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College basketball live blog: This is (almost) March

Seven leagues wrap up their regular seasons today.

By Chris Schutte, Russell Steinberg, Greg Mitchell, Cam_Newton, and Kyle Cajero
NCAA Basketball: Rhode Island at St. Bonaventure Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

UPDATE: 10:57 p.m.

UC Davis trailed 63-62 to an 8-19 UC Riverside team after Highlander freshman Menno Dijkstra hit a huge three to take the lead.

Then T.J. Shorts II happened.

Although the caption provided by at UC Davis em bee bee was a bit misleading, we’ll let it slide. UC Riverside made a brutal mistake of not guarding the inbounder — who, by the way, hit a similar shot in a double-overtime thriller at Long Beach State — and they paid for it.

With Shorts’s heroics, the Aggies are in a three-way tie atop the Big West standings with two games to play.

UPDATE: 10:10 p.m.

Wild weather in Tennessee put a pause on the entertaining Murray State-Austin Peay basketball game that was in progress.

During the second half of Saturday’s game, officials stopped the game and had the arena clear out after water started coming through the roof of the Dunn Center. Montgomery County, TN, where Clarksville is located, was under a tornado warning.

Below are scenes from what happened in the arena:

UPDATE: 8:27 p.m.

The Morgan State vs. Hampton game was called with 13:33 remaining due to an apparent brawl. Hampton won 57-38.

If anyone has video, please @ us.

UPDATE: 6:37 p.m.

Savannah State’s 29-point loss to Bethune-Cookman today demonstrates exactly why the Tigers should be in the NCAA Tournament.

Seriously.

It’s because we need someone to counter-act Virginia. Bethune-Cookman won 121-92, and that final score isn’t even that out of the ordinary. It was the eighth time in Savannah State’s last 10 games that at least one team has scored in the hundreds, and the Tigers lead Division I in both adjusted tempo and average possession length.

This game featured: Four 20-plus-point scorers, 31 made threes, 167 field goal attempts, and 85 three-point attempts.

The world needs to see this in March, and it might be our last chance, with Savannah State headed to Division II soon.

UPDATE: 4:37 p.m.

William & Mary beat College of Charleston by two touchdowns in overtime to get a regular season-ending 116-102 home win. But it was a wild finish to force overtime that’s worth your time.

Check out the build up.

And then the cherry on top from Cougars’ star Grant Riller.

UPDATE: 4:18 p.m.

Winthrop entered Saturday with a chance to win the Big South regular season title and lock up the all-important, quarterfinal-hosting No. 1 seed in the league tournament. It would’ve taken a complicated tie breaker, but the Eagles did the least complicated thing of all, losing at home to Charleston Southern, 78-75.

Winthrop made it interesting, rallying from a 14-point halftime deficit to cut it to one point with eight seconds left. But two free throws by Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (26 points) on the next possession put the Buccaneers back up three with a second remaining, and Xavier Cooks’ last-minute heave was off target.

The loss hands UNC Asheville — which had a one-game lead — its second consecutive regular season title and that coveted No. 1 seed. Congrats to the Bulldogs.

UPDATE: 3:59 p.m.

Loyola came up with a huge win on national TV against Illinois State, 68-61, to wrap-up the regular season and head into Arch Madness with seven straight wins.

Clayton Custer did not hit a field goal until the final moments, but he made a huge three to put the Ramblers up five with under a minute to go. Cameron Krutwig also went 8-10 from the field to score 16 points off the bench.

No, the Ramblers probably won’t be a part of the at-large conversation if they fail to win the MVC Tournament. But take a look at their resume for a second. They’re 24-5 with a win at Florida and a 9-4 road record. Just one Quadrant 1 win and two losses outside of Quadrants 1 and 2 scream NIT, but if they win the MVC Tournament, they’re in play for an 11 or 12 seed.

Good morning friends. Are you ready for the last college basketball Saturday before March? Well, it’s a big one.

Today features the last day of regular season action for seven conferences: Big South, WCC, MVC, NEC, OVC, Patriot League and the Summit League. Some of those races have already been decided, but a few of them won’t be finalized until the end of the day.

And of course, there’s the omnipresent bubble watch. Can Saint Bonaventure continue their win streak in the always tough Siegel Center? Can Conference USA keep their hopes of two-bids alive? There’s a lot to keep an eye on.

Here are some key games to pay attention to. All times Eastern.

Illinois State at Loyola Chicago, 2 p.m., ESPN2
Charleston at William & Mary, 2 p.m.
Charleston Southern at Winthrop, 2 p.m.
UNC Asheville at Gardner Webb, 4:30 p.m., ESPN3
Santa Clara at No. 22 Saint Mary’s, 6 p.m.
UAB at No. 24 Middle Tennessee, 7 p.m., Stadium
Harvard at Penn, 7 p.m., ESPN3
Old Dominion at Western Kentucky, 7 p.m., Stadium
No. 6 Gonzaga at BYU, 8 p.m., ESPN2
St. Bonaventure at VCU, 8 p.m., CBS Sports Network
Wyoming at Fresno State, 10 p.m., ESPNU

As always, we’ll be around all day to provide updates as necessary. We’ll also have posts go up when the conference tournament brackets are finalized.

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