RADIO
Half of the Sweet Sixteen is now set after Saturday’s impressive NCAA Tournament games, which included the first No. 1 seed to go down and an exciting overtime game to end the day (you could even say begin Sunday).
Here are a few notes from Saturday’s games.
- Villanova became the first No. 1 seed to fall out of this year’s NCAA Tournament, as the Wildcats fell to North Carolina State 71-68 in a thriller. This is the second consecutive year that Villanova, which ends its season 33-3, has fallen in the round of 32, and continued a disappointing day for the Big East, which went 4-0 Thursday but 1-3 Saturday.
- Kentucky moved to 36-0 after defeating Cincinnati early in the day, 64-51. Kentucky will get the winner of Maryland and West Virginia.
- Arizona easily beat Ohio State 73-58, as the only No. 2 seed to play Saturday. The victory was also one of the largest of the day at 15 points.
- For the second straight game, Notre Dame edged its opponent, only this time in an overtime affair that didn’t end until early Sunday. The No. 3 Fighting Irish won 67-64 over intrastate rival No. 6 Butler after hitting a pair of three-point field goals in extra time. Neither team scored in the final 2:50 of regulation, due in large part to outstanding defense. Both teams played only seven players, and the starters for both teams combined for all but seven points (one Irish reserve scored three points, one Bulldog reserve scored four). Butler was the third Big East team to fall. The game was the only game Saturday to go into overtime and only the third since the field was reduced to 64 teams. Notre Dame is the only remaining Indiana school remaining, and Indiana schools have lost four games by a combined 12 points.
- No. 4 Georgetown was the second Big East team to bow out after losing to No. 5 Utah, one of only two games that saw the lower-seeded team win. The score was 75-64.
- The only Big East team to advance out of Saturday was No. 6 Xavier, which defeated a resilient No. 14 Georgia State team 75-67. Half of the team’s points came from the bench, with 21 coming from forward Jalen Reynolds and 17 from guard Myles Davis.
- The other No. 14 seed still in the NCAA Tournament, UAB, also dropped out of competition, losing to No. 11 UCLA 92-75. The 17-point victory by the UCLA Bruins was the largest of any game Saturday, and UCLA is one of only two double-digit seeded teams remaining in the tournament (Dayton plays Sunday). All five starters on UCLA scored in double digits, and the starters scored 88 of the team’s 92 points.
- In addition to UCLA, one of the other traditional Division I powerhouses won. No. 4 North Carolina beat No. 5 Arkansas 87-78.
- The games between Notre Dame and Butler and Villanova and North Carolina State were the closest contests of the day, both separated by three points. Thirteen games in the NCAA Tournament have been separated by three points or less.
- The Pac-12 has not lost a game this NCAA Tournament, and is 7-0 heading into Sunday. Oregon could join Arizona, Utah and UCLA with a win Sunday.
- Ohio has only two teams remaining in the tourney, with the exits of Cincinnati and Ohio State (the only teams Saturday not to score at least 60 points). Xavier and Dayton remain.
- The average margin of victory in Saturday’s games was 9.88 points. (Friday’s games was 12.19 points (Thursday’s average was 9.13 points). That means that the average during the 44 games so far is 9.98 points.
- Villanova’s 41-point victory over Lafayette on Thursday remains the largest margin of victory in this year’s tournament.
- Tony Parker of UCLA scored 28 points Saturday, the most of any player on the day. BYU’s Tyler Haws leads all players in single-game scoring, with 33 points in the First Four game loss to Old Miss on Wednesday.
