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Texas and Big 12 Capsules: Wake Forest tops Texas 81-80 in OT on Smith's shot
NEW ORLEANS — From No. 1 to one and done: Ishmael Smith's last shot meant one final collapse for Texas.
Smith's pull-up jumper from about 17 feet out with 1.3 seconds remaining in overtime gave ninth-seeded Wake Forest an 81-80 win over the eighth-seeded Longhorns in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday night.
Texas twice rallied from double-digit deficits, then blew an eight-point lead in overtime, completing a puzzling slide after being ranked No. 1 in the country in January.
"I knew I wasn't going to get all the way to the lane," Smith said. "I knew I had to pull up, and thank God I made a big shot."
It wasn't the first crucial shot for Smith, who as a sophomore made late pull-up jumpers in the final seconds of wins over Virginia Tech and Miami. Now a senior, he made a running jumper with 19.8 seconds left in overtime to lift Wake Forest to a two-point win over Maryland a couple of months ago. And now this.
"This has to be No. 1, obviously, because I think in the regular season you live to play another game," Smith said. "Now you're in a position — you lose, you go home."
Instead, the Demon Deacons advanced to play top-seeded Kentucky in the second round of the East Regional on Saturday.
It was the third game that went to overtime on a wild first day of NCAA action. Last year, two games went to OT in the entire tournament. The Demon Deacons (20-10) rallied from a 76-68 deficit in the extra session. They still trailed by four in the final minute, but a 3-pointer by Ari Stewart with 15.9 seconds left made it 80-79.
Gary Johnson then missed two free throws for Texas, giving Smith one more chance.
"They're disappointed," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "I told them, 'You've got to remember this feeling.' The seniors, they've been here and they've done some good things, but it can end real quickly."
Smith finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and eight turnovers.
Wake Forest went on a 17-4 run at the start of the second half to take a 54-42 lead. The Longhorns (24-10), who had wiped out an 11-point deficit in the first half, tied it at 67 on J'Covan Brown's 3-pointer with 49.3 seconds remaining in regulation.
Wake Forest's C.J. Harris made a free throw with 30.5 seconds left, and the Demon Deacons then stopped Texas but turned the ball over trying to inbound it. Damion James tied it for the Longhorns with a free throw with 9.9 seconds left.
Al-Farouq Aminu finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds for Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons weren't playing any better than Texas coming into this game, having lost five of six, but they survived for another round after a game neither team was good enough to put away.
Neither coach was thrilled with the way his team handled the final seconds. After Stewart's 3-pointer made it a one-point game, Texas got the ball to Brown, who shoots about 90 percent from the free throw line. Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio wanted his team to foul immediately, but the Demon Deacons didn't.
"Why we didn't foul initially J'Covan, I'm not sure," he said. "We were supposed to foul him initially."
Brown, however, passed off to avoid being trapped, and Wake Forest was able to foul Johnson, who then missed twice from the free throw line.
"I was watching the 10-second clock because (Brown) should have kept the ball. We wanted him to keep the ball," Barnes said. "I told him that. What he should have done is dribbled it, and see if they would have — because they would have fouled him, because they were yelling for the foul.
"And even in that situation, that's where he's got to throw it and run, get it back. He had time to do that. But that's being young."
Brown, a freshman, scored all 20 of his points after halftime. Jordan Hamilton, another Texas freshman, scored 16 of his 19 in the first half. Texas started 17-0 this season but slumped so badly down the stretch the Longhorns were hoping for a fresh start in the NCAA tournament.
"We started off good, playing as a team and moving the ball," Brown said. "We just got away from it."
The Longhorns began Thursday's game shooting 3 of 17 from the field and fell behind by double digits. Harris made a sprawling, reverse layup to put Wake Forest ahead 12-5, and Stewart added a pair of 3-pointers to make it 18-7.
That was when Hamilton went to work. He made four 3-pointers, a tip-in and a pair of free throws to help his team go into halftime ahead 38-37.
Wake Forest's Tony Woods did give his team some momentum with a putback dunk to end the half.
Udoh leads Baylor past Sam Houston State 68-59
NEW ORLEANS — Baylor coach Scott Drew's postgame locker room chat with his team dragged on longer than usual before he emerged — behind schedule — to discuss as big a victory as many Bears fans can remember.
"Sorry I'm late. We haven't won a tournament game in a long time," Drew said. "I know there are happy players in there."
It had been six decades since Baylor last won an NCAA tournament game, but Ekpe Udoh did everything the Bears needed to stave off upset-minded Sam Houston State and end the drought.
Udoh had 20 points and 13 rebounds, and Baylor dominated the last three minutes of a 68-59 victory Thursday in the first round of the South Regional.
"Oh, man, just joy in my heart, man," Udoh said. "But, whew, that was close. Sam Houston, that's a great team. ... It's tourney time. You've just got to be ready."
Udoh also had five assists, two blocks and two steals for the third-seeded Bears (26-7), who were tied with less than 4 minutes remaining before pulling away for their first NCAA tournament win since beating BYU in 1950.
Baylor moves on to play Saturday against 11th-seeded Old Dominion, a 51-50 winner over No. 6 seed Notre Dame earlier Thursday.
"Really, the game was pretty simple: Get the ball to Ekpe," Drew said. "He's got 20 and 13, 9 for 16 (shooting), let him either create for somebody or let him score. When we did more and more of that, things got easier and easier."
LaceDarius Dunn scored 13 points for Baylor, 10 in the second half. His short, spinning fade and one-handed jam fueled a late 8-0 run that clinched it.
