Top overall seed Auburn turns back Creighton, 82-70

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said a trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament was no sure thing, and experienced Creighton made his top-seeded team work for it before the Tigers found their defensive mojo in the second half and closed out the ninth-seeded Bluejays 82-70 on Saturday night to reach the Sweet 16.

Tahaad Pettiford scored 16 of his 23 points after halftime and Chad Baker-Mazara added 17 points for Auburn, which held Creighton scoreless for more than six minutes during a 10-0 second-half run. Pettiford scored six points during that burst to push the Tigers to a 68-54 lead.

The No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, Auburn (30-5) moves on to the South Region semifinals in Atlanta next weekend, where it will face No. 5 seed Michigan. Pearl’s team was upset in the first round by Yale last year and he had not taken Auburn past the second round since it reached its only Final Four in 2019. This time, his goal is the Tigers’ first-ever national title.

Creighton under coach Greg McDermott had reached the Sweet 16 in three of the previous four years. Fifth-year senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 18 points in his final game for the Bluejays (25-11).

The 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner banked in a 3-pointer to open the scoring for Creighton and came out on top statistically against 6-10 Auburn All-American Johni Broome, who had eight points on 4-of-13 shooting and 12 rebounds. Auburn also got 15 points from Denver Jones.

The game featured seven ties and 16 lead changes, and Creighton’s perimeter game was on point throughout the first half. The Blue Jays shot 64% from 3-point range and 52% overall to lead 37-35 at the break.

Creighton went ahead 50-48 on two free throws by Kalkbrenner with 14:13 left. Ten seconds later, Baker-Mazara converted a three-point play and Auburn never trailed again. The Tigers shot 60% in the second half.

Baker-Mazara left the game briefly in the second half with a right hip injury but returned.

Steven Ashworth and Jamiya Neal scored 13 points each for Creighton, and Jackson McAndrew contributed 12 points on four 3-pointers.

Broome had a tip-in as the shot clock expired to make it 66-54 during Auburn’s decisive run.

HOUSTON 81, GONZAGA 76

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — LJ Cryer matched a career high with 30 points, including two free throws with 14.2 seconds left, and No. 1 seed Houston held on to beat eighth-seeded Gonzaga 81-76 on Saturday night to reach the Sweet 16 for the sixth straight NCAA Tournament.

J’Wan Roberts added 18 points, and Milos Uzan made two last free throws with 2.1 seconds left to give the Cougars (32-4) their 15th consecutive win and push them into a regional semifinal against fourth-seeded Purdue on Friday night in Indianapolis.

Houston also ended Gonzaga’s run of nine straight Sweet 16s, which had been the longest active streak in the nation.

Gonzaga (26-9) was trailing 76-67 with just over 2 minutes to go when Graham Ike made two free throws to start its comeback, most of it coming at the foul line. And when Uzan turned the ball over and Khalif Battle made two free throws of his own, the Bulldogs had pulled to 77-76 with 21 seconds remaining.

Houston got the ball to Cryer, who was fouled, and he made both of his free throws to extend the lead. At the other end, Ja’Vier Francis stuffed Battle’s tying 3-point try, and Uzan knocked down his foul shots to seal the win.

Ike finished with 27 points to lead the Bulldogs. Battle had 17.

TEXAS TECH 77, DRAKE 64

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland knew that tossing up 46 shots from beyond the arc wasn’t going to fly against Drake.

Not like it did in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against UNC Wilmington.

So, the Red Raiders turned to JT Toppin, their second-team All-American, and bruising forward Darrion Williams, and the two of them responded Saturday night by bludgeoning the Bulldogs in the post. Toppin had 25 points and 12 rebounds, Williams had a season-best 28 points, and together they sent Texas Tech into the Sweet 16 with a 77-64 victory.

The third-seeded Red Raiders will play No. 10 seed Arkansas in the West Region semifinals Thursday night in San Francisco.

“I think the coaches put us in great spots,” said Williams, who left briefly in the second half when he appeared to aggravate his right leg injury. “We watched a ton of film the last 48 hours, just putting us in the right spots to go.”

