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Zion Williamson helps elevate Duke-North Carolina tickets to ridiculous prices

By Scott PhillipsFeb 19, 2019, 8:54 PM EST
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Wednesday night’s showdown between storied rivals No. 1 Duke and No. 8 North Carolina has turned into one of the hottest tickets in sports thanks to freshman superstar Zion Williamson.

Approaching Super Bowl-level pricing on secondary ticket sites like StubHub and SeatGeek, the ACC game at Cameron Indoor Stadium is going to be next-to-impossible to attend without forking over a solid chunk of change.

As of this writing, the cheapest ticket for this game on StubHub is $3,166 — with only 30 total tickets available. On SeatGeek, the cheapest ticket is $3,200, with only 33 total tickets to be had. The most expensive ticket currently listed is for $9,200 on SeatGeek.

To put those prices in perspective, TickPick marketing strategist Kyle Zorn told ESPN’s Myron Medcalf that the cheapest ticket to get into the Super Bowl this year was $2,674. Vivid Seats already sold one ticket for the Duke/UNC game for $10,652, according to Medcalf’s report.

With Cameron Indoor Stadium’s limited capacity of only 9,314, it’s a major reason why Wednesday’s game is reaching such extraordinary levels on secondary ticket markets. While the Super Bowl was a dreadfully boring game that featured minimal scoring, at least fans paying to get in on Wednesday will seemingly pay for some quality Zion moments. Known to put on a dunking exhibition during pregame warmups, the runaway National Player of the Year frontrunner, has elevated this rivalry to another new level.

Haarms’ late tip-in sends No. 15 Purdue past Indiana 48-46

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Associated PressFeb 19, 2019, 9:53 PM EST
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Matt Haarms tipped in a basket with 3.2 seconds remaining to lift No. 15 Purdue over Indiana 48-46 on Tuesday night.

Ryan Cline had 11 points, and Haarms finished with six for the Boilermakers (19-7, 12-3 Big Ten), who have won three straight at Assembly Hall for the first time in school history.

It didn’t come easily. Indiana’s Romeo Langford scored 14 points despite not taking a shot in the second half, and Juwan Morgan’s 3-pointer grazed the rim at the buzzer. Morgan had nine points and 11 rebounds as Indiana (13-13, 4-11) lost its fourth straight overall and fifth in a row in the series.

It was rivalry basketball at its ugliest.

Players repeatedly hit the deck. Rebounds bounced off the floor. The unforgiving rims made the teams look like they were playing with peach baskets, and the Hoosiers’ students serenaded Haarms with boos and chants each time he was involved in a play after locking arms with Indiana’s De’Ron Davis and falling to the floor late in the first half.

At times, Haarms showed his frustration but eventually shook it off in the waning seconds to go up over a defender to tip in Edwards’ errant runner.

It was the lowest scoring game in the series since Jan. 21, 1950, when the Hoosiers won 49-39 at Purdue.

BIG PICTURE

Purdue: It’s a win, but there’s nothing to be satisfied with in this game. The Boilermakers were outhustled most of the night, but they took care of the ball when the Hoosiers couldn’t. It’s the third straight game the Boilermakers have not looked like the same team that was rolling a month ago — and they need to find some solutions before the postseason starts.

Indiana: The Hoosiers brought the effort and energy they need every night. It showed. They scrapped, they worked together and when things got tough, they dug down on defense. If they continue playing this way, Indiana might finally turn the corner.

TOGETHER AGAIN

The Hoosiers’ best-known twins, Dick and Tom Van Arsdale, were honored at halftime — with each receiving a framed jersey.

And, of course, they shared the spotlight together as they always have.

The brothers shared Indiana’s Mr. Basketball Award, were named co-MVPs of the Hoosiers in each of their final two college seasons, both received All-American honors in 1965 and went on to play in the NBA before retiring together with the Phoenix Suns in 1977.

UP NEXT

Purdue: Wraps up a two-game trip at Nebraska on Saturday.

Indiana: Hits the road to face No. 21 Iowa on Friday.

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More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

No. 5 Tennessee wins 58-46 as Vandy loses 14th straight

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Associated PressFeb 19, 2019, 9:32 PM EST
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Grant Williams had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 5 Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 58-46 on Tuesday night in the Volunteers’ first game since losing their No. 1 ranking.

Tennessee (24-2, 12-1 Southeastern Conference) bounced back from its first loss since Thanksgiving week, an 86-69 defeat at No. 4 Kentucky on Saturday to snap a school-record 19-game winning streak.

