NCAA Tournament Day 3: Creighton pulls out 2OT win, while NC State ends Oakland’s run

The field continues to shrink with second-round action in the NCAA Tournament. While there were fewer upsets on Saturday, there was still plenty of drama.

No. 5 Gonzaga took down No. 4 Kansas to advance to its ninth straight Sweet 16. No. 11 NC State ended tournament darling Jack Gohlke and No. 14 Oakland’s stretch to continue its own Cinderella run. And No. 3 Creighton outlasted No. 11 Oregon in a double-overtime contest that Bluejays coach Greg McDermott called “epic.”

Winners of Saturday and Sunday’s games secure spots in next week’s Sweet 16.

Creighton hangs on in double OT

PITTSBURGH — Creighton finally caught fire and Oregon finally went cold in the second overtime, and the Bluejays avoided a devastating upset by hitting seven of 11 shots, including five 3s, to close the game. With an 86-71 victory, Creighton is on to the Sweet 16 for a third time in four years under coach Greg McDermott.

The Ducks got 60 combined points from Jermaine Couisnard and N’Faly Dante. The Bluejays got 21 from Steven Ashworth, 20 from Trey Alexander, 19 points and 14 boards from Ryan Kalkbrenner and 18 points, nine boards and five assists from Baylor Scheierman, who forced the first OT with a jumper in the final seconds. — Kyle Tucker

NC State ends Jack Gohlke and Oakland’s run in overtime

The crowd roared whenever Jack Gohlke touched the ball, growing louder with every made 3. There were many moments — six to be exact — when those long-range makes cast a spell over PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. But by overtime, the magic ran out for Gohlke and No. 14 Oakland as they fell 79-73 to No. 11 NC State on Saturday.

For the Wolfpack, which completed their seventh win in 12 days, the victory means their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2015. They’ll face the winner of No. 10 Colorado and No. 2 Marquette in the next round.

Despite the loss, the evening exhibited the thrill of March, as Gohlke had quickly become a tournament darling, guiding the Golden Grizzlies in an upset over No. 3 Kentucky in the first round Thursday. A 6-foot-3 graduate student who transferred to Oakland from Division II Hillsdale (Mich.) College, Gohlke put up 22 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field and 6-of-17 shooting from behind the arc in a tightly contested matchup against NC State.

About midway through the second half, the whole crowd — minus two NC State sections — started cheering every Oakland bounce and shot. With Oakland down seven, Gohlke hit a transition 3-pointer. He made a four-point play, drawing a foul after hitting a 3, that came amid what looked like it might be the run that pushed Oakland to the Sweet 16, but Oakland never got a shot off on the final possession of regulation and got buried by one flurry in overtime.

Gohlke wasn’t even the highest scorer of the night. It was Oakland’s Trey Townsend who led both teams with 30 points. Townsend, a senior forward, also added 13 rebounds for a double-double.

DJ Burns Jr. led NC State with 24 points and contributed 11 rebounds. He was the first to fist-bump Gohlke when the game ended.

NC State’s Michael O’Connell (12 points), Mohamed Diarra, DJ Horne and Casey Morsell (11 points each) also scored in double-digit figures, with Diarra posting 13 rebounds. — Alex Andrejev

Gonzaga dominant in second half

SALT LAKE CITY — Woof. What an outing by the Zags. Down one point at halftime, Gonzaga comes out in the second half and obliterates Kansas, 89-68. Zags shoot 61 percent from the field and put on an offensive showcase. Kansas, at one point, had four straight 3’s to end the first half and start the second. That was short-lived. Gonzaga, with its bevy of versatile big men, looks like it will be a handful for Zach Edey and No. 1-seeded Purdue in the Sweet 16 — assuming Purdue beats Utah State tomorrow night. Nine straight Sweet 16 appearances for the Bulldogs. A hell of a feat. — Christopher Kamrani

Gonzaga went absolutely nuclear in the second half against Kansas. Wowza. Shot 67 percent, hit 5 of 6 3s, scored 1.438 PPP. At one point hit eight straight and 12 of 13 shots and just blew the doors off the Jayhawks.

Mark Few mighty impressive. His "down year" brings a Sweet 16.

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) March 23, 2024

Tennessee survives Texas with clutch foul shots

CHARLOTTE — Midwest Region No. 2 seed Tennessee advances over No. 7 seed Texas with a white-knuckling 62-58 win at Spectrum Center that came down to seven straight clutch foul shots in the final 48 seconds — the first three from Jonas Aidoo and the last four from Dalton Knecht.

The Vols were great on defense, rebounded, took care of the ball after a sloppy start and got good shots. On most nights in this matchup, that would mean a comfortable win. It was still trending that way with a 12-point lead midway through the second half.

But the Vols seem to have forgotten how to shoot jump shots as a team. They were 3-for-25 from 3-point range on the night, including a combined 2-for-16 from the normally reliable Knecht and Zakai Zeigler.

