College hoops Tuesday: Ohio State postpones Indiana’s Big Ten title hopes

With just three minutes remaining, a goaltending violation against Memphis tied the game at 51-51. The Tigers responded in a big way, hitting back-to-back shots to go up 56-51. Their defense held strong, and four crucial missed free throws in the final minute ended any chance UTEP had at pulling the upset.

Memphis will look to complete its perfect run through Conference USA with UAB coming to town Saturday afternoon.

It was a back-and-forth thriller for nearly the entire game -- nobody held a lead larger than four points in the first half -- but by the second half Ohio State’s defense started to take over. The Buckeyes frequently forced turnovers and steals and kept Indiana on its heels with a flurry of fast breaks. At one point, Indiana was down 11 points, its biggest deficit of the season. The Hoosiers could never find a rhythm, ending up with 12 turnovers on the night.

Indiana drops to 13-4 in the conference. While a deflating home loss, it’s not expected to affect the Hoosiers’ seeding much in the NCAA tournament. They won’t have much time to lick their wounds, though, as they travel to Michigan to finish the regular season Sunday.

Playing for Duke is certainly never boring.

The Blue Devils’ basketball class of 2013 committed to Duke during a time of uncertainty and anxiety following “The Paulus Years,” a time when national Duke-hate reached a fever pitch without any of the results that made previous swells of vitriol tolerable for the Duke faithful. Concurrently, Roy Williams was the new sheriff in town at UNC, and had rattled off two national championships in the span of five years, and, believe it or not, the rumblings within Blue Devil national included wishful chatter about the retirement of hall-of-fame coach Mike Krzyzewski. Fans clamored for a desperately needed image change, and two lanky, white kids from North Carolina private schools and a Liberty transfer weren’t exactly going to cut it.