Virginia loses to Ohio, ending title defense
BLOOMINGTON, IND. » Virginia’s unusual title defense ended with another upset loss in the NCAA Tournament, falling 6258 to Jason Preston and Ohio on Saturday.
Some familiar problems showed up again for the fourth-seeded Cavaliers, who struggled to score during a key stretch in the second half and shot 35% from the field for the game. Virginia became the first No. 1 seed to drop its opening game in the NCAA Tournament when it lost to UMBC in 2018, but it used the setback as motivation in its run to the championship in 2019.
Last year’s NCAA Tournament was canceled because of the pandemic, delaying the Cavaliers’ title defense. They just arrived in Indiana on Friday because of COVID-19 issues, and now they are heading home again.
Preston and Ben Vander Plas delivered for Ohio after leading the Bobcats to the Mid-American Conference Tournament title. Next up is No. 5 seed Creighton on Monday.
Vander Plas scored eight of his game-high 17 points during an 18-4 second-half run that erased a 38-31 deficit and gave the Bobcats a 49-42 lead. Ohio (17-7) never trailed again.
Preston finished with 11 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Lunden McDay sealed the victory at the free-throw line in the closing seconds. MICHIGAN 82, TEXAS SOUTHERN 66 » Juwan Howard won his first NCAA Tournament game since taking over at Michigan, guiding Mike Smith and the top-seeded Wolverines past Texas Southern.
LSU 76, ST. BONAVENTURE 61 » Freshman Cameron
Thomas scored 27 points in another impressive performance and his LSU teammates provided the rebounding muscle, leading the eighth-seeded Tigers past ninth-seeded St. Bonaventure.
COLORADO 96, GEORGETOWN 73 » Colorado used an early 3-point barrage to parlay its highest seeding ever into a win over Georgetown and coach Patrick Ewing.
Georgetown won four games in four days earlier this month to take the Big East Tournament title and make a surprise trip to the NCAA Tournament. But the Hoyas finished 13-13 on the season. Qudus Wahab led Georgetown with 20 points.
FLORIDA STATE 64, UNC GREENSBORO 54 » RaiQuan Gray scored 17 points and Florida State began what it hopes will be another deep run under coach Leonard Hamilton, holding off 13th-seeded UNC Greensboro.
ALABAMA 68, IONA 55 » Herb Jones scored 20 points and second-seeded Alabama pried open a tight game to beat coach Rick Pitino’s underdogs from Iona.
CREIGHTON 63, UC SANTA BARBARA 62 » Christian Bishop made both ends
of a one-and-one with 16 seconds left to give fifthseeded Creighton the lead, and the Bluejays hung on to beat 12th-seeded UC Santa Barbara.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 72, DRAKE 56 » Evan Mobley had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 6 seed Southern California used smothering defense to beat Drake.
KANSAS 93, EASTERN WASHINGTON 84 » David McCormack returned from his COVID-19-caused hiatus just in time to rescue No. 3 seed Kansas, piling up 22 points and nine rebounds as the slowstarting Jayhawks rallied from a 10-point secondhalf deficit to beat No. 14 seed Eastern Washington.
IOWA 86, GRAND CANYON 74 » Iowa got 24 points from Luka Garza and avoided the early exit that befell other high seeds with a victory over Grand Canyon.
OKLAHOMA 72, MISSOURI 68 » Austin Reaves scored 23 points, Brady Manek added 19 and Oklahoma slipped by ninth-seeded Missouri.
MARYLAND 63, UCONN 54 » Eric Ayala scored 23 points and Maryland clamped down on defense down the stretch to snag a victory over No. 7 UConn.