Vanderbilt (9-17, 0-13) dropped its 14th straight, matching the longest skid in school history. Vanderbilt had a 14-game losing streak that began in the 1934-35 season and carried over to the next season.

Both teams posted their lowest point totals of the season. Vanderbilt shot just 32.1 percent (18 of 56) overall and 23.5 percent (8 of 34) in the second half.

Admiral Schofield and Lamonte’ Turner scored 11 points each for Tennessee. Aaron Nesmith had 13 to lead Vanderbilt.

Turner put Tennessee ahead for good 16-13 with 12:47 left in the first half when he sank a 3-pointer while getting fouled to produce a four-point play. Turner added another 3-pointer less than a minute later as part of an 11-0 run.

Tennessee led 36-22 late in the first half, but then scored two points over a stretch that lasted nearly nine minutes, allowing Vanderbilt to creep back into the game.

Vanderbilt went on a 10-0 run that started late in the first half and carried over to the second. But the Commodores never got Tennessee’s lead below four in the second half because of their own struggles on offense.

Tennessee finally pulled away and extended its lead to 51-38 by going on a 9-0 run that was capped by Schofield’s 3-pointer with 6:10 left. Vanderbilt answered with six straight points but couldn’t get any closer.

BIG PICTURE

Vanderbilt: If Vanderbilt played other opponents as tough as it plays Tennessee, the Commodores would have a much better record. The closest Vanderbilt has come to a win during this losing streak was an 88-83 overtime loss to Tennessee on Jan. 29. Vanderbilt led that game much of the way and gave Tennessee a challenge again Tuesday.

Tennessee: The Vols struggled in the opening minutes of the second half for a second straight game, only this time it wasn’t quite as costly. Kentucky pulled away from Tennessee on Saturday by scoring the first 14 points of the second half. Tennessee scored just two points in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the second half Tuesday but played defense well enough to stay in front.

UP NEXT

Vanderbilt is at Alabama on Saturday.

Tennessee visits No. 13 LSU on Saturday.

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Follow Steve Megargee at https://twitter.com/stevemegargee

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More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

Bubble Banter: Nebraska’s fortunes have changed thanks to better Big Ten

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By Rob DausterFeb 19, 2019, 12:20 PM EST
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Here is the most recent bracket NBC Sports bracket projection.

There is no better example in college basketball of the importance of non-conference play for a league and the value that performance brings to a team than Nebraska.

A year ago, the Cornhuskers entered Selection Sunday with a 22-10 record and a 13-5 mark in the Big Ten and barely got a sniff of life on the bubble. That was a direct result of just how weird the Big Ten was that season. The conference had four teams that were good enough to be top five seeds on Selection Sunday — Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio State and Michigan — and a bunch of nothing beyond that. To put it into perspective, prior to last season, there had never been a team with 12 Big Ten wins to get left out of the NCAA tournament and there have only been two teams in the history of the conference to win 11 games and be relegated to the NIT. Hell, the only time that any power conference team won 13 league games and missed the NCAA tournament was when it happened to Washington and Oregon in 2012. Washington won the league title but the conference was worse than it is this year, so they got left out.

Nebraska? They went 13-5 in conference play and they were a No. 5 seed in the NIT.

How?

Unbalanced scheduling meant that Nebraska only got one game against each of those top four teams — three of which came on the road — and they won the one game they got at home by 20 points over the same Michigan team that reached the national title game. They, like the much of rest of the conference, whiffed on all of their chances to land big wins outside of league play, and when they lost at Illinois late in the season, it was more or less the end of the road.

This year, Nebraska is sitting at 5-10 in league play with a 15-11 record overall, and … they’re one of our Next Four Teams Out?

How is that possible?

It’s simple: The Big Ten cleaned up in non-conference play, meaning that everyone in the league except for Rutgers is ranked in the top 80 of the NET. If Illinois (77) and Northwestern (78) find a way to get into the top 75, it would mean that 13 of the 14 teams in the conference would be Q1 wins if you beat them on the road. Yes, Nebraska lost seven games in a row, but five of those seven losses were Q1 losses and the other team were Q2.

They’re 15-11 on the season but they don’t have a single bad loss to their name. What they’re missing are those high-end wins, and that’s where things get really interesting. The final five games on Nebraska’s schedule — including Tuesday night’s trip to Penn State (70) — are Q1 games. They close the season against Purdue (12), at Michigan (8), at Michigan State (7) and Iowa (28). Let’s say they finish the season 3-2 and pick up a win at a depleted Michigan State team in the process. Suddenly, they would be sitting at 18-13 on the season. The committee would not factor in that 8-12 record in the Big Ten or that there was a seven-game losing streak in the middle of the year.

