Wildcats finish SEC perfect
By MARK LONG
ADVERTISING
AP Sports Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Kentucky coach John Calipari never mentioned perfection to his team before Sunday’s game at Florida.
He talked about pride.
The Wildcats ended up with both.
Freshman Anthony Davis had 22 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks, Terrence Jones added 19 points and the top-ranked Wildcats capped a perfect season in Southeastern Conference play with a 74-59 victory over No. 16 Florida.
Kentucky (30-1, 16-0) set a school record for regular-season wins, extended its winning streak to 22 games and secured its hold on a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats are the No. 1 seed in next week’s SEC tournament.
“I told them prior to the game, ‘Look, bottom line is if we lose we’re still a 1 seed. It doesn’t change our seeding. It doesn’t do anything. But it’s about pride,”‘ Calipari said. “… That was the message prior to the game: just go have pride and play.”
The Wildcats became just the third team since Alabama in 1956 to go unbeaten in SEC play. The other two? Kentucky. The powerhouse program accomplished the feat in 1996 and 2003.
“To be a part of one of them, it’s a great honor,” Davis said.
Big Blue faced little resistance in the regular-season finale.
The Wildcats used an 8-0 run in the second half to make it a double-digit lead, and then added a 9-0 run later to put the game out of reach.
“The one thing I would say about them is that if you do break down defensively against them, you’re going to pay,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “But they also have the ability, when you guard them the way you want to guard them, they can still make a shot. … I think that’s what makes really, really good teams.”
Patric Young led Florida (22-9, 10-6) with 21 points while Erik Murphy added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Young and Murphy had few answers for Davis and Jones, who both were 9 of 13 from the field, including a 3-pointer each.
Kentucky shot 53 percent from the field and seemingly scored at will in the paint, finishing with 40 points in the key. And when the Wildcats aren’t missing many shots and aren’t turning the ball over, they are tough to beat — maybe even impossible.
“This line of guys they have really good chemistry, they’re really together,” Young said. “No one’s out there trying to score from himself. … They have a really complete team. It will be really tough to beat them.”
The Wildcats took a 28-16 lead in the first half, often abusing the Gators in one-on-one situations. And even when Kentucky did miss, Davis and Jones were there for rebounds and putbacks.
“It was one of those nights that Kentucky’s length really caused us some problems,” Donovan said.
Florida crawled back in the second half. The Gators cut the lead to 46-44 with about 16 minutes remaining, but couldn’t get any closer as Kentucky responded with clutch shots every time the score got close.
Kentucky started pulling away from there.
Florida responded thanks to some inspired play by Young and made it 59-55. But the Cats just dialed it up on both ends of the court.
The Gators made just one basket over the final 9:02, a meaningless shot in the closing minute. Davis, meanwhile, took over. He had a putback, a layup, a dunk and a free throw down the stretch.
“John is now putting him in situations that he did not do a lot of,” Donovan said. “When you go through a season, teams start to guard you differently, throw different things at you and it’s enabled him to grow as Kentucky’s team’s grown because he adds a different dimension for them on the perimeter.”
Calipari was equally impressed with Jones.
“If Terrence Jones plays that way for us, we’re not just good, we’re real good,” Calipari said. “And that’s what he was today. He was phenomenal.”
Young was the lone bright spot for the Gators. He made 10 of 15 shots and finished with nine rebounds.
Guards Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker and Bradley Beal had forgettable performances for Florida. Going against bigger defenders, the trio combined for 6-of-29 shooting.
Boynton, benched to start the game because he was late to a team meeting, finished with seven points on 2-of-8 shooting. Walker, recognized before his final home game as the team’s lone senior, had eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. Beal had five points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. He left the game with a sprained ankle, but returned late.
Together, they did little to keep Kentucky from perfection.
“Their talent and ability to make a shot or make a difficult shot was much, much better than our ability to do that,” Donovan said.
NO. 10 OHIO ST. 72
NO. 5 MICHIGAN ST. 70
EAST LANSING, Mich. — William Buford made a high-arcing jumper from the top of the key with 1 second left to lift Ohio State and forge a three-way tie for the Big Ten title.
