Category Archives: College basketball

Sweet 16 will showcase a handful of elite offensive talents

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Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin, shown here dunking against TCU Sunday night, is the player to watch in the Sweet 16 at the AT&T Center.

The NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 in the South region features a few individual offensive stylists on each of the four teams that could inspire even the most over-the-hill, couch potatoes to sign up for gym memberships in April.

Then again, some of your friends in the forever out-of-shape category may just want to tune into the games to watch the theatrics unfold, just for the heck of it.

Some, no doubt, will be inspired only to reach for another bag of chips, or for one more adult beverage — which is fine.

Regardless, we’ll explore this afternoon what both of Thursday night’s games will have to offer in terms of ball players who have the ability to score in streaks at the AT&T Center.

In the first game that tips off at 6:29 p.m., the 11th-seeded Michigan Wolverines will call on center Hunter Dickinson and guard Eli Brooks to do damage against the two-seed Villanova Wildcats.

They Wolverines will be tasked with slowing down some pretty good shot-makers on the Wildcats, as well, namely All-American guard Collin Gillespie and his backcourt mate, Justin Moore.

In the 8:59 p.m. nightcap, the high-flying, top-seeded Arizona Wildcats will showcase perhaps the most highly-rated player in the Sweet 16 in 6-foot-6 guard Bennedict Mathurin, plus a few other standouts, namely, forward Azuolas Tubelis and 7-1 center Christian Koloko.

The fifth-seeded Cougars, possibly the best defensive team in San Antonio this weekend, probably will prefer to play at a somewhat deliberate pace to keep the Wildcats from taking too many shots.

Also, the Cougars’ two best offensive threats — Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark — are injured and out for the season.

Regardless, Houston will start guards in Kyler Edwards, Jamal Shead and Taze Moore who can shoot and play in transition in stretches if it’s necessary. They’ve also got center Josh Carlton and reliable veteran forward Fabian White, a career 49 percent shooter.

Michigan vs. Villanova

In the opener, Dickinson, a 7-foot-1, 260-pound sophomore from Virginia, has emerged as a player who has carried the erratic Wolverines to back-to-back victories for the first time in a few months.

A left-hander with a deft touch from all three levels, he produced 48 points on 16 of 23 shooting combined against Colorado State and third-seeded Tennessee.

In one of his best outings of the season, Dickinson had 27 points and 11 rebounds in a 76-68 upset of the Volunteers.

Michigan coach Juwan Howard, one of the best big men in the nation when he played for the Wolverines, talked about the potential for a good show between Dickinson and Villanova’s Eric Dixon.

Though Dixon is only 6-7, Howard lauded his skillset.

“I know they talked about the guard play from Gillespie and Moore and others,” Howard said. “But Dixon, when you’re a 6-7 center … sometimes you look at that as slight. But he’s not just a center. He’s a basketball player … a competitive basketball player built with a lot of strength, toughness …

“(He) can shoot the basketball extremely well … (He) plays with a high IQ.”

Villanova coach Jay Wright said that he recruited Brooks out of high school at Spring Grove, Pa. In that regard, the coach knows what Michigan’s 6-1, fifth-year senior will bring to the table.

“I did see him getting this good, and this is what we thought he would be,” Wright said. “That’s why we recruited him. As I remember it — I’m not always good at this, but he visited our place, and then he told us he was going to take a visit to Michigan and then made his decision.

“Then he called me and told me he was going to Michigan. That’s what I remember.

“Great, great kid. Great family. This is kind of what we thought he’d be. We thought he’d be a four-year guy and a great player and winner, (a)champion by the time he was done … it’s a shame we got to go against him because you root for a guy like that.”

Houston vs. Arizona

Mathurin emerged as a hot topic of discussion in media interviews — and some of it was for reasons that didn’t have anything to do with basketball.

The Associated Press published a story saying that Mathurin, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, communicated by email to the TCU athletic department in an attempt to apologize following reports on social media that indicated he might have made contact with a TCU dance team member after a round of 32 game in San Diego last weekend.

Mathurin, who scored 30 points to lead the Wildcats past the Horned Frogs, reportedly was bowing to the crowd after the 85-80 overtime victory Sunday night.

