The No. 1 seed Arizona men will be in action later tonight vs. TCU (approximately 9:40 p.m.). Women’s top seeds Louisville (vs. Gonzaga, 7 p.m.) and Stanford (vs. Kansas, 9 p.m.) are back on the court Sunday as well.
Follow along for live updates and highlights from March Madness.
What to know about the first two rounds
Men’s scores
Women’s scores
South Dakota women shock host Baylor in 10-over-2 upset
Baylor had the tradition, the talent and the home-court advantage, but when the final buzzer sounded in Waco, Tex., South Dakota had itself a massive upset.
The 10th-seeded Coyotes, fresh off the first NCAA tournament win in their program’s history, jumped out to a big early lead and were able to keep No. 2 Baylor at arm’s length the rest of the way in a 61-47 triumph. It was the latest unexpected development in a women’s tournament that already saw a 10-2 upset earlier in the day when Creighton stunned Iowa.
South Dakota’s Hannah Sjerven scored a game-high 16 points before fouling out, and Chloe Lamb, their team’s top scorer, added 15. Baylor’s leading scorer, NaLyssa Smith, had 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting while teammate Queen Egbo notched 13.
2 Baylor falls to 10 South Dakota.
Baylor had made the Sweet 16 in 12 straight tournaments, the 4th-longest streak all-time.
Baylor was 22-0 against double-digit seeds in the NCAA Tournament. It was the most wins without a loss against double-digit seeds in tourney history. pic.twitter.com/ndDAOSm0LY
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 21, 2022
Much as they had done Friday against seventh-seeded Mississippi, the Coyotes jumped out to an early lead and never let Baylor come particularly close the rest of the way. South Dakota outscored the Bears 16-4 in the first quarter and made 13 of 17 free throws to help ice the victory.
The Coyotes also took advantage of a far superior showing from beyond the arc; they made half of their 16 three-point shots, whereas the Bears went just five of 26. It was a tough weekend for Baylor basketball overall, given that the top-seeded men’s squad and defending NCAA champions lost on Saturday to No. 8 North Carolina. The Baylor women had not failed to reach the Sweet 16 since 2008.
South Dakota will now take on the winner of a Wichita Region matchup between No. 3 Michigan and No. 11 Villanova.
Halftime: Texas Tech 26, Notre Dame 25 (men)
No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 11 Notre Dame were locked in a tight defensive battle at the half in San Diego, with the Red Raiders leading 26-25 with a Sweet 16 spot on the line.
Two days ago, Texas Tech dropped 97 points in its win against No. 14 seed Montana State. They haven’t played nearly as well offensively Sunday, shooting just 39.3 percent. Kevin Obanor, a transfer from last tournament’s Cinderella, Oral Roberts, scored half of Texas Tech’s points.
But the Red Raiders’ defense has continued to be their calling card — they’re 10th in the country in scoring defense — and Notre Dame shot only 23.1 percent from the field. Every player who has played for the Fighting Irish scored, but no one had more than six points.
Texas Tech is seeking its third Sweet 16 appearance in the last four years, while Notre Dame is trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016. The winner would have a chance to end the farewell tour for Mike Krzyzewski and No. 2 Duke in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.
Halftime: Louisville 36, Gonzaga 32 (women)
Louisville, the top seed in the Wichita Region, held a 36-32 halftime lead at home Sunday against No. 9 Gonzaga.
The Cardinals’ Kianna Smith, their second-leading scorer on the season, had a team-high 10 points at the break, and she was matched by the Bulldogs’ Kayleigh Truong. Both teams struggled from long range, combining to make just five of 24 three-point shots.
The winner moves on to face the winner of a matchup between No. 4 Tennessee and No. 12 Belmont.
7:53 p.m.
