Defending NCAA champion North Carolina, Michigan State and Cincinnati all saw their runs in the postseason cut shorter than expected Sunday on a day of doom for several teams with big expectations in the tournament.
No.7 seed Texas A&M eliminated No. 2 North Carolina 86-65. No. 11 seed Syracuse ended the season of No. 3 Michigan State 55-53 when the Spartans missed their last 14 field goal attempts. And No. 2 Cincinnati led a 22-point lead get away in the final 11 minutes in a 75-73 loss to No. 7 Nevada.
No. 2 Purdue survived, though, and took a 76-73 win over Butler with Dakota Mathias hitting a key 3-pointer to clinch the win.
Purdue 76, Butler 73
DETROIT — Without Isaac Haas, Purdue played fine for the most part.
Until the last few minutes, when the Boilermakers’ season nearly slipped away.
“We lost our poise there, but then we also regained it,” coach Matt Painter said. “And Dakota Mathias made a huge shot.”
Mathias sank a 3-pointer with 14.2 seconds left, and second-seeded Purdue held off 10th-seeded Butler 76-73 on Sunday to reach the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year. Haas, the 7-foot-2 center who broke his elbow in Friday’s win over Cal State Fullerton, did not play, but the Boilermakers prevailed anyway despite a late push by their in-state rivals.
Purdue (30-6) led by as many as 10 points in the second half of this all-Indiana matchup, but Butler (21-14) cut the deficit to two and had the ball in the final minute. Kelan Martin missed a 3-pointer, and the Boilermakers were able to settle down.
The shot by Mathias, who finished with 11 points, made it 76-71.
“Once it left my hand it felt pretty good,” Mathias said. “Those last couple of minutes we kind of got out of our element, forcing some things offensively, not making the right read, to let them back in. … Give Butler a lot of credit. They played hard. They’re a good team. We’re excited to come out with a win.”
Syracuse 55, Michigan State 53
DETROIT — Syracuse barely got into the NCAA Tournament, getting the 68th and final spot.
The Orange have earned the right to keep playing in college basketball’s showcase. And, no one will be excited about facing that zone defense.
Tyus Battle had 17 points, Oshae Brissett scored 15, and 11th-seeded Syracuse zoned Michigan State out of the tournament, 55-53 on Sunday to advance to the Sweet 16.
Syracuse (23-13) will face second-seeded Duke (28-7) on Friday in the Midwest Region semifinals.
The Spartans came up short, long and wide all afternoon and didn’t make a basket in the last 5:41.
The Orange forced the Spartans (30-5) to settle for 3-pointers all afternoon and it worked brilliantly in a duel between Hall of Fame coaches. Michigan State took a school record 37 shots beyond the arc, making just eight.
Texas A&M 86, N. Carolina 65
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Texas A&M had its big men relentlessly snatching down loose rebounds, its wing players knocking down shots and an entire roster full of guys playing with aggressive confidence.
Stunningly, reigning national champion North Carolina found no match for any of it.
And just as shockingly, the Tar Heels are heading home from the NCAA Tournament with the worst loss of Roy Williams’ Hall of Fame career.
The seventh-seeded Aggies manhandled the Tar Heels 86-65 Sunday in the second round of the West Region, marking the second straight year the titleholder has been bounced from March Madness before the Sweet 16. They dominated the glass. They used their size to control the paint and block shots. And they pounced when UNC’s small-ball lineup couldn’t make an outside shot.
The Aggies are moving on to the round of 16 for the second time in three seasons.
It was a big upset based on the seeding, North Carolina’s tournament tradition and the fact the Tar Heels have long been practically unbeatable in NCAA games played in their home state. Yet Texas A&M — a team that peaked at No. 5 in the AP Top 25 in December before going on a wild ride due to midseason injuries and suspensions — sure made it all look, well, routine.
As for the second-seeded Tar Heels (26-11), any dream of making a third straight Final Four or repeating as champ was all but gone barely 90 seconds into the second half as the Aggies (22-12) went up 20.
Nevada 75, Cincinnati 73
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Nevada’s Jordan Caroline sat in the Wolf Pack’s locker room and shouted the three words that were being repeated in households across the country.
“What just happened?!?”
Only a comeback that matched the second-largest in NCAA Tournament history.
Nevada rallied from 22 points down in the final 11 minutes Sunday to stun No. 2 seed Cincinnati 75-73 and earn its second Sweet 16 appearance ever. Josh Hall converted an offensive rebound with 9.1 seconds left to make the tiebreaking basket and give Nevada its only lead of the night.
The seventh-seeded Wolf Pack (28-7) move on to an all-upstart South Region semifinal matchup with 11th-seeded Loyola-Chicago (30-5) on Thursday night in Atlanta. Nevada’s only previous regional semifinal appearance came in 2004.
Nevada earned its trip to Atlanta because Cody Martin led a comeback for the ages.
The only bigger comeback in NCAA history came in 2012, when BYU beat Iona after trailing by 25 points. Nevada’s rally is tied for second place with Duke, which erased a 22-point deficit to beat Maryland in the 2001 Final Four.
“That locker room right now, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Nevada coach Eric Musselman said. “It’s the happiest I’ve ever seen. It’s the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
While Nevada celebrated, Cincinnati’s players stood silently in their locker room wondering how their defense that ranked second among all Division I teams allowed 32 points in the last 11 minutes. The Bearcats also failed to make a single basket in the final 5 minutes, 45 seconds.
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