las vegas >> Coach Kevin Kruger, who led UNLV to the Sweet 16 as the team’s point guard in 2007 while playing for his father, Hall of Famer Lon Kruger, was fired by the Rebels on Saturday.

Kruger went 76-55 in four seasons and failed to lead the Rebels to the NCAA Tournament. The program, once one of college basketball’s national powers, hasn’t been a part of March Madness since 2013.

This season’s team was ravaged by injuries, forced to play a six-man rotation in the Mountain West Tournament. Utah State eliminated UNLV 70-58 in Thursday’s quarterfinals, leaving the Rebels with an 18-15 record.

villanova fires neptune >> Villanova has fired head men’s basketball coach Kyle Neptune.

Neptune, in three seasons, went 54-47 overall and 31-29 in the Big East after taking over the program in 2022.

The move came two days after Villanova lost in the quarterfinal round of the Big East tournament for the third consecutive season.

Flagg available for NCAA tournament >> Top-ranked Duke and the Atlantic Coast Conference have informed the NCAA Tournament selection committee that freshman Cooper Flagg will be available for March Madness, NCAA senior vice president for basketball Dan Gavitt.

Flagg sprained his left ankle during Duke’s win against Georgia Tech on Thursday in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

The 6-foot-9 forward — named the ACC player and newcomer of the year by The Associated Press on Tuesday — missed Duke’s final two ACC tourney games.

Wisconsin 77, michigan state 74 >> John Tonje scored 32 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help No. 18 Wisconsin beat No. 7 Michigan State in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

John Blackwell added 14 points as the Badgers (26-8) won for the third time in four days. They will play No. 22 Michigan for the tournament title on Sunday.

Jase Richardson had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Spartans (27-6).

Michigan 81, Maryland >> Tre Donaldson drove the length of the court and scored on a layup with 0.4 seconds left to give No. 22 Michigan one-point victory over No. 11 Maryland in the Big Ten semifinals.

Donaldson finished with 12 points and nine assists, but the heavy lifting was done by Vladislav Goldin, who had 25 points and 10 rebounds.

The Wolverines (24-9) will face No. 18 Wisconsin in Sunday’s championship game in Indianapolis.

Derik Queen finished with a career high 31 points to lead the Terrapins (25-8).

tennessee 70, Auburn 65 >> Zakai Zeigler scored 20 points as No. 8 Tennessee held off regular-season champion and third-ranked Auburn to reach the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship for the first time since 2022.

The fourth-seeded Volunteers (27-6) will play Florida on Sunday for the tournament title.

Both teams are likely to wind up with No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament — only fitting for the nation’s best league.

The Tigers (28-5) go home losers of three of their last four games.

SEC player of the year Johni Broome led Auburn with 23 points.

Auburn led 33-32 at halftime thanks to a late 10-0 spurt. The Tigers last led at 48-47.

Florida 104, alabama 82 >> Walter Clayton Jr. scored 22 points, and No. 4 Florida pulled away from No. 5 Alabama for a victory in the SEC semifinals.

Alijah Martin and Will Richard each had 16 points for the Gators (29-4) in their fifth consecutive win.

Next up for Florida is Sunday’s SEC championship game against No. 8 Tennessee.

Chris Youngblood had 14 points for Alabama (25-8).

houston 72, Arizona 64 >> Milos Uzan poured in 25 points as second-ranked Houston topped Arizona to win the Big 12 Tournament title.

Playing without injured big man J’Wan Roberts, the Cougars (30-4) took a 64-62 lead on Uzan’s 3-pointer with 5 minutes to go, then suffocated the Wildcats (22-12) down the stretch.

Caleb Love led Arizona with 19 points.

St. John’s 82, creighton 66 >> RJ Luis Jr. scored all but two of his 29 points after halftime and No. 6 St. John’s made 14 straight shots from the field in the second half to beat Creighton for its first Big East Tournament title in 25 years.

The top-seeded Red Storm (30-4) reached 30 wins for the third time in program history, earning the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for their first trip since 2019.

Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 15 for second-seeded Creighton (24-10), which fell to 0-5 in Big East championship games since joining the conference for the 2013-14 season.

Duke 73, Louisville 62 >> Duke won the ACC Tournament as the No. 1-ranked Blue Devils topped 13th-ranked Louisville in the championship game.

Duke (31-3) carried on without ACC player and newcomer of the year Cooper Flagg, who is out injured, in the 11-point win.

Tyrese Proctor led the Blue Devils with 19 points. Kon Knueppel had 18 points; Sion James scored 15 points.

Louisville (27-7) was led by Terrence Edwards Jr.’s game-high 29 points.