On what was the last day of the regular season for a large swath of teams across the country, many at their home venues in holding with tradition observed Senior Day to pay tribute and commemorate the contributions of seniors to their respective programs.
To ghastly results.
At Auburn, the No. 1 Tigers lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer in overtime. At Marquette, Big East-leading St. John’s stunned the Golden Eagles with its own buzzer-beater from chip-shot range. At North Carolina, the Tar Heels let Duke — and perhaps its NCAA Tournament hopes with it — slip away. And at Missouri, shorthanded Kentucky took a blowtorch to the Tigers’ flailing defense and came away with a needed win.
Even at Wisconsin, where the Badgers had never lost to Penn State at the Kohl Center, the Nittany Lions checked a box by doing exactly that and in the process spoiling Senior Day in Madison.
Duke clinches outright ACC title, makes claim for No. 1 ranking after spoiling North Carolina’s upset bid
David Cobb
Indiana, Louisville, Clemson, Arkansas and others wound up on the winning side of the ledger in similar situations, so it wasn’t all bad for senior celebrations. But it was nothing if not entertaining.
Our recap of the mayhem is below with a look at all the day’s biggest winners and losers.
Winner: Duke flips switch late vs. UNC
Despite a relatively competitive game on the road in a tough environment vs. a desperate rival, No. 2 Duke, well, it wound up doing No. 2 Duke things in the end. The Blue Devils completed the regular-season sweep of the North Carolina Tar Heels and did so with relative ease, winning 82-69 in Chapel Hill to clinch the outright ACC championship.
It was a close game at half…
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