College Basketball

Loyola of Chicago tops Tennessee to advance to Sweet 16

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:35 p.m. ET

Results from the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday:

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WEST REGION

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Michigan freshman Jordan Poole drained a long 3-pointer at the buzzer after Houston squandered a chance to lock up a spot in the Sweet 16, giving the third-seeded Wolverines a heart-stopping victory.

Devin Davis had a chance to seal the win, but the Cougars' gritty forward missed a pair of foul shots with 3.6 seconds left. The Wolverines (30-7) called timeout to set up a final play, and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman found Poole on the wing, and the shot hit nothing but net.

The officials reviewed it to make sure, but Poole had clearly gotten the shot away.

Michigan advanced to Los Angeles for a West Regional semifinal against North Carolina or Texas A&M next week.

Rob Gray scored 23 points and Davis finished with 17 for the Cougars (27-8), who were trying to reach their first Sweet 16 since the last of the Phi Slama Jama teams went to the Final Four in 1984.

GONZAGA 90, OHIO STATE 84

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Zach Norvell Jr. had 28 points, Rui Hachimura added 25 and Gonzaga reached the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight season.

Norvell hit the late tiebreaking 3-pointer against UNC-Greensboro in the opening round to help the Zags (32-4) advance. The confident freshman made 6 of 11 from beyond the arc against Ohio State.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a big early lead, withstood a second-half Ohio State charge and made the big plays down the stretch to earn a spot in the West Region semifinals against the Xavier-Florida State winner in Los Angeles.

The resilient-all-season Buckeyes (25-9) rallied from an abysmal start and an 11-point halftime deficit to take a brief second-half lead before Gonzaga went on an 11-0 run to snatch it back. Keita Bates-Diop had 28 points for Ohio State, and Kam Williams finished with 19.

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SOUTH REGION

LOYOLA OF CHICAGO 63, TENNESSEE 62

DALLAS (AP) - Clayton Custer made a go-ahead jumper with 3.6 seconds left, sending 11th-seeded Loyola of Chicago to the Sweet 16.

Custer's winner, which took a friendly bounce off the rim, came two days after Donte Ingram's buzzer-beating 3 for Loyola against Miami, surely to the delight of Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the 98-year-old nun, team chaplain and primary booster watching from her wheelchair on a platform near the main TV cameras.

The Ramblers (30-5) broke the school record for wins set by the 1963 NCAA championship team. The small Catholic college in the heart of Chicago will play the Cincinnati-Nevada winner in the regional semifinals Thursday in Atlanta.

No. 3 seed Tennessee (26-7) took its only lead of the second half on a three-point play by Grant Williams with 20 seconds remaining.

After Loyola almost lost the ball on an out-of-bounds call confirmed on replay, Custer took the inbounds pass with 10 seconds left, dribbled left and then right, pulled up and let go of the winner.

KENTUCKY 95, BUFFALO 75

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 27 points and Kentucky pulled away for the victory.

Gilgeous-Alexander went 10 for 12 and made both of his 3-point attempts to send fifth-seeded Kentucky (26-10) to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season.

Coming into the day, the basketball world was still reverberating from Maryland-Baltimore County's 16 vs. 1 stunner over Virginia the night before. Villanova and Duke both rolled early; the evening slate started with Kentucky, and the Wildcats, with their all-freshman starting lineup, trailed only once: 2-0.

It wasn't a runaway until the last 7 minutes.

Buffalo (27-9), which got here with a 21-point blowout over Arizona, twice trimmed a double-digit lead to five midway through the second half.

Gilgeous-Alexander answered both times - once with a 3-pointer to extend the lead to eight, then again a few minutes later with a three-point play that started a 12-2 run and put the game away.

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EAST REGION

VILLANOVA 81, ALABAMA 58

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Mikal Bridges scored 23 points, helping No. 1 seed Villanova to an impressive victory.

The Wildcats (32-4) are in the Sweet 16 for the first time since they won the 2016 national championship. Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Phil Booth - and yes, The Big Ragu - look every bit the favorite to make it two in three years.

Villanova plays Friday in Boston against the Marshall-West Virginia winner.

Collin Sexton led Alabama (20-16) with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting. The star guard has to decide if he'll join the ranks of the one-and-done freshman.

TEXAS TECH 69, FLORIDA 66

DALLAS (AP) - Keenan Evans made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 2 1/2 minutes left, sending Texas Tech to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005.

Evans finished with 22 points, and Zhaire Smith had 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. The third-seeded Red Raiders (26-9) will face Purdue or Butler next Friday night in Boston.

Jalen Hudson scored 23 points for Florida (21-13). Egor Koulechov had 12 points, and Chris Chiozza finished with 11.

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MIDWEST REGION

KANSAS 83, SETON HALL 79

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Malik Newman scored 28 points, Udoka Azubuike stood toe-to-toe with Seton Hall's bruising Angel Delgado, and No. 1 seed Kansas advanced to its third consecutive Sweet 16.

Svi Mykhailiuk added 16 points and Lagerald Vick had 13 for the Jayhawks (29-7), who converted on every crucial play down the stretch to advance to the semifinals of the Midwest Region.

They'll take on the winner of Sunday's game between Auburn and Clemson in Omaha, Nebraska.

Delgado finished with 24 points and 23 rebounds in a virtuoso effort for the No. 8 seed Pirates (22-11), who snapped a four-game NCAA Tournament skid in the opening round.

Khadeen Carrington finished with 28 points, many of them on 3-pointers in the closing minutes, and Myles Powell added 14 as the pair of guards tried in vain to keep Seton Hall alive.

DUKE 87, RHODE ISLAND 62

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Marvin Bagley had 22 points and nine rebounds, leading Duke to its 26th trip to the Sweet 16.

It was Mike Krzyzewski's 1,099th victory, breaking a tie with late Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt for the most wins by a basketball coach in NCAA history.

Duke shot 57 percent (29 of 51) from the floor and finished with 20 assists. The Blue Devils (28-7) will play either Michigan State or Syracuse in the Midwest Region semifinals in Omaha, Nebraska next Friday.

E.C. Matthews led Rhode Island (26-8) with 21 points but the Rams looked confounded at times by Duke's much improved zone defense. A weakness during a mini-swoon in late January, the Blue Devils are no longer treating defense like a chore they're forced to complete before getting the ball back in their hands.