COLUMBUS, Ohio-Iowa kept up the Big Ten's blitz through its first six games in the NCAA Tournament.
Luka Garza scored 20 points, Jordan Bohannon made a three-point play during the Hawkeyes' closing surge and the No. 10 seed in the South Region kept its league unblemished by rallying for a 79-72 victory over No. 7 seed Cincinnati on Friday.
Win by win, the league is backing up its brag.
"We've been saying all year long that it's the most competitive league in the country, top to bottom," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. "And you sort of expect Big Ten coaches to make those kinds of statements, but the reality is we actually believe it.
"And so I think it's proving it."
Count the Bearcats as the latest believers.
Cincinnati (28-7) won the American Athletic Conference's tournament and had the league's player of the year in Jarron Cumberland. The Bearcats also had what amounted to a home-court advantage, with Nationwide Arena packed with fans that made the two-hour drive up Interstate 71.
None of it could stop the Big Ten's tournament landslide.
"It's tough," said Cincinnati point guard Justin Jenifer, who had a career-high 19 points. "I didn't picture that we were going to lose this game today."
After trailing most of the way, the Hawkeyes (23-11) rallied late for their first NCAA Tournament win in four years . Bohannon's big play with 1:07 left put Iowa up 73-64, and the league's most accurate foul shooter made one of two with 18 seconds left to help finish off another shining Big Ten moment.
"That shows how powerful and strong this conference was," Bohannon said.
The league sent eight teams into the field, the most in its history, and five won their opening games Thursday. Iowa was the first of three playing Friday along with Ohio State and Wisconsin.
For Cincinnati, it was another early flameout . The Bearcats haven't made it past the opening weekend for seven straight years.
Jenifer kept the Bearcats in the game despite a subpar game from Cumberland, who went only 3 of 9 from beyond the arc and finished with 18 points.
Cincinnati has been an NCAA Tournament regular but hasn't reached the Sweet 16 since 2012. As a No. 2 seed last year, the Bearcats blew a 22-point lead with 11 minutes left and lost to Nevada, matching the second-biggest meltdown in NCAA Tournament history.
And now they have a disappointing two-hour drive home.
Iowa was simply better with everything on the line .
The Hawkeyes were second in the league in scoring but prone to getting blown out when their shots weren't falling. They had three losses of at least 20 points this season.
This one started down that path, too. The Hawkeyes missed eight of their first 10 shots, three of them from beneath the basket, and had four turnovers as Cincinnati pulled ahead 18-5. Cumberland had a layup and two assists during the spurt.
The Hawkeyes went to a zone defense that changed the pace, and Joe Wieskamp had a driving layup and a 3-pointer that helped the Hawkeyes close to 36-31 at the half. Bohannon's long 3-his only basket beyond the arc-gave Iowa a lead early in the second half, but Cumberland matched with his first 3-pointer to put Cincinnati ahead, setting a back-and-forth pace.
Wieskamp hit another 3-pointer during an 11-2 surge that put the Hawkeyes ahead to stay. He finished with 19 points.
Oregon 72, Wisconsin 54
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Payton Pritchard scored 19 points, Kenny Wooten protected the rim with four blocks and 12th-seeded Oregon extended its surprising March run by beating No. 5 seed Wisconsin 72-54 Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Ducks (24-12) won four games in four days to win the Pac-12 tournament last week just to make the NCAAs then followed it with an impressive victory over a higher-seeded opponent. Oregon advanced to play No. 13 seed UC Irvine (31-5) on Sunday in the second round of the South Region.
Louis King added 17 points, Paul White scored all 14 points of his points in the second half and Wooten had nine points, six rebounds and the tone-setting blocks to give the Ducks their ninth straight win.
Ethan Happ and Khalil Iverson each scored 14 points to lead the Badgers (23-11).
The game was tied early in the second half when the Ducks used their athleticism to take over. Wooten scored on back-to-back dunks and White followed with a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to make it 42-35.
Wooten then blocked a shot by Happ on one end and converted on an impressive alley-oop slap from Pritchard on the other to make it 46-37 with 12:31 to play.
