Illini cruise past Drexel

Kofi Cockburn muscled his way to 18 points and Illinois cruised past 16th-seeded Drexel 78-49 Friday in Indianapolis, in the Illini’s first NCAA Tournament game as a No. 1 seed in 16 years.

Illinois (23-6) will face No. 8 Loyola Chicago in the second round of the Midwest Region on Sunday.

MIDWEST

Maybe that will be more of a test for the Big Ten champions. Drexel (12-8) never really had chance at containing the 7-foot, 285-pound Cockburn, who was 8 for 11 from the field.

“I thought it was a matter-of-fact game,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said.

Oklahoma State 69, Liberty 60

Cade Cunningham vowed to lead Oklahoma State to a strong run through the NCAA Tournament. The freshman All-American didn’t have an explosive debut, but he did just enough to lead the Cowboys (21-8) to a victory over Liberty (23-6) in Indianapolis.

Cunningham scored 15 points, nine straight in the final minutes, to lead No. 4 seed Oklahoma State to its first NCAA Tournament win since 2009. Avery Anderson III led the Cowboys with 21 points.

Loyola Chicago 71, Georgia Tech 60

Lucas Williamson scored 21 points in a dynamic performance by the defensive whiz, All-America forward Cameron Krutwig added 10, and eighth-seeded Loyola Chicago (25-4) beat No. 9 seed Georgia Tech (17-9).

West Virginia 84, Morehead St. 67

Miles McBride scored 18 of his 30 points after halftime to help West Virginia (19-9) pull away to beat Morehead State (23-8), giving coach Bob Huggins his 900th career victory.