LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Alabama-Birmingham lost its exhibition opener and then five of its first seven regular-season games, but this is March and the Blazers certainly aren’t the same team they were in November.
Forward William Lee’s jumper with 23.6 seconds remaining and two free throws with 12.1 seconds left lifted No. 14 seed UAB to a 60-59 upset victory over No. 3 seed Iowa State on Thursday in an NCAA South Regional game at KFC Yum! Center.
Guard Robert Brown led the Blazers (20-15) with 21 points. Lee added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Conference USA champs.
“Once teams are inside the court, it’s anybody’s game,” said Brown, who had all three of his team’s 3-pointers. “They never told me not to shoot, so I kept shooting. We also had to be the more physical team to beat them. We came here to make some noise and to win some games.”
Guard Monte Morris led Iowa State (25-9) with 15 points.
Cincinnati 66, Purdue 65 (OT)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Cincinnati guard Farad Cobb’s driving layup with 27 seconds remaining in overtime proved to be the game-winner, and the eighth-seeded Bearcats rallied for a 66-65 victory over ninth-seeded Purdue in Midwest Region second-round action.
Purdue freshman forward Vince Edwards, a Middletown, Ohio native, missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, snapping the Boilermakers’ streak of 14 consecutive victories in their first NCAA Tournament game.
Purdue had not lost in the first or second round since 1993, when current coach Matt Painter was a Boilermakers senior guard.
Georgia State 57, Baylor 56
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — R.J. Hunter drilled a 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds left and No. 14 seed Georgia State stunned No. 3 Baylor in the second round of the West Regional.
Hunter, the Panthers’ leading scorer, had just two points at halftime but sparked an improbable comeback that started with Baylor ahead by double digits at 56-44 with under three minutes to play. The junior scored 12 of Georgia State’s final 13 points, including the winner.
Once forward Rico Gathers sank two free throws with 2:54 left that gave Baylor its biggest lead of the game, the Bears didn’t score again, missing the front end of two 1-and-1s down the stretch.
Hunter paced Georgia State (25-9) with 16 points. Taurean Prince finished with a game-high 18 points and 15 rebounds for Baylor (24-10).
North Carolina 67, Harvard 65
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Hoards of North Carolina fans made the 450-mile trek from Raleigh on Thursday night, only to watch the No. 4 seed Tar Heels barely survive No. 13 Harvard.
Paced by 14 points from forward Justin Jackson — including the game-tying and go-ahead buckets — North Carolina (25-11) nearly saw what looked like a sure victory slip away late.
North Carolina squandered a 16-point second-half lead and watched as the Crimson stormed back to take a two-point edge with 1:15 to play after Harvard guard Siyani Chambers drilled a 3-pointer and was fouled by guard Marcus Paige.
But Jackson responded with a floater that tied the game with under a minute, and then after a Tar Heels stop on Harvard’s ensuing possession, Paige redeemed himself by zipping a pass down to Jackson, who put it in uncontested to give North Carolina the lead back for good.
Harvard star guard Wesley Saunders, who led the Crimson with 26 points Thursday, had a chance to play hero, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark, sealing the Tar Heels’ win.
North Carolina now advances to Saturday’s third round, where the Tar Heels will face the winner of Thursday’s late game between No. 5 seed Arkansas and No. 12 Wofford. The winner of that game moves on to the next stop for the West Regional on March 26th and 28th in Los Angeles, the hometown of Saunders.
UCLA 60, SMU 59
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Guard Bryce Alford’s 3-pointer on a goaltending call with 10.9 seconds remaining lifted No. 11 seed UCLA to an upset of No. 6 seed SMU in an NCAA South Regional second-round game in the KFC Yum! Center.
Alford, who made nine 3-pointers and finished with 27 points, took an off-balance shot from beyond the arc and SMU’s Yanick Moreira deflected the ball before it appeared to reach the rim. The controversial goaltending call gave UCLA the lead and SMU was unable to answer in the final seconds.
UCLA (21-13) trailed 59-52 with a minute left but scored the final eight points, including two 3-pointers from Alford, son of Bruins coach Steve Alford.
SMU (27-7), ranked 20th in the final Associated Press poll, used a 19-0 run to erase a 44-34 deficit and take a 53-44 lead with 4:33 left before UCLA charged back to finish on a 16-6 run. Guard Norman Powell added 19 points for the Bruins, who advance to play No. 14 seed Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday.
