Midwest Region

Syracuse 75, West Virginia 72

Buddy Boeheim kept shooting, carrying his Hall of Fame father and 11th-seeded Syracuse back into the Sweet 16.

The Orange, a top program for four decades under Jim Boeheim, once again showed they're just as dangerous as an NCAA Tournament afterthought.

“To win two games and be doubted in both, the underdog, this means everything,” Buddy Boeheim said. “If you were to ask me a month or two months ago where I think we would be, I don’t think I would say Sweet 16, that’s for sure.”

“Buckets” Boeheim scored 22 of his 25 points after halftime to lead the Orange past third-seeded West Virginia on Sunday. Syracuse (18-9) advanced to face second-seeded Houston in a Midwest Regional semifinal.

The Orange were a bubble team this year, a familiar spot of late. They won their last two regular-season games and once in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament to sneak into the field.

Now they're heading to Jim Boeheim's 20th Sweet 16, thanks to his 6-foot-6, sweet-shooting son.

“I mean, he’s just been playing great,” Jim said. “He’s been putting the ball on the floor and getting his own shot. Teammates have been looking for him.

“He had some really good looks today. He was 6 for 13 (on 3-pointers). I’m surprised he wasn’t 10 for 13, really, the way he’s been shooting it. And I know he was disappointed in himself at halftime, but he showed kind of what he’s made of.”

The Orange moved on at the expense of another coaching legend, Bob Huggins, in the second March Madness meeting between coaches with at least 900 Division I victories. Huggins won No. 900 when West Virginia beat Morehead State in the first round on Friday. Boeheim got his 982nd at Huggins’ expense.

Buddy Boeheim made two straight 3s just after halftime. His jumper and 3 on consecutive possessions put Syracuse ahead 63-59 with 4:55 left, and he helped put the game away with three late free throws.

After his quiet first half, Boeheim got a pep talk from former Orange sharpshooter Gerry McNamara, who won the 2003 national championship as Carmelo Anthony's wingman and is now one of Jim Boeheim's assistants.

“G-Mac just came up to me at halftime and said, ‘Keep going. I don’t care if you miss 200. Just keep shooting,’” Boeheim said. “I just said, all right, if I get clean looks, I’m going to have to take them and I’m going to start making them.”

Sean McNeil scored 23 points to lead the Mountaineers (19-10), who last made the Sweet 16 in 2018. That was the fifth time West Virginia got that far under Huggins, who also made the regional semis four times with Cincinnati.

WVU trailed 74-72 with 4 seconds left before Boeheim was fouled at midcourt on an inbounds pass. He made one free throw and missed the second, but Miles McBride traveled after grabbing the rebound.

The Mountaineers dug an early hole and briefly took the lead back in the second half. But Boeheim kept answering with big shots.

“They shot it extremely well,” Huggins said. “It seemed like everything they shot went in, and they shot from deep. We wanted to make them bounce it and we let them get too many step-in shots.”

Joe Girard scored all 12 of his points before halftime, steadying the Orange while Boeheim struggled. Quincy Guerrier and Marek Dolezaj also scored 12 each for Syracuse.

Buddy Boeheim has 55 points so far in the tournament. Only Gary Clark (60 in 1957) and McNamara (56 in 2004) scored more in Syracuse's first two tourney games.

The Orange are the bubble team nobody wants to play. They have advanced to the Sweet 16 each time they’ve been given a double-digit seeding, reaching the Final Four as a 10 in 2016 and the Sweet 16 as an 11 in 2018. That more recent run ended when Jim Boeheim’s bunch lost to Duke and Mike Krzyzewski, the only previous tourney game between 900-win coaches. Syracuse lost in the first round two years ago when Buddy Boeheim was a freshman role player.

Like many Syracuse opponents, the Mountaineers struggled against the 2-3 zone with poor shooting (37.1%) and turnovers (14). They regrouped but couldn’t get over the hump.

