Cincinnati 63, No. 16 Louisville 54
The storm clouds were brewing, but Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin refused to let the raindrops hit him.
Cronin kept telling the Bearcats to believe in themselves even as they dropped three of four, even as star forward Yancy Gates found himself suspended and then benched in the second half of a loss to St. John's on Sunday.
"I told them, 'We're 19-6, we need to be proud of it, need to act like it,''' Cronin said. "We don't need to let anybody define us individually or as a group that's outside of our locker room.''
His team responded with the defining win of its season.
Cashmere Wright scored 20 points, Sean Kilpatrick added 18 and Cincinnati bolstered its NCAA tournament resume with a 63-54 victory against No. 16 Louisville on Wednesday night.
No. 3
Gary Johnson had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 3 Texas beat Oklahoma State 73-55 on Wednesday night to tighten its grip on first place in the Big 12.
No. 4 Pittsburgh 67, South Florida 55
Leading by two points at home with eight minutes to play against a Big East bottom-feeder, former Pittsburgh guard and current assistant Brandin Knight ripped his team during a timeout. When the Panthers took the floor, they took out their aggression on South Florida. Nasir Robinson and Brad Wanamaker each scored 13 points and No. 4 Pittsburgh pulled away late for a 67-55 victory Wednesday night.
No. 5 Duke 56,
Sputtering offensively, Duke relied on its defense and Nolan Smith to beat
Smith had 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists to lead the fifth-ranked Blue Devils to a 56-41 victory Wednesday night.
No. 13
Kemba Walker had the ball at about the free throw line and he was being covered after a switch by a player
What he finally did isn't on the list of options for almost every basketball player in the world. Walker did fake to his left, then threw the ball hard off the backboard and since he was the only player who had any inkling of the play, he grabbed the ball and flipped it in from about
No. 11 Purdue 70, No. 10
Lewis Jackson has had few blemishes during his breakout junior season. He made up for one of them Wednesday night.
The 5-foot-9 point guard had 18 points and five assists to help No. 11 Purdue beat No. 10 Wisconsin 70-62. That came after Jackson scored just one point when the Badgers beat Purdue 66-59 on Feb. 1.
No. 18 Vanderbilt
All John Jenkins needed was one good shot to end his scoring drought and launch Vanderbilt's comeback against Georgia. Jenkins scored all of his 21 points in the second half and No. 18 Vandy rallied from a second-half deficit of 14 points to beat the Bulldogs 64-56 on Wednesday night.
No. 21
Texas A&M knows a five-point home win against the worst team in the Big 12 isn't all that impressive. But their latest victory got the Aggies to 20 wins for a seventh consecutive season, and that's what matters to them. Nathan Walkup scored 19 points and No. 21 Texas A&M held off Iowa State 71-66 on Wednesday night.
No. 24 Xavier
Xavier took first place in the Atlantic 10, then earned its first national ranking of the year.
May as well celebrate by punishing Saint Joseph's. Mark Lyons scored 24 points, Kenny Frease had 17 points and 10 rebounds and No. 24 Xavier beat Saint Joseph's 74-54 on Wednesday night.
No. 25 Utah State 100, Montana-Western 66
Tai Wesley and Brian Green each scored 20 points to lead No. 25 Utah State to a 100-66 win against Montana Western on Wednesday night in a game delayed about 50 minutes after two backboards were shattered at halftime.