As he turned toward the tunnel, the AP story said, “he appears to be looking the opposite way with his arms still outstretched when his left hand goes near the woman’s chest, though it is unclear whether there is any contact.”

Asked to respond Wednesday, Mathurin told reporters, “Yeah, I actually sent an e-mail trying to reach out to the cheerleader and sent (it) through the TCU athletic department. I reached out to her, and that is it.”

He declined to answer a follow-up question about whether he recalled touching the dancer when leaving the floor.

“I answered your question,” Mathurin said.

Playing against the Horned Frogs, the sophomore shooting guard sank a 3-pointer to tie the game in regulation and then scored six more points in overtime as Arizona survived against ninth-seeded TCU.

“He’s the best guard we’ve seen,” said Sampson, a former San Antonio Spurs assistant coach under Gregg Popovich. “That’s not coach speak, that’s the truth. I was in the NBA for six seasons, and he’s an NBA guy.

“He’s not going to go in and be a role player. He’ll start. He’s going to get drafted so high that they’re going to start him.”

In the Cougars, the Wildcats will need to guard an array of talent that, as a group, averages 75.2 points. The Cougars shoot 47.1 percent from the field as a team, including 34.4 percent from three.

“I’m so impressed just with how (their) players do what they’re told to do,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Just the effort they play with. They max out every effort area. They’re well drilled on offense. They know the shots they want to take.

“They know who’s taking them, where they’re coming from, and they obviously do an amazing job offensive bounding. And then, defensively, the effort and energy they play with and attention to detail, it’s almost unmatched.”

With players buying into Sampson’s system, Houston ranks fourth in the nation in scoring defense (59 points per game), first in field goal percentage defense (37.5) and 11th in 3-point defense (28.8).

Nonetheless, the Cougars can also fill it up on offense, and the explosions can come from seemingly any position.

For instance, they have had three different players lead the team in scoring over the last five games.

In a span of three games at the American Athletic Conference tournament and two in the NCAA tournament, White and Edwards have led the Cougars in scoring twice, while Moore, who is usually a distributor, exploded for a season-high 21 in a 68-53 thumping of fourth-seeded Illinois on Sunday afternoon.

“Three-hour drive from home, we’re expecting a big turnout,” Carlton said. “But we also know Arizona … has a big fan base. We know their fans travel well, but we’re really expecting for our fans to show up.

“That’s the big benefit of having this game so close to home, being able to have the fans be there and support.

Records

Game One: Michigan (19-14) vs. Villanova (28-7).

Game Two: Arizona (33-3) vs. Houston (31-5)

Cougars arrive for a Wednesday workout in San Antonio

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The Houston Cougars just arrived for a Wednesday morning/afternoon workout at the AT&T Center. Fifth-seeded Houston will take on No. 1 seed Arizona in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament Thursday.

Houston is one of the top defensive teams in the nation. The Cougars lead the nation in field goal percentage (37.5) defense and rank fourth in points allowed (59 per game). They’re 12th nationally in rebound margin per game (seven).

The Michigan Wolverines emerged as the first team on the floor Wednesday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

Michigan will take on Villanova and Houston will play Arizona on Thursday night in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA South region. The winners will play Saturday in the Elite Eight, with the survivor advancing to the Final Four in New Orleans next week.

Teams are working out and talking to the media Wednesday morning and afternoon. Please check back for updates.

From a ‘Dazzling Dude’ to Kiana Williams: San Antonio’s top 30 moments in college basketball

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Villanova Wildcats guard Jalen Brunson talks to reporters at his dressing cubicle during the 2018 NCAA Final Four. With Brunson now playing for the Dallas Mavericks, the Wildcats are coming back to San Antonio to play in the NCAA Sweet 16 against the Michigan Wolverines on Thursday. — File photo by Jerry Briggs

If it’s late March, then we’re talking NCAA tournament basketball. We’re talking college hoops. In San Antonio, we have a history with the game, and so there are plenty of reasons to like the prospect of a Sweet 16 featuring Michigan-Villanova and Houston-Arizona, starting on Thursday night at the AT&T Center.