Patrick Stevens: Three nuggets on the Mike Krzyzewski farewell tour that will continue at least a few more days after the second-seeded Blue Devils bounced Michigan State from the NCAA tournament, 85-76:– Krzyzewski will coach in his 26th career Sweet 16 on Thursday when the Blue Devils (30-6) meet either third-seeded Texas Tech or 11th-seeded Notre Dame. The only other coaches with 26 total tournament appearances are Jim Boeheim (35), Roy Williams (30), Bob Knight (28), Lute Olson (27), Dean Smith (27) and Rick Barnes (26).– Duke got past the vaunted Tom Izzo-in-the-second-game-at-a-site trend. Michigan State fell to 23-7 under Izzo in games in the second round, regional final or the national title game — all the second game in three days at a tournament site.– Now it’s off to San Francisco, where Krzyzewski will try to accomplish a first before he faces his last game. Duke is 0-5 in NCAA tournament games in the Pacific time zone under Coach K, with losses in 1984 (to Washington in Pullman, Wash.), 1989 (to Seton Hall in Seattle), 2003 (to Kansas in Anaheim, Calif.), 2011 (to Arizona in Anaheim) and 2016 (to Oregon in Anaheim) on the ledger. The last three losses all came in regional semifinals.
Patrick Stevens
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College sports
Duke gets past Michigan State, staves off Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement
Mike Krzyzewski staved off retirement, won his 1,200th game and defeated an old foe all in one fell swoop Sunday. The Duke coach’s second-seeded Blue Devils won a tense battle with Coach Tom Izzo and No. 7 Michigan State, 85-76, in a West Region showdown in Greenville, S.C.
Duke needed to stage a late rally, capped by a series of lead-padding free throws, to keep the 75-year-old Krzyzewski from bidding farewell to a stellar career. With the win, he improved his overall record to 1,200-376, including 99-30 in the NCAA tournament with a record 26 appearances in the Sweet 16.
The Blue Devils’ winning surge began after Michigan State’s Tyson Walker made a three-pointer with just over five minutes to play, giving his team its first lead since early in the first half. The Spartans quickly pushed their lead to five but it was then the turn of Duke, which had led by as much as eight points earlier in the second half, to fight back.
Star freshman Paolo Banchero led the Blue Devils with 19 points, and three other starters scored 15. Senior forward Gabe Brown, Michigan State’s leading scorer, paced the Spartans with 18 points and another senior forward, Marcus Bingham Jr., added 16.
Duke’s winning effort came largely on the strength of its inside scoring, with the Blue Devils making 27 of 43 two-point shots. Michigan State helped keep itself in the game by shooting 50 percent from three-point range.
Duke moves on to face the winner of a later game Sunday between No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 11 Notre Dame.
Halftime: Iowa State 27, Wisconsin 26 (men)
No. 11 Iowa State is hanging with No. 3 Wisconsin in their second-round matchup, with the Cyclones leading by just one heading into the break.
Caleb Grill made an uncontested layup right before the half to put the Cyclones ahead, but Iowa State has gotten ten points from Gabe Kalscheur, who averaged 9.1 points per game this season. Wisconsin has gotten 19 from the duo of Brad Davison and Johnny Davis.
Wisconsin Chucky Hepburn went down with an ankle injury and had to be helped off the floor late in the first half. There was no official word on his status for the remainder of the game.
Iowa State is looking for its second upset of the tournament; on Friday, it knocked out No. 6 LSU behind 23 points from Tyrese Hunter. Wisconsin is looking for a victory to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.
The winner of this game will match up against No. 2 Auburn and No. 10 Miami in the Sweet 16.
Halftime: South Dakota 34, Baylor 23 (women)
Tenth-seeded South Dakota got off to a stunning start Sunday against No. 2 Baylor by taking a 16-4 lead after the first quarter. The Lady Bears were still down by 11 points, 34-23, at halftime of their Wichita Region matchup on their home floor in Waco, Tex.
If South Dakota goes on to prevail, it will be a shocking upset, given that the Bears have made it to the Sweet 16 in 12 straight tournaments. With a victory against Mississippi on Friday, the Coyotes got the first NCAA tournament win in their history.
South Dakota’s Hannah Sjerven led all players in the first half with 14 points, and Chloe Lamb, their team’s top scorer, chipped in with 11. The Coyotes hit six of 10 three-point attempts, while the Bears were just 3 of 12 from long range.
NaLyssa Smith, Baylor’s leading scorer at 22.4 points per game, was held to just two points on 1-of-4 shooting. Queen Egbo paced the Bears with 10 points in the first half.
Texas women breeze past Utah in the Spokane Region
Texas is heading to the Sweet 16. The second seed in the Spokane Region blew out Utah, 78-56, in the second round in Austin, setting up a date with No. 3 LSU or No. 6 Ohio State next weekend. The Longhorns have won their first two tournament games by an average of 20 points.