Oregon State 80, Oklahoma State 70

Ethan Thompson scored 26 points and Oregon State neutralized Oklahoma State and star freshman Cade Cunningham, rolling to an 80-70 upset.

Maurice Calloo, who transferred from Oklahoma State, scored 15 points and Jarod Lucas also had 15 for the 12th-seeded Beavers.

Cunningham, a first-team All-American and possible top NBA draft pick, scored 24 points for Oklahoma State (21-9), but the fourth-seeded Cowboys wasted possessions down the stretch by failing to get him the ball.

Avery Anderson scored 16 points and Keylan Boone added 13 for Oklahoma State in a game that was delayed for 20 minutes at the start by a power outage.

Oregon State (19-12) became the third double-digit seed to reach this year's Sweet 16, joining 15 seed Oral Roberts and Syracuse, an 11.

Houston 63, Rutgers 60

Quentin Grimes scored 22 points, Tramon Mark converted a soaring three-point play with 24 seconds left, and Houston beat Rutgers.

DaJon Jarreau overcame a series of bumps and bruises to score a key bucket down the stretch and finished with 17 points for second-seeded Houston (26-3).

The 10th-seeded Scarlet Knights (16-12) still had a chance after Mark’s free throws, but Geo Baker turned the ball over and Marcus Sasser made two more to extend the lead. Rutgers rushed back up the floor and Ron Harper Jr. let fly a potential tying 3 from the wing that clanked off the side of the rim as the final buzzer sounded.

Baker finished with 14 points for Rutgers but was holding back tears following his late turnover. Montez Mathis also had 10 points for the Scarlet Knights, who failed to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1976.

South Regional

Baylor 76, Wisconsin 63

Davion Mitchell scored 16 points and spearheaded a dominant defensive first half, helping top-seeded Baylor avoid another NCAA Tournament upset with a 76-63 win over Wisconsin on Sunday.

Not long after Illinois became the first No. 1 seed to bow out, the Bears (24-2) looked every bit a Final Four favorite in the first half, smothering Wisconsin with the type of defensive pressure they played before a late-season COVID-19 pause.

The Badgers (18-13) showed a bit of fight after being backed into an 18-point corner, rallying to within seven midway through the second half behind D’Mitrik Trice (12 points).

The Bears answered the run with a dash of more D to reach the Sweet 16 for the fifth time under coach Scott Drew. They’ll get fifth-seeded Villanova next.

Villanova 84, North Texas 61

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl scored 18 points, Jermaine Samuels Jr. had 15 and Villanova knocked down 15 3-pointers, emphatically ending 13th-seeded North Texas' bid for a second upset.

Villanova (18-6) will play the second weekend of the tournament for the third time in the last five. Coach Jay Wright's team won the whole thing the last two times it got this far in 2016 and '18.

These Wildcats are not considered a serious national championship contender — but they seemed to channel those title teams in the first half against the Conference USA champions at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Villanova finished 15 for 30 from 3-point range, with Cole Swider (nine points) and Caleb Daniels (11 points) each hitting three.

Javion Hamlet scored 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting, but the rest of the Mean Green (18-10) made only 13 field goals.

Arkansas 68, Texas Tech 66

Justin Smith had 20 points and played a key role in a final-play defensive stop, helping Arkansas beat Texas Tech and secure the program’s first trip to the Sweet 16 in a quarter-century.

In the final seconds of a tense finish, Smith found himself defending Kyler Edwards beyond the 3-point arc. Edwards drove into the paint with Smith on his hip and missed a layup, with Arkansas guard JD Notae snagging the rebound and sprinting up court to run the final seconds out.

The third-seeded Razorbacks are off to the regional semifinals for the first time since 1996 under famed former coach Nolan Richardson. Arkansas (24-6) next faces No. 15 seed Oral Roberts.

Star freshman Moses Moody had 11 of his 15 points after halftime for the Razorbacks, who led by 13 points only to have the sixth-seeded Red Raiders twice whittle that margin to a single point.

Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 20 points for Texas Tech (18-11).