Here are my top 30 college basketball moments from an Alamo City fans’ historical perspective, in chronological order:

1960 – Former Edison High School standout Rudy Davalos plays point guard and leads the Southwest Texas State Bobcats to the NAIA title. Later, Davalos serves three years as an assistant coach with the Spurs before he is hired in 1976 as UTSA’s first athletic director.

1961 – St. Mary’s University freshman Herman ‘Buddy’ Meyer suits up to play his first game for the St. Mary’s Rattlers to begin a 41-year association with the school. Meyer made all-conference all four years and would later coach the team to its first national title.

March 8, 1969 – Trinity University is the first team from San Antonio to play in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers lose 81-66 to the Texas A&M Aggies in the first round of a 25-team event.

Jan. 24, 1970 – St. Mary’s University’s Doug Williams produces 24 points and 18 rebounds for the NAIA Rattlers, who defeat NCAA Division I Houston, 76-66, in San Antonio. The Alabama native and three-time All-American scored 2,246 points in his career, which remains as the school record.

1977 – Former Clemens High School and St. Mary’s star Robert Reid is selected on the second round of the NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets.

1978 – Former Burbank High School center Gilbert Salinas plays off the bench for a Notre Dame University team that reaches the NCAA Final Four.

March 1, 1980 – Texas A&M beats Arkansas, 52-50, for the Southwest Conference post-season title at HemisFair Arena. Aggies coach Shelby Metcalf wins a close one over Eddie Sutton of the Razorbacks.

Derrick Gervin watches a UTSA men's basketball game at the UTSA Convocation Center on Feb. 13, 2020. Gervin holds the UTSA men's basketball single-season scoring record (718 points in 1984-85). He is the second player in program history to have his jersey retired. - photo by Joe Alexander

Detroit native Derrick Gervin emerged as UTSA’s first star player, averaging 21.5 points over three seasons in the 1980s. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Nov. 30, 1981 – The UTSA Roadrunners play their inaugural men’s game at HemisFair Arena and lose 71-42 to Sutton and the Arkansas Razorbacks.

1982 – UTSA signs Derrick Gervin, the younger brother of Spurs guard George Gervin. Turning pro after three years in college, Gervin leaves the Roadrunners with averages of 21.1 points and 8.6 rebounds.

Feb. 6, 1984 – UTSA, under coach Don Eddy, beats Meyer-coached St. Mary’s 69-61 in the first Mayor’s Challenge Cup at HemisFair Arena.

1986 – Former John Jay High School student Clarissa Davis, as a University of Texas freshman, leads the Longhorns to the NCAA Division I women’s basketball title. Arizona assistant coach Ken Burmeister takes over as head coach of the men’s basketball program at UTSA.

November 1987 – “A Dazzling Dude.” Former Fox Tech High School star Fennis Dembo, who played at the University of Wyoming, appears on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Dembo is recruited to Wyoming by Jim Brandenburg, a former high school coach in San Antonio. Dembo leads the Cowboys to two NCAA tournaments, scores more than 2,300 points in four years and is selected in the first round of the 1989 NBA draft.

March 18, 1988 – Led by coach Ken Burmeister and players such as Frank Hampton and Clarence McGee, the UTSA Roadrunners win the Trans America Athletic Conference championship in Daytona Beach, Florida, and compete in their first NCAA tournament game against Illinois. The Illini down the Roadrunners, who were in only their seventh year as a program, 81-72.

1989 – In the spring, the Buddy Meyer-coached Rattlers score a 61-58 victory over East Central, Okla., in the NAIA championship game at Kansas City, and guard Anthony Houston is a first-team All-American. In the fall, seven-foot center Shaquille O’Neal, from Cole High School, opens his career at LSU. O’Neal becomes a two-time All-American.

1993 – In a push led by businessman Bob Coleman, sports administrator Robert Marbut, Jr., and others, San Antonio for the first time is named as a host city for the NCAA Men’s Final Four. The NCAA says the event will be played in 1998 at the Alamodome.

