JOHN PETTY

11 seed UCLA held on after Alabama's Alex Reese drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation to beat the second-seeded Crimson Tide 88-78 in a Sweet 16 showdown Sunday night. AdSingleton was fouled and made two free throws for UCLA, pushing the lead to 65-62 with 4 seconds to go. But that still gave the Crimson Tide enough time to find Reese, whose tying 3-pointer splashed just before the buzzer. Jahvon Quinerly scored 20 points and John Petty Jr. had 16 for the Crimson Tide (26-7), who have lost eight of their nine games in the Sweet 16. UCLA has beaten Michigan in three of their four NCAA Tournament games, including the 1965 national championship in Portland, Oregon.

6 Alabama blew out Mississippi State 85-48 on Friday in an SEC quarterfinal. Alabama followed a couple of small early runs with a 17-0 surge over nearly five minutes for an eventual 43-13 cushion just before halftime. The Tide also swarmed the Bulldogs defensively, scoring 24 points off 14 first-half turnovers and holding them to 30% shooting overall. “To get beat this badly was really, really a bitter pill,” he said. Alabama drained 3s in bunches to put this game away early and protected the ball.

– Jaden Shackleford scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half, and No. 6 Alabama beat Mississippi State 64-59 on Saturday night to clinch its first Southeastern Conference regular-season championship since 2002. Mississippi State: The Bulldogs had plenty of good looks in the first half that just didn’t fall. The second half began much better and they were able to get close, but couldn’t get that one key basket or stop Alabama on the glass. Mississippi State visits Texas A&M on Wednesday night.

– It had been nearly a quarter-century since Arkansas had played a ranked team at home, let alone beaten one there. 20 Arkansas ended both those droughts Wednesday night, beating sixth-ranked Alabama, 81-66. Arkansas hasn’t lost an SEC game since. Arkansas’ big run clearly flustered Alabama, resulting in Petty picking up a technical foul after arguing a no-call with 6:55 left. AdBIG PICTUREAlabama still sits comfortably atop the SEC standings with a two-game lead over the next closest team, Arkansas.

8 Alabama came from behind to beat Vanderbilt 82-78 Saturday and move a step closer to a Southeastern Conference championship. Maxwell Evans made a layup with four seconds left to pull to within 81-78 after rebounding a missed 3. After a quick Vandy foul, Quinerly missed one free throw and made another to clinch it. Quinerly scored 15 points for the Tide, which made just 10 of 39 3-point attempts (25.6%). Scotty Pippen Jr. scored 24 points and made 12 of 14 free throws for Vanderbilt.

De'Vion Harmon scored 18 points to help No. I thought these guys (Oklahoma), they play hard to begin with, and then when they’re down two starters, they really bought in. “Anytime you can win a game like that is big from a resume standpoint, big from a confidence standpoint, momentum. A pair of free throws by Keon Ellis gave Alabama a 60-59 lead with just under four minutes to play. Alabama could take a significant hit with this loss, especially given the players Oklahoma was missing.

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)Gonzaga and Baylor maintained their grip on the top two spots in The Associated Press men's basketball poll Monday. “Everyone has dealt with this,” said Wright, whose team finally gets back on the court Tuesday night against Seton Hall. The Golden Gophers were followed by Auburn, one of this week's poll newcomers, Missouri and Clemson. “We’re still finding out about our team,” said coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose team nearly rallied from an 18-point deficit against Virginia Tech. IN AND OUTThe Bruins were the other newcomer to this week's poll after improving to 11-2 and 7-0 in the Pac-12 with consecutive wins over Washington State and Washington.

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.