Guard Nic Moore led the Mustangs with 24 points.
Notre Dame 69, Northeastern 65
PITTSBURGH — If Notre Dame is going to make a deep NCAA Tournament run, it will need a big few weeks from Zach Auguste, who scored 25 points to lead the No. 3 seed Fighting Irish past No. 14 Northeastern in the Midwest Regional.
Despite having the junior center pick up his third foul just seconds after halftime, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey left Auguste on the court. The decision paid off with 17 second-half points to help his Irish hold on. None were bigger than the two free throws he made with two seconds left for the final margin.
Northeastern senior Scott Eatherton finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.
Villanova 93, Lafayette 52
PITTSBURGH — The top-seeded team in the East Region, the Villanova Wildcats, wasted no time in showing the Lafayette Leopards and the rest of the country that it is taking this trip to the NCAA Tournament as seriously as possible.
The Wildcats jumped all over the Leopards from the outset, opening up a 23-point halftime lead and cruising to a 93-52 victory to advance to the round of 32.
Villanova used runs of 8-0 and 6-0 to open up an 11-point lead early against Lafayette, which struggled to knock down open shots. A 13-0 stretch by the Wildcats was the first big punch thrown, with back-to-back 3-pointers by sophomore forward Kris Jenkins helping Villanova open up a 31-13 lead on its overwhelmed opponent.
Utah 57, Stephen F. Austin 50
PORTLAND, Ore. — Freshman center Jakob Poeltl had 18 points and eight rebounds as Utah held off Stephen F. Austin 57-50.
Forward Jordan Loveridge scored 12 points and guard Delon Wright added 11 points and six rebounds for the No. 5 seed Utes (25-8), who advance to Saturday’s third round against the Georgetown-Eastern Washington winner.
Guard Ty Charles had 14 points with seven rebounds and guard Thomas Walkup collected 14 points, nine boards and five assists for the Lumberjacks (29-5), who lost for only the second time in 31 games.
Utah held SFA to 34.8 percent shooting from the field while taking a 26-19 lead into intermission after a slow-paced first half. Guard Dakarai Tucker came off the bench to sink 3 of 4 3-point shots and score nine points for the Utes.
The Lumberjacks came out with the first six points of the second half to draw within 26-25 before Utah righted the ship with seven straight points to go ahead 33-25. The Utes jacked the margin to 43-31 on guard Brandon Taylor’s layup with nine minutes to play.
Arizona 93, Texas Southern 72
PORTLAND, Ore. — Sophomore forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead fifth-ranked Arizona over Texas Southern in a second-round West Regional matchup at the Moda Center.
Freshman forward Stanley Johnson added 22 points for the No. 2-seeded Wildcats (32-3), who won their 12th straight game.
Butler 56, Texas 48
PITTSBURGH — In a game of long defensive stretches, Butler walked away with a 56-48 win over Texas in the second round of the Midwest Regional.
Butler junior Kellen Dunham’s contested 3-pointer with a minute left made it 48-43 and the Bulldogs hung on at the foul line, making 5 of 6 to close the game. Dunham (20 points) was the only Butler player to score in double figures.
Forward Jonathan Holmes’ 15 points paced Texas.
Xavier 76, Ole Miss 57
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — No. 6-seeded Xavier took advantage of weary Ole Miss and downed the 11th-seeded Rebels in the second round of the West Regional.
Xavier got big games from center Matt Stainbrook and guard Dee Davis, and the Musketeers never trailed after the first two minutes. Stainbrook paced the Musketeers (22-13) with 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals. Davis added 17 points.
Ole Miss (21-13) was playing its second game in less than 48 hours..
Ohio State 75, VCU 72 (OT)
PORTLAND, Ore. — Freshman guard D’Angelo Russell scored 28 points to lead No. 10 seed Ohio State to an overtime win over No. 7 seed Virginia Commonwealth in the West Regional.
Russell scored 16 points in the second half and overtime for the Buckeyes (24-10), who will face Arizona in a third-round matchup on Saturday.
Guard Melvin Johnson scored 17 points for Virginia Commonwealth (26-10), which had a five-game winning streak snapped.