New Orleans Half of last year’s Final Four flopped Sunday.
North Carolina and Florida were eliminated in back-to-back shockers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Seventh-seeded Penn State beat the No. 2 Tar Heels 82-74 in the New Orleans Superdome right after No. 11 Temple took care of the No. 3 Gators 75-54 on the same court in the South.
Penn State, in the round of 16 for the first time since 1955, plays Temple on Friday in Atlanta.
Temple used its trademark matchup zone defense to shut down Florida’s up-tempo shooters and shut off passing lanes. With six minutes left, the Gators had only 13 baskets and 11 turnovers.
“We’ve been walking a tight wire for the last 4-to-5 weeks,” Temple coach John Chaney said. “With what they’ve accomplished, I’ve got to applaud them.”
Top-seeded Michigan State, which defeated Florida in the 2000 NCAA title game, and No. 12 Gonzaga also advanced in the South.
Florida’s point total matched the lowest in coach Billy Donovan’s five years at the school. The Gators (24-7) shot only 18-for-50 overall, including 8-for-29 on three-pointers.
Quincy Wadley had 24 points and 10 rebounds for Temple (23-12). Scoreless for the opening 11 minutes, he sparked a 14-0 run late in the first half that put the Owls in front for good.
Memphis, Tenn. The Spartans (26-4) had eight players score six or more points and moved into the round of 16 for the fourth consecutive year, tying Duke for the longest current streak. Michigan State held the Bulldogs (26-7) 17 points below their season average and dominated the rebounding, 48-32.
Memphis, Tenn. Casey Calvary scored 24 points and Dan Dickau added 20, making all 12 of his free throws, for Gonzaga (26-6). Matt Renn’s three-pointer for Indiana State (22-12) tied the game at 60 with less than eight minutes left, but Dickau answered with a jumper and two free throws to put Gonzaga ahead to stay.
Dayton, Ohio No drama in Dayton? The Midwest Regional’s top team didn’t mind at all.
Illinois made sure that there would be no three-point barrage and no shocking defeats in the arena where, remarkably, the NCAA Tournament played true to form all week.
The Fighting Illini used pesky perimeter defense to beat Charlotte 79-61 on Sunday, winning a second-round game for the first time in 12 years.
While top-seeded teams fell around the rest of the country, the six weekend games in Dayton were decided by an average of 21.6 points. The favored teams could grind it out instead of sweating it out.
“We were relaxed for the most part,” said center Marcus Griffin, who helped shut down Charlotte’s Rodney White. “We tried to enjoy these two games as much as possible.”
Illinois (26-7) will play Kansas, the regional’s fourth seed, in a semifinal Friday in San Antonio. Like the Fighting Illini, the Jayhawks ended a run of second-round disappointments Sunday by drubbing Syracuse 87-58.
Illinois hadn’t been to the round of 16 since 1989, the only other time it’s had a No. 1 seed. The Fighting Illini reached the Final Four that year, but had failed to make it past the second round in their last seven appearances.
“We didn’t want to go out of here saying, ‘Should have, would have, could have,”‘ said Sergio McClain, one of four Illini in double figures. “A lot of people out there were doubting us. We went out and showed them all.”
The tournament began Tuesday in Dayton with a play-in that turned out to be the best game of the week at the arena. Northwestern State’s 71-67 victory over Winthrop for the 64th spot was the closest of the bunch.
Charlotte (22-11), seeded ninth, upended eighth-seeded Tennessee 70-63 in the first round.
The 49ers had a shot at knocking off another higher-seeded team Sunday, but couldn’t make its three-point shots. Charlotte, second only to Duke in three-pointers made this season, missed 13 of its first 14 tries and never recovered.
Charlotte hit 37 percent of its three-point shots during the season. Against Illinois’ extended defense, the 49ers hit only 6 of 30 (20 percent).
“If we had hit a couple of shots, it might have been a little different, but they didn’t let that happen,” said Jobey Thomas, who scored 14 points. “We dug too big of a hole at the beginning. You can’t spot them 15 points.”
Illinois also trained its defense on White, who led all Division I freshmen in scoring with a 19-point average. He missed his first three shots, committed a foul and had the ball stripped away as Illinois surged ahead 10-2.
White managed only nine points on 4-of-13 shooting, missing all six of his three-point tries. Teammates patted his back and rubbed his head, consoling him as the game wound down.
White was noncommittal when asked whether he would leave for the NBA, saying he’ll decide in the next few weeks.
Kansas City, Mo. Mississippi’s 5-foot-5 Jason Harrison pulled up and hit a three-pointer with the shot clock winding down and just 46 seconds left to end Notre Dame’s first NCAA appearance in 11 years. Rahim Lockhart led Ole Miss (27-7) with 24 points. Troy Murphy, a two-time All-American forward, had 17 points but was just 1-of-7 in the second half for Notre Dame (20-10).
Kansas City, Mo. The Wildcats (25-7) won for the 17th time in 19 games and advanced to the regional semifinals for the fourth time in six years. Butler (24-8) went scoreless for nearly seven minutes during the second half.