Texas couldn’t miss on Sunday, shooting an astronomical 63.6 percent from the field and blowing out the Utes despite only making three shots from beyond the arc the whole game. At one point, the Longhorns made 16 shots in a row — 10 straight to end the first half and six more to begin the second.
Forward Aliyah Moore, a freshman who only averaged 5.2 points per game this season, dropped a career-high 21 points to lead Texas in scoring and was one of three players to finish in double figures for Vic Schaefer’s team.
Utah put up a valiant effort, shooting an efficient 52.3 percent from the field. But the Utes’ 19 turnovers stopped them from getting consistent offense and Texas made the most of the extra possessions.
With the win, the Longhorns advance to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. A season ago, they made it all the way to the Elite Eight before falling to South Carolina.
Halftime: Duke 39, Michigan State 35 (men)
In a premier coaching matchup, No. 2 Duke took a 39-35 lead into halftime against seventh-seeded Michigan State in a West Region showdown in Greenville, S.C.
The game pits Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, the winningest coach in NCAA history who is set to retire after this tournament, against Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, a Hall of Famer who has led the Spartans to a national title and eight Final Four appearances.
If the 75-year-old Krzyzewski comes out on top Sunday, he will have won his 1,200th game, against 367 losses. He has a 98-30 record in NCAA tournament games, including five national championships.
Sophomore center Mark Williams had 12 points for Duke and freshman forward Paolo Banchero, expected to go high in the NBA draft later this year, added 10. Senior forward Gabe Brown, Michigan State’s leading scorer, notched 14 points in the first half.
Duke led by as much as seven at two separate points, but Michigan State then got hot from the field and closed the gap before Williams ended the half with a pair of dunks.
The last time the Blue Devils and Spartans met in the tournament was in 2019, when Michigan State squeaked past Duke to reach the Final Four.
Halftime: Texas 44, Utah 30 (women)
No. 2 Texas is shooting the lights out and is leading No. 7 Utah, 44-30, at the half in Austin. The Longhorns are looking to reach the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year.
Texas made its final ten field goals of the first half to extend its lead to 14 after leading by just two at the end of the first quarter. The Longhorns have shot 71.4 percent in the first 20 minutes; Aaliyah Moore has 14 points at the break and Joanne Allen-Taylor added another 10 from the outside.
Texas Coach Vic Schaefer has had a ton of success in the NCAA tournament. With a 20-6 record in March Madness, he is tied as the second fastest coach to reach 20 tournament wins, trailing only the late Tennessee coach Pat Summit.
5:40 p.m.
Patrick Stevens: There are plenty of reasons Villanova has established itself as one of the most consistent programs annually.There’s a “get-old-and-stay-old” philosophy instilled by a veteran coach who learned the hard way what happens when a team doesn’t. Fit matters as much as talent in recruiting. There is never a shortage of quality outside threats, and the Wildcats usually share the ball (though their assist rate is down this season).But even if Villanova is assisting on less than half of its made field goals for the first time since the 2009-10 season, it is doing something better than anyone in the history of the game: converting free throws.The second-seeded Wildcats (28-7) are shooting 82.6 percent at the line, a figure that ticked up just a little with a 17-of-20 showing in Sunday’s 71-61 defeat of Ohio State. The Division I record is held by Harvard, which shot 82.2 percent during the 1983-84 season.One of the best ways to stay alive in March is to take advantage of what another team is willing to provide, and making foul shots pretty much epitomizes that mantra. Villanova was 8 of 9 at the line in the second half Sunday, and its penchant for converting free throws should serve it well in the South Region semifinal Thursday (against Michigan) and potentially Saturday (against Arizona, TCU or Houston).
Patrick Stevens
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College sports
Second-seeded Villanova men hold off No. 7 Ohio State
Second-seeded Villanova was able to fend off No. 7 Ohio State, 71-61, Sunday to reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. Two-time Big East player of the year Collin Gillespie poured in 20 points with four assists to lead his squad in the South Region matchup.
The Wildcats never trailed and led by as much as 15 in the second half but then went cold from the field, allowing a game Buckeyes squad to inch its way back into the contest. A three-pointer from Ohio State’s Jamari Wheeler cut his team’s deficit to two with under six minutes left, at which point Villanova was able to push its edge back up again.
Coach Jay Wright and Co. will now face No. 11 Michigan, which upset third-seeded Tennessee on Saturday. The Wildcats are looking to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2018, when they beat Michigan in the tournament final for their third national championship.
Ohio State’s Malaki Branham led all players in Sunday’s game with 23 points. Joining Gillespie in double figures for Villanova were Jermaine Samuels, Eric Dixon and Caleb Daniels.
Maryland women cruise into next round with win over Florida Gulf Coast
Maryland is dancing into the Sweet 16 after an 89-65 win over Florida Gulf Coast at home to move on in the Spokane Region. The Terrapins will face either defending champion Stanford or No. 8 seed Kansas.
Maryland used a huge 22-2 run that started late in the second half and carried into the third to pull away from the visiting Eagles and cruise to the victory. The two teams were trading blows in the first quarter, answering each other’s baskets with offensive outbursts that resulted in a 23-23 tie after one.
Florida Gulf Coast’s Kendall Spray knocked down five three-pointers in the first half and scored 17 points to help the Eagles keep up with Maryland’s scoring. Trailing 39-36 before halftime, the Terrapins went on a 11-0 run to lead by eight at the break.
In the second half, they kept their foot on the gas while not allowing Spray to score Maryland outscored Florida Gulf Coast by 11 in the third quarter, and that proved to be the knockout punch in the victory.
Diamond Miller continued her hot streak in the tournament, scoring 24 to bring her total to 47 points through two games. Angel Reese and Ashley Owusu added 21 and 20 respectively as the trio scored as much as the entire Eagles roster.
Since Brenda Frese took over at Maryland in 2002, the Terrapins have now made 10 Sweet 16 appearances.
South Carolina advances to Sweet 16 despite scoring season-low 49 points
Top-seeded South Carolina did enough to advance to its eight straight Sweet 16, beating Miami, 49-33, on its home court.
It wasn’t the prettiest game for the Gamecocks offensively — they shot 29.5 percent from the field and had 16 turnovers. South Carolina even struggled from the free throw line, converting just 9 of 16.
But Dawn Staley’s crew was stout on the defensive end, holding Miami to a worse field goal percentage (23.3 percent) and more turnovers (19). In two games, the Gamecocks have given up only 54 points. After a three-pointer by Miami’s Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi with 3:17 left in the first period, the Hurricanes didn’t convert their next field goal until the third quarter.
Djaldi-Tabdi was the only Miami player to shoot over 50 percent Sunday, making five three-pointers on nine attempts to keep the Hurricanes in the game.
Kamilla Cardosa made some clutch baskets for the Gamecocks down the stretch, scoring 11 points and converting two and-ones in the final moments. All-American Aliyah Boston had an SEC record 26th-straight double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 16 rebounds in the victory.
The point total was by far South Carolina’s lowest scoring total this year — its season low before Sunday was 61. The Gamecocks will look for answers offensively next week as they move on to play No. 4 Arizona or No. 5 North Carolina in the Greensboro Region.
2:53 p.m.
Patrick Stevens: Chalk one up to the numbers. And chalk one up to Kelvin Sampson and his built-for-anytime Houston Cougars, too.Every metric on the NCAA’s team sheet pegged Houston as a top-16 team. The predictive metrics were especially bullish — all three of them had the Cougars as a top-five team. The results-based ratings listed Houston at No. 13 and No. 14. And the NET, the NCAA’s primary sorting tool, had them at No. 3.There was a logic to placing Houston as the No. 5 seed in the South bracket. There were surface-level question marks that seemed sensible. The Cougars lost two key players (Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark) to injury in December. They plowed through an American Athletic Conference of questionable strength. They owned just two victories over the rest of the field of 68, over Memphis (last week in the American Athletic final) and Bryant.And now they have two more after pounding UAB (82-68) and smothering Illinois (68-53) in Pittsburgh to boomerang back to Texas for the South regional in San Antonio.The Cougars rank 10th in both adjusted offensive efficiency and adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com. They’ve reached the Sweet 16 in three consecutive tournaments, advancing to the Final Four last year. And they have pulverized a lot of people; this season’s Cougars (31-5) only own four victories by less than 10 points (Hofstra, at Temple, at Tulsa and at Wichita State).That’s ultimately what the numbers were indicating. A team that beats the snot out of three-quarters of its opponents is probably quite good. No doubt Illinois would agree after receiving the Houston treatment on Sunday.
Patrick Stevens
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College sports