Buffalo fires head coach Jim Whitesell No. 6 Marquette holds off No. 11 UConn in Big East semifinal No. 15 Xavier beats No. 24 Creighton 82-60 in Big East semis Ex-Alabama player Miles indicted on capital murder charges No. 21 Duke holds off No. 14 Miami 85-78 in ACC semifinals No. 3 Kansas beats Iowa State 71-58, moves to Big 12 title game

Jim Whitesell stepped down as head coach at the University of Buffalo after his first losing season in four years, the school announced.

“We have found it necessary to change the leadership of our men’s basketball program,” said athletic director Mark Allnutt.

Whitesell was under contract for the 2024-25 season and is due to receive a $500,000 buyout under the terms of a layoff deal by April 5.

The move came two days after the sixth-seeded Bulls (15–17) lost 101–77 to Akron in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. It marked the Bulls’ third quarterfinal loss under Whitesell.

He finished with a 70–59 record with Buffalo and led the team to one postseason appearance, a 2021 NIT berth that ended with a first-round loss to Colorado State.

The lack of success in the postseason, combined with a drop in recruiting, was considered a disappointment for the school, which had established itself as a strength for MAC. He made a total of four NCAA Tournament appearances, including a first on the program, from 2014 to 2019 under Bobby Hurley and Nate Oates.

Whitesell came to Buffalo as an assistant on Oates’ staff and was promoted when Oates left to coach in Alabama.

NEW YORK. After 18 years in the Big East, Marquette finally made it to Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

Tyler Kolek and David Joplin scored 17 points each, and the sixth-place Golden Eagles advanced to the Big East Championship game for the first time, holding out No. 11 UConn 70–68 on Friday night.

On Saturday night, Marquette will face No. 15 Xavier for the title. The runners-up Musketeers beat third-place Creighton 82–60.

Working with three key players on the bench who had foul problems for a long period of time, the top seeded Golden Eagles (27-6) opened up a four-point lead thanks to a 3:39 Olivier-Maxence Prosper three-pointer gone and then lingered on a raucous monosodium glutamate.

“At one point, I looked out and we saw a bunch of freshmen and sophomores fighting, fighting, scratching their lives,” said coach Shaka Smart. “These guys didn’t blink an eye. All night they were lost in battle. It was a lot of fun to watch.”

Connecticut had a chance to tie or win in the last 10 seconds, but coach Dan Hurley decided not to call a timeout as his team carried the ball across half the court.

Jordan Hawkins missed hard in a contested, desperate 3 at the buzzer – and Smart jumped high and shook his fist in celebration.

“It seemed like a lot of people were giving UConn access to the game. There were comments about who owns The Garden and stuff like that,” Smart said. “And you know, we said wait a minute, we won this league. So we don’t give in to anyone.”

Marquette limited the fourth-seeded (25-8) Huskies to two points in the final 3:50 and left them scoreless for the final 2.5 minutes, winning for the first time in four semi-final matches at the Big East Tournament since joining. league in 2005.

Cam Jones added 14 points and Prosper added 11 points for the Golden Eagles.

Adama Sanogo had 19 points and 11 rebounds to pass the Huskies, who won six in a row and nine of 10.

“We came to this by being one of the hottest teams in the country. We will not let one game set us back,” said striker Alex Karaban, who scored 10 points.

Marquette, the first-time winner of this tournament, has won eight in a row for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

Kolek, Joplin and Golden Eagles starting forward Oso Igodaro sat with four fouls for a while before returning to play with just over two minutes left. Marquette didn’t score in the last 3.5 minutes but still managed to hold on.

“This is a testament to the depth of our team,” Smart said. “These guys, if you cut them open, you’ll find championship DNA inside them.”

Hawkins, averaging 16.5 points per game, held up to five on 2-of-11 shooting, including 1-of-8 from 3-point.

“That was the defensive key to the game,” Smart said.

Joey Calcaterra got a good look at UConn on a potential 3-bounce from around the corner with 41 seconds left, but the ball bounced off the rim.

“It was like a game like Sweet 16, Elite Eight,” Hurley said. “We’re going to recover very quickly and get ready to run next week.”

As the Huskies cut a 10-point lead to 4 in the second half, a screaming, flushed Hurley stormed onto the court during the timeout, waving his arms to cheer on the University of Connecticut fans. Jones was toe-to-toe with Sanogo right in the middle of the emerging Connecticut agglomeration before an official stepped in to rip him apart.