But Knecht still managed 18 points and hit a big one down the stretch from long range. Aidoo scored 11. Tobe Awaka scored 10. Josiah-Jordan James had nine points, nine rebounds and a huge 3-pointer of his own late. And Jahmai Mashack was the primary defender responsible for Texas star Max Abmas’ 3-for-10, 10-point night.

Next up for Tennessee: The Sweet 16 in Detroit against either Oregon or Creighton. — Joe Rexrode

North Carolina overcomes early adversity to defeat Michigan State

Everything changed for North Carolina toward the end of the first half after coach Hubert Davis questioned his team’s toughness. When the under-eight media timeout hit, with 7:34 left before halftime, UNC trailed 28-20 and had largely looked lethargic to that point. Davis was clearly displeased, scowling on the sideline. So in that timeout, he lit into his team. Davis essentially called them soft, and told them he wasn’t even going to talk basketball with them until he saw better energy and effort on the floor. Specifically, he told forwards Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram that they couldn’t stop Michigan State’s bigs.

That was all the Tar Heels needed to hear. Davis’ comments immediately lit a fire under his players, who ran off a 23-3 run to end the first half. Considering North Carolina went from down eight to up nine at halftime, that timeout — and the stretch of play that ensued — was the inflection point of the entire contest. It’s North Carolina’s first time overcoming a double-digit deficit in the NCAA Tournament since it trailed Washington by 11 (also in Charlotte) in 2011.

Saturday’s win clinches North Carolina’s 36th Sweet 16 appearance, and the Tar Heels will take on the winner of Alabama and Grand Canyon out in Los Angeles. This is North Carolina’s first second-weekend appearance on the West Coast since 2015, when it lost to eventual national runner-up Wisconsin in the Sweet 16.

But if the Tar Heels advance to the Elite 8? A date with No. 2 Arizona may be waiting — and specifically, a date with former UNC star Caleb Love, who led North Carolina to the 2022 national title game. Love transferred to Arizona this offseason, winning Pac-12 Player of the Year in his first season with the Wildcats. A game versus his former teammates Davis and Bacot — with a Final Four berth on the line — is very much a possibility. — Brendan Marks

Iowa State advances thanks to relentless defense

Iowa State was a little out of character early in that game taking some ill-advised, forced shots and panicking on offense. But once the Cyclones calmed down, their never-ending defensive pressure took over and their shot selection improved. Never hurts to have basically a home crowd behind you as well. Been an impressive last two weeks for the Cyclones, who are likely in for what could be one of the most watchable Sweet 16 games against Illinois (assuming the Illini win).

One big development in Omaha was Tamin Lipsey finding his outside shot. Most teams sag off Lipsey because he’d prefer to pass, but he’s shooting with so much confidence right now that he made two step-back 3s in the second half. He’s made 5-of-9 3s in the NCAA Tournament and is averaging 16 points. The Cyclones needed it because leading scorer Keshawn Gilbert struggled shooting the ball against Washington State, going 3-of-14 from the field.

The big difference in the game was Iowa State winning the turnover battle 13-6 and outscoring WSU 21-4 in points off turnovers. What makes the Cyclones so tough is their pressure just leads teams into making mistakes. The Cougars got off to a quick start, but Iowa State eventually took away the rhythm shots that the Cougars got early. — CJ Moore

Is Arizona proving it can be trusted?

SALT LAKE CITY — The self-appointed bracketologists around the country all asked a question that permeated throughout the realm of college basketball before this year’s NCAA Tournament started: can we trust Arizona?

March hasn’t been exactly kind to one of the most storied programs in the sport in recent years. Despite consistently having a roster each year worthy of deep, meaningful runs in the tournament, Arizona has seen its postseason dreams upended at the hands of higher seeds.

A year ago, it was as a No. 2 seed to No. 15 Princeton.

In 2018, it was as a No. 4 seed against No. 13 Buffalo.

These No. 2-seeded Wildcats, at least through the first two rounds of this March, still have questions to answer about whether or not they can be trusted to make this March a memorable one. Arizona advanced to the Sweet 16 in the West Region on Saturday afternoon in Salt Lake City with a 78-68 win over No. 10 seed Dayton.

Arizona will face the winner of No. 3 seed Baylor and No. 6 seed Clemson in Los Angeles next week.

The Wildcats toppled the Flyers with a balanced approach from a number of its key rotational players. They proved they are much more than The Caleb Love Show. Four players scored in double figures led by Love, who finished with a team-high 19 points after a stellar first half (5 of 7 from the field) was followed by an ice-cold second (1 of 8).

With Love’s shot off, guards Pelle Larsson, Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis helped fuel a second-half run that kept a desperate Dayton team at bay. After the Flyers cut the Arizona lead to within three midway through the second half, Larsson and Lewis fueled a swift 7-0 run to put a comfortable distance between Arizona and Dayton. The trio also pestered Dayton’s All-American with their help defense on Flyers star DaRon Holmes II.

Holmes II, the co-Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, was a standout with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds. — Kamrani

Required reading

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(Photo: Joe Sargent / Getty Images)