Gilberto Clavell had 23 points and Preston Brown added 13 for 14th seed Sam Houston State (25-8), which tied it at 55 on a short floater by Ashton Mitchell with 3:48 to go.
The game remained tied until Quincy Acy dunked with 2:30 left to spark Baylor's decisive surge and put the Bears ahead for good.
"We knew once Quincy got a dunk or did something crazy on the floor, it would get all of us going," Dunn said.
Acy and Anthony Jones both finished with 10 points for Baylor.
Sam Houston State kept the game close with a triangle-and-two zone defense that BearKats coach Bob Marlin installed with idea of keeping the ball away from Baylor's explosive backcourt of Dunn and Tweety Carter. It worked for most of the game.
"We had the game right where we wanted it with 4 minutes to go and had the basketball, had an opportunity to get a lead, and it didn't happen," Marlin said. "Our defensive game plan was good the entire ballgame. Our guys fought hard."
Baylor players said they were unfamiliar with the triangle-and-two — effectively man-to-man coverage on the guards and a zone inside — and had trouble adjusting.
"We were just shocked. We never faced nothing like that," Dunn said. "When we got out there and faced them we were like, 'Wow, what are we going to do?' So it just took us time to calm down."
Yet, even when Baylor struggled, Sam Houston State was unable to pull away. Normally a strong 3-point shooting team, the BearKats were undone by misses from long range, going 6 of 31.
"We did not shoot the ball very well today, especially from 3-point range, and we knew we were going to have to," Marlin said.
Drew praised Sam Houston State's defense, then added, "The story, though, was our defense."
"They're a tremendous offensive team ... had 18 3s against Kentucky, 15 3s against Auburn, and we hold them to six and 33 percent shooting," Drew continued. "So clearly our defense won us the game."
The game was a homecoming of sorts for point guards Mitchell and Carter, who grew up as friends in the New Orleans area. They didn't stand out in this game, however. Neither scored in the first half, which ended with Sam Houston State clinging to a 31-30 lead.
Mitchell, who came in averaging 12.7 points, didn't score until hitting a 3 early in the second half. He finished with five points and six assists.
Carter, who came in averaging 15.7 points, got his only points on a fast-break layup in the second half and had two assists.
Carter will get another chance, though, on Saturday against Old Dominion.
-- Brett Martel
Butler surges past UTEP 77-59 in second half
SAN JOSE, Calif. — When Shelvin Mack made a steal and quickly hit a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the second half, he had a good feeling Butler could shake its opening-game jitters.
By the time Mack sank his career-best seventh 3-pointer in the final seconds, he had made sure the Bulldogs were on their way in an NCAA tournament they hope will end with a hometown Final Four.
Mack scored 18 of his career high-tying 25 points after halftime Thursday, leading fifth-seeded Butler’s second-half surge in a 77-59 victory over UTEP in the first round of the West Regional.
Gordon Hayward added 13 points and Matt Howard 11 as the Bulldogs (29-4) won their 21st straight game to extend the sport’s longest active winning streak — but only after a dynamic rally from a six-point halftime deficit.
They were led by Mack, the sophomore guard who hit six 3-pointers on seven shots in the second half. Butler expertly spaced the floor and made patient passes with usual disciplined style, leaving even the talented Miners unable to keep up.
"It’s a great opportunity to do it on this stage," Mack said. "You’ve got to knock it down like it’s open gym. ... My teammates did a good job giving me the ball. My job is to knock down shots when I’m open. That’s what I did."
Butler advanced to face 13th-seeded Murray State, which surprised Vanderbilt 66-65 on a buzzer-beater by Danero Thomas.
Although the Final Four is still two weeks away, the players from this Indianapolis school already have considered how cool it would be to play in front of their hometown fans. The Shark Tank crowd, still hopping with energy from the Racers’ upset, also gave the small-school Bulldogs most of its cheers.
Derrick Caracter had 20 points and nine rebounds for UTEP, which won 16 straight games and a regular-season league title before a tournament loss to Houston last Saturday. The Miners (26-7) were a popular NCAA upset pick after the Conference USA power received a surprisingly low seed in the tournament.
"I’m not going to let these guys hang their heads," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "I told them to be proud of the year they had. They’ve all gotten better. We had an outstanding year. Butler got hot at the right time, and we went cold at the wrong time."
UTEP led 33-27 at halftime before the Bulldogs made a 22-4 run led by Mack, who hit five 3-pointers in the first 11 minutes while the defense harassed Caracter into ineffectiveness. Mack added his last 3-pointer with 32 seconds left, boosting the Bulldogs’ lead to a game-high 21 points.
"I think it’s deflating for any team when a team is suffocating you defensively and then going down and making almost every shot," Howard said. "When you’re rolling like that, it has to get frustrating for the other team."
Randy Culpepper added 16 points while absorbing two brutal hits in the second half, but the Miners’ defense couldn’t stop the patient outside shooting of the Bulldogs, who advanced in the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years.
"For us to lose in the first round is devastating, but every game is a lesson learned," UTEP forward Jeremy Williams said. "They came out executing their plays, and we were sort of relaxed on defense. The second half, they just came out ready to play. We had them in the first half. We did everything we were supposed to do. They just came out a different team in the second half."
Butler, which hit 10 of its 13 3-pointers after halftime, has the longest winning streak in Division I this season. The Bulldogs made a perfect run through the Horizon League, winning every conference game before also winning the tournament to capture a No. 5 seed in the NCAAs, matching the highest in school history.
