basketball

The Timberwolves acquired small forward Chase Budinger and prospect Lior Eliyahu from Houston for the 18th overall pick in this week’s NBA draft.

The St. Cloud State men’s basketball team signed 6’11 230 pound center Chris Larson from Hudson, Iowa.

Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio talked with reporters Tuesday after his recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee suffered on March 9 against the L.A. Lakers.

Doron Lamb scored 22 points, and Kentucky held off a spirited Kansas rally to beat the Jayhawks 67-59 in the NCAA title game in New Orleans on Monday night. The win gave the Wildcats (38-2) their eighth national championship in school history and first since 1998.

The 2012 Final Four includes four NCAA basketball programs that have each won at least one national championship in its history. In total, Kentucky, Louisville, Ohio State, Kansas have 49 Final Four appearances and 13 NCAA basketball titles between them.

Traditional college basketball powers Kentucky and Kansas each won regional finals on Sunday to join Ohio State and Louisville in the 2012 Final Four in New Orleans next weekend. Here’s a recap of Sunday’s regional final games:

Ohio State and Florida joined Big East powers Syracuse and Louisville in advancing to the regional finals of the 2012 NCAA tournament on Thursday. Here’s a recap of Thursday’s NCAA tournament games:

Ohio, Cincinnati and Xavier all won on Sunday to join Ohio State in the NCAA basketball tournament round of 16. Top-seeded North Carolina and Michigan State also won to advance to the regional semi-finals. Here’s a full recap of the day’s action in the NCAA tournament:

The Timberwolves won 100-98 at home against Utah Wednesday night on a Luke Ridnour floater at the buzzer to break the 98-all tie.  J.J. Barea led the Wolves with 22 points, Ridnour added 17 points and Nikola Pekovic added 15 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota.

The Gopher men’s basketball team lost 66-61 at home against #6 Michigan State Wednesday night despite leading by 8 in the 2nd half.  Michigan State closed the game on a 19-7 run in the final 6 minutes.

The Timberwolves lost 103-101 in overtime at Denver Monday night.  Arron Afflalo made the tie-breaking floater with :33 left in overtime.  Kevin Love led the Wolves with 22 points and 13 rebounds, Michael Beasley added 17 points and Ricky Rubio chipped in 16 points and 5 assists for Minnesota.

The Timberwolves won 92-91 over Philadelphia Sunday night.  Kevin Love made 2 free throws with less than 1 second left.