1998 – Tubby Smith-coached Kentucky downs Rick Majerus-coached Utah, 78-69, in the first NCAA title game played in the city. In San Antonio’s first Final Four, Kentucky defeats Stanford, and Utah edges North Carolina in the semifinals.

1999 – UTSA reaches the NCAA tournament under Coach Tim Carter. The Roadrunners are led by freshman Devin Brown from West Campus High School.

2000 – Mexico native Eduardo Najera, who played at Cornerstone in San Antonio, averages 21.5 and 10.8 rebounds in his senior year at Oklahoma. He is named first-team, all-Big 12. As a junior in 1999, he leads the Sooners to the NCAA Sweet 16. Najera’s coach? Kelvin Sampson, now the head coach at Houston.

March 31, 2002 – With Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi in the backcourt, the Geno Auriemma-coached Connecticut Huskies beat Oklahoma 82-70 to win the title, capping a 39-0 season in the first NCAA women’s Final Four held at the Alamodome.

March/April, 2003 – Texas wins the South region title in San Antonio and then gets knocked off in the Final Four by Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse. Former Sam Houston High School standout Jeremy McNeil comes off the bench in 35 games for the Orange, who win the NCAA title with an 81-78 victory over Kansas at the Louisiana Superdome.

2004 – UTSA reaches the NCAA tournament for a second time under Carter. Connecticut, under Jim Calhoun, wins the title at the Final Four in the Alamodome.

2008 – The Rae Rippetoe-Blair coached UTSA women play in their first NCAA tournament. In the men’s tournament, Lanier High School-ex Orlando Mendez-Valdez leads 12th-seeded Western Kentucky to the Sweet 16, and the Kansas Jayhawks beat the Memphis Tigers to clinch the NCAA title at the Alamodome. Mario Chalmers is the hero, hitting a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

2009 – The UTSA women, under Rippetoe-Blair, play in their second NCAA tournament and take No. 2 seed Baylor to overtime.

2010 – San Antonio hosts the second NCAA women’s Final Four at the Alamodome. Paced by guard Maya Moore, Connecticut beats Stanford, 53-47, for the title.

2011 – In UTSA’s fourth trip to the Big Dance, the Brooks Thompson-led Roadrunners win their first NCAA game with a 70-61 victory over Alabama State. UTSA is ousted in the Round of 64 by the Ohio State Buckeyes, 75-46.

2017 – The University of the Incarnate Word completes its four-year transition from Division II and becomes eligible in the 2017-18 season to compete in both the Southland Conference and NCAA Division I tournaments.

Jhivvan Jackson, Keaton Wallace. UTSA beat Southwestern Adventist from Keene, Texas, 123-43 in a non-conference game on Thursday, March 4, 2021, at the UTSA Convocation Center. - photo by Joe Alexander

Playing four years together, Jhivvan Jackson (left) and Keaton Wallace became the top two scorers in UTSA school history. Jackson, a native of Puerto Rico, scored 2,551 for the most career points in Division I history by a player born in Latin America. — File photo by Joe Alexander.

April 2, 2018 – Villanova, with coach Jay Wright and players such as Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo, downs Michigan for the NCAA men’s title at the Alamodome. The men’s Final Four was played in San Antonio for the fourth time.

April 7, 2019 – Baylor freshman NaLyssa Smith, from East Central High School, scores 14 points off the bench in an NCAA women’s title game victory over Notre Dame.

2021 – Paced by point guard Kiana Williams from Wagner High School, the Stanford women win the NCAA title in San Antonio, Baylor’s NaLyssa Smith wins the Wade Trophy as the national Player of the Year and two UTSA men’s players become career 2,000-point scorers. Jhivvan Jackson, from Puerto Rico, finishes with 2,551 for the most points by a Latin American-born player in Division I history, while Keaton Wallace, from Richardson, scores 2,080.

March 16, 2022 – The Incarnate Word women, under coach Jeff Dow, win the Southland tournament with three victories in three days. They reach the NCAA tournament for the first time and lose to the Howard University Bison in the round of 68.

No. 1 seed Arizona eliminates TCU in OT, advances to Sweet 16 in San Antonio

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Pac-12 Player of the Year Bennedict Mathurin scored 30 points, and 7-foot-1 center Christian Koloko sank a put-back with five seconds left in overtime, leading the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats to an 85-80 NCAA tournament victory Sunday night in San Diego.