UConn tied at 60 on count 3 from Calcaterra with 9:22 left and again at 64 after Carabane’s pullback with 6:34 left.

Chase Ross denied Marquette a decisive 3rd tiebreaker with 6:13 to play and the Huskies never equaled again.

Kolek, the East’s Player of the Year, had 14 points and four assists in a first half that saw eight turnarounds and four draws. The teams went into the break even with 38-all.

“It’s going to be tough,” Hurley said. “It’s going to be a really terrible mental and emotional hangover that I think will last until Sunday.”

BIG PICTURE

UConn: Lost 10-5 in the Big East Semifinals, but certainly playing well ahead of the NCAA Tournament and looking talented enough to make it to the Final Four.

“We’re going to bounce back for sure next week,” Sanogo said.

Marquette: Won 13 out of 14 overall. The school’s only league tournament crown came in 1997, when it took four wins in four days at the Conference USA Championship in St. Louis.

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Marquette shared two close matches with Xavier during the regular season.

NEW YORK. Souley Bohm scored 23 points, Jack Nunj added 17 and No. 15 Xavier entered the Big East Tournament Championship game in an 82-60 victory over No. 24 Creighton on Friday night.

The Musketeers, led by Sean Miller, who placed second (25-8), will face Marquette (27-6), who placed first and placed sixth, on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in a matchup of teams seeking their first title. Big Eastern Tournament.

Since joining the conference in 2013-14, Xavier has played in the final only once, losing to Villanova in 2015.

The Musketeers seemed to have the smallest crowd at The Garden on the night of the semi-finals, but they practically had room to celebrate the decisive victory as the clock drew to a close.

Boam made a wide three-pointer with 13:55 left to extend the lead to 18, and Creighton (21-12) couldn’t make enough stops to make a run. Javier threw 52% in the second half and 47% per game.

Ryan Kalkbrenner led Creighton with 18 points on 7-of-7 shooting. The rest of the Bluejays left the field 14 of 49.

Creighton was counting on his third consecutive Big East Championship appearance and fifth overall. The Bluejays have yet to win a conference tournament since joining the league in 2013–14.

Miller, in the first season of his second stint as Xavier’s coach, allowed the Musketeers to win their first conference tournament title since his first performance at Cincinnati High.

Xavier won the Atlantic 10 tournament in 2006.

Miller spent 12 seasons in Arizona before dropping out of high school after the 2020–2021 season amid an NCAA investigation into an FBI college basketball corruption case. Miller has never been sanctioned by the NCAA.

After a season without coaching, he returned to Xavier. Miller inherited the veteran team and led it to 15 regular season wins in the Big East.

The Musketeers needed a late comeback to beat No. 10 DePaul in Thursday’s quarterfinals. But against Creighton, Xavier led almost from start to finish.

Javier extended the lead to 40-26 at halftime, turning Creighton’s 11 losses into 17 points. Boam scored eight points in a row for the Musketeers in one stretch, and three goals in a row increased the lead to 12.

BIG PICTURE

Creighton: Point guard Ryan Nembhard, who missed the Big East title game last season with a wrist injury, finished with five points on 2-of-12 shooting. solid starting five.

Xavier: The Musketeers improved to 8-3 as winger Zach Fremantle, the team’s top rebounder, pulled out with a left leg injury at the end of the season. The 6-foot-9 senior is third on the team in scoring with 15.2 points per game. The three losses added up to four points, including a 69–68 loss to Marquette.

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Creighton: The Bluejays are in good shape to play in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season.

Xavier: The Musketeers are tied with Marquette this season in five-point games.

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama. A grand jury indicted former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles and another man on capital murder charges for killing a 23-year-old woman near campus in January, attorneys for the Associated Press confirmed Friday. .

Miles has been charged with capital murder in the murder of Jamia Harris, his lawyer Mary Turner told the AP. According to his attorney, John Charles Robbins, Michael Davis, who investigators say was the trigger, was also charged.

Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Hayes Webb told AL.com that the indictments against Miles and Davis, who have been held without bail since their arrest, were filed on Wednesday.

Harris was sitting in the car when the bullet hit her. A police investigator testified last month that Miles provided the gun that Davis allegedly used in the shooting.

During a court hearing last month, Turner suggested Miles was on the defensive when he told Davis where the gun was.

But prosecutors said…