UTEP was nearly as impressive during its run through Conference USA, with Caracter and league player of the year Culpepper largely dominating. But the Miners lost the tournament title game last Saturday, and Barbee acknowledged being mystified by their low seed.
While the Miners talked about respect, Butler went out and claimed it — just as these Bulldogs have been doing for decades.
Butler immediately took control after halftime, with Mack hitting two 3-pointers in the first 90 seconds. The Bulldogs took the lead on a 3-pointer by Willie Veasley, and after UTEP briefly went back ahead 37-36, Veasley’s free throw started Butler on its decisive 13-0 run.
"We were in the same position last year (in the NCAA tournament), down at halftime," Bulldogs guard Ronald Nored said. "We didn’t make tough plays down the stretch. This year we actually came out and guarded in the second half and made tough plays down the stretch, which is different than last year."
Butler didn’t repeat the mistakes of last year’s trip to the tournament, in which the Bulldogs fell behind 9-0 in a first-round loss to LSU, but UTEP still went ahead 17-10 midway through the first half. Butler, which has all five starters back from last season’s tournament team, reclaimed the lead with nine consecutive points, but the Miners went back ahead with strong inside play from Caracter.
The 275-pound Louisville transfer with a bushy mohawk scored 12 points — including a layup that dropped in just before the halftime buzzer. He had eight points after halftime, but just three rebounds.
"I was frustrated (because) I felt that we should have been winning," Caracter said. "We weren’t executing as well as we could have defensively. (That) was mostly my fault, just me not coming out. I was just frustrated, because I know we were better than we showed today."
-- Greg Beacham
K-State routs North Texas 82-62 in West Regional
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kansas State went over the scouting report and stretched, sat down, then stretched again. As the game before theirs ran into overtime, then a second, the Wildcats weren't sure what to do, the nervousness building with each passing minute.
All those upsets and close calls on TV didn't help, either.
Shaking off a long delay before tip-off and a jittery start, No. 2 Kansas State rolled to an 82-62 rout of North Texas on Thursday to avoid joining the list of opening-day upsets in the NCAA tournament.
"We were getting antsy," Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen said. "We were very excited to get ready to play that game."
Maybe a little too excited. Shooting poorly and allowing North Texas to beat them on the offensive glass, the Wildcats (27-7) got off to a shaky start, providing hope for the 15th-seeded Mean Green. But Kansas State squashed any thought of an upset with defense, stymieing Josh White's forays into the lane while holding North Texas (24-9) to 31 percent shooting.
Pullen and Curtis Kelly added 15 points each, and Kansas State had a 46-21 advantage inside to reach the second round for the second time in three years.
Next up is No. 7 seed BYU and sharpshooter Jimmer Fredette on Saturday in the West Regional. The Wildcats should have an advantage, too; while they cruised in the first round, BYU needed two overtimes to beat Florida. But with a shooter like Fredette, who had 37 points against Florida, there's no telling what can happen — and the Wildcats know it.
"Offensively, they're real good," Kansas State coach Frank Martin said. "Fredette is just ... he's big-time."
North Texas gave Kansas State a brief scare, but couldn't answer when the Wildcats punched back.
George Odufuwa kept the Mean Green close early and finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Tristan Thompson was one of the few effective players against Kansas State's pressure, leading North Texas with 28 points.
There just wasn't enough help, particularly from White.
North Texas' leading scorer had trouble getting to the rim against Kansas State's length and struggled from the perimeter, too, finishing with three points on 1-of-10 shooting.
"They are some pitbulls," said Thompson, who hit all 10 of his free throw attempts. "They kept coming at us and we took some punches. We kept coming back, but they kept throwing them."
The win is the latest step in Kansas State's transformation into the program Martin envisioned when he took over for Bob Huggins three years ago.
The high-decibel coach once considered a babysitter for Michael Beasley has molded the Wildcats in his always-the-underdog image, getting them to play every possession as if it were the last of their careers.
Kansas State set a school record for wins and earned its best seeding ever, nabbing the second-highest of the Big 12's record seven NCAA berths after a season that included five wins over Top 25 teams.
Once hidden by the plains of Kansas, the Wildcats have moved into the national spotlight with their athletic, relentless style. They were even picked to reach the Final Four by President Barack Obama, who said he might tap the fire-breathing Martin to help him push through his health-care bill on Capitol Hill.
The Wildcats have enjoyed the attention, even if it hasn't changed their mindset.
Coming off a disappointing loss to top-ranked Kansas in the Big 12 title game, Kansas State went back to its nobody-believes-in-us mantra, turning practices into battles that left Kelly proudly sporting two cuts on his lip.
Turns out, North Texas was ready, too. Spinning the Wildcats' game around on them, the Mean Green hounded Kansas State into one miss after another and had seven offensive rebounds in first nine minutes to stay within 18-13. A surprise, but maybe not shocking.
The Mean Green set a school record for wins, won the Sun Belt Conference tournament and ended the season on an 11-game winning streak. They didn't embarrass themselves in two games against Big 12 teams, either, losing by 14 to Oklahoma State and 10 to Texas A&M.
"There was a sense of toughness and just the level of competitiveness (with) which they play that I got off the (scouting) tape, and that obviously was exactly what took place," Martin said.
