NCAA Tournament roundup: Top-seeded Arizona opens with win over Long Island
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San Diego – NCAA Tournament West Region No. 1 seed Arizona did not rely on the 3-pointer much in the regular season, but the Wildcats unleashed a first- half barrage from long range to set the tone in a 92-58 rout of No. 16 seed Long Island on Friday.
Arizona (33-2) came into the game averaging 5.9 3-pointers made per contest. By the final media timeout before halftime, the Wildcats were already 6-for-9 from beyond the arc.
Brayden Burries sank the sixth triple in Arizona's early 3-point salvo, part of an 18-2 run spanning a little more than six minutes and giving the Wildcats a 27-point lead. Burries connected on 4 of 5 3-pointers, all in the first half, en route to a game-high 18 points.
A partisan pro-Arizona crowd erupted throughout Viejas Arena at the conclusion of the pivotal burst, particularly in response to back-to-back dunks by Koa Peat and Burries.
Long Island (24-11) shot well from deep in its own right, with Mason Porter- Brown and Jamal Fuller combining to knock down five 3-pointers by intermission, and six of the team's eight for the contest.
However, the Sharks' struggle to contain the Wildcats on the interior proved insurmountable.
Arizona scored 50 points in the paint, a portion of which came off of the Wildcats' 22 second-chance points. The bigger Arizona lineup dominated the glass, 52-31, with 16 on the offensive end.
Ivan Karchenkov, Tobe Awaka, Motiejus Krivas and Peat each grabbed three offensive boards, part of their 10, eight, seven and seven respectively. The quartet also fueled Arizona's effective interior scoring on the way to 15 points for Peat, 14 for Karchenkov, nine for Krivas and 11 for Awaka off the bench.
The Wildcats settled almost exclusively into the lane in the second half, not attempting a second-half 3-pointer until Anthony Dell'Orso's miss at the 5:30 mark.
Arizona pulled ahead by as many as 32 points early into the second half, but Long Island continued to scrap behind Porter-Brown, Greg Gordon and Fuller. The trio finished with 15, 12 and 11 points, respectively, and keyed a quick, six unanswered points in a stretch midway through the latter 20 minutes.
Long Island's full-court pressure defense forced Arizona into a six-minute spell of sloppy play that resulted in six of the Wildcats' 10 turnovers for the game. Arizona regrouped, putting the Sharks away for good with an 11-0 run.
Tennessee 78, Miami (Ohio) 56
Philadelphia – Ja'Kobi Gillespie scored 22 of his 29 points in the first half and J.P. Estrella added 14 points and 10 rebounds as No. 6 Tennessee ended the magical season for No. 11 Miami (Ohio), 78-56, in a Midwest Region first-round game on Friday afternoon.
Felix Okpara added 12 points and five rebounds for Tennessee (23-11), which advanced to Sunday's second round against No. 3 Virginia. The Cavaliers rallied in the second half to beat No. 14 Wright State, 82-73, in Friday's first game.
Tennessee proved to be the bigger and stronger team, outrebounding Miami, 42-25.
Peter Suder scored 27 as the only player in double figures for Miami (32-2), which dropped two of its final three games after setting a school and Mid- American Conference record with a 31-0 undefeated regular season.
It was the RedHawks' first loss to a non-MAC team since Dec. 18, 2024, when they fell 75-67 at Vermont. Tennessee won its first NCAA tournament game in Pennsylvania after 59 games outside the Keystone State.
Miami entered with the second-leading scoring offense in the nation (90.6 points per game), but could never find consistent offense after an initial flurry. After the RedHawks hit five of their first six shots to take a 13-10 lead in the first four minutes, Tennessee dominated every facet of the game to seize a 43-23 lead on Estrella's short hook with 2:41 left in the first.
Symbolic of the way things went for both teams in the opening 20 minutes, Ethan Burg's deep 3-pointer from the right side hit the front rim, bounced off the back and fell through as time expired to give Tennessee a 51-32 halftime lead. Miami got no closer than 17 points in the second half.
Tennessee shot a blistering 54.3% from the field in the field, which included 8 of 13 from beyond the arc. The Volunteers also dominated inside, outscoring the RedHawks 20-6 in the paint.
Leading the way in the first half was Gillespie with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He drained five of his six attempts from long range.
Suder had 16 points in the first half, more than doubling his output from Wednesday night's win over SMU. But Eian Elmer and Antwone Woolfolk were scoreless.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: NCAA Tournament roundup from Day 2 of men's basketball
