At Tampa, Fla., UCLA kept clanking free throws, Michigan State kept draining 3-pointers. It turned a potential rout into a nailbiter.
In the end, the Bruins escaped. But just barely.
Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee scored 16 points apiece and seventh-seeded UCLA held off a late comeback by the 10th-seeded Spartans 78-76 in the Southeast Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
The Bruins (23-10) won despite missing 17 free throws, nine of them in the final 3:40 while the Spartans were making a barrage of 3-pointers to get back into the game. They advanced to a third-round matchup against No. 2 seed Florida, which beat 15th-seeded UC Santa Barbara 79-51.
UCLA led 42-24 at the half and by as many as 23 in the second half before nearly letting the game slip away against a team hoping to make an improbable run in the tournament to a third consecutive Final Four. The Bruins were 30 of 47 from the foul line and only made two field goals over the final eight minutes.
Draymond Green led Michigan State (19-15) with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Durrell Summers added 15 and Spartans star Kalin Lucas finished with 11 after going the first 32 minutes without scoring.
Cincinnati dominates Mizzou
At Washington, Yancy Gates had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Cincinnati made a successful return to the NCAA Tournament with a 78-63 win over Missouri.
The sixth-seeded Bearcats used their stalwart defense to hold the run-all-the-time Tigers to 29 percent shooting in the first half and 38 percent for the game. Missouri went some 11 minutes without scoring a field goal to fall behind by 15 early in the second half and finished well below their average of 81.4 points per game.
Cincinnati (26-8) will face Connecticut on Saturday in a rare early round matchup of Big East teams, necessitated by the conference’s record 11 bids to this year’s tournament.
Pullen, K-State hang on to beat Utah State
At Tucson, Jacob Pullen scored 22 points and hit some big free throws down the stretch, helping Kansas State hold off Utah State 73-68, the Aggies’ seventh straight opening loss.
Pullen didn’t show any ill affects from the flu that kept him out of practice Wednesday, scoring 10 points in the first half as fifth-seeded Kansas State (23-10) built an 11-point lead. The Wildcats allowed Utah State (30-4) climb back in it with a string of late mistakes, but closed it out from the free throw line to squelch the 12-5 upset.
Kansas State moves on to face Wisconsin on Saturday in the Southeast Regional.
Tai Wesley overcame early foul trouble to score 18 points, Brockeith Pane added 17 and Pooh Williams 16 in what was a gritty-but-disappointing finish to a superb season at Utah State.
Wisconsin moves on past Belmont In Tucson, Jon Leuer scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half and Wisconsin methodically dispatched Belmont 72-58 on Thursday night, the Badgers’ fifth consecutive NCAA tournament-opening victory.
Jordan Taylor added 21 for the fourth-seeded Badgers (24-8), 14 in the first half.
There was much talk of Belmont, a No. 13 seed, being a surprise tournament team, but the Bruins never hit their stride against the Badgers, who made 12 of 22 3-pointers, led by Taylor’s 5 of 9.
It was an impressive rebirth of the Wisconsin offense after a 36-33 loss to Penn State in the lowest-scoring game in Big Ten Tournament history. Wisconsin was 2 of 21 on 3-pointers in that one.
Mike Hedgepeth scored 17 and Kerron Johnson 13 for the Atlantic Sun champion Bruins (30-5), still searching for their first NCAA tournament win after four tries.
Butler wins at buzzer
At Washington, Matt Howard scored on a tip-in at the buzzer, giving No. 8 seed Butler a 60-58 victory over Old Dominion on Thursday in the second round of the Southeast Regional.
Howard was on the left side of the basket after Shawn Vanzant missed from the right side. Howard went up with his right hand and put the ball in an instant before time expired.
A year ago, Butler’s magical run to the NCAA championship game ended with a narrow miss at the buzzer against Duke. In this game, the Bulldogs got the bounce they needed.
Howard and Shelvin Mack each scored 15 points for Butler (24-9), which will next play the winner of Thursday’s Pittsburgh-UNC Asheville game.
