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From start to finish, Thursday’s college basketball slate had it all

Whether it was multiple overtimes, large comebacks, game-winning buzzer-beaters, or just flat-out great basketball, Thursday’s slate had it all. From the power conferences to the mid-majors, nearly every conference in action had a great moment to mention to truly wrap up the slate.

All four ACC quarterfinals had their own twist on Thursday, starting with the day’s headline of Duke superstar freshman Cooper Flagg going down with an ankle injury. While unlikely to play in the rest of the ACC Tournament, there’s hope that Flagg will be good to go for the Big Dance that tips off in less than a week’s time. Trailing at the time of the injury, Duke came back to defeat Georgia Tech, with Kon Knueppel scoring a game-high 28 points. The second quarterfinal saw UNC and Wake Forest battling it out, with the winner holding out slim hope of an NCAA Tournament berth and the loser likely sent to the NIT. Fueled by 23 points from RJ Davis, North Carolina figured things out in the second half to complete a 68-59 victory over Wake Forest.

The second session of the day saw the real late-game drama, where Louisville went on a 29-8 “super-run” across a large stretch in the second half to secure a late lead over Stanford. The Cardinal then scored eight straight in 64 seconds to tie the game at 73-73, but Louisville guard Chucky Hepburn found himself wide-open with the ball at the elbow in the final seconds, knocking down the mid-range jumper to send Louisville into its first-ever ACC semifinals. Clemson and SMU grinded it out in the final matchup of the day, and Clemson escaped 57-54 after a last-minute defensive stand saw a three-pointer from Chuck Harris fall off the mark.

While the Big 12 and Big Ten couldn’t quite match the intensity and drama of the ACC games in Charlotte, there were still a handful of fun matchups that went down to the wire in Kansas City and Indianapolis. The morning quarterfinal saw BYU and Iowa State meet just days after the Cougars won in Hilton Coliseum, and Kevin Young’s red-hot squad was victorious for the ninth game in a row in a 96-92 thriller. Later in the day, Baylor and Texas Tech went down to the wire on the same floor, and it only got close because the Red Raiders didn’t connect on a field goal over the last seven minutes. Baylor’s frantic comeback came up just short though, as after Christian Anderson missed two straight free throws with four seconds left, VJ Edgecombe’s runner at the buzzer was too strong and the Red Raiders escaped 76-74.

In the Big Ten, it was a controversial call that caught the headlines and left USC head coach Eric Musselman in flames. Big Ten veterans Purdue were the beneficiaries, and Trey Kaufman-Renn’s 30 points led the Boilermakers to a 76-71 victory.

At the world’s most famous arena, two instant classic quarterfinals went down on Thursday. Trailing by ten at the half, Marquette, fueled by Kam Jones, engineered a comeback to knock off NCAA Tournament-hopeful Xavier. Jones had 28 points in the 89-87 win, but Ryan Conwell’s game-high 38 points stole a lot of the headlines. Conwell and Xavier had a great finish to the regular season, but now the Musketeers will watch the Selection Show with plenty of angst after going out in their first game of the Big East Tournament.

Later on in the day, another favorite escaped late, this time being Creighton led by Ryan Kalkbrenner’s 32 points winning 85-81 in double overtime over tenth-seeded DePaul. DePaul had the game in its hands, leading in regulation 62-51 with less than two minutes to go, before an unbelievable collapse, only fitting for a program that has struggled so much over recent seasons. DePaul’s Layden Blocker did all he could over the course of the overtime period, finishing with 25 points and scoring 16 of DePaul’s 19 overtime points, but the young stud couldn’t get enough help in the extra periods to push the Blue Demons over the hump.

With 14 NCAA Tournament hopefuls headed down to Nashville earlier this week, through two days of the SEC Tournament, it looks as if 14 teams getting in is now the most likely result. The day started with a dramatic finish, as Sean Pedulla knocked down the day’s first buzzer-beater with a three-pointer as time expired that lifted Ole Miss over Arkansas 83-80 to advance to play top-seeded Auburn. Texas, playing for its NCAA Tournament hopes, picked up a massive win over Vanderbilt on Wednesday and doubled it on Thursday afternoon with a stunning 94-89 double-overtime win over in-state rivals Texas A&M. Six Longhorns scored in double figures as Tre Johnson and Jordan Pope hit the clutch baskets after Tramon Mark fouled out late.

In the final power conference game of the night, Oklahoma and Kentucky battled it out for their second instant classic in as many weeks. Kentucky surrendered a ten-point lead with 1:26 to go, as Oklahoma’s pressure ramped up, forcing three late turnovers while Jeremiah Fears hit two crucial buckets, the latter of which put Oklahoma up 84-83. Fears finished with a game-high 28 points, but the five and a half seconds still on the clock were too much for former Sooner Otega Oweh, who went the length of the floor to convert the game-winning floater to lift Kentucky over Oklahoma 85-84.

It wasn’t just the power conference tournaments that delivered though, as a handful of mid-major games went down to the wire. In the MAC, the 4/5 quarterfinal was sent to overtime, with Toledo’s Isaiah Adams leading the Rockets with 26 points to a 90-85 win over Ohio. In the MEAC, Morgan State knocked off Howard 91-90 behind Kameron Hobbs’ 33-point performance and game-winning layup with ten seconds to play.

After Middle Tennessee’s chance to knock off Louisiana Tech was deemed after the shot clock went off late on in regulation, the Blue Raiders advanced to the CUSA semifinals after an extra ten minutes of basketball in Huntsville. Jestin Porter scored 20 points in the double-overtime win as third-seeded MTSU survived 77-75 against sixth-seeded Louisiana Tech.

With still plenty of hoops left to be played this weekend, there’s sure to be plenty more legendary March moments created before the real madness even tips off.

Other Things to Note:

• Conference tournament action continues all-day Friday on a range of networks