NCAA Latest: Poole hits 3 at buzzer to give Michigan win
By The Associated Press
The Latest on the second round of the NCAA Tournament (all times Eastern): 12:25 a.m.
Freshman guard Jordan Poole squared up and drained a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving third-seeded Michigan a heart-stopping 64-63 victory over No. 6 seed Houston in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night.
Devin Davis had a chance to seal the win for the Cougars, but he 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 youngster's shot hit nothing but net.
The officials reviewed it to make sure, but Poole had clearly gotten the shot away.
Abdur-Rahkman and Moe Wagner scored 12 points apiece to lead Michigan, but it was the unheralded freshman the stole the show. His flair for the dramatic sent coach John Beilein's team to Los Angeles for a West Regional semifinal against North Carolina or Texas A&M next week. ___ 11:10 p.m. Keenan Evans, who has said he treats every game like senior night and doesn't want to be done, scored 22 points and hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with less than three minutes left as third-seeded Texas Tech beat Florida 69-66 on Saturday night.
While the next loss will end All-Big 12 guard Evans' career, high-flying freshman Zhaire Smith is just getting started.
Smith had 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and was on the receiving end of an alley-oop pass from Evans with 29 seconds left for a punctuating dunk to send the Red Raiders (26-10) to Boston. Chris Chiozza then drove for a layup for the Gators with 25 seconds left, and Evans tried to split a double-team on the inbound. Florida gathered the ball after a wild scramble, and Egor Koulechov and KeVaughn Allen both had 3-pointer attempts in the final 10 seconds that came up short. ___ 10:55 p.m. Third-seeded Michigan and No. 6 seed Houston played to a 28-draw the first half of their second-round game in the West Region.
It wasn't a thing of beauty.
Michigan's biggest stars fizzled with Moe Wagner scoring 2 points and dealing with foul trouble, and Muhammad-Ali Abudr-Rahkman scoring 6 on 2-for-8 shooting. He was 0 for 5 from the 3-point arc.
Houston star Rob Gray, who poured in 39 points in a first-round win over San Diego State, scored 8 points and had eight rebounds. But he was just 2 for 11 from the field.
The winner has a date with Texas A&M or North Carolina in the regional semifinals. ___ 10:20 p.m. Zach Norvell Jr. helped Gonzaga stay in touch, then pull away from Ohio State for a 90-84 victory that puts the Bulldogs two wins away from a repeat trip to the Final Four.
Norvell made a 3-pointer to trim Ohio State's biggest lead of five down to two with 6:56 left. He then had an assist, a 3-pointer and two free throws as part of a 16-2 run that put the Zags ahead by nine with less than two minutes left.
The redshirt freshman, who made the go-ahead 3 late in Gonzaga's win over UNC Greensboro on Thursday, finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds, both career bests.
The fourth-seeded Bulldogs are in the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight year. They'll play Xavier or Florida State next Thursday in the West Region semifinals in Los Angeles.
Keita Bates-Diop led Ohio State with 28 points. ___ 9:50 p.m. Florida has a 33-32 lead over Texas Tech at halftime after a strange tip-in.
With the shot clock running down, senior point guard Chris Chiozza missed a shot. There was still enough time left on the clock, though, for the ball to basically ricochet off his teammate, Egor Koulechov, and go into the basket before the half ended.
Officials reviewed the play before confirming the made basket by Koulechov, who has a game-high 10 points. The Gators had missed 11 of 13 shots before that, including six in a row by Chiozza after he started the game 3-for-3.
Keenan Evans has eight points for the Red Raiders, who haven't been to the Sweet 16 since 2005. ___ 9:40 p.m. Malik Newman scored 28 points, Udoka Azubuike stood toe-to-toe with Seton Hall's bruising Angel Delgado, and No. 1 seed Kansas held off the plucky Pirates 83-79 on Saturday night to send the Jayhawks to their 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 had 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. ___ 9:30 p.m. Ohio State has recovered from its early 15-0 hole.
The Buckeyes have hit 8 of their first 15 shots of the second half and are within 54-53 midway through.
Keita Bates-Diop has 16 points for Ohio State. ___ 9:20 p.m. Florida point guard Chris Chiozza has made his first three shots, including a 3-pointer, and has three assists in 10 minutes, helping the Gators to a 26-24 lead over Texas Tech.
The Gators are trying to get to the Sweet 16 — they've made it to the Elite Eight in each of their last five NCAA Tournament appearances.
In the Sweet 16 last year, Chiozza swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer of overtime to stun Wisconsin in Madison Square Garden.
Chiozza did have a turnover already against the Red Raiders. In the Gators' opener Thursday, he had 11 assists without a turnover. ___ 8:55 p.m. Ohio State has bounced back from its awful start to knock down some shots, but still trails Gonzaga 44-33 at halftime in Boise.
The Zags have made 18 of 31 shots and are 6 for 12 from the 3-point arc.
Zach Norvell Jr. has 15 points and Rui Hachimura 13 for Gonzaga. ___ 8:30 p.m. Sister Jean's prayers were answered again in another heart-stopper, and the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers are going to the Sweet 16, just as they did the last time they were in the NCAA Tournament 33 years ago. Clayton Custer bounced in a jumper with 3.3 seconds left, and 11th-seeded Loyola beat SEC-co champion Tennessee 63-62 in a South Region second-round game.
