Friday Morning Shootaround: Penn State is dancing

Did somebody actually lock up a bid? Penn State did, thanks to this shot from Talor Battle:



With 3:52 left in the game, PSU was down 63-55 to the Illini, only to score the last nine points of the game to all but lock up a bid. Talor Battle finished with 15 points, while Stanley Pringle led the Nittany Lions with 20. Demetri McCamey had 16 and 7 assists for the Illini.

The rest of Thursday's games:

• Xavier 76, Dayton 59: Despite a little pre-game jawing, Xavier came out and jumped all over the Flyers en route to their third straight A-10 title. Dante Jackson scored Xavier's first 11 points as the pulled out to an early 11-2 lead and remained in control for the rest of the contest. BJ Raymond led X with 14.
  
• Stanford 74, Arizona State 64: The Cardinal got 20 points from Landry Fields as they got revenge for a 30 point whooping they took from the Sun Devils earlier in the season. ASU has now dropped three in a row.
• Tennessee 86, South Carolina 70: The Vols got 22 points and 7 assists from Tyler Smith and 20 points and 9 boards from JP Prince as they clinched at least a share of the SEC East crown (they win out right if they can beat Alabama on Sunday). The Vols may not be a lock to go dancing anymore, and should probably avoid losing to Georgia over the weekend.
• Villanova 97, Providence 80: Scottie Reynolds scored 23 points as the Wildcats locked up the #4 seed and thus a double bye in the Big East Tournament. Providence, who will be the 8 seed and will likely play the Cincinnati-DePaul winner, probably wants to beat Cinci (for the third time this season) in the second round if they want to avoid the NIT.
• Cal 83, Arizona 77: Jerome Randle had a career high 28 points, Theo Robertson had a career-high 24, and the Cal Bears put a serious damper on Arizona's tournament hopes. The Wildcats have now lost four in a row after their seven game winning streak.
• UCLA 79, Oregon State 54: Josh Shipp had 27 as the Bruins kept their title hopes alive.