The Badgers tried to cut into that deficit but King made a 3-pointer and two free throws to build the lead to 10 points with less than five minutes to play. Wooten then put the exclamation point on the victory with two blocks on one trip before Pritchard's layup made it 59-47.
Texas Tech 72,
No. 14 N. Kentucky 57
TULSA, Okla.-Texas Tech had won nine straight games, tied for the Big 12's regular-season championship and was flying high before a deflating loss in the conference tournament to lowly West Virginia.
The Red Raiders hadn't played in eight days, desperate to put the disappointment behind them.
They finally did on Friday.
Jarrett Culver had 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, leading the No. 3 seed in the West Region to a 72-57 victory over Northern Kentucky in the first round of the nCAA Tournament.
Tariq Owens added 12 points and Davide Moretti had 10 for Texas Tech (27-6), which is trying to reach the Elite Eight in back-to-back seasons for the first time.
Tyler Sharpe scored 23 points and Dantez Walton had 11 points and seven rebounds for Northern Kentucky (26-9), the champions of the Horizon League.
Norse leading scorer Drew McDonald, the Horizon League's Player of the Year, was held to just five points on 2-of-13 shooting. He also had six rebounds and blocked two shots.
Limiting McDonald's effectiveness was a key to the Red Raiders' game plan.
Northern Kentucky kept the game close throughout the first half and early in the second, pulling within 34-31 on Sharpe's three free throws with 18:06 remaining. But the Red Raiders responded with a 13-3 run over the next four minutes to open up a double-digit lead for the first time.
Texas Tech managed to keep its advantage over 10 points for the rest of the contest.
UC Irvine 70, Kansas State 64
SAN JOSE, Calif.- When it comes to college basketball in California, UC Irvine is low on the totem pole.
Now the program that sometimes feels like a little brother to Pac-12 powers like UCLA and USC is the only school from the state still standing in the NCAA Tournament after pulling off a stunner .
The 13th-seeded Anteaters got back-to-back 3-pointers from Evan Leonard to spark the deciding run in a 70-64 upset Friday over No. 4 seed Kansas State for the first tournament win in school history.
UC Irvine (31-5) had lost its only previous tournament game, 57-55 to Louisville in 2015. But the Anteaters got a longer stay this time after taking control of the game with a 12-0 run midway through the second and then holding off the regular season co-champions of the Big 12 to earn their 17th straight victory.
Leonard and Max Hazzard each scored 19 points to send UC Irvine (31-5) into the second round of the South Region for a matchup against either Wisconsin or Oregon.
One year after making a run to the Elite Eight, the fourth-seeded Wildcats (25-9) had a short stay in the tournament as they struggled to decipher the Anteaters zone defense and missed star forward Dean Wade, who was sidelined by a foot injury. Kamau Stokes led Kansas State with 18 points.
Despite that, Kansas State led by four points midway through the second half before the two long shots from Leonard turned the tides with a streak of 12 consecutive points. Robert Cartwright added another 3-pointer and Leonard made three free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer to make it 59-51.
The Wildcats cut the deficit to two points, before Hazzard hit a corner 3 with 1:25 to play to make it 66-61 and then struck a pose to the delight of the Anteaters fans who made the trip up from Orange County.
Cartier Diarra hit a 3 for Kansas State off a tip pass from Xavier Sneed and the Wildcats had a chance to tie or take the lead but Barry Brown Jr. threw a pass away with 38.8 seconds to play.
The Anteaters then sealed the game at the foul line.
Tennessee 77, Colgate 70
COLUMBUS, Ohio- Tennessee didn't let an underdog fight back again and pull off a shocker in the NCAA Tournament.
Last year the Volunteers advanced to the second round as a No. 3 seed and were stunned when 11th-seeded Loyola of Chicago hit a jump shot with 3.6 seconds left for a 63-62 win that sent the Ramblers and Sister Jean to the Sweet 16.
