Top-seeded Kansas comes alive, beats Penn

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Devonte Graham ignited sluggish Kansas midway through the first half, pouring in 29 points and lifting the top-seeded Jayhawks to a tough, grind-it-out 76-60 victory over No. 16 Pennsylvania in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

Lagerald Vick added 14 points for the Jayhawks (28-7), who trailed the Ivy League champs by 10 in the early stages before going on a 19-2 run late in the first half to take control.

Graham, perhaps atoning for a miserable performance in last year’s tournament loss to Oregon, also had six rebounds and six assists as the Jayhawks cruised into a second-round matchup with eighth-seeded Seton Hall in the loaded Midwest Region.

A.J. Brodeur had 14 points to lead the Quakers (24-9), but he was just 6-of-16 from the field and committed five turnovers. He was also 1-of-5 from the foul line, where Penn was 5-of-14 as a team.

The Jayhawks played most of the way without 7-footer Udoka Azubuike, who hurt a ligament in his left knee in practice last week. The sophomore center played three minutes, all in the first half, and clearly struggled to move around while wearing a bulky brace on his leg.

Malik Newman, the MVP of last week’s Big 12 Tournament, and Svi Mykhailiuk also scored 10 points apiece for Kansas, which won its 12th consecutive NCAA opener.

For much of the way, the improbable seemed entirely possible.

Trying to succeed where 132 other No. 16 seeds had failed, the Quakers raced to a 21-11 lead with about 7 minutes left in the first half. They leaned on their stingy perimeter defense to limit the hot-shooting Jayhawks’ 3-point barrage, and their pick-and-roll offense was humming.

It took the Big 12 player of the year to restore some order.

Graham picked the pocket of Caleb Wood on defense, trailed a fast-break play and was there to lay in Mykhailiuk’s missed layup, trigging what would become a 19-2 run over the next six minutes.

Graham added back-to-back baskets, using his speed and crossover to get to the rim, then knocked down a pair of 3-pointers later in the run. Graham capped his 19-point first-half barrage by drawing a foul as the Quakers were attempted to give a foul away, then hitting all three foul shots.

That gave the Big 12 champions a 33-26 lead heading into the locker room.

Penn hung around until midway through the second half, when the bigger, stronger Jayhawks began to assert control. Their veteran backcourt did most of the work, slowly pulling away down the stretch.

The Jayhawks, who made their first appearance in Wichita since 1992, plays Seton Hall on Saturday. Seton Hall beat North Carolina State, 94-83, on Thursday.

Seton Hall 94, NC State 83

WICHITA, Kan. — Khadeen Carrington scored 26 points, Desi Rodriguez added 20 and eighth-seeded Seton Hall beat North Carolina State 94-83 in a foul-filled first-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

Myles Powell added 19 points and Angel Delgado scored 13 for the Pirates (22-11), who led the entire way a year after a late meltdown cost them an early exit against Arkansas.

Allerik Freeman hit six 3-pointers and had 36 points to lead the No. 9 seed Wolfpack (21-12), who returned to the tournament under first-year coach Kevin Keatts for the first time in three years. Torin Dorn added 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Lennard Freeman contributed 13 points.

The only thing that slowed down the high-scoring, up-and-down matchup was the whistles.

The teams combined for 53 fouls, resulting in 66 total free throws. Seton Hall had two players foul out — Delgado was one of them — and the Wolfpack had three players relegated to the bench.

Three other players finished the game with four fouls apiece.

North Carolina State hung tough thanks to Freeman, a transfer from Baylor, who went 6-of-8 from beyond the arc.

But the rest of the Wolfpack were just 5-of-22 from 3-point range.

Ohio State 81,

South Dakota State 73

BOISE, Idaho — Kam Williams made a tiebreaking four-point play with 1:36 left, then added a trio of free throws after being fouled on another 3-point attempt, lifting Ohio State to an 81-73 victory over South Dakota State in the West Region on Thursday.

Fifth-seeded Ohio State (25-8) built a 13-point lead by reeling off 16 straight points midway through the second half of a game that featured 71 combined 3-pointers.

South Dakota State made a late run at the Buckeyes, scoring 10 straight points to tie it at 70-all.

Williams answered — by being fouled on a pair of 3-pointers. He finished off the four-point play for a 74-70 lead and made all three free throws on the second, making it 77-70 with 64 seconds left.