It wasn’t just the last 48 hours that Texas Tech could draw upon, though. It also played Drake in a scrimmage in Lubbock way back in November, long before McCasland and his close friend and Drake counterpart Ben McCollum knew they would be facing each other on the biggest stage in college basketball. And the Red Raiders picked up a thing or two from it.

The biggest was this: Throw the ball to Williams and Toppin and let them go to work.

“We felt like you couldn’t play off ball screens. You needed to give it to our guys in space, and let them play in space, and then just clear a side,” McCasland said. “These are two of the best ball-handlers — they’re basically the best passers outside of Elijah Hawkins on our team. We just trusted them to handle the basketball.

“When we got the advantage and they saw it, we were able to take advantage of it, because of their footwork and spacing.”

Toppin scored 19 of his points on 9-of-10 shooting in the first half. Williams had 14 by that point. And together, they outscored the Missouri Valley regular- and postseason champs by themselves; Texas Tech led 37-30 headed to the locker room.

“Those two,” McCollum said simply, “are a load down there.”

Texas Tech took a decidedly different approach in its first-round win over UNC Wilmington, when it put up an NCAA Tournament-record 46 3-pointers. Williams had 13 points and Toppin had just 12 in that game.

BYU 91, WISCONSIN 89

DENVER (AP) — BYU withstood a ferocious charge from Wisconsin’s John Tonje to hold off the Badgers for a 91-89 victory Saturday that sends the program to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2011 — the days of Jimmer Fredette.

Tonje finished with 37 points, including eight during a desparate comeback down the stretch. But trailing by two, he shot a fadeaway air ball just before the buzzer that allowed the Cougars to escape.

Tonje was the first player to crack 30 points this year in March Madness.

BYU will play Alabama or St. Mary’s next Thursday in Newark at the East Regional.

MICHIGAN 91,

TEXAS A&M 79

DENVER (AP) — Michigan is going back to the Sweet 16 a year after a 24-loss season, using Roddy Gayle’s surge and a surprising advantage on the boards to trounce Texas A&M 91-79 on Saturday in the NCAA Tournament.

Gayle scored 21 of his season-high 26 points in the second half to help the restocked Wolverines overcome a 10-point deficit and advance to Atlanta to face Auburn in the South Region.

They got there by beating the Aggies at their own game.

No. 4 seed Texas A&M entered the day as the nation’s top offensive rebounding team, but the fifth-seeded Wolverines pulled down 16 offensive boards to the Aggies’ 15 and they outrebounded them 48-39 overall.

“Just a mindset,” said Michigan center Vladislav Goldin, who followed coach Dusty May over from FAU a year ago. “If we know what they do, we will have to adjust it and have the same physicality.”

Goldin had 23 points and 12 rebounds as Michigan (27-9) overcame another big day for Pharrel Payne. The big man led Texas A&M with 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting, but he was shut out after his basket put the Aggies ahead 65-61 with 9:59 left.

PURDUE 76,

McNEESE STATE 62

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Trey Kaufman-Renn had 22 points and 15 rebounds, and Purdue used a fast start to roll to a 76-62 win over McNeese in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

Fletcher Loyer added 15 points. C.J. Cox finished with 11 points for the Boilermakers (24-11), who advanced through the Midwest Region to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season.

Purdue will meet the winner of top-seeded Houston and eighth-seeded Gonzaga in the regional semifinal. In his 16 NCAA Tournament appearances with the Boilermakers, coach Matt Painter is now headed to his eighth Sweet 16.

Painter said the challenge is to sustain the offensive output they’ve had over the first two rounds.

“We can’t go further without playing great offensively,” Painter said. “We have to execute well, we have to shoot the ball well. That’s not really pressure, that’s just a fact.”

Sincere Parker had 17 points to lead McNeese (28-7). Javohn Garcia added 12 points as the Cowboys came up short in their bid to give the Southland Conference its first Sweet 16 team since Louisiana Tech in 1985.

McNeese came out in the 2-3 zone that was so successful during its first-round win over Clemson.

But Purdue hit 7 of its first 9 field goals and 3 of its first 4 3-point attempts to build an early double-digit advantage.