The success didn't last against Kansas State, though. Led by defense, Kansas State got out on the break, hitting three straight layups — two by Pullen — to go up 30-16 with just over 5 minutes left. Clemente took over after that, hitting two late 3-pointers, and Kansas State held North Texas to 5-of-24 shooting to lead 41-25 at halftime.
Scare over. North Texas made a brief run in the second half, cutting a 26-point lead to 14 with 5½ minutes left, only to see Kansas State score six points in the next 68 seconds.
"I thought we were right back in striking distance, but they came back and ran it back up to 20," North Texas coach Johnny Jones said. "I think that's the sign of a team that was poised. We made our run and they made the plays they needed to."
-- John Marshall
Friday's Previews
Roland, A&M return after season-changing injury
SPOKANE, Wash. — Derrick Roland spent Christmas Eve in a hospital bed in Seattle. IVs were in his arms. Blood oozed from scars on a right leg full of metal, the result of surgery hours after his leg shattered during a game at Washington.
The soul of Texas A&M basketball was seemingly a world away from home, his team, his basketball life.
Now he is back in Washington state. So are his remade Aggies, set to begin the NCAA tournament.
"I’m blessed," Roland said Thursday in the locker room a day before his fifth-seeded team (23-9) meets Utah State (27-7).
He didn’t have crutches. He wasn’t wearing a leg cast or walking boot. He hasn’t ruled out an appeal to the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility through a medical redshirt.
"I’m great," he said, smiling in a way he could not less than three months ago while sedated in that room in Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. "Way ahead of schedule."
Early in the second half on Dec. 22, the Aggies’ second-leading scorer went up for a layin and came down hard under the basket on a routine play.
The sound of his leg breaking was so loud that Washington’s Quincy Pondexter thought it was Roland’s back hitting the court. Pondexter said the protruding fracture was "one of the nastiest things I’ve ever seen" and fans on that side of the stands gasped and turned away.
Hours later, drained coach Mark Turgeon sat on a couch in the hospital unsure of how he would replace Roland’s Big 12-best defense, or his leadership. His team had flown home without him and fellow senior Donald Sloan. Both stayed with Roland.
Before the team left, Sloan called a players-only meeting at the team’s Seattle hotel. Sloan stressed the need for everyone to do more with Roland out.
"We all said, ‘We had to do it, in honor of ‘D-Ro,"’ sophomore Dash Harris said.
It was Harris who stepped into Roland’s role as lockdown defender, which he will resume Friday against Utah State’s multidimensional Jared Quayle. Roland has been Harris’ mentor, always at his side to provide advice on how to defend opponents.
Three freshmen emerged to provide unexpected depth. One, Ray Turner, a freshman from Jones High School in Houston, hadn’t played until the night Roland’s leg snapped like dry wood.
A six-day break over Christmas allowed the stunned Aggies to regroup without stumbling through a game. Players and coaches who were a team became a family.
The Aggies won three straight after Roland’s injury. Eleven wins in 16 games inside the rugged Big 12 cemented their place in another NCAA tournament.
"I have really good kids with great character," Turgeon said on the eve of A&M’s fifth consecutive NCAA tournament. "And we kind of changed our approach. We were a pressure team with Derrick. We were fast — we were really fast. We could really pressure. Now we have a lot younger team. ... And we changed our philosophy offensively a bit.
"We might lose (Friday) to Utah State, but that won’t change how I know our guys are really tough — physically and mentally."
Through it all, Turgeon called Roland routinely, sometimes at 5 a.m., sometimes near midnight, just to make sure Roland was feeling all right. The coach’s wife made meals for him.
"Oh, yeah," Roland said, his eyes wide. "Her pasta was my favorite."
Texas governor Rick Perry called "to tell me he was proud of me, to stay strong, and that he understood what I was going through," Roland said.
Roland made it home for Christmas after his surgery. His aunt flew in from Dallas, and they flew back to Texas on a medical transport plane on Christmas Day. Roland spent the long, uncomfortable trip strapped to gurney.
Roland’s college career is likely over, unless the NCAA makes an exception for him. Its rules stipulate a medical hardship waiver may be granted for a fifth year of eligibility before an athlete has played in 20 percent of the team’s games in a season. Roland had played in all 12 of Texas A&M’s 29 regular-season games before the injury, more than 40 percent of the total.
"It was something I wouldn’t want for anybody else to go through. It was a tough situation," Roland said of his college career likely ending so horrifically.
Of the prospects of the NCAA granting a waiver, Roland just smiled and said optimistically, "Fifty-fifty.
"If it happens, it would be terrific."
-- Gregg Bell
Utah State seeks to break first-round jinx
SPOKANE, Wash. — Utah State has an NCAA tournament pedigree dating to the first championships in 1939, but little success in the event.
Texas A&M has become a fixture only in the past five years, but has reached at least the second round every time.
Two teams, both nicknamed the Aggies, with vastly different histories will meet Friday when fifth-seeded Texas A&M (23-9) plays 12th-seeded Utah State (27-7) in the first round of the South Regional.
"To win some games would be a blast and put Utah State on the map a little bit — and show how good a basketball program we can be," Tyler Newbold said.
Utah State has lost its past four first-round games in the NCAAs, in 2009, 2006, 2005 and 2003. Its last win came in 2001 in a first-round game against Ohio State. Utah State has been to the tournament 19 times, but is 6-20 overall.
"The good news is we keep coming back and trying," said coach Stew Morrill, who has taken his team to the tournament seven times in the past 11 years.
One problem for Utah State is that playing in the lightly regarded Western Athletic Conference generally means a low seed.