With the win, the Wildcats will move on to play the Houston Cougars in the Sweet 16. The South region battle betweeen the Wildcats (33-3) and the fifth-seeded Cougars (31-5) will take place on Thursday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

Chuck O’Bannon led the ninth-seeded Horned Frogs (21-13) with a career-high 23 points. Eddie Lampkin and Mike Miles scored 20 apiece. Lampkin pulled down 14 rebounds.

After finishing tied for fifth in the Big 12, the Horned Frogs took a No. 9 seed in the South and won their first-round game, downing the Seton Hall Pirates, 69-42.

In the round of 32, they played Arizona to the wire, holding a three-point lead in regulation until Mathurin tied the game with a three out of the corner.

Mathurin was masterful, hitting 8 of 19 from the field and 11 of 13 at the free throw line. He also had eight rebounds. Koloko also was a force. He produced 28 points and 12 rebounds. The center connected on 12 of 13 shots from the field.

“Incredible battle,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I knew this was going to be a hard game. I try to tell our guys, TCU obviously plays in the Big 12 and they’re battle tested and they’re great defensively, and just so hard to keep off the glass.

“We weren’t having a crazy problem getting them to miss the first shot; it was just trying to get defensive rebounds. And so they get a ton of credit. They’re really hard to play against.”

O’Bannon expressed pride in what the Horned Frogs accomplished this season.

“This season was everything for us because we weren’t even expected to be here,” he said. “And for us to win our first game and be that close with the No. 1 seed just shows that we have a bunch of guys with a lot of grit. That’s all you can ask for.”

Notable

Michigan and Villanova will play Thursday at 6:29 p.m., while Arizona and Houston will tip off at 8:59 p.m., with both South region Sweet 16 matchups at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, according to the NCAA. The games will be aired on TBS. The Elite Eight game is scheduled for Saturday at the AT&T. The game time has not been announced.

Regulation

Forcing a TCU turnover on the last play of regulation, Arizona’s Dalen Terry picked up a loose ball and raced half the court to dunk it — a potential game-winning basket that was waved off because it came just after time had expired.

As a result, the contest went to overtime tied, 75-75.

Moments earlier, Eddie Lampkin’s rebound and put back gave the Horned Frogs a 75-72 lead. From there, the Wildcats came down and called on Bennedict Mathurin, who drained a three out of the corner to tie the game.

TCU brought the ball up and turned it over at half court. But it was too late for the Wildcats to do anything with it.

Earlier, the Horned Frogs had erased a nine-point deficit in the last eight minutes and appeared to be on the brink of a major upset. Big plays by TCU’s Chuck O’Bannon, Lamkin and Mike Miles sparked the rally.

Purdue holds on to oust Texas from the NCAA tournament

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Forward Trevion Williams sank 10 of 13 shots and scored 22 points Sunday night, and the third-seeded Purdue Boilermakers produced a 81-71 NCAA tournament victory over the Texas Longhorns at Milwaukee.

With the win, the Boilermakers (29-7) will move on to the Sweet 16 in the East region. Purdue will play 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s, of Jersey City, N.J., on Friday in Philadelphia.

The Longhorns were sparked all night by guard Marcus Carr until the Boilermakers started shading him with a second defender midway through the second half.

Hitting from the mid-range and from three, Carr produced 23 points and six assists to lead the Longhorns.

At the end, Carr became a distributor. He assisted on a couple of baskets in the final few minutes and then hit a three out of the corner with 1:30 remaining. His three sliced Purdue’s lead to three.

On the next possession, guard Jaden Ivey knocked down a long three from the top to push the Boilermakers up by six, 77-71, with a minute remaining.

Texas would get no closer the rest of the way.

The Horns (22-12) entered the tournament on a three-game losing streak. They had lost six of 11, including a loss to TCU in the Big 12 tournament.

Earning the sixth seed in the East, they were sent to Milwaukee, where they downed the Virginia Tech Hokies 81-73 in the first round. Against the Boilermakers, the Longhorns were looking for their first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2008.

