N.C. State survives Oakland in OT

DJ Burns Jr. scored 24 points, including a go-ahead putback that ignited a 9-0 run in overtime, and 11th-seeded North Carolina State beat 14th-seeded Oakland, 79-73, in the second round of the men’s basketball tornament in Pittsburgh.

Powered by their versatile 6-foot-9inch, 275-pound forward, the Wolfpack (24-14) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015 by pulling away from 3-point specialist Jack Gohlke and the Golden Grizzlies (24-12) in the extra period.

N.C. State will face either secondseeded Marquette or 10th-seeded Colorado in Dallas on Friday in the South Region semifinals.

Illinois ends drought

Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 30 points, Marcus Domask added 22, and No. 3 seed Illinois made fast work of 11th-seeded Duquesne in an 89-63 victory in Omaha, Neb., reach the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005.

Illinois (28-8) hadn’t made it through the first weekend of the tournament in eight previous appearances. The Illini will play No. 2 seed Iowa

State in an East Region semifinal in Boston at TD Garden on Thursday night. The Cyclones got 15 points from

Tamin Lipsey to advance, 67-56, over seventh-seeded Washington State.

Oakland, which ousted third-seeded Kentucky on Thursday, just missed becoming the first 14 seed to reach the Sweet 16 since Chattanooga in 1997.

UNC now 5-0 vs. Izzo

RJ Davis scored 20 points to help North Carolina beat Michigan State, 8569, in Charlotte, N.C., pushing the Tar Heels to the Sweet 16 while keeping them unbeaten in March Madness against Spartans Hall of Fame coach

Tom Izzo.

Harrison Ingram made five 3-pointers and scored 17 points for the West Region’s top seed, which continued its NCAA success in its home state. NorthCarolina (29-7) ran off 17 straight points during a 23-3 run over the last eight minutes of the first half to erase a 12-point deficit, then continued answering every push by the Spartans after halftime.

The Tar Heels improved to 5-0 in the tournament against Izzo, including victories in the 2005 Final Four and 2009 title game. They move on to the regional semifinals in Los Angeles, where they will face either Grand Canyon or Alabama on Thursday night.

Gonzaga back in Sweet 16

Gonzaga played a nearly perfect second half, busting open a back-and-forth game with a 15-0 run to pull away from Kansas for an 89-68 win and extend its nation-best streak of trips to the Sweet 16 to nine.

Anton Watson shot 8 for 11 for 21 points on an afternoon when basically everyone in a navy jersey in Salt Lake City was a star, especially after halftime, when the fifth-seeded Zags (27-7) made their first five 3-pointers of the second half, not missing from long range until 1:30 remained. Mark Few’s team will make its regular trip to the second weekend to play the winner of Sunday’s game between Purdue and Utah State.

It’s May in Michigan

Coach Dusty May is going to Michigan, returning to his Big Ten roots and leaving Florida Atlantic after six seasons highlighted by a Final Four run that thrust him into the national spotlight a year ago.

Michigan president Santa Ono ,ina social media post, announced the hiring. May and the Wolverines were in the process of finalizing details of what was expected to be a five-year contract, according to a person who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

May, who went 126-69 in six years at FAU, will replace Juwan Howard, a former Michigan star who was fired after five seasons with the Wolverines. Howard went 82-67 with two NCAA Tournament appearances, but the Wolverines went 8-24 this season — the school’s worst record since 1960-61.

Banding together

For this weekend, the University of Idaho marching band has adopted a new name.

It’s not the Vandal Marching Band. It’s the “Van-Dogs Marching Band” after becoming the adopted band for the Yale basketball team during its run.

Yale’s band was unavailable to join its team in the Pacific Northwest for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament because it’s spring break on campus and pulling together a traveling group wasn’t possible.

But the school found some willing stand-ins in the form of the Idaho band, which quickly became a viral sensation on social media following 13th-seeded Yale’s upset victory against No. 4 seed Auburn on Friday.

The “Van-Dogs” wore T-shirts provided by Yale and learned “Bulldog,” the Yale fight song.

No perfect choice

It’s another year without a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket.

Surprising wins by Yale, Oakland, and Duquesne busted many of the more than 22 million brackets entered in the largest contests — ESPN’s Tournament Challenge, CBS, the NCAA’s March Madness Live — and the last three fell Friday night when James Madison beat Wisconsin, 72-61.