The Round of 32 wrapped up on Sunday with eight more teams punching their tickets to the Sweet 16. The tournament’s No. 1 overall seed was almost stunned, the hometown University at Buffalo Bulls' season came to an end, and the Iowa Hawkeyes also came close to completing the biggest comeback in tournament history.
There was a lot of action on the final day of the first weekend of March Madness. Check out a full recap of the eight-game slate:
It’s been 52 years since Virginia Tech last played in the Sweet 16. On Sunday night, the fourth-seeded Hokies made history, advancing to the second weekend of the tournament for the first time since 1967 with a win over the 12-seed Liberty Flames, who upset 5-seed Mississippi State in the first round on Friday. The Flames were ahead for most of the first half on Sunday and held a slim 32-29 lead at halftime. A 9-0 Liberty run early in the second half put the Flames in front 41-36 with 15:21 to play. Virginia Tech would flip the switch after that and went on a 16-3 run over the next five minutes to take an eight-point lead. The Hokies were able to fend-off any Liberty comebacks from there, as Tech never trailed the rest of the way. Kerry Blackshear Jr. led the Hokies with 19 points and added nine rebounds. Ty Outlaw finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing a game-high 11 boards. Darius McGhee was the only player from Liberty to finish in double figures, scoring 15 points. Caleb Homesley was held to just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting after scoring 30 in the first round against Mississippi State. The Hokies will face ACC rival and top-seeded Duke in the Sweet 16. In their lone meeting during the regular season, Virginia Tech beat the Blue Devils 77-72 in Blacksburg, VA.
The third-seeded Red Raiders advanced to their second-straight Sweet 16 with a dominant 20-point win over the 6-seed Bulls. Texas Tech asserted their dominance early, starting the game with a 10-2 run and out-rebounding UB 9-1 in the first five minutes. The Red Raiders pulled down 45 rebounds to the Bulls’ 32, and the Texas Tech defense was as good as advertised. The nation’s no. 4 scoring defense held the Bulls to just 37-percent shooting from the field. UB went on an 18-5 run midway through the first half to take a 25-24 lead with 3:20 to go. It would be the only time the Bulls were ahead all night, as Texas Tech ended the opening frame with a 9-0 run of their own and led 33-25 at halftime. UB started 0-for-5 from the floor after coming back out from the locker room. The Red Raiders out-scored the Bulls 15-3 in the first six minutes of the second half and extended their lead to 20. Texas Tech dominated the rest of the way and led by as much as 29 en route to the victory. All five Red Raider starters finished in double figures, Jarrett Culver led the way with 16 points. Nick Perkins led the Bulls with 17 points and 10 rebounds in his final game for UB. Fellow senior CJ Massinburg scored 14 and will leave UB with the second-most career points in program history. UB finished the season with a program-best 32-4 record. Texas Tech will move on to face 2-seed Michigan in the Sweet 16.
Sunday’s games started off with an absolute thriller between the second-seeded Volunteers and the 10-seed Iowa Hawkeyes. For the second-straight game, Tennessee had some trouble taking down a double-digit seed. It took an extra five minutes of basketball for a winner to be decided, despite the fact that the Volunteers never trailed in the game. Iowa was down as much as 25 in the first half and trailed Tennessee 49-28 at the break. The tables completely turned in the second half, as the Vols committed eight turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the period and 11 overall in the final 20 minutes, allowing Iowa to make what was almost a historic comeback. The Hawkeyes had a chance tie the record for the largest comeback win in an NCAA tournament game; BYU came back from 25 points down to defeat Iona in the first round of the tournament back in 2012. Isaiah Moss hit a corner three to pull the Hawkeyes within one with 4:23 to play. A few minutes later, Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon appeared to have his three-point attempt blocked by Tennessee’s Lamonte Turner, but Turner was whistled for a very questionable foul. Bohannon made all three free throws and tied the game up for the first time since the opening tip. Bohannon led the Hawkeyes with 18 points while Moss finished second in scoring with 16. Turner drilled a three on the ensuing possession to put the Vols back up 70-67 with 2:15 left on the clock. Moss hit a jumper to make it 71-69 following a missed free throw by Tennessee’s Jordan Bowen. Joe Wieskamp grabbed a huge offensive board with 20 seconds left off of a missed shot from Bohannon. Wieskamp got fouled coming down and sank both free throws to tie the game at 71-71. The freshman went a perfect 8-for-8 from the line on Sunday, despite shooting just 1-for-7 from the field. Jordan Bone got a great shot off at the end to try and win the game for the Vols, but his three-point attempt rimmed out and the game would go to overtime. Tennessee’s Admiral Schofield didn’t play in overtime because of foul trouble. Despite being without one of their top scorers, the Vols went on a 9-2 run to start overtime and rode the clock out from there. Grant Williams came up with a huge steal in the final minute with Tennessee up 80-75 to keep it a two-possession game. The junior finished with a game-high four takeaways and three blocks. Williams and Schofield led the Volunteers with 19 points apiece. Tennessee will take on the 3-seed Purdue Boilermakers in the Sweet 16.