“I’m just super proud of our guys,” Texas coach Chris Beard said. “It’s not all the normal coaching cliches, I really mean it. This group overcame a lot. Most of these guys recruited by Texas and us during the COVID. They didn’t take official visits.

“Four guys chose to stay. Other guys made the decision on Zoom calls and phone calls. They all came together and I thought (we) really had a good season. We came down here to win this tournament and came up a little bit short tonight, but never been more proud of a group.”

Texas Tech ousts Notre Dame and advances to the Sweet 16

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The Texas Tech Red Raiders are on their way to the Sweet 16.

Pushed to the limit by the 11th-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish in an NCAA tournament game played at San Diego, the No. 3 Red Raiders rallied at the end for a 59-53 victory.

With the win, the Red Raiders (27-9) will advance to play the two seed Duke Blue Devils (30-6) on Thursday in San Francisco. Texas Tech needs to win twice more in the tournament to reach the Final Four.

“I’m so excited right now I can’t put it into words,” Texas Tech’s Kevin McCullar, Jr., said. “So thankful for my brothers on the team, coach (Mark) Adams and stuff. It came down to defense. We knew we needed to get stops against a really good Notre Dame team. That’s what we ended up doing. And we hit some big free throws.”

Notre Dame’s Blake Wesley hit one of two free throws with 2:09 remaining to give the Fighting Irish a 52-49 lead.

From there, Texas Tech surged on a 10-1 run to the final buzzer.

A key play came with less than a minute remaining when forward Marcus Santos-Silva blocked a layup attempt by Wesley that would have given the Irish a one-point lead.

Instead, the Red Raiders gained possession, Santos-Silva was fouled, and he hit two free throws for a 55-52 lead.

Later, McCullar, Jr., from San Antonio’s Wagner High School, hit two free throws. After a Notre Dame turnover, McCullar dunked in transition to make it 59-52.

Forward Kevin Obanor led the Red Raiders with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Bryson Williams and McCullar added 14 apiece.

Off the bench, Santos-Silva was big. He had four points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. A left-hander, he made two free throws right handed.

“How about that?” first-year Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. “Here’s a guy who changes his shot. I’d like to take credit for it. But I think he did that on his own about a month ago … He looks a whole lot better. But quite honestly (it) still hadn’t been going in, in practice. We were crossing our fingers.”

Dane Goodwin led the Irish with 14 points and eight rebounds. Wesley had 11 points and eight boards. Goodwin knocked down three of Notre Dame’s nine 3-pointers.

Villanova wins, advances to the Sweet 16 in San Antonio

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Collin Gillespie scored 20 points, and Eric Dixon drained a clutch 3-pointer in the final two minutes on Sunday to help the Villanova Wildcats turn back the Ohio State Buckeyes, 71-61, in an NCAA tournament game at Pittsburgh.

With the victory, the second-seeded Wildcats (28-7) will move into the South region Sweet 16 at San Antonio’s AT&T Center on Thursday.

They’ll play the No. 11 seed Michigan Wolverines (19-14) in a game that will feature an almost entirely different cast of players and coaches from the same programs that met in the 2018 NCAA title game at the Alamodome.

In April of 2018, Villanova won its second national title with a 79-62 victory over Michigan.

From that game, Villanova coach Jay Wright will return to the Alamo City, as will fifth-year seniors Gillespie, Jermaine Samuels and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree. As a freshman, Gillespie scored four points off the bench in the championship clincher.

Asked after the Ohio State game about playing Michigan again in San Antonio, Gillespie shrugged off the coincidence.

“I didn’t think about that,” Gillespie said. “We’re just happy to be moving on. We’re taking it one day at a time. We’re just having a growth mindset.

“We want to go back this week, watch the film. We can get a lot better from it. There’s a lot of things we can do to get better this week and prepare for Michigan.”

Apparently, all of Michigan’s players who played in the 2018 championship meeting have moved on. In addition, the Wolverines are under the direction of a new staff led by head coach Juwan Howard.

“We know how great of a team they are and the difficulties they present,” Gillespie said. “Our coach is going to put together a great scouting report. But I didn’t think about that (playing Michigan again, in San Antonio).”