This time No. 2 seed Tennessee let No. 15 seed Colgate overcome a 14-point lead to tie the game midway through the second half and keep it close until the Vols pulled away late for a 77-70 win in the opening round Friday.
Admiral Schofield had 19 points for Tennessee (30-5), which advances to play Iowa-winner of a first-round game over Cincinnati-on Sunday.
Jordan Bone added 16 and Jordan Bowden 14 for Tennessee.
Leading 67-64 with 45 seconds left, Schofield hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Tennessee a cushion, and Bone and Schofield followed with a pair of foul shots each to extend the lead as Colgate ran out of time.
Jordan Burns had 32 points for Colgate, the most allowed by a single Tennessee opponent this season. The Raiders' 15 3-pointers matched the most allowed by the Vols. Burns was 8 for 13 from long range.
Virginia 71, Gardner-Webb 56
COLUMBIA, S.C.-This time, Virginia was not one-and-done against a 16 seed.
It looked possible, at least through the first half, as the Cavaliers were tested in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Down 14 points in the first half Friday against Gardner-Webb, another early exit was quite possible.
Shades of UMBC all over again? Not quite.
A year after becoming the first team to be stunned in a 1 vs. 16 matchup in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Virginia gathered itself and beat the Runnin' Bulldogs 71-56 in the South Region opener Friday.
Down six at halftime with the unthinkable prospect of losing early again looming, Virginia's coaches took a measured approach.
They didn't scream.
They stayed calm.
And this year it worked.
"Don't you dare leave anything in this locker room," Virginia coach Tony Bennett said he told his players. "But you don't panic."
Last season, the Cavaliers got tighter and tighter as No. 16 seed UMBC made shot after shot and Virginia could not answer. Virginia became the first overall No. 1 seed to lose its opening game and it was the first-and still the only-time in 35 years one of the top four teams in the tournament was sent home after the first round.
Against Gardner-Webb, the Cavaliers (30-3) saved their season and the stain of forever being tagged as a team that roars through the regular season only to fail spectacularly in tournament time.
DJ Laster's short jumper put Gardner-Webb up 30-16 with 6:42 left in the first half and the crowd, dying to see history repeated, roared its support for the underdogs. The Cavaliers committed eight turnovers, one below their average for an entire game, and open shots simply were not falling.
But Kyle Guy sank a 3-pointer and Virginia's defense clamped down to cut the Runnin' Bulldogs lead to 36-30 at the break.
Ty Jerome remembered that locker room against UMBC. Coaches were yelling and the players were uptight.
Not on Friday.
The Cavaliers opened the second half with a 25-5 run and their trademark stifling defense forced 11 Gardner-Webb turnovers in the first 12 minutes after the break.
De'Andre Hunter, who missed last year's upset after breaking his wrist In the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, led the Cavaliers with 23 points. His layup and free throw after he was fouled put Virginia up for good. Mamadi Diakite added 17 points on 8 of 10 shooting and nine rebounds.
Jose Perez scored 19 points-he was 4 of 6 from behind the arc-for Gardner-Webb, which was playing in its first NCAA Tournament. David Efianayi added 12 points and for at least one half of basketball, Gardner-Webb (23-12) felt unstoppable.
Buffalo 91, Arizona State 74
TULSA, Okla.- Looking like a No. 6 seed no one wants to play, high-scoring Buffalo breezed into the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.
Jeremy Harris and Nick Perkins each had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Buffalo shrugged off 11th-seeded Arizona State 91-74 on Friday in the West Region.
Coach Nate Oats has pushed the Buffalo program to new heights since he took over for Bobby Hurley, who now coaches the Sun Devils and was schooled by his former assistant. The Bulls (32-3), who earned the highest-ever seeding for a Mid-American Conference team, have won 13 straight and will face No. 3 seed Texas Tech on Sunday.
They may be a mid-major, but they're no Cinderella.
It was a bounce-back performance for Perkins, who had just five points in 22 minutes in the MAC Tournament final, an 87-73 win over Bowling Green.
Zylan Cheatham had 22 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 2:06 remaining for Arizona State (23-11), which defeated St. John's 74-65 on Wednesday in the First Four. Romello White and Luguentz Dort each scored 12.
