NASHVILLE, Tenn. — John Jenkins hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as Vanderbilt clinched a first-round bye in the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Jeffery Taylor added 18 points and Festus Ezeli had 11.
The Commodores (21-9, 10-5) outshot the nation’s top 3-point shooting team behind Jenkins, and he easily topped his nation-leading average of 3.9 3-pointers by hitting his first five from beyond the arc. The Commodores are tied with Florida for second in the SEC with one game left in the regular season.
Vanderbilt can finish no worse than third in the SEC going into its finale Saturday at Tennessee.
NO. 18 Indiana 70, NO. 5 Michigan St. 55
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Cody Zeller scored 18 points and Victor Oladipo added 13 for Indiana in its third victory over a top five team this season.
The Hoosiers (22-7, 10-7 Big Ten) are the second team to achieve that feat this season, joining Kansas which did it with a win over Missouri on Saturday. Indiana upset No. 1 Kentucky and No. 2 Ohio State in December and now the Spartans, who could have clinched their second outright Big Ten title in four seasons with a victory.
Draymond Green had 29 points for Michigan State (24-6, 13-4), which can still win the outright crown with a victory over No. 10 Ohio State on Sunday.
NO. 14 Wisconsin 52, Minnesota 45
MADISON, Wis. — Jordan Taylor scored 22 points to lead Wisconsin, which clinched a first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament.
Both teams shot poorly, there were 43 fouls called and the teams combined to shoot 58 free throws.
But the Badgers (22-8, 11-6 Big Ten) found their shooting touch in the second half to secure at least a fourth-place finish in the conference.
No. 4 Duke 79, Wake Forest 71
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Ryan Kelly scored a career-high 23 points and No. 4 Duke held on to beat Wake Forest 79-71 on Tuesday night for its seventh straight win.
Kelly put up 20 points against the Demon Deacons for the third straight time, and Seth Curry finished with 15 points for the Blue Devils (26-4, 13-2 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Duke led by 23 points with 9½ minutes left before Wake Forest made things tense late.
Nikita Mescheriakov and Tony Chennault both had 18 points for the Demon Deacons (13-16, 4-11). Their best chance came when they had the ball down 72-66 with less than 2 minutes left.
But after Chennault missed a 3-pointer, Duke milked the shot clock and Miles Plumlee chased down the critical offensive rebound of Tyler Thornton’s missed jumper with just over 1 minute left. Curry hit two free throws with 48.9 seconds left to make it 74-66.
The Blue Devils become the third team in school history — and first since 1999-2000 — to finish 8-0 in ACC road games and remained on a roll entering Saturday night’s visit from No. 6 North Carolina.e basketball Top 25 Florida falls to Vanderbilt
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