By R.L. Bynum
Caleb Love had a memorable senior night at Arizona as the Wildcats won their final Pac-12 home game, and Puff Johnson scored a career-high 19 points in his first start in 11 games in a Penn State loss.
After scoring 36 points in No. 6 Arizona’s Jan. 27 win at Oregon, Love collected 22 points and seven assists in the Wildcats’ 87–78 victory Saturday over the Ducks.
Love, who scored three 3-pointers, scored seven consecutive points during an early 12–2 run for Arizona (23–6, 14–4 Pac-12). His alley-oop pass to fellow senior Keshad Johnson gave the Wildcats a 48–25 lead with 1:48 left in the first half.
Love had eight points during a 12–3 Arizona run, capped by a windmill dunk with 5:59 left that stretched Arizona’s lead to 94–67.
It was his eighth career game with at least seven assists and his second this season (his career-high was nine for UNC against Northeastern on Feb. 17, 2021).
Arizona holds a half-game lead atop the Pac-12 over No. 19 Washington State (23–7, 14–5).
Johnson was in the Penn State starting lineup for the first time since Jan. 13, but the Nittany Lions lost 75–70 on the road against Dawson Garcia and Minnesota (18–11, 9–9 Big Ten). Johnson scored 14 points and four 3-pointers in the first half as the Nittany Lions (14–16, 8–11) led 42–30 at halftime.
Garcia had only eight points and five rebounds in eight minutes for the Gophers, who trailed by 23 points in the first half and by 12 in the second half before rallying. Garcia, who could play a fifth season, did not participate in Minnesota’s senior day activities.
Johnson topped his previous best scoring game of 16 points on Jan. 26, 2022, in a win at N.C. State. He scored a career-high four 3-pointers, topping his previous high of three twice earlier this season.
D’Marco Dunn came off the Penn State bench for the first time since the Jan. 27 loss to Minnesota and had two points in 12 minutes.
Johnson, Dunn and Garcia were all members of the 2021–22 UNC Final Four team, although Garcia left the program in January of that season.
Dontrez Styles collected 12 points and five rebounds before fouling out with 5:52 left in Georgetown’s 98–93 home loss to Xavier after blowing a 15-point lead.
The Hoyas (9–20, 2–16 Big East), who will be the No. 10 seed in the Big East tournament, lost their seventh consecutive home game.
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Styles, whose 3-pointer gave the Hoyas an early 17–11 lead, has fouled out of four games this season.
Kennedy Todd-Williams and Destiny Adams both scored 14 points on Sunday.
Todd-Williams also had six rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal in her senior day game at Ole Miss, an 87–43 victory over Arkansas.
Adams added six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in Rutgers’ 72–71 home loss to Northwestern.
Justin McKoy had 10 points, nine rebounds and two assists in Hawaii’s 76–73 home win over the UC Riverside team that UNC beat 77–52 on Nov. 17. The Rainbow Warriors (17–13, 9–9 Big West) are fifth in the 11-team Big West.
Kerwin Walton had three points and three rebounds in 20 minutes in Texas Tech’s 81–70 win at West Virginia on Saturday. The Red Raiders (20–9, 9–7 Big 12) are in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Big 12 with No. 7 Kansas and BYU.
Host Virginia Tech upset Wake Forest on Saturday 87–76, but Tyler Nickel went scoreless for the second time in three games, going 1 of 17 from the floor in those games. Since scoring 14 points at UNC on Feb. 17 and 13 against Virginia on Feb. 19, his only three points came in a loss at Syracuse on Feb. 27.
Will Shaver went scoreless with a block in four minutes of UAB’s 106–87 loss Sunday at Memphis.