Keita Bates-Diop had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Buckeyes, who will face Gonzaga in the round of 32 on Saturday.

Ohio State went 12-for-40 from the arc.

Gonzaga 68,

UNC Greensboro 64

BOISE, Idaho — Zach Norvell Jr. watched Gonzaga’s greatest moments play out from the sideline last year.

This year, the redshirt freshman will be part of the highlight reel.

The shooting guard from Chicago hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 20.8 seconds left Thursday to help the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (31-4) escape a major scare in the West Region with a 68-64 victory over UNC Greensboro.

Last season’s national runners-up trailed 64-62 with 1:48 left after squandering a 12-point lead they took early in the second half.

Josh Perkins tied the game at 64 with a long jumper, and after Greensboro’s Francis Alonso forced up a miss, Gonzaga got the rebound and worked the ball to Norvell, who spotted up from the right elbow and made the 3-pointer for the lead.

Gonzaga, in its 20th straight NCAA tournament, won its first game of March Madness for the 10th straight year, though that’s not the mission anymore for the Zags. They came into the tournament playing well enough to make another run at the Final Four.

Johnathan Williams led the Zags with 19 points and 13 rebounds. James Dickey finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Spartans, and his long arms and out-of-the-building hops kept Gonzaga in check through much of the game. UNCG won the rebounding contest 41-37.

Rhode Island 83, Oklahoma 78, OT

PITTSBURGH —Fatts Russell hit three 3-pointers and showed that — for this game, at least — he was the best freshman guard around as he pressured Oklahoma’s dynamic scorer Trae Young right out of the NCAA Tournament.

E.C. Matthews hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime and one more that sealed it to help Rhode Island hold off Young and beat Oklahoma 83-78 Thursday in the Midwest Region.

The seventh-seeded Rams (26-7) won a game in the tournament for the second straight season and will play Duke on Saturday

Young is likely one-and-done at OU. Young had 28 points for the Sooners (18-14)

Russell plays on after this 15-point performance. Matthews scored 16 points while Cyril Langevine scored 14 points and Jared Terrell had 13 as part of a balanced Rams team.

Duke 89, Iona 67

PITTSBURGH — Marvin Bagley III, the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, did whatever he wanted against game but overmatched Iona, pouring in 22 points to go with seven rebounds in his NCAA Tournament debut as the Blue Devils pulled away for an 89-67 victory on Thursday.

The 6-foot-11 freshman forward made 10-of-14 shots in 32 minutes — even making his lone 3-point attempt — as Duke rolled into a second-round Midwest Region matchup with seven-seeded Rhode Island on Saturday.

Duke allowed seasoned if undersized Iona (20-14) to hang around for most of the first half then tweaked its zone defense enough to disrupt the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament champions. Bagley and some solid shooting and unselfish play by the Blue Devil backcourt trio of Grayson Allen, Trevon Duval and Gary Trent took care of the rest.

Allen and his two freshmen teammates combined for 51 points and 18 of Duke’s 24 assists. Each of them made four 3-pointers.

Roland Griffin led the Gaels with 21 points off the bench. TK Edogi chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds and Zach Lewis and Schadrac Casimir had 10 points each, but Iona simply couldn’t keep up while falling to 1-13 all-time in the NCAAs.

Loyola-Chicago 64, Miami 62

DALLAS — Donte Ingram hit a 3-pointer from the March Madness logo just before the buzzer, lifting Loyola-Chicago over Miami 64-62 in a Thursday thriller to celebrate its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 33 years.

Ingram’s long shot from well above the key came after Lonnie Walker IV missed a free throw with a chance to give the Hurricanes a three-point lead with 9 seconds remaining.

The 11th-seeded Ramblers (29-5) matched the school record for wins from their 1963 national championship team in their first NCAA trip since losing to Patrick Ewing and Georgetown in the Sweet 16 in 1985. They advanced to face third-seeded Tennessee on Saturday.

The sixth-seeded Hurricanes (22-10) led most of the second half in their third straight trip to the tournament, but couldn’t pull away in the final minutes and lost in the first round for the second straight year.

Clayton Custer led Loyola with 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from long range. Ingram was 3-of-8 from 3-point range and finished with 13.

Walker scored 12 points for the Hurricanes.

