Moving on to the Sweet 16
Defending national champion Villanova failed to survive the opening week of March Madness. Check out who did advance to the Sweet 16.
TULSA — With Kansas’ eventual rout of Michigan State and Baylor’s close win against USC, the Big 12 has three teams advancing to the Sweet 16.
West Virginia already punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 with a 83-71 win against Notre Dame on Saturday, setting up a date with No. 1 seed Gonzaga in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday.
No. 5 seed Iowa State dropped a close game to No. 4 seed Purdue, ensuring that the Midwest Regional wouldn’t turn into the Big 12 Tournament part II later this week in Kansas City, Mo.
Instead, Kansas will get a big home crowd benefit when it takes on the Boilermakers on Thursday.
“It doesn’t really matter where we play, but it’s Kansas basketball,” Kansas point guard Frank Mason III said. “And we get a chance to play 35 miles away from Lawrence, and I think it’s just great for the fans and for us to get a chance to play there for the Sweet 16. So we’re all excited.”
Kansas fans take over BOK Center
With Tulsa just a smidge less than four hours south of Lawrence, Kan., it should come as no surprise that the Jayhawk fans turned out en masse for Kansas’ 90-70 win against Michigan State.
The majority of the BOK Center — or Allen Fieldhouse South — was clad in red and blue for the opening game on Sunday afternoon, and by the end of the game, the Rock Chalk Jayhawk chant was audible around the arena that housed 43,585 total fans through the two days of basketball games.
Many of the Jayhawk fans left after their game finished on Sunday, leaving plenty of empty seats in their wake. Baylor and USC fans filled some of those spots, but there were still a bunch of vacant pockets throughout the arena.
Green on hand to support Michigan State, Gibson for USC
Golden State forward
Draymond Green and new Thunder forward Taj
Gibson filled Rob Lowe’s vacated position as the BOK Center’s celebritiesin-residence on Sunday afternoon.
Green sat close to Lowe’s former seats, just a couple rows off the court, across from Michigan State’s bench as he cheered on his alma mater.
He was hardly a passive observer, leaping to celebrate the Spartans’ buckets in the second half. When Michigan State closed Kansas’ lead to two points on a Nick Ward bucket with 15:05 to go, Green stood from his seat, hollering words of encouragement. A couple minutes later, he flashed a 3-point celebration as Matt McQuaid’s shot went down.
Green, who played for the Spartans from 2008-12, gave his former team a pregame speech before they took on Kansas.
He’ll stick around the state a little bit longer as his Golden State Warriors head to Oklahoma City to take on Gibson and the Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Monday night.
Gibson, a USC product, arrived at the arena in time for the Trojans’ game against Baylor and spent time talking with USC athletic director and Pro Football Hall of Famer Lynn
Swann at halftime.