"We don't exactly get a Caspar Milquetoast type of team," Morrill said.
Instead, his squad has played the likes of Kansas, Arizona, Washington and Marquette.
Utah State led Marquette 49-43 with 4:41 left last year and 51-50 with 2:05 to go, but lost the lead. Returning players think about that often.
"Numerous, numerous times has that game played over in my head," said Tai Wesley, USU's leading scorer at 13.6 points per game.
But point guard Jared Quayle is looking forward.
"That's the past," he said. "We have to move on and hopefully tomorrow's game won't be that close and we will be up and have a comfortable lead. ... They say the first game is the toughest one."
Not for Texas A&M. A program that made only six trips to the tournament through 1987 is making its fifth in a row. Texas A&M has reached the second round every time and made it to the third round in 2007 before losing to Memphis.
"Timing? Luck? Coincidence? I don't know," said coach Mark Turgeon, who is making his third appearance in the tournament with Texas A&M. "We try to prepare for these teams like every other game of the season. Maybe keeping it the same is helping us."
To get here, Texas A&M had to overcome the broken leg sustained by guard Derrick Roland against Washington in December. The team also had to contend with a wrist injury that kept guard Dash Harris out of the Big 12 tournament. Harris is playing at about 90 percent now.
"There is no doubt in my mind that we are as strong as we need to be mentally," said Donald Sloan, who leads A&M with 18.2 points per game. "If the game is close tomorrow, we are prepared to win."
Turgeon said a big reason for that is Sloan, who made the all-Big 12 first team.
"Ever since Derrick Roland went down, he has stepped his game up," the coach said. "At times he carried us."
Texas A&M is particularly worried about the nearly 42 percent that Utah State shoots from 3-point range.
"One of our goals is to make them drive a little bit more," guard B.J. Holmes said.
Turgeon called Utah State "a perfect team," because it has inside and outside shooters. USU averages 73 points per game and allows just 59.
Utah State is expecting physical play and needs to be competitive on the glass, Wesley said.
"If they get in the paint and penetrate all night, it's going to be a long game for us," Newbold added.
Neither team wants to end its season Friday.
"There is not one guy up here, or the rest of the team, ready for our season to be over," Utah State's Pooh Williams said.
"This is a business trip. There are no fun and games," Texas A&M's Bryan Davis said. "We are here just to win."
-- Nicholas K. Geranios
Maryland-Houston features battle of top guards
SPOKANE, Wash. — Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez will try to slow Houston’s Aubrey Coleman in an NCAA tournament opening-round matchup of high-scoring guards.
"He can flat-out score," Vasquez said. "We definitely are going to give him respect. Players like that can take over a game."
Vasquez also knows Coleman will have to play some defense on him, too, when the teams meet in the first round of the Midwest Regional on Friday.
Coleman is the nation’s leading scorer, averaging 25.6 points per game for Houston (19-15). He’ll certainly draw some attention from Vasquez’s teammates on fourth-seeded Maryland (23-8), which doesn’t play much man-to-man defense.
Vasquez might cause Houston some fits, too. After all, he was the ACC player of the year and averaged 19.5 points a game.
"This is going to be a sight to see, I think," Coleman said of his showdown with Vasquez.
Houston, the 13th seed, is back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1992. They did it by winning four games in the Conference USA tournament, beating top-seeded UTEP in the final. It was their longest winning streak of the season.
Coleman was reveling in his first NCAA appearance.
"We don’t have no high hopes," he said. "We’re going to play loose, dead man walking."
This is the first time the teams have played since the 1983 NCAA tournament during Houston’s Phi Slama Jama heyday
Maryland shared the ACC regular-season title, but lost to Georgia Tech in the league tournament. They drew an at-large bid to make their 17th consecutive postseason appearance.
Both teams average nearly 80 points per game, but Maryland has a better shooting percentage and defense.
In an odd twist, Maryland coach Gary Williams and Houston coach Tom Penders both have 648 career victories, tied for fifth among active coaches.
"Longevity helps in those situations," Williams said of the coaching wins.
The two have known each other for many years, although Williams estimated they have not coached against each other since Penders was at Texas 15 years ago.
"The tie will be broken," Penders said with a smile. "We have different styles, but we both take great pride in how hard our teams play. And no teams play harder than Gary Williams teams."
The versatile Vasquez averaged 6.3 assists and 4.6 rebounds this season, and the 6-foot-6 senior is the only player in ACC history to post 2,000 points, 700 assists and 600 rebounds in his career. He’s also the only active player in the nation to reach those three milestones.
"Last year, he led our team in scoring, rebounds and assists," Williams said. "This year, he became a better defensive player. That really helped us."
Vasquez played for the Venezuelan national team, and then went to high school in the Washington, D.C., area, where Williams found him when he went to scout Kevin Durant.
Vasquez believes the veteran Maryland team has what it takes to go deep in the tournament.
"We’ve put ourselves in a position to do something great and it all starts on Friday," teammate Eric Hayes said.
Maryland must be careful of Houston’s perimeter shooting, Williams said.
"They have so many people who can shoot 3s," he said.
That includes Coleman, a 6-foot-4 senior, who sank 50 3-pointers this season. He also averages 7.4 rebounds for Houston. The Cougars also get 15 points per game from Kelvin Lewis, who makes nearly 40 percent of his 3-pointers. But those two account for about half the team’s scoring, as no one else averaging better than eight per game.
Both Houston players were hitting the underdog card hard Thursday.
