Washington State upsets No. 3 Utah 66-58 in Pac-12 quarters Nathan Davis out as Bucknell head coach Minnesota’s Whalen resigns after third straight losing season Antoine Davis finishes shy of passing Maravich scoring mark Tennessee PG Zakai Zeigler suffers season-ending knee injury Detroit Mercy’s Davis nears Maravich’s NCAA scoring record

LAS VEGAS — Bella Murekatete scored 19 points as Washington State upset No. 3 Utah State 66-58 in the Pac-12 quarterfinal game.

The Cougars (21-10) led the trio with 39.3 seconds left and had the ball, and instead of fouling, the Utes allowed Charlisse Léger-Walker to actually circle the shot clock, make one pass, return the ball and fold. a three-pointer with eight seconds left extended the lead to 64-58.

Léger-Walker finished with 15 points and Ola Motuga scored 13 points for the Cougars.

Utah (25-4) was led by Gianna Niepkens with 18 points. Alyssa Pealy added 11 points to Utes.

Trailing by four at halftime, the Cougars beat Utah 27–11 in the third quarter, closing a two-point gap to end the period 14–0 to go 53–41 ahead in the final period.

Washington State hit 11 of 19 (57.9%) from the floor in the third, including 5 of 7 (71.4%) from three-point range, while the normally prolific Cliff fought for 36.4% of shots (4 of eleven).

Opening the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer from Nipkens, the Utes conceded eight shots in a row while the Cougars took a 14-point lead, 58–44, with 7:41 left in the game.

The Cougars capped Utah’s second chances with a defensive rebounding percentage of 77.1%. Washington State also passed Utah on second chance points, 11–4.

BIG PICTURE

Washington State: The Cougars took revenge on last year’s tournament when the teams also met in the quarterfinals. Utah beat Washington State 70–59.

Utah: The Utahs have been the top-scoring team in the Pac-12 this season, averaging 84.4 points per game. They never found their way offensively from the start, as they scored a rather dismal 27% in the first five minutes.

NEXT

Washington State: Play Colorado State or Oregon State in Friday’s semi-final round.

Utah: NCAA bid pending. —

LEWISBURG, Pennsylvania. Nathan Davis stepped down as head coach at Bucknell, ending an eight-year tenure during which he lost twice to much higher-seeded opponents in the NCAA Tournament.

The move was announced by Bucknell athletic director Jermaine Truax.

The Bison went 12-20 this season, ending with a 64-59 loss to the American in the first round of the Patriot League tournament.

Davis became Bucknell’s head coach with a 129–115 record. Bison lost to fourth-seeded West Virginia 86–80 in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, and lost to third-seeded Michigan State 82–78 in the 2018 tournament.

Davis, 48, had previously been an assistant at Bucknell for five seasons. He was also head coach at his alma mater, Randolph-Macon, and assistant at the Navy and Colgate.

“I am grateful for the positive mentoring Nathan has provided to our student athletes, however the last four seasons have not met the high standards of on-court success we expect from our men’s basketball team,” Truax said.

MINNEAPOLIS. Lindsey Whalen, considered the greatest player in Minnesota women’s basketball history, resigned as coach Thursday after losing her third consecutive losing season.

The Gophers’ 11–19 season ended with a first-round loss to Penn State in the Big Ten on Wednesday. They finished 12th in the Big Ten with a 4-12 record, their fewest wins in 12 years.

Whalen, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, was hired five years ago with no coaching experience. Whalen, who earned a base salary of $547,000 this year, received a contract extension for the 2024-25 season last March. Athletic director Mark Coyle said Whalen will remain special assistant director of athletics until April 12, 2025.

Whalen, in a statement, thanked Coyle for the opportunity.

“We did everything right and created a lot of memories,” she said, “but now is the perfect time for me to step aside and be a proud graduate again. I look forward to supporting and cheering for the next head coach.”

Whalen was supposed to appear at the press conference with Coyle, but did not show up. Coyle said she was busy meeting with her staff. Whalen tweeted Thursday night that her absence was due to being overwhelmed with emotion in the elevator on her way to the press conference. “I am human,” she wrote.

When Coyle was asked if the breakup was a joint decision, he said he had a long meeting with Whalen three or four weeks ago to discuss the situation.

“Together, we just felt that now was the right time for her to retire,” Coyle said. “She will continue to be part of our program. She is so loved in these corridors and in these buildings. Obviously, she is an icon. She’s on Mount Rushmore, Minnesota.