The Buckeyes (25-6, 13-5) earned a share of their third straight conference championship and forced the Spartans (24-7, 13-5) to settle for having a piece of it along with No. 13 Michigan. The Wolverines, who won their first Big Ten title since 1986, beat Penn State earlier Sunday.
Michigan State, which led by as many as 15 points in the first half, lost at home for the first time this season.
Draymond Green finished 6 of 18 from the field with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Buford scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, giving the Spartans their first loss at home this season.
NO. 13 MICHIGAN 71
PENN ST. 65
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Trey Burke scored 19 points and Michigan shot 59 percent from the field to earn a share of the Big Ten title for the first time since 1986.
Evan Smotrycz added 17 points for the Wolverines (23-8, 13-5), who needed Ohio State to beat Michigan State later Sunday.
Jermaine Marshall had a career-high 27 points and eight rebounds for Penn State (12-19, 4-14), including a layup that closed a 19-point deficit with 9 minutes left to 62-58 with 2:38 to go.
Ross Travis added 15 points for Penn State.
NO. 14 WISCONSIN 70
ILLINOIS 56
MADISON, Wis. — Senior Jordan Taylor scored 16 points in his final home game for Wisconsin.
Josh Gasser added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Badgers (23-8, 12-6), who have won three straight.
Brandon Paul had 22 points for Illinois (17-14, 6-12), which had only three assists, a season-low, and lost its seventh straight road game.
It was the 265th victory at Wisconsin for coach Bo Ryan, tying Harold “Bud” Foster for most wins in the program’s history.
Wisconsin came into Sunday’s game allowing an NCAA-best 51.8 points per game, and they looked every bit like the nation’s top defensive team as they held the struggling Illini, who have lost 11 of 13, to only 18 points in the first half.
NO. 22 FLORIDA ST. 80
CLEMSON 72
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Michael Snaer scored a career-high 23 points to lead Florida State.
Bernard James added 13 points and 11 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season while Xavier Gibson had 13 points for Florida State, which had five players finish in double figures.
The Seminoles (21-9, 12-4) finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference behind No. 6 North Carolina and No. 4 Duke and have a first-round bye in the league tournament.
Ian Miller, whose 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Seminoles a 63-60 win at Virginia on Thursday, added 11 points and Luke Loucks had 10, including three free throws over the final 18 seconds.
K.J. McDaniels and Andre Young scored 16 points each for Clemson (16-14, 8-8), which pulled within 75-72 with 30 seconds left on two free throws by McDaniels, but Florida State made five of six free throws over the final 28 seconds.
Devin Booker had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Clemson, which had won five of six.
NO. 24 VIRGINIA 75
MARYLAND 72, OT
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Mike Scott had a career-high 35 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Sammy Zeglinski scored 20 points as Virginia overcame a late collapse in regulation.
Scott accounted for half of Virginia’s 14 points in overtime. The 6-foot-8 senior had never scored more than 28 points in an Atlantic Coast Conference game.
The Cavaliers blew a 12-point lead over the final 8 minutes of regulation but survived the extra session to break a two-game skid. The victory gave Virginia (22-8, 9-7) its most regular-season wins since the Ralph Sampson-led team produced 25 in 1982-83.
Terrell Stoglin scored 25 points and Sean Mosley added 17 for Maryland (16-14, 6-10).
NO. 25 CREIGHTON 83
ILLINOIS ST. 79, OT
ST. LOUIS — Doug McDermott had 33 points and Antoine Young scored eight of his 14 in overtime as Creighton survived an upset bid in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament final.
Grant Gibbs added a career-high 20 points for second-seeded Creighton (28-5), which won the conference tournament for the seventh time in 14 seasons and earned its first NCAA bid since 2007.
The Bluejays were 3-0 against fourth-seeded Illinois State (20-13), which beat top-seeded and 15th-ranked Wichita State in the semifinals, the first two wins by nine and 28 points.
Freshman Nic Moore had 20 points for Illinois State and drove the length of the court for a layup with 6.5 seconds to go in regulation that forced overtime.
Jackie Carmichael added 17 points and nine rebounds for Illinois State, which hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 1998.
McDermott, the conference player of the year, was 12 of 18 from the field with three 3-pointers. He broke the school’s 43-year-old season scoring record in the first half and scored 17 of the Bluejays’ 19 points in one stretch in the second half.