"This is a great working-class city and we are a great working-class team," Lewis said. "I hope the city supports us."
While Houston stumbled around as a .500 team much of the season, the squad that won the four tournament games is the real Cougars, Lewis said.
The wins made for a better travel experience. Coleman said the Cougars have been flying commercial all season, but chartered a plane to get to Spokane.
"We had our own plane, baby," Coleman said. "If you win, you get anything you want."
-- Nicholas K. Geranios
Big 12 Men
Jayhawks struggle through 90-74 win over Lehigh
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kansas coach Bill Self had to burn an early timeout, and was thrilled when his team tied the game at 12.
This wasn’t the way the Jayhawks wanted to start the NCAA tournament.
Little Lehigh nearly took down the biggest Goliath of them all.
Struggling against another Patriot League team in Oklahoma City, top-seeded Kansas survived a scare by pulling away for a 90-74 win over scrappy Lehigh and avoiding a monumental upset in the Midwest Regional on Thursday night.
"It’s a good thing we got tested," Kansas senior Sherron Collins said. "We needed that. It’ll get us ready for games like this because there’ll be more games we get tested in this tournament. It’s a crazy tournament."
Kansas (33-2) nearly became the biggest name to be crossed off the brackets on a wild opening day of the NCAA tournament.
Falling into their season-long pattern of playing in spurts, the Jayhawks gave No. 16 seed Lehigh (22-11) hope of making college basketball history.
Kansas led by just six and halftime and didn’t pull away until midway through the second half for a tougher-than-anticipated start to what’s expected to be a deep run into the NCAA tournament.
Marcus Morris had 26 points and 10 rebounds, Collins chipped in 18 points and Tyrel Reed hit four big 3-pointers for Kansas as it moves on to face gritty Northern Iowa in a second-round game that suddenly seems much more daunting.
"We’ve got a lot to work on," Self said.
Lehigh made its fourth NCAA appearance a memorable one, stretching the nation’s No. 1 team to the brink of disaster.
The Mountain Hawks answered nearly every Kansas run and were still within single digits midway through the second half before fading under the Jayhawks’ seemingly never-ending depth. C.J. McCollum showed no fear against the mighty Jayhawks, scoring 26 points, and Zahir Carrington added 17.
"The game tonight was going to require an absolute champion effort to dethrone Kansas," Lehigh coach Brett Reed said. "I’m proud of our hustle, I’m proud of our determination, I’m proud of our fight. Unfortunately, we came through on the wrong side and didn’t have quite enough miracle plays in order to pull off a tremendous upset."
It helped that the Jayhawks weren’t just facing Lehigh. They were up against fate, too.
Five years ago, Kansas suffered one of the most embarrassing losses in the program’s storied history, to Bucknell in the opening round.
By itself, no big deal. The eerie part was this game was on the exact day, at the same time, in the same arena, against the same opponent (the Patriot League champion) in a season Kansas opened No. 1.
This year was supposed to be different.
Kansas had one of its best seasons, winning a sixth-straight regular-season title in the tough Big 12 and a seventh conference tournament championship. The Jayhawks are a favorite to win a second national title in three years and were picked by Presidential prognosticator Barack Obama to cut the nets.
Kansas had history on its side, too: No. 1 seeds were 101-0 before tip-off.
And this was a classically monumental mismatch: the tiny academic school (enrollment of 4,700) from Bethlehem, Pa., against the powerhouse program with a place on college basketball’s Mount Rushmore.
Even after winning a school-record 22 games this season and the Patriot League title game over rival Lafayette, the Mountain Hawks figured to be in trouble, especially with the Ford Center bathed in Kansas blue from all the fans who made the five-hour trip from Lawrence.
Lehigh wasn’t buying it.
Refusing to be stirred by KU’s blue blood, the Mountain Hawks went right at the Jayhawks, forcing four turnovers and five missed shots on the way to a 12-4 start that had Self signaling for a timeout and the Kansas faithful worried.
"It was more of a shock to the other people in the building that we came to play," Carrington said. "We came here to win."
Then things seemed to fall back into 1-vs-16 order after that. Kansas responded to Self’s admonitions with an inevitable-feeling 15-0 run that became 21-2, putting Kansas up 25-14.
That was it, right?
Nope. Lehigh answered with a 9-0 run, pulling within two on Carrington’s turnaround jumper. The Mountain Hawks hung in there until halftime, trailing by just 35-29 to give the improbable a sprinkle of potential that carried well into the second half.
Reed crushed the dream with two 3-pointers midway through and Kansas gradually pulled away for a sigh-of-relief win.
"It’s the tournament. Now, you’ve just got to survive," Collins said. "It’s win and survive right now."
-- John Marshall
Clemson vs. Missouri — quick, get the oxygen!
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Break out the oxygen masks: "The Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball" may be headed for warp speed.
"I think we’ll need them," Clemson guard Demontez Stitt said Thursday as he contemplated facing Missouri in a first-round NCAA tournament matchup of Tigers who keep attacking at a frenetic pace no matter what.
"It’ll be as fast as everybody thinks," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said.
Clemson (21-10), the seventh seed in the East, is making its third straight NCAA tournament appearance and looking to give Purnell his breakthrough tournament triumph — he’s winless in five previous trips with three schools. Missouri (22-10), the 10th seed, has won four straight opening-round games.
Both teams enter the game hoping to right what has gone wrong recently. Missouri was stunned 75-60 by 12th-seeded Nebraska in the Big 12 tournament, while Clemson lost by a basket to 11th-seeded North Carolina State in the first round of the ACC tournament.