Added Samuels, “I didn’t think about it until you brought it up, but that team is very battle tested, they’ve been through a lot all year, and they’re going to be ready to go. It’s cool it’s in San Antonio but great to be in the Sweet 16.”

The Buckeyes entered the Round of 32 game coming off a dominant defensive performance in a 54-41 victory over Loyola-Chicago. Villanova nearly matched Loyola’s production in the first half as it surged to a 39-28 lead.

Methodically, the Wildcats built the lead in the second half to as much as 15 points. But the Buckeyes rallied, and a 3-pointer by Jamari Wheeler made it a two-point game with 5:39 to play. At that point, the Wildcats held firm.

With the clock winding down, Gillespie backed a defender down and pitched outside to Dixon, who hit a 3-pointer with 1:38 remaining to increase Villanova’s lead to eight. Ohio State never got closer than six the rest of the way.

“That’s something we work on all the time,” Gillespie said of the key play. “They were playing Justin (Moore) pretty tight on that side, and their big was in the lane. Eric was wide open, and I have tons of confidence in him to step in and knock any shot down that he’s going to take.”

Dixon, a 6-8, 255-pound forward, has attempted only 31 three-pointers this season. He has made 16 of them.

Houston wins, advances to the Sweet 16 in San Antonio

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Not only did the Houston Cougars neutralize an All-American center, they totally outplayed the Illinois Fighting Illini in the backcourt on Sunday afternoon, scoring a 68-53 victory in the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.

With the win, the Cougars advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third straight year. This time, they’ll play at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Houston is scheduled to take on either Arizona or TCU in a South region matchup on Thursday.

Up in Pittsburgh, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson showed his emotions after his team’s 31st victory of the season, taking off his shirt in a dressing room celebration as Cougars players doused him with water.

“It was a good feeling seeing Coach take his shirt off and dance,” Cougars forward Reggie Cheney said. “This is something we have been working toward all year. It’s a great feeling just to let it out.”

In facing Illinois, the Cougars had to deal with massive center Kofi Cockburn, a first-team, All-American by the Associated Press. Cockburn had his moments with 19 points and 11 rebounds. A thunderous dunk by Cockburn midway through the second half turned heads.

“I don’t know how many points he got,” Sampson said. “I think the relevant thing is not how many points he had but how many shots he got. He had 11 shot attempts. That’s great defense. But our kids are tough kids. This is a tough program. That’s how we’ve achieved to this point.”

Houston countered Illinois’ powerful center with superb, all-around play, featuring a guard trio of Taze Moore, Jamal Shead and Kyler Edwards.

Moore had a season-high 21 points and seven rebounds. Shead had 18 and Edwards 15. All three of them made big plays in the second half, when the Cougars outscored the Illini 38-27.

For Moore, the game represented a slight change from his role of facilitator. He only had one assist on a day in which his teammates instead looked for him to shoot, and he responded by hitting 9 of 16 from the field.

“It just shows that they believe in me,” Moore said. “And I appreciate them, more than they ever know it, just because all those long nights that Coach Q (assistant Quannas White) worked out with me and Coach Sampson yelling at me, it shows they want it for all of us.”

Michigan

San Antonio knows the song, all right. ‘Hail to the Victors’ was played a time or two in 2018 at the Alamodome when the Michigan Wolverines played in the NCAA Final Four.

The Wolverines will be making a return trip to the Alamo City this week.

Michigan qualified on Saturday for a trip to the Sweet 16 when it rallied with a 22-8 run down the stretch for a 76-68 upset victory over the third-seeded Tennessee Volunteers. Michigan will play either Villanova or Ohio State.

North Carolina ends Baylor’s reign; son of the ‘Rocket’ rises

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After one of the most deliciously discombobulated and outrageously epic games in NCAA tournament history, one that bolstered the tradition of a blue-blooded program and sent the defending national champions home early, RJ Davis thanked his father.

“I mean, shout-out to my dad,” North Carolina’s precocious sophomore guard told reporters in Fort Worth. “He was a big-time scorer in college. They called him Rocket.”