Elliot Cadeau, Michigan guard
6–1, 180 pounds | Junior | UNC 2023–25 (2 seasons)
Roster situation — Starter
Season statistics — 38 games, 38 starts, 10.2 points, 41.6 FG%, 37.7 3P%, 69.4 FT%, 2.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists
Team record: 35–3; Rank: No. 3
Friday: 90–77 win Midwest Regional Sweet 16 in Chicago vs. No. 18 Alabama — Started; 33:37, 17 points, 6–14 FG, 3–8 3FG, 2–5 FT, 5 rebounds, 2 fouls, 7 assists, 1 turnover, 1 steal, 1 block, +15
Sunday: 95–62 win Midwest Regional final in Chicago vs. No. 23 Tennessee — Started; 34:20, 8 points, 3–7 FG, 1–2 3FG, 1–2 FT, 3 rebounds, 2 fouls, 10 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 steals, +30
Next game — 8:49 p.m. Saturday vs. No. 2 Arizona at Final Four in Indianapolis, TBS
Trayanna Crisp, Mississippi State guard
5–8 | Senior | UNC 2024–25 (1 season)
Roster situation — Starter
Season statistics — 30 games, 30 starts, 8.7 points, 38.3 FG%, 37.1 3P%, 84.6 FT%, 2.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists
Team record: 18–13
Season ended with SEC tournament loss
RyLee Grays, Tulsa forward
6–4 | Junior | UNC 2023–24 (1 season)
Roster situation — One of four forwards competing for time
Season statistics — 30 games, 2.3 points, 43.6 FG%, 4–10 3FG, 69.7 FT%, 2.3 rebounds, 8 blocks, 12 steals
Team record: 19–12
Season ended with loss in American Conference tournament
Ian Jackson, St. John’s guard
6–5, 195 pounds | Sophomore | UNC 2024–25 (1 season)
Roster situation — Starter, sharing time in a point-guard-by-committee mix
Season statistics — 36 games, 19 starts, 9.4 points, 40.9 FG%, 34.3 3P%, 90.0 FT%, 2.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists
Team record: 30–7; Rank: No. 13
Friday: 80–75 loss in East Regional Sweet 16 in Washington vs. No. 1 Duke — Didn’t start; 16 minutes, 5 points, 2–8 FG, 1–7 3FG, 2 rebounds, 2 fouls, 2 assists
Season ended with loss to Duke
Puff Johnson, Ohio State
6–8, 190 pounds | Graduate | UNC 2020–23 (3 seasons)
Roster situation — Reserve
Team record: 21–13
Season statistics — 9 games, 1 start, 2.3 points, 33.3 FG%, 3–7 3FG, 6–9 FT, 1.1 rebounds
Season ended with first-round NCAA tournament loss to TCU
Teonni Key, Kentucky forward
6–4 | RS senior | UNC 2022–24 (2 seasons)
Roster situation — Starting forward
Season statistics — 28 games, 28 starts, 11.4 points, 51.2 FG%, 2–15 3FG, 69.8 FT%, 7.5 rebounds, 1.2 blocks
Team record: 25–11; Rank: No. 17
Saturday: 76–54 loss in Fort Worth Regional 1 Sweet 16 vs. No. 3 Texas — Started; 31:31, 10 points, 2–8 FG, 0–1 3FG, 6–6 FT, 9 rebounds, 4 fouls, 2 assists, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 1 steal, 1 block, -17
Season ended with loss to Texas
Ven-Allen Lubin, N.C. State forward
6–9, 250 pounds | Senior | UNC 2024–25 (1 season)
Roster situation — Starting center
Season statistics — 34 games, 34 starts, 13.6 points, ACC-leading 66.8 FG%, 27.3 3P%, 73.3 FT%, 7.1 rebounds
Team record: 20–14
Season ended with NCAA First Four loss to Texas
Tyler Nickel, Vanderbilt wing
6–7, 220 pounds | Senior | UNC 2022–23 (1 season)
Roster situation — Starting forward
Season statistics — 36 games, 36 starts, 13.5 points, 44.4 FG%, 40.0 3P%, 84.7 FT%, 3.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists
Team record: 27–9: Rank: No. 22
Season ended with loss to No. 4 Nebraska in the second round of the NCAA tournament
Paulina Paris, SMU guard
5–9 | Senior | UNC 2022–24 (2 seasons)
Season statistics — 20 games, 12 starts, 9.6 points, 39.9 FG%, 25.0 3P%, 69.7 FT%, 2.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists
Team record: 9–21, 2–16 ACC
Season ended with left foot injury in February
Will Shaver, Samford center
6–10, 265 pounds | RS junior | UNC 2022–23 (1 season)
Roster situation — Reserve minutes
Season statistics — 30 games, 2.6 points, 47.6 FG%, 33.3 3P%, 59.3 FT%, 2.6 rebounds, 17 blocks, 7 steals
Team record: 18–14
Season ended with loss in Southern Conference tournament
Cade Tyson, Minnesota wing
6–7, 180 pounds | Senior | UNC 2024–25 (1 season)
Roster situation — Starter
Season statistics — 31 games, 32 starts, team-leading 19.6 points, 50.0 FG%, 42.2 3P%, 82.6 FT%, 5.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists
Team record: 15–17
Next game — 10:30 Wednesday at College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas vs. Baylor, FS1 (first game since March 11)
Jalen Washington, Vanderbilt center
6–9, 240 pounds | Senior | UNC 2022–25 (3 seasons)
Roster situation — Backup center
Season statistics — 36 games, 9 starts, 8.9 points, 56.3 FG%, 29.4 3P%, 74.1 FT%, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 blocks
Team record: 27–9; Rank: No. 22
Season ended with loss to No. 4 Nebraska in the second round of the NCAA tournament
Photo via @ArizonaMBB
