ST. LOUIS (AP) — Fletcher Loyer scored 24 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 19 points and nine rebounds, and No. 2 seed Purdue beat Miami 79-69 on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 for the third straight time and seventh in the last nine years.
In his first game since breaking Bobby Hurley’s NCAA career record for assists, Braden Smith had 12 points and eight assists but was also harassed by Miami’s athletic guards into eight turnovers, matching his career high.
Smith hit four free throws in the final minute after seventh-seeded Miami (26-9) had cut an 11-point deficit to 73-69, helping to secure Matt Painter’s 500th victory in his 21st season as Purdue’s coach. He is just 12 short of Gene Keady’s school record.
Purdue (29-8) advances to face 11th-seeded Texas in the West Region semifinals Thursday in San Jose, California. It’ll be the teams’ first meeting since Purdue eliminated Texas in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
EAST
No. 5 ST. JOHN'S 67, No. 4 KANSAS 65
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Dylan Darling hit a driving layup as time expired for his only bucket of the game, and St. John’s advanced to its first Sweet 16 since 1999 with a victory over Kansas in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Darling, the Johnnies’ tenacious point guard, coolly won it after Kansas (24-11) erased a 58-45 deficit with 7 1/2 minutes to play, making a furious 20-7 run capped by Darryn Peterson’s two free throws to tie it with 13.1 seconds left.
The Jayhawks had four fouls to give, and they used all four to wind the clock down to 3.9 seconds. That was plenty of time for Darling, the Idaho State transfer who had missed his four previous shots.
Darling got the ball up top and drove the lane for a shot that banked in as time expired. His teammates tackled him in front of the St. John’s band in celebration.
Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins scored 18 points apiece for the fifth-seeded Red Storm (30-6), who have roared back to college basketball prominence in just three seasons under coach Rick Pitino.
St. John’s advanced to face No. 1 overall seed Duke in the East Region semifinals in Washington.
No. 2 UCONN 73, No. 7 UCLA 57
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Alex Karaban scored a career-high 27 points and had Bill Murray and the rest of the UConn crowd roaring with each splashed 3-pointer, helping send the second-seeded Huskies back to the Sweet 16 with a win over UCLA in the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies (31-5) will play third-seeded Michigan State in the East Region semifinals on Friday night in Washington.
Coach Dan Hurley, who won consecutive national championships in 2023 and 2024, has the Huskies back in a familiar spot after they were bounced in the second round a year ago by eventual national champion Florida.
The Gators are gone already in March Madness. The games will go on for the Huskies.
MIDWEST
No. 2 IOWA ST. 82, No. 7 KENTUCKY 63
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tamin Lipsey had 26 points and 10 assists to help Iowa State make up for the absence of injured All-American Joshua Jefferson, and the second-seeded Cyclones suffocated No. 7 seed Kentucky on defense, earning a trip back to the Sweet 16 with an 82-63 victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Milan Momcilovic added 20 points and Nate Heise scored 12 for the Cyclones (29-7), who will play third-seeded Virginia or No. 6 seed Tennessee in the Midwest Region semifinals on Friday night in Chicago.
It will be the eighth Sweet 16 trip for the Cyclones and the third under T.J. Otzelberger, though the question now is whether they will be whole for it. Jefferson, their second-leading scorer and top rebounder, watched from the end of the Iowa State bench with the ankle that he sprained in a first-round win over Tennessee State still in a boot.
No. 6 TENNESSEE 79, No. 3 VIRGINIA 72
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 21 points, Nate Ament and Bishop Boswell made critical free throws down the stretch and sixth-seeded Tennessee advanced to its fourth straight Sweet 16, beating Virginia in the NCAA Tournament.
Recommended for you
The Vols (24-11) will face No. 2 seed Iowa in a Midwest Region semifinal in Chicago on Friday night.
A year after he helped Maryland reach the Sweet 16, Gillespie led the way for the Vols. Tennessee has been a consistent first-weekend winner under coach Rick Barnes, who has yet to lead the school to the Final Four.
Gillespie had 50 points in two games in Philly — he scored 29 against Miami (Ohio) in the first round.
Against No. 3 seed Virginia, he made the shot of the game on a desperation 3-point heave as the shot clock expired and followed that with a tremendous lob pass for an alley-oop to J.P. Estrella for a 62-53 lead.
No. 4 ALABAMA 90, No. 5 TEXAS TECH 65
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Latrell Wrightsell, Jr. scored 24 points and fourth-seeded Alabama earned a fourth straight trip to the Sweet 16 with a second-round rout of No. 5 seed Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament.
The Crimson Tide (25-9), who also got 15 points from Houston Mallette, advanced to the Midwest Region semifinals against top-seeded Michigan in Chicago next Friday night. They built an early double-digit lead against the Red Raiders (23-11), exploiting a size advantage inside to dominate the backboards and making 11 3-pointers on the way to leading 49-25 at halftime.
Texas Tech, which reached the Elite Eight a year ago, didn’t get closer than 18 the rest of the way. Alabama, two years removed from a Final Four run, led by 34 in the second half.
SOUTH
No. 9 IOWA 73, No. 1 FLORIDA 72
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alvaro Folgueiras nailed a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds remaining and Iowa eliminated defending national champion Florida, sending the top-seeded Gators home with a victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Under first-year coach Ben McCollum, Iowa reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, while Florida (27-8) became the first No. 1 seed to be knocked out of this year’s March Madness.
The ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (23-12) wasted a 12-point lead in the second half but rallied in the final minutes. They will face No. 4 seed Nebraska in the South Region semifinals Thursday night in Houston.
Xaivian Lee’s driving layup put Florida ahead 71-68 with under two minutes left. Bennett Stirtz answered with a floater to cut it to 71-70 with 57 seconds remaining.
After Thomas Haugh missed a 3-pointer, Stirtz missed a running layup and Isaiah Brown grabbed the rebound with 8.9 seconds left. Brown made his second free throw.
But Iowa easily broke Florida’s full-court press and Folguerias was wide open in the corner for his 3. Florida didn’t get a shot off before the buzzer, with Lee’s desperate drive ending with a pass that Haugh couldn’t handle.
WEST
No. 1 ARIZONA 78, No. 9 UTAH ST. 66
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jaden Bradley scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, Motiejus Krivas had 11 points and 14 rebounds and top-seeded Arizona beat No. 9-seeded Utah State to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five seasons under coach Tommy Lloyd.
The Wildcats (34-2) take an 11-game winning streak into Thursday’s game against No. 4-seeded Arkansas in the West Region in San Jose.
The Wildcats will be looking to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since doing so in both 2014 and 2015. They began their March Madness run by breezing to an opening 92-58 victory over Long Island on Friday.
Arizona, which won the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, led the whole way in front of a loud, red-clad contingent of fans that made it feel like a home game some 400 miles from campus.
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.