Oscar Tshiebwe, Jabari Smith headline Saturday standouts
The first men's college basketball Saturday of March featured a loaded slate of entertaining conference clashes.
A total of 105 Division I games were played on Saturday, making it one of the busiest — and most entertaining — days on the college hoops calendar.
No. 7 Kentucky kicked off the day with an impressive 71-63 victory over Florida behind 27 points and 15 rebounds from Oscar Tshiebwe, while freshman sensation Jabari Smith put on a show of his own in No. 5 Auburn's 82-71 win over South Carolina. North Carolina followed that with a stunning 94-81 win over No. 4 Duke in Mike Krzyzewski's final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
No. 17 UCLA closed out the evening with a 75-68 win over No. 16 USC in a much-anticipated Pac-12 showdown.
These are the impressive performances that stood out from the Saturday's games.
Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky
The West Virginia transfer is one of the leaders for National Player of the Year honors this season. He delivered with another dominant performance on Saturday, putting up a game-high 27 points and 15 rebounds in Kentucky's victory over Florida.
It was Tshiebwe's 25th double-double of the season, which ranks second in the nation.
Jabari Smith, Auburn
The freshman sensation and potential No. 1 pick in this year's NBA Draft put on another offensive clinic on Saturday. Smith scored 21 points and grabbed six rebounds as the Tigers topped South Carolina 82-71, clinching the outright SEC regular-season title. Smith was perfect from the 3-point line, hitting all three attempts en route to topping the 20-point mark for the fifth time in the past six games.
Armando Bacot, North Carolina
In a stunner of all stunners, Bacot and the Tar Heels knocked off No. 4 Duke in Mike Krzyzewski's final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Bacot was dominant from start to finish, posting 23 points and seven rebounds in North Carolina's 94-81 victory.
Not only did this win likely punch UNC's ticket to the NCAA Tournament, but it might have solidified Bacot as the ACC Player of the Year this season.
Georgia Tech's matchup with Boston College wasn't a marquee game on Saturday's slate, but Usher's final stat line was impossible to ignore. The 6-foot-7 senior forward scored 30 points on 12-of-16 shooting, as the Yellow Jackets defeated the Eagles 82-78 in overtime. Usher added eight rebounds and five assists in the win.
It couldn't have been a more perfect senior night sendoff for the Jayhawks' big man. McCormack poured in a game-high 22 points and grabbed 10 boards to lead No. 6 Kansas to a memorable 70-63 win over No. 21 Texas. The 6-foot-10 forward went 10-for-10 from the foul line as Kansas clinched a share of the Big 12 regular-season title.
The Huskies' big man was dominant in No. 18 UConn's 75-68 victory over DePaul. Sanogo put up 26 points and 11 rebounds in the win, giving him his eighth double-double of the season.
The Huskies are a perfect 8-0 in games that Sanogo scores 20 or more points.
The Xavier Musketeers put on an offensive clinic on Saturday, and it was led by senior guard Nate Johnson. The 6-foot-4 Johnson was on fire from 3-point range, hitting 7 of 11 from distance en route to scoring a game-high 25 points in Xavier's 97-75 victory over Georgetown.
Xavier's Nate Johnson put on a show for senior night with 25 points on 7 for 11 shooting from downtown
