BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — As the clock ticked down on Providence’s best performance of the season, Friars fans behind the bench were chanting coach Ed Cooley’s name.
The hometown hero who grew up dreaming of an opportunity to be part of Providence basketball is taking the Friars to their first Sweet 16 in 25 years.
“I just can’t tell you how grateful I feel for our players, our college, our city,” Cooley said. “It’s hard to get to this point. We’re just a little school that everybody says, oh, it’s Providence. Well, Providence is in the damn building.”
Noah Horchler had 16 points and 14 rebounds and the hot-shooting Friars routed 12th-seeded Richmond 79-51 on Saturday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Providence had five players score in double figures and held the Spiders to 1 of 22 on 3-pointers.
“We have a lot of threats on this team both on the offensive end and on the defensive end, and when we play like this, I feel like we’re the best team in the country,” A.J. Reeves said.
The fourth-seeded Friars (27-5) will face Kansas, the top seed in the Midwest Region, in Chicago next week.
Providence has made its living this season by winning the close ones, 16 in all by single digits. The Friars talked this week about being well aware of their skeptics and motivated by being called the luckiest team in America. Instead of tuning out the haters, the Friars have leaned into being doubted.
“It challenges you. It challenges your manhood. It challenges your team,” Cooley said. “Last time I checked, we weren’t that bad. You know, we’re not that bad.”
The Big East regular-season champions looked like a juggernaut against Richmond, posting the most lopsided NCAA Tournament victory in program history.
Michigan 78,
Tennessee 68
Eli Brooks returned for one final college season with the goal of helping Michigan reach the Final Four.
Defying expectations, the Wolverines are halfway there.
Brooks scored seven of his 23 points in the final 3½ minutes and the 11th-seeded Wolverines booked the most surprising of their five straight Sweet 16 appearances, beating third-seeded Tennessee 78-68 on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“I’m just trying to live in the moment right now and cherish the time we have with the people in my life right now at Michigan and enjoy the process of going through this tournament again and having that chance of getting our last goal,” said Brooks, a fifth-year senior.
Michigan’s five straight trips to the regional semifinals is the second-longest streak in the nation behind Gonzaga’s. The Bulldogs beat Memphis on Sunday night to make their seventh consecutive Sweet 16.
It wasn’t clear late in the season whether the Wolverines would be in the tournament, much less have a chance for a deep run.
Hardly a conventional Cinderella given its resources and pedigree, Michigan (19-14) has the worst record of any team left in the field and did the bare minimum to secure an at-large berth. The Wolverines hadn’t won two straight games since mid-February.
North Carolina 93,
Baylor 86, OT
So much for the idea that North Carolina is soft against top-tier competition. These Tar Heels are going to the Sweet 16 after knocking off the defending champions.
No, it wasn’t easy. The Tar Heels blew a 25-point second-half lead after Brady Manek was ejected for a wild elbow and starting guard Caleb Love fouled out, and they had some issues when top-seeded Baylor turned up the full-court pressure. But they never fell behind, played with poise in overtime and pulled out a 93-86 victory Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“All year we’ve just been hearing different things about us, how we’re a soft team, how we don’t like to fight,” All-Atlantic Coast Conference power forward Armando Bacot said. “Today, I think we really showed that we can fight. To persevere in a moment like that and just come together, I’m just so proud of everyone.”
RJ Davis scored a career-high 30 points with a nifty layup while being fouled in overtime, when Bacot made the tiebreaking free throws after missing three in the final 38 seconds of regulation. Bacot had 15 points and 16 rebounds, along with three blocked shots.
A year after losing in the first round of the tourney in coach Roy Williams’ final game, the Tar Heels (26-9) pulled off a shocker for his successor, Hubert Davis, who moves on to the East Region semifinals to play fourth-seeded UCLA in a matchup of programs with a combined 17 national titles.
Gonzaga 82, Memphis 78
Drew Timme gathered his Gonzaga teammates at midcourt, pointed at the scoreboard showing a 10-point halftime deficit for the top overall seed and expressed a few choice words.
Timme’s goal was to spark his teammates with words. He did it with his play on the court, too.
Or as Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said, “the Drew Timme effect came into play.”
Timme scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half, and Gonzaga rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat No. 9 seed Memphis 82-78 on Saturday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Trailing at the half for only the fourth time this season, Gonzaga leaned on its star junior to reach its seventh straight Sweet 16. The Bulldogs (28-3) will face No. 4 seed Arkansas in the West Region semifinals on Thursday in San Francisco.
“What I said was, no matter what happens, no matter what the score is, win or lose, this could very well be the last 20 minutes of basketball you ever play, and go out with no regrets,” Timme recalled.
That was the G-rated version. But his point was made and the Bulldogs responded.
Andrew Nembhard added 23 points, Rasir Bolton scored 17 and Gonzaga never trailed after a basket from Timme and Bolton’s 3-pointer with 10 minutes remaining that made it 61-57.
Timme made 10 of 16 shots and grabbed 14 rebounds.
“The way we came out fighting in the second half I thought it was more who we are,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “And then we just did a great job down the stretch executing all our late game stuff.”
