Irish finish perfect at home in Big East
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey is relieved the Fighting Irish are done at home this season.
The 19th-ranked Irish beat St. John's 68-55 on Wednesday night to become the first Big East team to go undefeated at home in conference play in consecutive seasons. Brey said the streak gives the players confidence, but it made him sweat.
"That thing gets a little heavier every week," he said.
The Irish, who shot 54 percent from the field, extended their Big East home winning streak to 18, two shy of the league record set by Pittsburgh over three seasons, ending in 2004. The Irish extended their overall home winning streak to 37 games, one shy of the school record set from 1943-48.
"It gives next year's team a little something to think about in the summer because you can chase 20," Brey said.
The Fighting Irish (23-6, 13-4) opened a 10-point lead late in the first half and kept it in double digits most of the rest of the way. Kyle McAlarney, who finished with 13 points, hit a 17-foot jumper with 1:13 left to extend the lead to 68-50.
Anthony Mason Jr. had 16 points for the Red Storm (11-18, 5-12).
Indiana 69, Minnesota 55: Eric Gordon scored 9 of his 20 points during a decisive late run, leading No. 18 Indiana past Minnesota in D.J. White's final home game.
Interim head coach Dan Dakich improved to 3-1 since replacing Kelvin Sampson last month and the Hoosiers (25-5, 14-3) stayed in contention for the Big Ten regular-season title with their school-record 17th home victory.
White, a senior forward, had 17 points and 5 rebounds for the Hoosiers, while Lawrence McKenzie had 22 points for Minnesota (18-11, 8-9).
Wisconsin 77, Penn St. 41: Marcus Landry scored 15 points, and No. 10 Wisconsin (25-4, 15-2) trounced visiting Penn State to (14-45, 6-11) to clinch at least a tie for the Big Ten regular-season championship.
It is the third time in seven seasons the Badgers have claimed at least a share of the conference title under coach Bo Ryan.
Memphis 72, SMU 55: Derrick Rose scored 19 points, and Chris Douglas-Roberts added 18, leading No. 2 Memphis (29-1, 15-0 Conference USA) past host SMU.
Jon Killen had 16 points for the Mustangs (9-19, 3-12).
Tennessee 89, Florida 86: JaJuan Smith scored 23 points, and Chris Lofton added 21 as No. 4 Tennessee overcame a 16-point deficit to beat host Florida.
The Volunteers (27-3, 13-2 Southeastern Conference) set a school record for victories and may have knocked the two-time defending national champion Gators (21-9, 8-7) out of the NCAA Tournament picture.
Duke 86, Virginia 70: Gerald Henderson scored 19 points as Duke won at Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Kyle Singler scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half for the Blue Devils (26-3, 13-2), while DeMarcus Nelson had 16, Greg Paulus 14 and Jon Scheyer 10.
Sean Singletary had 18 points for Virginia (14-14, 4-11).
Vanderbilt 86, Mississippi St. 85 (OT): Shan Foster, Vanderbilt's all-time leading scorer, had a career-high 42 points and hit his final nine 3-point attempts, the last with 2.7 seconds left in overtime, to lift the Commodores (25-5, 10-5 Southeastern Conference) over visiting Mississippi State (20-9, 11-4).