NCAA Tournament Bubble Update: Villanova Loss Boosts Pitt
PITTSBURGH -- The college basketball regular season is down to it's final weekend and the Pitt Panthers are one of many teams around the country fighting to secure a dwindling number of at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Pitt got some help early with Memphis falling on the road to Florida Atlantic and their run of good luck continued with Villanova falling at home to No. 10 Creighton, 69-67. The Panthers got even more help from No. 17 South Carolina, who knocked off Mississippi
The Wildcats fell behind by as many as 24 midway through the first half but battled back to make it just a 40-29 deficit at halftime. They continued to chip away at the Blue Jays' lead and even made it a one-point game with 92 seconds to play in regulation. Trailing by three after a put-back dunk by Ryan Kaulkbrenner, Villanova's Justin Moore was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and tied the game at 67 with less than 20 seconds. But Trey Alexander, who fouled Moore, hit a fade-away 2-pointer with 00.2 seconds left to win the game.
Villanova entered the day ranked ahead of Pitt as a Last Four In team, per ESPN's Joe Lunardi and a First Four Out team, per CBS Sports' Jerry Palm.
Simultaneously, Mississippi State hosted No. 17 South Carolina and played them tight. The Bulldogs trailed 38-37 at halftime and tied the Gamecocks at 75 with 32 seconds remaining in the second half. Trailing by two with under 10 seconds left on the clock, Mississippi State's Dashawn Davis was fouled. He made two free throws to tie the game at 77 and South Carolina's last-second heave went wide.
In overtime, the Gamecocks scored on their first three possessions but Mississippi State answered every bucket with points of their own, primarily from the free throw line or from Tolu Smith crashing the offensive glass. The Bulldogs trailed by three with 30 seconds left and had the ball. Josh Hubbard missed his first triple attempt but Smith offensive rebounded his miss and Hubbard was fouled trying to tie the game one more time. He made two free throws but B.J. Mack rebounded the crucial miss with 10 seconds left. Mack's two free throws were good and South Carolina fouled up three again with 6.8 seconds left.
After D.J. Jeffries went one of two from the line, Meechie Johnson was fouled for South Carolina and he made both his attempts to make it a four-point lead for the Gamecocks and secure the win.
Mississippi State is a No. 10 seed in Palm's projections and one of the Last Four Byes in Lunardi's.
Pitt, meanwhile, is still one of the Next Four Out according to Lunardi and a First Four Out team according to Palm. They'll try to give their resume one last boost with a home game against N.C. State this weekend before heading to the NCAA Tournament in Washington, D.C. next week.
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