Bigs ‘doing our job’ deliver Texas A&M
TEXAS A&M 73, PROVIDENCE 69
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tyler Davis and Robert Williams spent all Friday snatching rebound after rebound, blocking a few shots and had Williams offer a highlight-reel capper in the final minute.
When Texas A&M’s bigs are playing like this, it’s tough to tussle with these Aggies. And that gives them their best chance to stick around the NCAA Tournament for another weekend.
Davis had 14 points and 15 rebounds and Williams added his own double-double to help Texas A&M beat Providence 73-69, sending the Aggies on to the second round of the West Region.
Williams finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds for Texas A&M (21-12), the region’s No. 7 seed. They also each blocked two shots.
“We got a lot of help from our guards, too,” Davis said. “Our guards put bodies on the outside so we can play 1-on-1 inside. It was really a team effort. We were able to snag a couple of boards.”
A couple? The 6-foot-10 forwards outrebounded Providence’s entire team.
“We’re just out there doing our job,” Davis said. “This is what we do. We know we have the advantage inside most games so this is just another game where we came out and gave 100 percent effort on the glass.”
Providence’s players knew it would be a challenge for their smaller group to battle on the boards. The game plan, guard Kyron Cartwright said Thursday, was simply “box out.” And all through the Friars’ locker room in Charlotte on Friday were orange signs saying the same thing.
Still, knowing what they had to do and executing it were two different things.
The Aggies finished with a 44-26 rebounding advantage and had 11 offensive rebounds against the 10th-seeded Friars (21-14).
NORTH CAROLINA 84, LIPSCOMB 66
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kenny Williams scored 18 points and defending national champion North Carolina took its time before opening up and beating Lipscomb.
Theo Pinson had 15 points and flirted with a triple-double for the Tar Heels (26-10), the No. 2 seed in the West Region.
Playing for the first time in the NCAA tourney, the 15th-seeded Bisons (2310) shot well at the start and held an early six-point edge. They led 33-31 with under four minutes left in the first half before North Carolina went on a 12-1 run to take control by the break.
UNC won its 12th NCAA game in 13 tries going back to the 2016 tournament that ended with a title-game loss to Villanova.
Williams had played only spot duty that season and missed last year’s title run due to an injury. He made 6 of 8 shots Friday and 4 of 5 threes, helping the Tar Heels shoot 52 percent while making nine threes.
Kenny Cooper scored 14 points for the Bisons, who made just 7 of 28 three-pointers.
XAVIER 102, TEXAS SOUTHERN 83
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Xavier Musketeers (29-5) looked every bit like a No. 1 seed their first time around in the role at an NCAA Tournament.
J.P. Macura scored 18 of his career-high 29 points in the first half, and Xavier routed No. 16 seed Texas Southern.
Trevon Bluiett added 26 points, and Kerem Kanter had 24 for the Big East’s regular season champs.
Macura helped Xavier respond when falling behind 20-13 within the first five minutes. Macura scored 15 points to key a 21-2 run that put the Musketeers ahead for good.
MIDWEST REGION Auburn survives
SAN DIEGO — Jared Harper made a clutch three-pointer with 1:17 to go — his only basket of the game — and Auburn (26-7) held off No. 13 seed College of Charleston (26-8) 62-58 in a Midwest Region thriller to avoid becoming the second No. 4 seed upset at Viejas Arena on Friday.
Auburn, playing under the cloud of a federal investigation into corruption in college basketball, overcame a horrible shooting performance to win in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2003. But it survived in part because Charleston committed 21 turnovers.
Mustapha Heron scored 16 points for Auburn, which shot only 35.6 percent overall (21 of 59) and just 20.8 percent from three-point range (5 of 24).
The biggest shot to go down for the Tigers was Harper’s deep three that gave them a 59-56 lead. He finished 1 of 7, including 1 of 4 from behind the arc.
Desean Murray scored 11 for Auburn, and Bryce Brown had 10.
Jarrell Brantley scored a game-high 24 points for Charleston, and Riller added 16.
MICHIGAN STATE 82, BUCKNELL 78
DETROIT — Miles Bridges outlasted Zach Thomas, scoring 29 points and grabbing nine rebounds to help No. 2 seed Michigan State hold on for a victory over Bucknell.
Thomas fouled out on a technical with 6:06 left and finished with 27 points. He put on a show in the first half, scoring 20 points and making all three of his shots beyond the three-point arc to keep the Bison close.
The Spartans (30-4) made the most of playing about 75 miles from campus in a packed arena with green-and-white clad fans in the stands. They roared when Bridges dunked, as he did once on a spectacular slam off an offensive rebound, and jeered when replays showed a foul called against their team.
SYRACUSE 57, TCU 52
DETROIT — Marek Dolezaj scored 17 points before fouling out and 11th-seeded Syracuse shut down sixth-seeded TCU.
The Orange (22-13) won for the second time in the tournament and advanced to face third-seeded Michigan State on Sunday by holding off the Horned Frogs with another impressive defensive effort. Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field.
There was little doubt who won the much-anticipated matchup between TCU’s excellent offense and Syracuse’s zone defense. The Horned Frogs were held 31 points below their season average.
CLEMSON 79, NEW MEXICO STATE 68
SAN DIEGO — Shelton Mitchell scored a season-high 23 points, Gabe DeVoe had 22 and Clemson beat New Mexico State, closing out a perfect first round for No. 5 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
Clemson (24-9) shot 56 percent from the field while advancing out of the first round for the first time since 1997. It was the Tigers’ first win in the NCAA tourney since the First Four in 2011.
Clemson was nearly flawless at the offensive end against the 12th-seeded champions of the WAC. It made 9 of 11 shots during one stretch on its way to a 12-point lead at halftime.