West Virginia outlasts Clemson
At Tampa, Fla., Darryl Bryant scored 19 points and Kevin Jones added 17 to help fifth-seeded West Virginia overcome a slow start and wear down No. 12 seed Clemson, 84-76 in the second round of the East Regional on Thursday.
The Mountaineers (21-11) advanced to play fourth-seeded Kentucky or No. 13 seed Princeton, taking advantage on a fatigued opponent playing its second game in just over 36 hours.
Bryant’s four-point play and a long 3-pointer by Jones that tied it 40-40 at the half highlighted a game-changing 28-8 run that enabled West Virginia to turn a 10-point deficit into a 57-47 lead. The closest Clemson (22-12) would get the rest of the way was three points.
Fernandez lifts Temple over Penn St., 66-64
Juan Fernandez sank an off-balance 18-footer with under a second to play Thursday to give Temple a wild 66-64 victory over Penn State and end coach Fran Dunphy’s NCAA tournament record 11-game losing streak.
Fernandez, double-teamed as time was running out, got off a shot off his right foot while fading to his left just inside the 3-point line.
Neither team had led by more than four points and there were 10 lead changes in an intense second half. Talor Battle’s 3-pointer from far behind the arc for Penn State tied it at 64-64 with 12.2 seconds to go.
Knight rescues Kentucky against Princeton
At Tampa, freshman Brandon Knight, held scoreless for more than 39 minutes, made a driving layup with 2 seconds remaining to lift No. 4 seed Kentucky to a 59-57 win over 13th-seeded Princeton in the second round of the NCAA tournament Thursday.
Knight missed his first seven shots and even found himself on the bench in the closing minute. But coach John Calipari, who proclaimed, “You can’t count on freshmen” a day earlier, put the ball in Knight’s hands with the game on the line.
Knight delivered, and Big Blue advanced to face West Virginia in the third round Saturday.
It was the biggest contribution Kentucky got from its trio of talented newcomers. Fellow freshman Terrence Jones finished with 10 points, and Doron Lamb added seven.
Upperclassmen carried the Wildcats most of the way. Darius Miller scored 17 points, and lone senior Josh Harrellson added 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Pitt overpowers UNC—Asheville
At Washington, Ashton Gibbs scored 20 of his 26 points after halftime, and bigger, stronger, more physical Pittsburgh kept the No. 1s perfect against the No. 16s in the NCAA tournament by beating North Carolina-Asheville 74-51.
The Panthers showed the scrappy Big South champions what Big East play is all about, out-rebounding the Bulldogs 50-27 to make up for so-so shooting by nearly everyone but Gibbs.
Pitt led by only three early in the second half before putting the game away with a 13-5 run.
The Panthers (28-5) advanced to play No. 8 seed Butler in the next round. Butler defeated Old Dominion in the day’s opening game at the Verizon Center.
Matt Dickey scored 21 points to lead UNC Asheville (20-14), which finished off a whirlwind week that included a win over Arkansas-Little Rock in one of the Dayton play-in games on Tuesday.
UConn takes care of Bucknell At Washigton, Kemba Walker had 18 points, a career-high 12 assists and eight rebounds, and No. 3 seed Connecticut cruised past Bucknell 81-52 Thursday night to earn coach Jim Calhoun his 850th career victory.
Roscoe Smith scored 17 for the Huskies (27-9), who showed no signs of fatigue after winning five games in five days last week to capture the Big East tournament. Connecticut led by 17 at halftime and upped the margin to 32 with just over 15 minutes left.
Gators cruise to easy win
At Tampa, Fla., Florida made its opening game in the NCAA Tournament look like one of those preseason exhibitions.
Yes, the Gators looked every bit deserving of a No. 2 seed.
Chandler Parsons flirted with his first triple-double, finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds and a career-high 10 assists, and Florida coasted to a 79-51 victory over 15th-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the Southeast region Thursday night.
The Gators (27-7) made 11 of their first 15 shots, opened up a double-digit lead and kept piling on the rest of the way.