Instead, they would look at a team that is 5-10 in Q1 games and 10-13 against Q1 and Q2 opponents with a win in East Lansing in their back pocket.

I look at bubble profiles every single day this time of year.

And that resume? I think it probably gets them into the tournament.

What a time to be alive.

WINNERS

BUFFALO (NET: 24, SOS: 77): Putting up 114 points in a blowout win over Ohio, the Bulls avoided a harmful Q4 loss to one of the MAC’s worst teams. While this game won’t do much of anything to enhance Buffalo’s at-large credibility, the Bulls have to be pleased by how they played on Tuesday — regardless of competition. Five MAC regular season games remain for Buffalo, with a rematch at home against Bowling Green (a team that beat Buffalo on Feb. 1) on March 8 as the game that matters most. As long as Buffalo wins out the regular season, they should safely get into the field even with a MAC Tournament loss.

LOSERS

NEBRASKA (NET: 38, SOS: 81): So, of course, after all of that, what does Nebraska do? They go on the road and get blown out by Big Ten bottomfeeder Penn State during an embarrassing 95-71 loss. It’s only a Q1 loss (for now, as Penn State is hovering close to No. 75 in NET), but at this point in the season, the Huskers can’t be hurting themselves by no-showing in a must-win game. As noted above, Nebraska still has ample opportunities to play great teams and earn quality wins. But this might very well be the loss that puts the Huskers in the NIT for the second straight year.

DAVIDSON (NET: 67, SOS: 128): Suffering its second Q3 loss in 10 days, Davidson lost at home to Dayton in Atlantic 10 play. With no Q1 wins (0-2) and just a 3-1 mark against Q2 teams, the Wildcats already didn’t have enough to get into the field as an at-large. Now, dropping to a very mediocre 6-4 mark against Q3 teams, it would be surprising to see Davidson even listed among bubble teams after this loss. We’re now looking at an autobid or bust scenario for Bob McKillop’s team.

GAMES LEFT TO PLAY

Rhode Island at VCU (NET: 42, SOS: 31), 8:00 p.m.
No. 16 Florida State at CLEMSON (NET: 41, SOS: 43), 9:00 p.m.
BAYLOR (NET: 36, SOS: 45) at No. 19 Iowa State, 9:00 p.m.
ALABAMA (NET: 50, SOS: 20) at Texas A&M, 9:00 p.m.

Player of the Year Power Rankings: Zion Williamson has this award locked up

AP Photo/Zack Wajsgras
By Rob DausterFeb 19, 2019, 11:11 AM EST
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1. ZION WILLIAMSON, Duke

I’m running out of good things to say about Zion at this point.

Last week, we talked about how good he can play in games where he doesn’t even play well — when he had 18 points, five boards, five assists, three blocks and three steals in an OK performance at Virginia. Then this past week we saw Zion play through foul trouble to put up 27 points, 12 boards and three steals in a come-from-behind win at Louisville before lighting up N.C. State for 32 points, six boards and three steals in just 30 minutes.

He’s just not fair at this level, and at this point in the season, with less than three weeks before tournament play kicks off, I think we can just about stamp him as the National Player of the Year.

2. MARKUS HOWARD, Marquette

After struggling and finishing with just 17 points on 5-for-17 shooting in Marquette’s loss to St. John’s two weeks ago, Howard has been absolutely on fire. He’s averaging 37.0 points in the last two games while shooting 25-for-45 (55.6 percent) from the floor and 9-for-20 (45 percent) from three. Included in that run is a 38 point performance in a win over Villanova. He has been carrying the Golden Eagles for stretches on the offensive end of the floor this season, and that is why they are in the mix for a Big East regular season title.

3. JA MORANT, Murray State

Morant had 25 points, 14 assists, eight boards, three steals and a block the last time out. He’s averaging 24.3 points and 10.2 assists on the season. He is the reason a Murray State team that doesn’t have all that much talent on the roster is sitting at 21-4 on the year. I don’t think the Racers have a realistic shot at getting an at-large bid this season, but I want nothing more than a chance to see Morant try and put 50 points up against some No. 3 seed in the first round of the tournament.

