Arizona on to Sweet 16 after knocking off Dayton
Caleb Love scored 19 points and West Region second-seeded Arizona reached the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons, beating No. 7 seed Dayton 78-68 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
The Wildcats (27-8) also reached a regional semifinal in 2022 in coach Tommy Lloyd’s first season.
Keshad Johnson and Pelle Larsson each had 13 points and seven rebounds for Arizona.
DaRon Holmes II had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Flyers (25-8), who were denied their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2014. .
Arizona staved off a potential rally when Jaden Bradley capped a 10-0 run with a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 66-51 lead with 6:51 remaining.
NORTH CAROLINA 85, MICHIGAN STATE 69 >> RJ Davis scored 20 points to help the top-seeded Tar Heels beat the No. 9 seed Spartans (2015) to reach the Sweet 16.
Harrison Ingram made five 3-pointers and scored 17 points for UNC (29-7), which 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.
The Tar Heels improved to 5-0 in the tournament against Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, including victories in the 2005 Final Four and 2009 title game.
UNC also got a strong showing inside from Armando Bacot (18 points), who got into the paint to score, draw fouls or kick out against oncoming double teams. Ingram was on the receiving end of some of those, knocking down 5 of 7 3-pointers to go with seven rebounds.
Tyson Walker scored 24 points for Michigan (20-15).
Late Friday
PURDUE 78, GRAMBLING
STATE 50 >> Zach Edey had the first 30-point, 20-rebound game in the NCAA Tournament since Maryland’s Joe Smith in 1995, delivering on his promise to end the discussion about first-round March Madness exits by leading the topseeded Boilermakers (30-4) in a Midwest Region opener in Indianapolis.
The 7-foot-4, 300-pound Edey, the greatest scorer and rebounder in school history, finished with 30 points and 21 rebounds in 30 minutes.
UTAH STATE 88, TCU 72 >> Isaac Johnson scored 19 points, including 12 straight early in the second half, and eighth-seeded Utah State (28-6) shot 55% to pull away and end a 10game NCAA Tournament losing streak.
HOUSTON 86, LONGWOOD 46 >> LJ Cryer and Damian Dunn scored 17 points each as the top-seeded Cougars (31-4) rolled in a South Region opener in Memphis.
MARQUETTE 87, WESTERN KENTUCKY 69 >> Kam Jones scored 28 points and Tyler Kolek (18 points, 11 assists) made a successful return from an oblique injury, as the No. 2 seeded Golden Eagles (26-9) rallied from a 43-36 halftime deficit to win going away in a South Region opener in Indianapolis.
DUKE 64, VERMONT 47 >>
Jared McCain, a freshman from Centennial High, and Mark Mitchell each had 15 points, and the No. 4-seeded Blue Devils (258) won their South Region opener in Brooklyn.
JAMES MADISON 72, WISCONSIN 61 >> Terrence Edwards Jr. scored 14 points as the Dukes pulled off the first 12-5 upset of the NCAA Tournament, winning the South Region opener in Brooklyn. James Madison (32-3) has the nation’s longest winning streak at 14 games.
TEXAS A&M 98, NEBRASKA 83 >> Wade Taylor IV scored 25 points and the No. 9-seeded Aggies (21-14) sent the eighth-seeded Cornhuskers home still looking for their first NCAA Tournament victory, in a South Region first-round game in Memphis.
NO. 19 ALABAMA 109, CHARLESTON 93 >> Mark Sears led the highest-scoring offense in the country with 30 points, and the fourth-seeded Crimson Tide rolled in a West Region first-round game.
GRAND CANYON 75, SAINT MARY’S 66 >> Tyon GrantFoster scored 22 points, and the Antelopes (30-4) joined the list of schools to win an NCAA Tournament game as the 12th-seeded, toppling the Gaels in a West Region first-round game in Spokane.