No. 2 Virginia shuts down Georgia Tech, wins 9th straight
ATLANTA (AP) De'Andre Hunter scored 17 points and No. 2 Virginia won its ninth straight game, 64-48 over Georgia Tech on Thursday night.
It was another defensive masterpiece by the Cavaliers (17-1, 6-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who limited Georgia Tech to 40.5 percent shooting and forced 18 turnovers.
Virginia snapped a four-game winning streak for the Yellow Jackets (10-8, 3-2).
After making the first basket of the game, Georgia Tech quickly got an idea of what kind of night it would be. The Jackets missed their next eight shots and turned it over four times before Josh Okogie finally broke a nearly eight-minute scoreless drought with a dunk.
Virginia led 28-19 at halftime, and Georgia Tech never got any closer the rest of the way.
Tadric Jackson led Georgia Tech with 14 points. No one else was in double figures.
SAINT MARY'S 74, NO. 13 GONZAGA 71
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Jock Landale had 26 points and 12 rebounds, and Saint Mary's beat Gonzaga to take sole possession of first place in the West Coast Conference.
Rui Hachimura came off the bench to score 23 points for Gonzaga (16-4, 6-1 WCC), which suffered a rare home loss.
Calvin Hermanson added 16 points for the Gaels (18-2, 7-0), who won their 13th straight.
Gonzaga and Saint Mary's have won the past nine WCC tournament titles, with Gonzaga claiming seven. The Gaels were the preseason pick by league coaches to win the conference this season.
Landale's layup put Saint Mary's up 72-70 with 1:06 left.
Zach Norvell Jr. hit a free throw for Gonzaga with 41 seconds left to cut Saint Mary's lead to one, and then Landale broke free and scored on a layup with 15 seconds left that turned out to be the game's final points.
NEBRASKA 72, NO. 23 MICHIGAN 52
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - James Palmer Jr. scored 19 points, Isaiah Roby had a career-high 14 and Nebraska got its first win over Michigan since joining the Big Ten.
Nebraska (14-7, 5-3), which needed Palmer's 3-pointer to beat last-place Illinois 64-63 on Monday, led 32-21 at the half and never let Michigan get closer than 10 points in the last 17 minutes.
Michigan (16-5, 5-3), which had won nine of its last 10, suffered its most lopsided loss of the season and had a season-low for points. Charles Matthews had 15 points for the Wolverines, who shot 37.5 percent from the floor and a season-low 22.2 percent (4 of 18) on 3-pointers.
The Wolverines had come in 8-0 against the Huskers since Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011-12, and they had won 10 straight in the series.