Miami’s playoff hopes took an all-but-final nosedive while Alabama’s got a boost Tuesday night in the last rankings before the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket is set next weekend. The Hurricanes (10-2) moved down six spots to No. 12 — the first team out of the projected bracket after suffering their second loss of the season. They are one spot behind the Crimson Tide (9-3), who won last week and moved up two spots to No. 11, where they are projected as the last team in and the fourth from the Southeastern Conference. To make things worse for the ’Canes, selection committee chair and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said there was no way for them to leapfrog Alabama since neither team plays next weekend. The odds of them moving up based on lopsided results in the weekend’s conference title games are virtually zero. The Miami-Alabama sorting was the strongest indication yet that the selection committee is looking at more than mere wins and losses, but also at strength of schedule and other factors that appear to give the SEC an edge.
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Chauncey Wiggins scored 12 points and Ian Schieffelin had 11 points and a career-high 20 rebounds as Clemson shut down No. 4 Kentucky for a 70-66 victory Tuesday night in the SEC/ACC Challenge. The Tigers (8-1) held the Wildcats (7-1) to 30 points fewer than their average of 96.7 per game coming in, which led the country. Clemson took the lead for good, 53-52, with 10:08 remaining on Del Jones’ layup that started a 10-2 run. Kentucky got to 68-66 on Lamont Butler’s 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left, but Chase Hunter followed with two foul shots to seal it. Otega Oweh had 17 points to lead Kentucky. Amari Williams added nine points and 10 rebounds.
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Freshman Sarah Strong scored 22 points and No. 2 UConn outscored Holy Cross by 30 points in the second half of an 88-52 victory on Tuesday night. Kaitlyn Chen scored 14 points and Paige Bueckers added 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists for UConn (7-0), which led 33-27 at the break and shot 7 for 12 from 3-point distance in the second half. Lindsay Berger scored 12 points and Kaitlyn Flanagan added 10 points for Holy Cross (4-4). Azzi Fudd made her first start of the season for UConn after missing the first three games of the season as she recovered from a knee injury that limited her to just two games during the 2023-24 season. Fudd scored seven points in 18 minutes.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Alyssa Naeher ended her national team career with one last win. The stalwart goalkeeper made two critical saves in her final match for the United States, and the Americans beat the Netherlands 2-1 on Tuesday. “I definitely wasn’t thinking about it during the game, just wanted to win the game and do what I could to come away with the ‘W’ for us to close out the year,” Naeher said. Lynn Williams scored the go-ahead goal in the 71st minute for the U.S., which won its fifth Olympic gold medal in France this summer and wrapped up the year on a 20-game unbeaten streak. The Americans were coming off a scoreless draw with England on Saturday at Wembley Stadium. Naeher announced two weeks ago that the European exhibitions would be her final matches. The 36-year-old goalkeeper played in 115 games for the U.S., with 111 starts, 89 wins and 69 shutouts.
TUESDAY SCORES
NCAA MEN TOP 25
No. 3 Tennessee 96, Syracuse 70
Clemson 70, No. 4 Kentucky 66
Michigan 67, No. 11 Wisconsin 64
Villanova 68, No. 14 Cincinnati 60
No. 21 Oklahoma 76, Georgia Tech 61
No. 22 Texas A&M 57, Wake Forest 44
No. 23 Ole Miss 86, Louisville 63