"We had two losses. We didn’t come to play," Missouri senior forward Keith Ramsey said. "We just come here and try to get some wins, play hard. We have been preparing since we lost to Nebraska."
A team can’t score if it doesn’t have the ball, and that’s the philosophy of Missouri coach Mike Anderson. His Tigers are adept at playing keep away — their intense style has resulted in an average of nearly 11 steals a game, tops in the country and part of the 19.7 turnovers they force each time out.
Clemson isn’t far behind with an average of 17.5 forced turnovers and 9.6 steals.
Between them, the teams’ pressing defenses have combined for 649 steals, 350 by Missouri.
"From the outside view, when you watch us play, sometimes it looks a little helter skelter," Missouri senior guard Zaire Taylor said. "I think it’s a little organized chaos going on, whereas when I watch them it seemed a little more organized in appearance. But both styles I feel are effective."
Clemson has a big ace inside with 6-foot-7, 240-pound senior Trevor Booker. He’s the only player in ACC history with at least 1,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, 200 assists, 200 blocks and 100 steals.
Booker will start his 134th straight game for Clemson, which will break the school record for total games started that’s currently held by Cliff Hammonds, and he desperately wants to experience that winning feeling in the tournament. Clemson has lost two straight first-round games as the higher seed: in 2008, as a No. 5 to No. 12 Villanova, and last year, as a No. 7 to No. 10 Michigan.
If he gets help from Clemson’s outside shooters, Booker can be unstoppable, and if Clemson has a late lead he’ll be the go-to guy to try to break open the game.
"I try to use my strength. I hustle, try to go harder than the other players," said Booker, who’s averaging 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds. "I know a lot of people say I’m undersized, but I just put that in the back of my mind and let it motivate me."
This isn’t the Missouri team that advanced to the round of eight a year ago. Missouri lost 1,000-point scorers Matt Lawrence, DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons from last year’s team, which won a school-record 31 games, and a season-ending knee injury to Justin Safford has hurt. Safford was having a nice season, averaging just over 10 points a game when he was hurt against Colorado, and Missouri has dropped three of four since.
"We’ve had some adversity. Hopefully, our depth will be a key to this game. Justin is one of our better players," said Anderson, who also has to worry about the torn ligaments in the left (non-shooting) wrist of Safford’s replacement, Laurence Bowers. "Hopefully, guys can step up and contribute. They understand that the first game is the most important game."
There are a lot of players on both benches who will contribute — nine Clemson players average 11.4 minutes and 10 on Missouri average 9.9 minutes — so the pace of the game might not matter so much.
"The game is going to really come down to who wants it more," said Missouri guard J.T. Tiller, a standout defender with 159 career steals. "Tempo is not going to be a factor. It’s who feels more comfortable down the stretch. We’ll try to keep the anxiety level down so we play the way we always play."
-- John Kekis
Attention turns to Oklahoma State’s big men
MILWAUKEE — Put Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech together, and you’d pretty much have the perfect team.
Oklahoma State’s James Anderson and Obi Muonelo are one of the best guard combos in the country, guys who can — and do — score from just about anywhere on the floor. Georgia Tech counters inside with freshman phenom Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal, bruisers who can outmuscle anyone who gets in their way.
Something — somebody — is going to have to give Friday, when the seventh-seeded Cowboys (22-10) and 10th-seeded Yellow Jackets (22-12) meet in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
"We’re not the biggest team in the world," Cowboys coach Travis Ford said Thursday. "But our guys have figured out how to compete. We’ve played against some big teams. Kansas was big, Texas was big and Baylor’s big. You go down the line, there’s some big teams in the Big 12.
"We just hope maybe on the other side, because we do play a little bit of an unconventional lineup, maybe it can affect the other team a little bit."
Only one of Oklahoma State’s starters — Matt Pilgrim — is taller than 6-foot-6, and Keiton Page is just 5-9. Compare that to the Yellow Jackets, who bring Favors (6-10, 246 pounds) and Lawal (6-9, 234), and whose shortest starter is 6-5.
Don’t think the Cowboys aren’t aware of their shortcomings.
Pilgrim has been hearing about Favors every since the pairings were announced Sunday night. The ACC freshman of the year leads the nation with 61.2 percent shooting and has scored in double figures the last nine games, when he’s averaged close to a double-double. Favors has 24 blocks in that span, too.
Just as big is what Favors hasn’t done. After struggling much of the season with early foul trouble, he entered the second half with one foul or less in the last five ACC games.
"I’ve said it all season, if he’s on the floor he’s going to dominate," said Lawal, no slouch himself with 13.1 points and 8.7 rebounds a game. "As you saw in the (ACC) championship game, that’s the types of things he can do night in, night out — blocking shots, rebounding, finishing strong, putbacks, everything. It definitely makes life a lot easier having him on the floor than him sitting on the bench."
While Favors is a special player — he’s expected to be a lottery pick in this June’s NBA draft — the Cowboys have proven they’re quite capable of handling the big boys. They handed Kansas one of its two losses this year, and also beat Kansas State and Baylor.
In last year’s Big 12 championship game, the Cowboys held Blake Griffin to 17 points in a one-point victory.
"No, I’m going to shy away from it," Pilgrim said, smirking, when asked if he’s looking forward to guarding Favors. "I know they’re big, they’re strong. But we’re strong, too. We’ve got Marshall (Moses) and me, and Obi ain’t no little guy, either. We lift weights, too."