4. R.J. BARRETT, Duke

I think that you can make the argument that R.J. Barrett played his best game of the season on Saturday, as he notched just the fourth triple-double in the history of the Duke program while posting 23 points, 11 boards and 10 assists without committing a single turnover.

5. GRANT WILLIAMS, Tennessee

The flaw in Williams’ game was exposed on Saturday night. When he goes up against someone that can match him pound for pound and muscle for muscle, he doesn’t quite have the athleticism or the skill to win that battle. He’s still a surefire all-american and, at this point, I have a hard time imagining him falling off of the first-team, but we did get a glimpse at some of his limitations.

6. DE’ANDRE HUNTER, Virginia

Every time I watch Hunter play, I am more and more convinced that he is on his way to being a top five player out of this draft class. The most intriguing part of it all is the way that Tony Bennett has opted to deploy him on the defensive end of the floor, using Hunter to guard Coby White in the closing minutes of a win at North Carolina and putting him on Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the win at Virginia Tech. Those are point guards. Hunter plays as the four in many of Virginia’s lineups.

7. CASSIUS WINSTON, Michigan State

Nick Ward had surgery on his hand and is out for an undetermined amount of time. Josh Langford is already done for the season. If Michigan State is going to have any chance to make a run in March, they are going to need Winston to play out of his mind for the next six weeks.

8. JARRETT CULVER, Texas Tech

Culver makes his return to this list as his three-point shooting has started to regress back to the mean. After a 3-for-33 stretch from deep, Culver is 5-for-11 from deep in the last two games as the Red Raiders have gone scorched earth from beyond the arc of late. The fact that Davide Moretti and Matt Mooney are starting to hit shots is opening up some more space for him to operate.

9. BRANDON CLARKE, Gonzaga

I don’t care what Jordan Sperber says, Clarke is the best player on Gonzaga this season.

10. P.J. WASHINGTON, Kentucky

In the last eight games, Washington is averaging 21.1 points, 8.1 boards, 1.3 blocks and 1.1 steals, which includes a 23 point performance as Kentucky manhandled No. 1 Tennessee in Rupp Arena on Saturday evening. More important, however, is the fact that during that stretch, Washington is shooting 12-for-24 (50 percent) from three. It’s hard to know exactly where to put Washington on a list like this — he has a couple big games earlier in the year, but he was no where near as consistent or as dominant — but I do think that if he finishes out the season the way that he has played over the course of the last month he will win SEC Player of the Year.

IN THE MIX: Phil Booth (Villanova), Jordan Caroline (Nevada), Carsen Edwards (Purdue), Rui Hachimura (Gonzaga), Ethan Happ (Wisconsin), Ty Jerome (Virginia), Dedric Lawson (Kansas), Charles Matthews (Michigan), Shamorie Ponds (St. John’s)

Davison, Iverson lead No. 22 Wisconsin over Illinois, 64-58

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Associated PressFeb 18, 2019, 11:49 PM EST
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MADISON, Wis. — Brad Davison scored 18 points, Khalil Iverson added 16 and No. 22 Wisconsin held off Illinois 64-58 on Monday night.

The Badgers (18-8, 10-5 Big Ten) ground out a win over Illinois (10-16, 6-9) with leading scorer Ethan Happ on the bench down the stretch.

Happ, who averages 18 points, scored just six points on 3-of-7 shooting, was 0 for 3 from the foul line and had three turnovers, including one just before he sat out the final minutes. He also has proven a liability from the line in crunch time in past games, shooting less than 45 percent from the line.

But Davison led the Badgers down the stretch. His short jumper put the Badgers up 54-52 with 3:21 left, giving them the lead for good. After Iverson blocked Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Davison collected the loose ball to take it in for a layup and a 56-52 lead with 2:45 to go.

From there the teams traded blows until Nate Reuvers’ putback dunk on a missed 3 gave Wisconsin a 62-58 lead. Iverson then stole the ball on the next Illinois possession, helping put away the game.

Aaron Jordan finished with 12 points for the Illini, while Ayo Dosunmu added 11 and Bezhanishvili 10.

BIG PICTURE

Illinois: The Illini had won four straight and were looking for their first five-game conference winning streak since 2013. Instead, they lost their 15th in a row to the Badgers, the longest streak to any Illinois opponent.

Wisconsin: The Badgers snapped a two-game losing streak and proved they could win in a grind-it-out game with Happ on the bench.

UP NEXT

Illinois: Hosts Penn State on Saturday.

Wisconsin: Travels to Northwestern on Saturday.