Jacari White racked up 19 points and hit five 3-pointers to help No. 15 Virginia rally for a 61-58 victory over Florida State Tuesday evening in Tallahassee, Fla.

White scored 16 of his points in the second half, adding four rebounds and two assists to his game totals. All of those second-half points came in the final 14:45, more than doubling up the rest of his team combined over that span.

Thijs De Ridder added nine points and a team-high nine boards while Sam Lewis also scored nine for Virginia (21-3, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), which has won five straight games.

Lajae Jones and Robert McCray V carried Florida State (11-13, 4-7), combining for 41 of their points in a losing effort that saw the Seminoles’ three-game win streak snapped.

McCray did plenty of scoring and a little bit of everything else with 20 points, four rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals. Jones finished with game highs of 21 points and 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

Knotted at 45 with 11 minutes left, the Seminoles went on a 9-0 run capped off with a three-point play by McCray to take a 54-45 lead with 8:22 left.

From there, though, Florida State went ice cold and Virginia ended the game on a 16-4 run. The Cavaliers took their first lead since 15-12 on a dunk by White to make it 59-58 with 1:12 left.

The Seminoles missed their final 11 field-goal attempts, including a would-be game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds by McCray.

Florida State was held to 29% shooting (its second-lowest total of the season) and 18.2% from 3-point range (its worst mark this season).

The Cavaliers won on the road despite shooting not far above their own season low at 37.3% from the floor, including 10-of-33 (30.3%) from 3-point range.

Virginia jumped out to a 14-10 lead before encountering a 1-for-13 shooting stretch which saw the Seminoles pull ahead 26-19 with 6:53 left in the first half.

From there, though, the Cavaliers rallied with a half-ending 13-6 run to level the score at 32-all at the intermission.

Of the Seminoles’ first-half points, 27 of them came from Jones and McCray. Only four Florida State players scored over the opening 20 minutes.

Virginia, on the other hand, had no player score more than Lewis’ seven but got points from eight of its nine players who saw first-half action.

–Field Level Media

Jaron Pierre Jr. scored 22 points, all but four of them after halftime, as SMU defeated slumping Notre Dame 89-81 on Tuesday in an Atlantic Coast Conference game in Dallas.

SMU (17-7, 6-5 ACC) led by six points at halftime after an 18-point first half by Boopie Miller and 57.1% shooting from the floor. The Fighting Irish owned the first five minutes of the second half and swept to a brief lead before the Mustangs swung back with 14 straight points as part of a 19-2 run that netted it a 64-50 advantage with 10:46 to play.

Notre Dame (11-14, 2-10) responded, drawing to 76-70 after Logan Imes’ fast break layup with 4:42 left. But that’s as close as it would get as SMU added to the margin with a driving layup by Corey Washington and three free throws by Pierre and strolled to the finish line.

Miller finished with 20 points while Washington had 14 and Samet Yigitoglu racked up 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Mustangs, who have won two games in a row.

Notre Dame’s Jalen Haralson led all scorers with 23 points. Braeden Shrewsberry and Cole Certa had 16 each and Brady Koehler hit for 11 points for the Fighting Irish, who have dropped five straight games and are tied at the bottom of the ACC standings.

The Mustangs led by as many as 10 points early on before Notre Dame chipped away and a free throw by Shrewsberry with 3:01 left in the half tied the game at 34-34. SMU built the lead back to six points when Miller produced six straight points, the latter a 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining. The Mustangs finished the half with a 43-37 lead.

Miller’s 18 first-half points led all scorers. It included a 6-of-7 showing from the floor and making all four of his jumpers from beyond the arc. Haralson paced the Fighting Irish with 10 points at the break.

Notre Dame took the lead on Carson Towt’s layup with 15:54 to play and was up 48-45 after Shrewsberry made a 3-pointer 46 seconds later. SMU went on its run shortly after.

–Field Level Media

The Denver Nuggets are stumbling into the All-Star break but they can grab a little momentum when they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.

Denver has lost four of its last five after letting one slip away against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night. The Nuggets led by three in the final minute but Cleveland scored the last five points to steal a victory.

Two of the losses were by three points or fewer and the other was a double overtime setback at the New York Knicks. Denver is clinging to the third seed in the crowded Western Conference with a chance to keep that position going into the much-needed week-long break.

“It’s going to be a race in the West to the end, and we got to have a good mindset,” head coach David Adelman said. “Right now, Wednesday is what’s most important to me.”

The glass-half-full view of the Nuggets’ position is they’ve stayed near the top of the standings despite a season full of injuries. All five starters have missed time and six of their top rotation players have been out for significant stretches.

That, combined with the recent tough schedule – three of the last eight games have been against the top seeds in both conferences – has contributed to the recent losses.

Nikola Jokic returned to form after missing 16 games with a left knee injury. He recorded a triple-double in the last three games and leads the team in points (28.2), rebounds (12.2) and assists (10.7). Jamal Murray is second in points (25.8) and assists (7.6), both of which are career bests.

Memphis has lost three in a row and eight of its last 10. The last three losses have come since Jaren Jackson Jr. was traded to Utah that netted the Grizzlies three first-round draft picks along with Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks and Georges Niang. A season that started with Jackson and Ja Morant as the building blocks has taken a turn.

Morant has not played since Jan. 21 due to an elbow injury and Memphis is without Zach Edey (ankle), leaving Santi Aldama as the only true big man to battle Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas. Aldama is averaging 14 points a game while Ty Jerome, who missed the first 46 games with a calf strain, is currently leading the Grizzlies in scoring at 19.8 points a game in the five games he has played.

Memphis signed 7-foot-1 rookie Lawson Lovering to a 10-day contract on Tuesday to help with the frontcourt depth. The Grizzlies could have used some help after blowing a 17-point lead at Golden State on Monday night, losing 114-113 on a late layup.

“We don’t have a lot of mismatched attacking power in that situation because of, let’s say, our big guy situation at the moment,” head coach Tuomas Iisalo said after the game.

The loss was made more painful when forward Cedric Coward went down with a knee injury late in the first half and didn’t return. The rookie is averaging 13.3 points in 48 games this season.

-Field Level Media