Welcome to “The Daily Scoop”, an article to bring you up to date with the latest news from college basketball and a preview of the day ahead.

Daily Headlines

Morehead State takes down Little Rock in OVC Championship Game

The first NCAA tournament bid of 2024 was claimed on Saturday night by the Morehead State Eagles. The Eagles won the Ohio Valley Conference title game 69-55 over the top-seeded Little Rock Trojans, avenging a regular season loss. Riley Minix led Morehead State with 26 points in the championship game, while also scoring 26 in the semifinals and 20 in the quarterfinals. Drew Thelwell and Kalil Thomas, two of the Eagles’ best shooters each hit three three-pointers in the title game, leading the Eagles to a 9-24 mark from behind the arc. The championship game showed a dominant defensive performance from the Eagles, one that they will need to replicate if they hope to win a game in the NCAA Tournament. 2024 will mark the first NCAA Tournament appearance for Morehead State since 2021, when SEC stars Johni Broome and Ta’lon Cooper were running the floor for the Eagles.

#15 Kentucky stuns #4 Tennessee on the road despite Knecht’s 40 points

Saturday gave Kentucky its fifth straight win, as the Wildcats went on the road to beat Tennessee 85-81. Kentucky has played well on the road this season, claiming wins at Florida, Mississippi State, Auburn, and now Tennessee. Antonio Reeves and Reed Sheppard each scored 27 in Thompson-Boling Arena to stun the home crowd. Saturday’s game will put doubt in the back of the mind of many Tennessee fans, as they witnessed their star, Dalton Knecht, go for 40 points, but the rest of the offense falter, going just 14-45. On the bright side, the loss didn’t mean much, as the Vols had already wrapped up the SEC regular season title, and Arizona’s loss at USC keeps Tennessee right in line to claim the final #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The win for Kentucky will mean a lot, as it gives Kentucky a second-place finish in the SEC, taking the tiebreaker over Auburn, Alabama, and South Carolina, who all finished 13-5. If the Wildcats can continue to play like this, playing enough defense to win games, they can make a run to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

#7 UNC completes season sweep over #9 Duke

For the second time in three years, UNC has gone into Cameron Indoor Stadium on the final night of the regular season and taken down the Duke Blue Devils. This year’s win came in large part due to the hot shooting night from Cormac Ryan, who finished with 31 points on 8-12 shooting, including a 6-8 clip from three-point range. Duke was led by Kyle Filipowski, who finished with 23 points, but may be getting more coverage over his tripping incident of UNC’s Harrison Ingram. Duke held RJ Davis and Armando Bacot in check, each scoring just nine points, but continuous timely shots from Ryan was the difference maker. These two squads will go into the ACC Tournament as the top two seeds, with a potential date in the championship game looming. The win gave UNC the season sweep over Duke, and gave them their first outright ACC regular season title since 2017.

Other Things to Note:

• #1 Houston puts up dominant performance over #14 Kansas in 76-46 win
• #2 UConn takes down Providence 74-60 despite slow start
• DJ Rodman scores 19 points as USC stuns #5 Arizona on Senior Night
• Kansas State knocks off #6 Iowa State to keep slim at-large hopes alive
• Kam Jones goes for 30 points as #8 Marquette wins at Xavier to close the regular season
• Trey Alexander sinks buzzer-beater for #10 Creighton at Villanova
• Texas Tech finishes regular season with home win over #11 Baylor
• Darius Brown II hits late three-pointer to lead #22 Utah State over New Mexico
• Freshman PJ Haggerty scores 32 as Tulsa stuns #24 USF
• Longwood takes down top-seeded and hosts High Point in Big South semifinals
• Drew Pember notches 30-point triple-double as UNCA advances to Big South championship game
• Texas State wins third straight game as #11 seed in Sun Belt Tournament, taking down 3rd-seeded Troy
• 5th-seeded Longwood matches up with 2nd-seeded UNC-Asheville for Big South title (12:00 ET, ESPN2)
• #3 Purdue hosts Wisconsin to close out the regular season (12:30 ET, FOX)
• 2nd-seeded Drake and 1st-seeded Indiana State meet for the Missouri Valley championship (2:00 ET, CBS)
• 2nd-seeded Stetson hosts 4th-seeded Austin Peay in Atlantic Sun title game (2:00 ET, ESPN2)
• Iowa hosts #12 Illinois with a chance to grab a signature win (7:00 ET, FS1)
• Sun Belt, SoCon, and Patriot League semifinals take place on Sunday (ESPN+, ESPNU, CBSSN)