The son of the Rocket proved to be something special, in his own right, on Saturday afternoon. RJ Davis scored a career-high 30 points and passed for six assists as the Tar Heels downed the Baylor Bears, 93-86, in overtime at Dickies Arena.

North Carolina advanced to the Sweet 16 of the East region in Philadelphia next week despite blowing a 25-point lead in a crazy 10-minute stretch that left the game tied at 80-80 after regulation.

In overtime, Davis sank an extremely difficult driving layup and converted a three-point play with 1:18 remaining. When he sank the free throw, the Tar Heels led by six. The Bears couldn’t get closer than five the rest of the way.

As such, Baylor became the first No. 1 seed in the tournament to fall this weekend, and eighth-seeded North Carolina, criticized earlier this season for being soft, found its tournament mojo. At just the right time.

Davis credited his father, Rob Davis, a former 2,100-point career scorer at Mercy College, for all the guidance, all the rides to the youth tournaments — everything. For helping him along on his journey to the NCAA Sweet 16.

“He just always stayed on me,” said Davis, from White Plains, N.Y. “Even when I had good games or bad games, it was just good criticism, just to get me to the position where I’m at now. Give credit to him just for everything he’s done for me, you know, from workouts to, you know, (AAU), him spazzing on me in car rides. So shout-out to Big Rob.”

In defeat, Baylor’s Drew lauds his players for their character

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Coach Scott Drew lauded the character of his players after the top-seeded Baylor Bears’ reign as national champions came to an exhausting end on Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth.

East region No. 8 seed North Carolina downed No. 1 Baylor 93-86 in overtime, ousting the Bears in a wild, round-of-32 game at the NCAA tournament.

At this time last year, the Bears were rolling toward their first title in men’s basketball and the first by a team from the state since Texas Western (now UTEP) won it all in 1966.

Today, Baylor’s season is over after finishing 27-7, which included a tie for first in the Big 12 regular season with Kansas.

The Bears won their first 15 games this season, before injuries and adversity caught up with them.

They forged a 14-4 record in Big 12 play, and then knocked off Norfolk State (Va.) in the NCAA’s first round.

In the Round of 32, they fell behind early against the Tar Heels, who were led by guard RJ Davis and forward Brady Manek

Ten minutes into the second half, the Bears’ deficit expanded to 25 points. With a pressing defense, they rallied furiously into an 80-80 tie at the end of regulation, only to see the Tar Heels escape in the five-minute extra period.

Davis had 30 points and Manek, who was ejected on a flagrant foul in the second half, finished with 26.

“Really proud of (our players’) effort and just how they carried themselves all year long,” Drew said in the post-game press conference at Dickies Arena. “15 and zero, (we) face a bunch of injuries, adversity. We could have gone away, end up (winning) conference.

“Same with today, you get down 25, it’s easy to fold. These guys don’t.

“It’s a joy to coach them every single day. We might be losers on the scoreboard today … Give North Carolina a lot of credit.

“Coach (Hubert) Davis is a great coach, does a lot of great things. They got a lot of great players and a great program. But I’m proud of these guys (with the Bears) and how they represent Baylor University.”

In the Bears’ season finale, guard Adam Flagler led with 27 points. James Akinjo produced 20 points, five assists and three steals. Jeremy Sochan produced 15 points off the bench, and Matthew Mayer scored 10.

Drew called his players “great young men” who had good attitudes about how to practice and play. “They really represented the school the right way,” he said.

The coach touched on the spiritual, as well, spelling out the theme of the team.

“What is impossible with man is possible with God,” Drew said. “I mean, to win back-to-back conference (championships) with three season-ending injuries, that’s phenomenal, along with all the other injuries these guys have overcome.

“And I know Adam will be excited to finally rest his body and get 100 percent healthy. He hadn’t been 100 percent healthy in six weeks or so. But it just shows you the toughness the guys have.”

Baylor played in the tournament without injured Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, and LJ Cryer.

Freshman Langston Love, from San Antonio-area Steele High School and Montverde (Fla.) Academy, was lost to the team for the season in October, before the first game. Love is rehabilitating a knee injury.