Taste of Sweet 16 nice for LSU men
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It's probably the same play suspended LSU coach Will Wade would have called.
After all, it worked several times during the regular season. And now it has the Tigers in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2006.
Tremont Waters drove by three defenders and scooped in a banking layup with 1.6 seconds remaining to give thirdseeded LSU a 69-67 victory over sixthseeded Maryland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
After Maryland's Eric Ayala failed to get off a shot from midcourt before the final buzzer, LSU players mobbed Waters under the basket. They could have done the same to Skylar Mays, who scored 16 points and hit a huge 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining that put the Tigers (28-6) up 67-64.
Jalen Smith answered on the other end, sending the packed crowd into a frenzy and prompting LSU to call timeout.
Benford dialed up the final play for Waters, a dynamic sophomore who has been terrific all season.
The 5-foot-11 Waters got a pick from big man Naz Reid, drove into the lane and somehow got off the winner.
Auburn 89, Kansas 75
SALT LAKE CITY — Bruce Pearl's Auburn rebuilding project took a massive leap.
The Tigers are headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 16 years.
Bryce Brown scored 25 points and hit seven 3-pointers, leading Auburn to a takedown of mighty Kanas in the Midwest Region.
The Tigers (28-9) were a surprise last season, earning a share of their first SEC title since 1999 and winning an NCAA Tournament game.
Auburn took another major step Saturday, running past a blue-blood program into the school's first Sweet 16 since 2003 under Cliff Ellis.
Unlike their opener against New Mexico State, when they had to survive a couple of late-game blunders, the fifthseeded Tigers pounced on the undermanned Jayhawks and never let them up.
Auburn had a 17-point lead before the midpoint of the first half and kept pouring in shots, hitting 13 3-pointers while shooting 53 percent against one of the college basketball's premier programs.
Michigan 64, Florida 49
DES MOINES, Iowa — Jordan Poole scored 19 points and Michigan is back in the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year after pulling away from Florida in the second round.
Michigan (30-6), the No. 2 seed in the West Region, has reached the Sweet 16 five times in seven years.
Kentucky 62, Wofford 56
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Kentucky ended Wofford's season in the NCAA Tournament with a stifling defensive effort on Fletcher Magee in the second round.
Reid Travis scored 14 points, including two huge free throws with 17.8 seconds left, to help seal the victory for second-seeded Kentucky (29-6). The graduate student, a transfer from Stanford, also grabbed 11 rebounds to help hold off the upstart Terriers (30-5).
Two days after setting the NCAA Division I record for career 3-pointers, Magee stunningly went 0 of 12 from beyond the arc. He made seven 3s on Thursday in Wofford's victory over Seton Hall.
Nathan Hoover had 19 points and Cameron Jackson 11 for the Terriers. Magee finished with eight points on 4-of-17 shooting.
The Wildcats had a two-point lead at halftime. The Terriers briefly recaptured the lead early in the second half, but Kentucky went ahead for good with 14 1/2 minutes remaining and doggedly protected their advantage the rest of the way.
Women
BYU 73, Auburn 64
STANFORD, Calif. — Brenna Chase had 19 points, seven assists and three blocked shots, and BYU used an impressive third quarter to run away from Auburn.
Shaylee Gonzales scored 17 points and Caitlyn Alldredge added 14 as the West Coast Conference champion Cougars (26-6) overcame Auburn's in-your-face, pressure-at-every-chance defense by playing its own stellar D — getting four blocks from 6-foot-7 Sara Hamson.
UCLA 89, Tennessee 77
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — UCLA put a rapid end to Tennessee's 38th consecutive appearance in the women's NCAA Tournament, blunting a second-half comeback bid and using an impressive performance by Michaela Onyenwere to secure an openinground victory.
After squeezing into the tournament with an at-large bid, the No. 11 seeded Lady Volunteers erased a 17-point deficit before losing in the first round for only the second time in school history. The only other time it happened was in 2009 against Ball State.
Tennessee is the lone program to compete in every NCAA Tournament since the event was first held for women in 1982. The Lady Vols finished 19-13, failing to reach 20 wins for the first time since 1975-76.
Rennia Davis had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Vols.
Kentucky 82, Princeton 77
RALEIGH, N.C. — Taylor Murray scored 14 of her 19 points in the second half, and Kentucky beat Princeton.
Maci Morris added 19 points, freshman Rhyne Howard had 15 and Tatyana Wyatt finished with 12 to help the Wildcats (25-7) reach the second round of the Greensboro Region.
(Photo by John Raoux, AP) (Photo by Patrick Semansky, AP)