Oklahoma State also has the ultimate security blanket: Anderson.
Anderson is the nation’s third-leading scorer with 22.6 points per game, and you have to go back to last season (Feb. 4, 2009, to be exact) for the last time he failed to reach double figures. He’s shooting 46 percent, including 35 percent from 3-point range, and except for two games down the stretch, has kept a lid on his turnovers.
"There’s nothing he can’t do," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "He shoots the 3, he’s good with the dribble, he’s great from the foul line. The only thing I haven’t seen him do consistently is post up. I’m sure if he needed to, he could do that, too."
If that’s not enough for Georgia Tech to handle, Anderson isn’t very happy with the way he played in last weekend’s Big 12 tournament.
Though he scored 27 points in the quarterfinal loss to Kansas State, he shot less than 40 percent. In the opening win against Oklahoma, he had just 11 points, only the fifth time this season he failed to score 15 or more points.
"We’re just trying to look forward and prepare for the game tomorrow and just come out and play like we normally do," Anderson said, "together as a team and hit them first before they hit us."
Which will likely mean trying to take advantage of the Yellow Jackets from long range.
Anderson, Muonelo and Page have combined for 223 3-pointers this season, and all are shooting 35 percent or better from beyond the arc. Ray Penn has kicked in another 23 treys.
"They’re very unique. I’ve never seen a team really play the type of basketball they play, but it works for them," D’Andre Bell said. "The type of 3s they take, contested 3s, in-transition 3s — whether a hand is in their face or not, it goes in for them."
Inside or outside, take your pick.
"Just play the game," Hewitt said. "We’ll find out."
-- Nancy Armour
State Women
Houston coach hospitalized, will miss WNIT opener
LUBBOCK — Houston women's basketball coach Joe Curl has been hospitalized in Lubbock with chest pains.
A University of Houston spokesman says Curl is in stable condition and under doctors' observation. He will miss the Cougars game against Texas Tech on Thursday in the opening round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament.
Spokesman Adam Quisenberry says fourth-year assistant coach Wade Scott will fill in as head coach.
Curl missed five games in late February with health issues and he missed the entire 2007-08 season after suffering a heart attack.
Big 12 Women
Sooners like their draw in NCAA women’s tourney
NORMAN, Okla. — Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale took one look at the NCAA women’s basketball bracket and mouthed a one-word assessment: "Perfect."
Let others argue about which portion of the bracket is tougher or which team received the toughest draw. The Sooners are happy in the knowledge that their postseason run will start at home, could continue in familiar environs and that foes they know well potentially await.
"One game at a time, of course, but it looks like a pretty good bracket," Oklahoma point guard Danielle Robinson said.
Third-seeded Oklahoma (23-10) will host No. 14 seed South Dakota State (22-10) in a first-round game on Sunday. Win that, and the Sooners next could play Georgia Tech, a team they routed in last year’s NCAA tournament, assuming the Yellow Jackets beat first-round foe Arkansas-Little Rock.
Two wins in Norman would send Oklahoma to the regional in Kansas City, Mo., where Oklahoma in recent days made a run to the Big 12 Conference tournament final. If the seeds hold, the Sooners could play Notre Dame and Nebraska — two teams to which they’ve lost this season but with which they were competitive.
And if the Sooners are fortunate enough to make the Final Four, that will be in San Antonio, the same as in 2002, when Oklahoma reached the national championship game. Plus, Kansas City and San Antonio are easy drives from Norman.
No wonder Coale likes how the tournament sets up for her team.
"I love the fact we’re staying in the Midwest," Coale said. "We get to go to Kansas City if we win two games at the Lloyd Noble Center. I just think that’s huge. It’s an opportunity for our fans to follow us up there. It’s obviously familiar.
"This bunch of kids, they’re going to be OK with anything. They believe in themselves, and they believe in our team and what we can do and always feel it’s more about us than the other guys."
Like any coach, Coale first just wants to get through the first round.
"You’ve still got to go play," Coale said. "There’s not a single team in that bracket that’s going to lay down because they’re in Norman, Oklahoma, or because they’re in Kansas City, or because they had to travel or are out of their comfort zone. People are going to be ready to play because it’s the NCAA Tournament."
Coale and her players acknowledge they don’t know much about South Dakota State, which won the Summit League tournament title by beating Oral Roberts. The Sooners and Jackrabbits have never played, but Robinson figures to get a scouting report on South Dakota State from her friend Brittany Eskridge, one of Oral Roberts’ players.
As for their potential second-round foe, Oklahoma beat Georgia Tech 69-50 last season on a neutral floor in Iowa City, Iowa, and would have the home-court edge in a rematch.
In the regional semifinal, the Sooners could face second-seeded Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish beat the Sooners 81-71 at the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands on Nov. 28, the day after Oklahoma lost starting guard Whitney Hand to a season-ending knee injury.
Top-seeded Nebraska, the Sooners’ Big 12 rival, could await in the regional final. Oklahoma led the then-unbeaten Cornhuskers 63-62 with 3:30 left on Feb. 24 but eventually fell 80-64.
"We’ve played Nebraska. We’ve played Notre Dame," Oklahoma senior Amanda Thompson said. "Looking back at it, we played them, and I feel like we had a good chance at them. I think it would be real good to get to them again."
The journey to that opportunity sets up nicely, she said.
"I feel like Norman and Kansas City are two of the places we’ve played the best out of our whole season," Thompson said. "What better way could we have it?"
-- Murray Evans
