It’s the final Saturday of the men’s college basketball regular season and they saved the best for last.
Alongside ongoing small conference tournaments is a solid slate that’s already delivered early. No. 1 Houston mauled No. 14 Kansas in a 30-point blowout while locking up the Big 12 title in its first season in the conference. In the SEC, No. 15 Kentucky and No. 4 Tennessee put on a show in a back-and-forth thriller.
But that all serves as a warmup for the most storied rivalry in the sport later as No. 7 North Carolina visits No. 9 Duke.
As teams battle for higher seeds or try to work their way off the NCAA tournament bubble, the last few games could be critical. Follow along live as Yahoo Sports tracks all the action on a loaded college basketball Saturday.
The Tar Heels and Blue Devils have identical 24-6 records ahead of their rivalry matchup at Cameron Indoor Stadium. UNC came out on top in the first meeting between the teams on Feb. 4 as Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram combined for 46 points and 23 rebounds in a 93-84 win. Duke has won eight of its last nine and would claim a share of the ACC regular season title with North Carolina if the Blue Devils win at home on Saturday. With five players averaging double figures, Duke is a well-balanced team that’s likely looking at a No. 2 seed.
Live43 updates
Highlight of the Day
South Carolina was about to lose its first game of the season … then Kamilla Cardoso did this:
The Tar Heels are cooking early — Cormac Ryan, specifically. He’s 3-of-3 from deep and UNC has a double-digit lead.
We are underway at Cameron Indoor!
Final: Kentucky 85, Tennessee 81
UT got 40 points out of star Dalton Knecht but ultimately couldn’t match Kentucky’s slew of talented guards. Antonio Reeves and Reed Sheppard scored 27 points each for the Wildcats in the SEC win.
Kentucky turns it over! Tennessee will have a chance to tie it up with just over 20 seconds left.
The Vols are keeping this thing tight late. A turnover and an and-one by Zakai Zeigler cuts it to 5 points!
Reed Sheppard is cooking. He has 25 points with 2 minutes left as UK tries to hold on at Tennessee.
Final: No. 1 Houston 76, No. 14 Kansas 46
The Cougars are running it up now. Houston is up 30-plus despite having locked up the Big 12 regular season title before the game even began.
Dalton Knecht is heating up and the Vols are going to need him to stick around. Kentucky’s freshmen guards have been blistering this half.
Here’s the video of Hunter Dickinson’s injury. He immediately grabs his right shoulder after going up for .
Hunter Dickinson just went straight to the locker room after coming down with an apparent shoulder injury after this play. Not good for Kansas, esp. with McCullar already dinged up. pic.twitter.com/XRKwoq0OBu