Whalen grew up an hour west of Minneapolis in Hutchinson and played for the Gophers from 2000 to 2004. She left as the program’s all-time leader in points, second in assists, and third in steals. Her #13 jersey was retired.

She won Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016 and played for the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA.

Whalen returned to varsity in 2018 after coach Marlene Stallings left for Texas Tech and Whalen’s first team went 21-11 and 9-9 in the Big Ten.

The next four seasons did not closely match the first. The Gophers have never competed in the NCAA Tournament and have never finished higher than sixth in the Big Ten. Whalen was 71-76 overall and 32-58 in conference games.

The Gophers have regressed this season after losing top players Sarah Scalia and Destiny Pitts to a transfer portal. According to ESPN, Whalen was ranked 10th among freshmen in the country, and three of them were freshmen.

Mara Brown, who averaged 15.6 points per game, ranked second among Big Ten freshmen. Fellow freshman Mallory Heyer and sophomore Alanna Michaud also hit double figures.

“I don’t think we’re starting over,” Coyle said. “I think we have a really great core group of people who have made progress over the past year and it’s our job to find a coach who can continue to build on that success.”

Minnesota has struggled to succeed in both men’s and women’s basketball, a fact Coyle acknowledges. The men’s team is 7-20 overall and last in the Big Ten at 1-16 under sophomore coach Ben Jonson.

Coyle said the programs have ample administrative support, but there have been far fewer than 0.500 in the “Big Ten” over the past quarter century.

“We have everything in place,” he said. “There is no reason why it cannot be done here. That’s the question we need to find out.”

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Antoine Davis outclassed everyone but “Pistol” Pete.

The Detroit Mercy star guard finished four points short of Pete Maravich as an NCAA career leader on Thursday night, scoring 22 points in a heavy 71-66 loss to Youngstown State in the Horizon League tournament.

Davis needed 26 points to beat Maravich’s coveted mark, which had stood for over 50 years. But after calling a fourth foul with 3:36 left, the 6ft 1m guard missed the basket and then missed four 3-pointers – one of them wide-eyed – in the last two minutes of the game. intense game.

After the final siren, passions broke out for a short time, and Davis, who was pestered by Youngstown State defenders all night, had to be restrained from pursuing one of the Penguins players. Several pieces of debris from the student section were thrown at him as he was picked up from the floor.

Unless the Detroit Mercy gets an unlikely postseason bid, Davis will finish with 3,664 points over five seasons. Maravich scored 3,667 points in just three years playing for his father, The Press, and he did it before there was a 3-point line or shot clock.

That doesn’t detract from Davis’ accomplishments as one of the top scorers in college history.

Davis had just seven points at halftime as the Penguins harassed him all over the floor and made it hard for him to get a good look at the basket.

He began to find his range in the second half but was unable to put together any of his patented sprees.

Wearing a face shield to protect a broken nose he received earlier this season in Cincinnati, Davis got off to a slow start in front of a sold-out crowd at the Bigley Center on the Youngstown State campus.

The lean senior senior missed his first four shots and then dropped the off-balance jumper off the top of the key with 14:01 left in the half. He followed it up with a three-pointer and also made a baseline disappearance.

Youngstown State’s defense makes life difficult for Davis, trapping him at times and protecting his face from multiple possessions.

Davis finished 7 of 26 from the field, including 4 of 16 on three points.

Davis scored 38 points Tuesday night in a win over Purdue Fort Wayne to advance the Titans 14-18 and close to the mark Maravich set as an All-American for LSU in 1967-70.

Just weeks after LeBron James overtook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as an NBA career leader, Davis simply squandered his chance to lead Maravich, the Hall of Famer his father forced him to learn when he learned to play as a kid.

Davis already holds several NCAA records, including consecutive double-digit games (143) and three-pointers (584). This season he led the First Division with 159 triples and finished fourth, breaking Stephen Curry’s record of 162 points for the season (2007-08).

Unlike Davis, who was eligible for a fifth year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Maravich did not play in his freshman year — it was illegal at the time — and there was also no three-point line or shot clock. placement of bonus on each possession.

It’s mind-boggling that Maravich, who died in 1988 at age 40 of a heart attack while playing pickup truck, averaged 44.2 points without hitting or hitting a 3-pointer.

But it should also be noted that Maravich made 3166 shots and Davis made 2961.

In addition to the fact that Davis and Maravich scored goals, they have something else in common: they both played student ball while coached by …