RICK BARNES

Gonzaga will head into the NCAA Tournament exactly where it ended up in the final AP Top 25 — right on top.

Santiago Vescovi scored 17 points and Josiah-Jordan James had 16 points and 10 rebounds to help ninth-ranked Tennessee beat Texas A&M 65-50 to claim its first men’s SEC basketball tournament title in 43 years.

Freshman guard Zakai Zeigler, whose family was left homeless by a fire in New York City last weekend, made two key free throws in the final seconds to help No. 13 Tennessee hold off No. 14 Arkansas 78-74.

Texas’ primary that put the 2022 midterm election season in full swing saw no significant issues at polling locations.

Texas Republicans promised new voting rules would make it “easier to vote and harder to cheat.” Republicans broadly expressed satisfaction with the debut of the tougher rules and looked ahead to November, when another provision under Texas' sweeping new law will give expanded powers to partisan poll watchers.

Santiago Vescovi scored 14 points and Zakai Zeigler had 11 of his 13 points in the second half to lead No. 17 Tennessee to a 67-62 victory over No. 3 Auburn.

Michigan coach Juwan Howard and Wisconsin coach Greg Gard had a testy moment in the postgame handshake line Sunday. Howard hit a Wisconsin assistant.

Kevin Obanor had 17 points with five 3-pointers and 14th-ranked Texas Tech beat No. 23 Texas 77-64 in Chris Beard’s return.

Baylor remained No. 1 for the third straight week in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll, receiving all 61 first-place votes from a national media panel.

Sixth-ranked Arizona begins one of the toughest two-week runs in college basketball on Wednesday night, when the Wildcats head to Knoxville to face No. 19 Tennessee in one of this week’s marquee nonconference matchups.

The men’s basketball game between No. 18 Tennessee and Memphis was canceled about an hour before tipoff due to COVID-19 issues within the Tigers’ program.

Jermaine Samuels scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as No. 5 Villanova eased to a 71-53 win over No. 17 Tennessee Saturday in the opening round of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament in Connecticut.

The opening week of the college basketball season, as it usually is, was filled with marquee games.

The Tarrant County Commissioners Court will have two seats in contention: county judge and precinct 4. Both can be an opportunity for Democrats.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)INDIANAPOLIS – Oregon State opened the season picked to finish 12th in its conference but instead won its first Pac-12 Tournament title. Roman Silva scored 16 points and Oregon State took advantage of Tennessee's icy perimeter shooting to become the latest No. 12 seed to win its opening NCAA Tournament game, beating the fifth-seeded Vols 70-56 in the Midwest Region Friday night. “We know there was some doubt and we had to ignore all that,” Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle said. Oregon State was picked to finish last in the Pac-12 and exceeded expectations by finishing sixth in the regular season.

(AP Photo/Chase Stevens)INDIANAPOLIS – There has never been a better time to have senior leadership in the NCAA Tournament than this season. AdVirginia intends to play after withdrawing from the ACC Tournament because of COVID-19 protocols, which means fans will get to say Sam Hauser running the show. Dru Smith is their leading scorer and Jeremiah Tilmon finally reached his potential this season, and both aim to help Missouri snap a four-game NCAA Tournament skid. Herb Jones is an All-American candidate and Jaden Shackelford is Alabama's leading scorer, but John Petty Jr. makes the SEC Tournament champs go. Then there's Tennessee forward John Fulkerson, who sustained facial fractures in an SEC Tournament win over Florida and underwent surgery Sunday.

18 Tennessee never trailed Saturday in beating 15th-ranked Kansas 80-61 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. This was just Tennessee's second win all-time against Kansas in six games. David McCormack led the Jayhawks with 17 points, Marcus Garrett added 15 and Jalen Wilson had 10. Kansas shot only 7 of 26 through the first 20 minutes and kept from being blown out by hitting 11 of 12 at the free throw line. Tennessee: The Vols have proven they can play stingy defense, and they dominated on the boards 38-23, scoring 14 second-chance points.

The Crimson Tide (7-3, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) turned a one-point halftime lead into a double-digit advantage midway through the second behind Petty’s trio of 3s and two more long-range makes by Joshua Primo. Primo and Herbert Jones finished with 11 points, and Jahvon Quinerly scored 10. Tennessee (7-1, 1-1) struggled from the field the entire game, hitting 21 of 66 shots (32%). Alabama's 31-29 lead at the break happened with the Crimson Tide shooting 39% (12 of 31), while Tennessee struggled shooting 33% (11 of 33). UP NEXTAlabama: The Crimson Tide will be home Tuesday to face Florida, which beat LSU on Saturday.