Crimson Tide have no trouble with Islanders in NCAA Tournament
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama buried Texas A&mcorpus Christi under an early 3-point onslaught, launching the NCAA Tournament's top seed to a 96-75 first-round romp on Thursday even with star freshman Brandon Miller going scoreless.
The Crimson Tide (30-5) set aside their off-court distractions and buried 10 firsthalf 3s in a predictably easy win over the 16th-seeded Islanders (24-11) at Legacy Arena, less than an hour from campus.
Miller, the 6-foot-9 Allamerican
who has been beset by questions about his presence at the scene of a fatal shooting, sat out the final 14 minutes and missed all five field goal attempts while dealing with a groin injury. His previous low was eight points against Houston on Dec. 10.
“We're making shots at a pretty high level," Alabama coach Nate Oats said. "It's nice to put up 96 without Brandon scoring any of them. He's been nursing a groin injury. We want to play him limited minutes and were able to keep him under 20.”
Of course, none of the starters played more than 21 minutes, resting up for the next round.
Miller hasn't been accused of any crime in the shooting, which led to capital murder charges against then-teammate Darius Miles and another man.
Arkansas 73, Illinois 63
DES MOINES, Iowa — Ricky Council IV scored 18 points and Arkansas survived some anxious moments in the second half against an Illinois team that wouldn't go away, holding on to beat the Illini in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Devo Davis had 16 points for the eighth-seeded Razorbacks, who used relentless defense and rebounding to build big leads but couldn't get comfortable until the final minute. Arkansas (21-13) faces top-seeded Kansas on Saturday in the second round of the West Region.
Terrence Shannon Jr., held scoreless the first 16 minutes, finished with 20 points to lead the Illini (20-13). It was the first time in five tournament appearances since 2011 that Illinois didn't make it out of the first round.
Arkansas failed to land what could have been the knockout punch with 2 1/2 minutes to play. Anthony Black intercepted Coleman Hawkins' cross-court pass and Council missed the fast-break dunk when he would have been better served to lay it in. The blown play left Arkansas coach Eric Musselman flailing his arms and screaming.
Council atoned for his missed dunk with a layup to end a 4-minute, 13-second scoring drought, and his two free throws with 1:18 left put the Razorbacks up 68-57.
Missouri 76, Utah State 65
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Missouri used a secondhalf scoring spurt from Kobe Brown to win its first NCAA Tournament game in 13 years, beating Utah State.
Brown hit three 3-pointers in a span of just over three minutes to fuel a 13-2 run that turned a two-point deficit into a 62-53 lead.
The seventh-seeded Tigers (25-9) held on from there, stopping a six-game tournament skid with their first win since beating Clemson in the first round in 2010.