The Sun Devils led 14-10 early, but then Buffalo reeled off a 14-2 run over a three-minute span. The Bulls outscored Arizona State 10-5 over another three-minute stretch to push their advantage into double digits.
Arizona State trailed 44-31 at halftime and pulled within 46-37 early in the second half before Buffalo's 7-0 run pushed its lead to 16 with 16:13 remaining. The Bulls' advantage never fell below 14 the rest of the way.
Washington 78, Utah State 61
COLUMBUS, Ohio- Noah Dickerson had 20 points and 12 rebounds, and ninth-seeded Washington made a successful return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years, beating Utah State 78-61 on Friday.
The Pac-12's regular season champions swept the league's awards-top player, best defensive player and coach of the year-and got something from all of them against one of the hottest teams in March.
Eighth-seeded Utah State (28-7) had won 10 in a row and 17 of 18 while taking the Mountain West title. The Aggies got the highest seed in school history and were trying to end their own long NCAA Tournament drought. They haven't won since 2002, dropping eight in a row-including 2006 against the Huskies.
Washington (27-8) got enough from its top players.
Jaylen Nowell, the Pac-12 player of the year, had 19 points and five assists. Top defender Matisse Thybulle helped the Huskies surge ahead to stay late in the first half but was limited by foul trouble the rest of the way. He finished with 10 points, five steals and three blocks.
Coach of the year Mike Hopkins got a $17.5 million extension through 2025 on the eve of the game, and then led the Huskies to their long-awaited win.
Brock Miller had 13 points for Utah State.
Thybulle helped the Huskies build the game's first significant lead. He hit a 3-pointer and had a steal and layup during a 13-3 run that ended the first half and put Washington ahead 40-28. Thybulle also had an emphatic block on Abel Porter's jumper from the perimeter.
The Huskies pushed the lead to 13 points early in the second half before Thybulle went to the bench with his third foul. Utah State cut it to 54-53 on Sam Merrill's 3-pointer, but Nahziah Carter hit back-to-back 3s that blunted the comeback. Washington was never seriously threatened down the stretch.
Houston 84, Georgia State 55
TULSA, Okla.-It's beginning to look like old times for Houston in the NCAA Tournament.
Corey Davis scored 26 points to help the third-seeded Cougars beat Georgia State 84-55 in the Midwest Region on Friday night.
After reaching the national final in 1984, Houston went more than three decades without winning an NCAA Tournament game. Now, the Cougars have tourney wins in back-to-back seasons and are starting to resemble the program that has five Final Four appearances and produced stars including Elvin Hayes, Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Fabian White had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Breaon Brady added 13 for Houston (32-3), which will face either Iowa State or Ohio State on Sunday.
Houston rolled out to a 15-3 lead in the first five minutes, and the rout was on. The Cougars shot 52 percent to lead 40-31 at halftime, and then opened the second half on a 10-2 run to put the game out of reach.
D'Marcus Simonds scored 18 points for No. 14 seed Georgia State (24-10), which received an automatic bid as the Sun Belt Conference Tournament champion.
Houston held the Panthers to 30-percent shooting, an impressive effort against a squad that entered averaging 75 points per game.
Duke 85, North Dakota State 62
COLUMBIA, S.C.-Zion Williamson scored 25 points and put on a second-half highlight show as top-seeded Duke overcame a sluggish start to overwhelm 16th-seeded North Dakota State in the East Region.
The Blue Devils led just 31-27 at halftime when Williamson came out on fire. He drove on two defenders for a layup and was fouled. When he missed the free throw, he got the rebound for a power slam. Moments later, Williamson ran down his own steal, dribbled behind his back for a remarkable layup that put Duke ahead 40-27.
RJ Barrett also had 25 points to give Duke two players with 20 points or more in their NCAA Tournament debuts since Mark Alarie and Johnny Dawkins did it in 1984. Duke will face either No. 8 seed VCU or ninth-seeded UCF (coached by Dawkins) on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet 16.