in two weeks. The Cougars were led by Richie Saunders’ 20 points.

Iowa State trailed 46-32 early in the second half before using an 11-0 run to tie the score at 56 with 7:52 left. The Cyclones went ahead for good, 64-63, on Robert Jones’ basket with 2:51 remaining. BYU went nearly 4 1/2 minutes without scoring, making just one of its final nine shots and committing three turnovers in the final two minutes.

NO. 15 KENTUCKY 93, VANDERBILT 77

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Rob Dillingham scored 23 points, Antonio Reeves added 20 in his home finale and No. 15 Kentucky rode 56% second-half shooting to pull away from Vanderbilt for its fourth victory in a row.

The Wildcats (22-8, 12-6 Southeastern Conference) went back and forth with the Commodores (8-22, 3-14) for much of the first half before taking the lead for good just before the break as Reed Sheppard made the first of Kentucky’s four straight 3-pointers. Dillingham followed with a pair before Reeves capped the run with another from deep with three seconds remaining for a 45-40 edge.

Dillingham added seven consecutive points midway through the second half to help put Kentucky up 68-55. Another run built a 19-point cushion with 4:04 left and Kentucky went on to complete a season sweep of the Commodores.

Tyrin Lawrence had 23 points for Vanderbilt.

NO. 22 UTAH STATE 90, SAN JOSE STATE 70

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Darius Brown II scored 21 points on seven 3-pointers, Mason Falslev had 20 and Utah State beat San Jose State to clinch a share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season title.

Great Osobor added 16 points and eight rebounds, and Javon Jackson scored 15. Brown’s hot shooting fueled Utah State’s 53% clip from the field and 59% mark from long distance. Brown made his first six 3-point attempts before missing his first shot seven minutes into the second half. Falslev was 8 of 11 from the field.

The Aggies (25-5, 13-4 Mountain West ) can claim their first outright regular-season conference title with a win against New Mexico on Saturday.

Myron Amey Jr. led San Jose State (9-22, 2-16) with 20 points.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball