The low seeds rising in the South
No. 11 Loyola-Chicago comes up with a second upset to reach sweet 16
NASHVILLE— First Buffalo sent No. 4 seed Arizona packing. Then Maryland Baltimore County dispatched of No. 1 seed Virginia in the biggest surprise of all.
Consider the South region officially up for grabs.
“Anybody could win it,” Cincinnati guard Justin Jenifer said. “It could be us. It could be anybody else.”
Four of the South’s top six seeds have been eliminated, as No. 3 seed Tennessee fell 63-62 to 11th-seeded Loyola-Chicago on Saturday. Kentucky, the fifth seed, trounced Buffalo 95-75 in the South’s other Saturday game.
Clayton Custer’s jumper took a friendly bounce off the rim and in with 3.6 seconds to lift Loyola past Tennessee. Custer’s winner came two days after Donte Ingram’s buzzer-beating 3 for Loyola against Miami, surely to the delight of Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the 98year-old nun, team chaplain and primary booster watching from her wheelchair on a platform near the main TV cameras.
“The only thing I can say, glory to God for that one,” Custer said. “The ball bounced on the rim and I got a good bounce.”
The Ramblers (30-5), who won the Missouri Valley tournament, broke the school record for wins set by the 1963 NCAA championship team. Loyola will play the Cincinnati-Nevada winner in the regional semifinals Thursday in Atlanta.
No. 3 seed Tennessee (26-7) took its only lead of the second half on three-point play by Grant Williams with 20 seconds remaining. After Loyola almost lost the ball on an outof-bounds call confirmed on replay, Custer dribbled to his right, pulled up and let go a short jumper that hit the front of the rim, bounced off the backboard and went in.
No. 2 Cincinnati, which faces seventh-seeded Nevada (28-7) on Sunday, is the highest seed left in the South.
Cincinnati (31-4) hasn’t reached the regional semifinals since 2012 and has lost in the round of 32 two of the last three years. So the Bearcats certainly aren’t taking this second-round matchup for granted as they chase their first final-four berth since 1992.
“If you look past anything, you could fall short,” Cincinnati forward Kyle Washington said. “And in this tournament, you don’t get a second chance. So if we look past Nevada, that would be our first mistake before stepping on the court.”
Virginia and Arizona already learned that lesson the hard way. UMBC became the first men’s No. 16 seed ever to beat a No. 1 seed Friday when it trounced Virginia 74-54 by racking up 53 second-half points against the nation’s top scoring defence. Arizona had a potential No. 1 overall draft pick in Deandre Ayton but still got blown out 89-68 by Mid-American Conference champion and No. 13 seed Buffalo.
UMBC’s stunner over Virginia was its first NCAA Tournament victory ever. Kansas State hasn’t been to the sweet16 since making a regional final in 2010. Now one of them is heading to the regional semifinals.
“Beating the No.1 seed and the No. 1 team is definitely a confidence builder,” said UMBC guard Jairus Lyles, who scored 28 against Virginia. “But we also know this is the NCAA Tournament and we can easily go out there on Sunday and lose to the 9 seed, which people have probably picked us to do anyway. But we have to stay confident and make the adjustments from team to team.”
Even so, this region is most noteworthy for the No. 1 seed that’s already gone.