NC State stays hot & ousts No. 6 Texas Tech
Ben Middlebrooks scored a career-high 21 points and 11thseeded North Carolina State surged past sixth-seeded Texas Tech, 80-67, night in Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Wolfpack (23-14), who won five games in five days in the ACC Tournament, won their first March Madness game in nine years behind Middlebrooks’ boost off the bench and another bruising performance by center DJ Burns Jr.
The 6-foot-9, 275-pound Burns finished with 16 points. Mo Diarra had 17 points and 12 rebounds for N.C. State, and DJ Horne also scored 16.
The Wolfpack will face 14thseeded Oakland on Saturday, ensuring a double-digit seed will advance to the South Region semifinals. The Grizzlies beat thirdseeded Kentucky, 80-76, earlier Thursday night.
Joe Toussaint led the Red Raiders (23-11) with 16 points, but Texas Tech made just 7 of 31 3-pointers and couldn’t keep pace in the second half. N.C. State broke the game open with a 13-2 surge midway through the second half, highlighted by a pretty bounce pass from Michael O’Connell that turned into a dunk by Diarra and a soft running hook shot by Burns that made it 65-51.
The Red Raiders had relied on defense to reach the tournament in coach Grant McCasland’s first season. Texas Tech came in 18-0 when holding opponents under 70 points and just 5-10 when teams reach that threshold.
N.C. State hit the 70-point mark on a layup by Middlebrooks with 4:06 to go.
It’s been a remarkable turnaround over the last 10 days for N.C. State, which entered the ACC Tournament as the 10th seed and was dealing with questions about coach Kevin Keatts’ future. The Wolfpack responded by beating rivals Duke, Virginia and North Carolina, the last a decisive victory in the title game.
Midwest Kansas 93, Samford 89
In Salt Lake City, Kansas got a kind whistle at the end and Nicolas Timberlake made both his free throws to help the fourth-seeded Jayhawks hold off No. 13 Samford.
Gonzaga 86, McNeese State 65
Earlier in Salt Lake City, Graham Ike scored 16 points and Anton Watson added 13 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists to power the fifth-seeded Zags.
Creighton 77, Akron 60
In Pittsburgh, Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 23 points and Trey Alexander had 19 as No. 3 Creighton, which came within seconds of making the Final Four a year ago, advanced past the MAC tourney champs.
Texas 56, Colorado State 44
In Charlotte, N.C., Max Abmas and Dylan Disu each scored 12 points, and the No. 7 seed Longhorns held the Rams to 11 points in the first half.
West Arizona 85, Long Beach State 65
In Salt Lake City, Arizona scored 16 straight points over a five-minute stretch to pull away and snuff out Dan Monson’s coaching tenure at Long Beach State.
Michigan St. 69, Mississippi St. 51
In Charlotte, Spartans coach Tom Izzo won his 20th first-round game in the NCAA Tournament as Tyson Walker scored 19 points and ninth-seeded Michigan State ousted eighth-seeded Mississippi State. It was Izzo’s 26th straight NCAA Tournament appearance — an NCAA Division I record for a coach at one school.