Custer's winner came two days after Donte Ingram's buzzer-beating 3 for Loyola, 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), who won the Missouri Valley tournament, broke the school record for wins set by the 1963 NCAA championship team. Loyola will play the Cincinnati-Nevada winner in the regional semifinals Thursday in Atlanta.
Tennessee (26-7) took its only lead of the second half on three-point play with 20 seconds remaining. ___ 8:20 p.m. Gonzaga is looking to run Ohio State out of the gym for the second time this season.
The Zags have scored the game's first 13 points in Boise, hitting 5 of 8 shots.
The Buckeyes have missed all five of their attempts — three on shots that spun off the rim. ___ 8:10 p.m. Malik Newman drained a deep 3-pointer to give No. 1 seed Kansas a 31-26 halftime lead on Seton Hall in their second-round matchup in the Midwest Region.
Newman is leading the Jayhawks with 10 points and helping to make up for the struggles of Devonte Graham. The Big 12 player of the year has three points on 1-for-5 shooting, and had to leave briefly in the closing minutes of the half after getting rocked by his own teammate.
Graham spent a couple minutes on the floor before heading to the bench. He tried to check back in for the final possession, but a missed free throw by Seton Hall prevented it from happening.
Angel Delgado already has 12 points and 12 boards for the Pirates. ___ 7:55 p.m. Ohio State and Gonzaga are about to tip off in a rematch of game at the PK80 Invitational.
The Zags blew out the Buckeyes four months ago, shooting 59 percent in an 86-59 rout.
Ohio State recovered from that game to finish second in the Big Ten and is itching to get a little payback in the West Region. ___ 7:50 p.m. Admiral Schofield had 11 points with three 3-pointers in the first 4 1/2 minutes as Tennessee jumped out to a quick lead. He hasn't scored since and the Volunteers trail Chicago-Loyola 53-46 with 6:54 left.
Schofield was called for a charge, his fourth foul, when driving to the basket with 8:42 left. He then rebounded a missed 3 by Loyola. But after the Vols missed a 3, Donte Ingram hit from long range for the Ramblers. ___ 7:35 p.m. Kentucky put an end to any upset talk on its watch Saturday, getting 27 points and a near-perfect shooting game from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a 95-75 pullaway from 13th-seeded Buffalo.
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.
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.
Wes Clark had an electric day for the Bulls again, but it wasn't enough. He finished with 26 points but closed his career at 0-5 against the Wildcats. ___ 7:15 p.m. Top-seeded Kansas and No. 8 seed Seton Hall have tipped off in Wichita, where the winner will earn a Sweet 16 trip to Omaha, Nebraska, to face the winner of Sunday night's Clemson-Auburn game.
The game is being played a 2-hour drive from the Jayhawks campus in Lawrence, and about 90 percent of the 15,000-plus fans at Intrust Bank Arena are wearing blue and red — and green, of course.
There was a festive pre-game atmosphere at the St. Patrick's Day parties surrounding the arena.
The Pirates snapped a four-game NCAA Tournament skid with their opening win over North Carolina State, and are trying to reach the regional semifinals for the first time since 2000. ___ 7:10 p.m. Sister Jean's prayers are working again so far.
Loyola-Chicago erased a quick nine-point deficit and led Tennessee 29-25 at halftime, surely to the delight of 98-year-old nun, team chaplain and primary booster Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt.
The third-seeded Volunteers, co-champions in the SEC, led 15-6 after Admiral Schofield stole a pass and took it in for a dunk with 15 1/2 minutes left in the first half.
Tennessee missed its next nine shots, and the Ramblers took their first lead when guard Clayton Custer hit a 3-pointer to make it 23-22 with 6 minutes to go.
The Ramblers are going for their first Sweet 16 berth since 1985, the last time they made the NCAA Tournament. They won in the first round on Donte Ingram's buzzer-beating 3 against Miami.
Vols coach Rick Barnes is 5-0 in the tournament at the American Airlines Center, home of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. The first four victories were during his 17 seasons at Texas.
Schofield had all 11 of his first-half points in the first 4-plus minutes. Aundre Jackson, who grew up in the Dallas area, led Loyola with 10 points before halftime.
— Schuyler Dixon reporting from Dallas ___ 6:40 p.m. Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt's praying is working so far.
Admiral Schofield and Tennessee got off to a fast start against Loyola-Chicago and its biggest fan, Loyola's 98-year-old chaplain.
Schofield scored 11 points —including three 3-pointers— in the first 4 ½ minutes, pushing the Volunteers out to a 15-8 lead.
The Ramblers, trying to get to the Sweet 16 like they did when they last made the NCAA Tournament 33 years ago, had three turnovers. Those miscues led to six points, but they've regrouped to pull back within three.
— Stephen Hawkins reporting from Dallas ___ 6:30 p.m. Fifth-seeded Kentucky leads Buffalo 51-42 at halftime and the Wildcats have even hit a 3-pointer. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads the Wildcats with 17 points on 6-for-6 shooting.
Buffalo's guard trio of Wes Clark, Jeremy Harris and CJ Massinburg has combined for 35 of the Bulls points. Kentucky is 3 of 7 from behind the arc. Quade Green hit the Wildcats' first 3 of the tournament at 8:27 of the first half.
Kentucky all but ignored the arc Thursday night and failed to make a 3 for the first time in nearly 30 years in its 78-73 first-round victory over Davidson. The 0-for-6 effort snapped the program's nation-best streak of 1,047 games with a 3 that began Nov. 26, 1988. ___ More AP college basketball: https://collegebasketball.ap.org ; https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 and https://www.podcastone.com/ap-sports-special-events