The top-seeded Cavaliers bested the 9-seed Sooners in typical Virginia-fashion to advance to the Sweet 16. Oklahoma scored just 22 points in the first half and finished the night 19-for-52 from the field (37-percent). Virginia didn’t shoot the lights out, but the Cavaliers led for all but three minutes on Sunday. It was a much easier win than Virginia’s first round contest against Gardner-Webb, in which they trailed by six at halftime. Virginia scored the first seven points of the game before the Sooners went on a 13-2 run and took their only lead of the night; the Cavaliers never trailed after the 9:59 mark of the first half. Mamadi Diakite led Virginia with 14 points and nine rebounds. Virginia will face the 12-seed Oregon Ducks in the Sweet 16.
The round of 32 was capped-off with an unusual matchup of double-digit seeds late Sunday night. The 12-seed Ducks played a solid first half and led the 13-seed Anteaters by 13 after 20 minutes. UC Irvine came sprinting out of the gates to start the second half and opened the period with a 14-0 run. The Anteaters went ahead 37-35 with 14:28 to go, taking their first lead since it was 6-5 at the 17:16 mark of the first half. Oregon missed their first 11 shots of the second half. The Ducks finally locked in and went on a 20-7 run to go up 11 with less than six minutes to play. Oregon would lead by as much as 22 points in the final two minutes, coasting their way to a victory and advancing to the Sweet 16 for the third time in the last four seasons. Payton Pritchard led the Ducks in scoring for the second-straight game, finishing with 18 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Louis King finished with 16 points and Kenny Wooten grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to go with 11 points as well. It was a tough end to a great season for UC Irvine, who finished the year 31-5. For the Ducks, they’ve now won 10-straight games and could be considered one of the hottest teams left in the tournament.
After getting a scare from 16-seed Iona in the first half of their first round matchup on Friday, the top-seeded Tar Heels had little to no trouble handling the 9-seed Huskies in the round of 32. North Carolina wasted no time building a lead in this one, going up double digits less than seven minutes into the game. The Heels kept their foot on the gas pedal and scored 33 points in the first 12 minutes. Despite their offensive outburst, UNC committed 10 turnovers in the first half, allowing Washington to keep the game interesting. The Huskies’ defense deserved some of the credit. Seven of the Tar Heels’ 10 turnovers were steals, and Washington’s strong play in their end resulted in success on offense. UNC kept the Huskies from going on any big run to end the first half and led 41-33 at the break. Washington pulled within five early in the second half before Carolina put them away. The Tar Heels went on a 13-0 run and led 54-36 with 14:20 to play. UNC would lead by as much as 25 in the second half. The Tar Heels finished the afternoon 32-for-63 from the field, good for 51-percent and shot 43-percent from behind the arc. The Tar Heels held Washington to just 39-percent shooting and out-rebounded the Huskies 48-24. Luke Maye finished with a double-double, scoring 20 points and grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds. Nassir Little also finished with 20 points and seven rebounds for the Heels. Coby White scored 17 points with 12 coming in the first half. The freshman also had six rebounds, two assists and a steal. North Carolina will make their 10th Sweet 16 appearance under head coach Roy Williams. The Tar Heels will take on the 5-seed Auburn Tigers on Friday night for a spot in the Elite Eight.