Tennessee 73, Wright State

DALLAS (AP) — Rick Barnes is now winning NCAA Tournament games with “Rocky Top” in Texas.

With the Tennessee coach back in familiar territory, Admiral Schofield had 15 points and 12 rebounds as the Volunteers opened their first NCAA tournament under Barnes with a 73-47 win over Wright State on Thursday.

The Volunteers (26-8) never had much trouble with the Horizon League tournament champ making its first NCAA appearance since 2007, even after missing their first six shots in the game. The Vols led 3-2 when Schofield made a 3-pointer with 16:42 left, and Wright State (25-10) went back ahead on the next possession before Jordan Bowden’s layup put the Vols up for good.

Barnes is 5-0 in NCAA Tournament games at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, about a three-hour drive from the University of Texas. He led the Longhorns to 16 appearances in 17 years, with four NCAA wins in the home arena of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, before switching “Ts” and shades of orange three years ago.

It was Barnes’ 100th Volunteer game, and 57th win. The Vols are the No. 3 seed in the South Region.

Lamonte Turner had 19 points and a career-high nine assists for Tennessee (26-8), SEC co-champions in the regular season after being picked in the preseason to finish 13th in the 14-team league. Grant Williams added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Loudon Love led Wright State with 12 points and nine rebounds. Everett Winchester had 11 points for the Raiders, who shot only 31 percent (19-of-60) in their lowest-scoring game of the season.

Texas Tech 70. Stephen F. Austin 60

DALLAS (AP) — Keenan Evans scored 19 of his 23 points after halftime and third-seeded Texas Tech surged late to top Stephen F. Austin 70-60 Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Big 12 runner-up Red Raiders (25-9) closed the game on a 13-2 run. Evans drove for a layup with 3:58 left, putting Texas Tech ahead to stay.

Evans had only four points in the first half, all on free throws while going 0-for-4 from the field. But he also ignited the highlight play of the night, chasing down an offensive rebound past midcourt and then throwing an alley-oop pass to 6-foot-5 freshman Zhaire Smith, who made a 360-degree spin in the air while completing the dunk.

SFA (28-7), the Southland Conference tournament champion, led by eight points early in the second half was trying to take down a Big 12 opponent in an NCAA opener for the second time in three seasons.

Ivan Canete had 17 points to lead SFA, while Shannon Bougues had 14, Kevon Harris 12 and TJ Hoyfield 10.

Villanova 87, Radford 61

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The fear naturally seeps into the thinking of players on top-seeded teams in the NCAA Tournament. Could we be the ones that finally lose to a 16 seed?

The answer from Villanova was an emphatic one: not a chance.

Jalen Brunson scored 16 points and No. 1 seed Villanova hit 14 3-pointers in an 87-61 romp over Radford in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.

The Highlanders (23-13) posed no threat at becoming the first 16 seed to ever defeat a No. 1 in the tournament.

Villanova (31-4) played to near-perfection for the first 30 minutes and everyone played a role. Mikal Bridges had 13 points, Eric Paschall scored 11 and Omari Spellman had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Kentucky 78, Davidson 73

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Kentucky topped Davidson 78-73 in the NCAA tournament Thursday despite failing to make a single 3-pointer, snapping a nation-best streak of 1,047 games with a trey that began in 1988.

The fifth-seeded Wildcats went 0-for-6 from behind the line and didn’t even try one over the final 8:46.

The last time Kentucky didn’t make a 3-pointer was at the Great Alaska Shootout against Seton Hall on Nov. 26, 1988 — when Eddie Sutton was coaching, LeRon Ellis was the team’s leading scorer and the 3-point arc was only in its third year in the college game.

Kevin Knox led the Wildcats (25-10) with 25 points, as they pulled away after 12th-seeded Davidson tied things at 54 with 8:01 remaining.
Knox finished 8-for-16 from the floor, including a pair of baseline jumpers from the 15-to-17-foot range that helped Kentucky pull away.

He went 9-for-11 from the free-throw line, but also 0-for-3 from 3-point range.

Wenyen Gabriel, Hamidou Diallo and Quade Green all missed one 3-pointer apiece for Kentucky, which has won despite struggling from long range all season.

Davidson made 11 3-pointers, led by six from Jon Axel Gudmundsson, who finished with 21 points.