Carlton Carrington scored 23 points, Blake Hinson added 21 and Pittsburgh defeated NC State 81-73 on Saturday night to claim fourth-place and a double-bye in the upcoming ACC Tournament. The Panthers (21-10, 12-8), who led by 10 points at halftime, went ahead 52-35 early in the second half and their lead was still 14 after Hinson hit a jumper near the six-minute mark. The Panthers pushed their lead back to eight points, then Taylor got the Wolfpack within 75-70 when he hit a 3-pointer with 59 seconds remaining.
Mitchell Saxen scored 20 points and No. 18 Saint Mary's won its 15th straight game to wrap up at least a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season title with a 88-62 victory over San Diego on Saturday night. The Gaels (23-6, 14-0) have the longest active winning streak in the nation and wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the WCC tournament in Las Vegas next month. Saint Mary's can win its first outright regular-season conference title since 2012 with a victory Thursday night at Pepperdine.
Tied for first place in the ACC standings with a five-game winning streak and wins in 16 of their past 18 games, the Duke Blue Devils are firmly on the No. 3 seed line with hopes of landing even higher in the bracket.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer said his team looks totally different now than it did when losing back-to-back road games at Arkansas and Georgia Tech six weeks ago.