North Carolina State’s DJ Burns Jr. (30) shoots over Oakland’s Chris Conway during the first half of Saturday’s second-round win in Pittsburgh.
Matt Freed | AP photo
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PITTSBURGH — DJ Burns Jr. scored 24 points, including a go-ahead putback that ignited a 9-0 run in overtime, and 11th-seeded North Carolina State beat 14th-seeded Oakland 79-73 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night.
Powered by their versatile 6-foot-9, 275-pound forward, the Wolfpack (24-14) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015 by finally pulling away from 3-point specialist Jack Gohlke and the Golden Grizzlies (24-12) in the extra period.
N.C. State will face either second-seeded Marquette and 10th-seeded Colorado in Dallas on Friday in the South Region semifinals.
Michael O’Connell had 12 points for the Wolfpack. DJ Horne and Casey Morsell added 11 apiece. Jayden Taylor came off the bench in overtime to hit a 3-pointer that put N.C. State ahead by five.
Oakland, which ousted third-seeded Kentucky on Thursday, just missed becoming the first 14 seed to reach the Sweet 16 since Chattanooga in 1997.
Trey Townsend, the Horizon League Player of the Year, had 30 points and 13 rebounds for the Golden Grizzlies. Gohlke, who made 10 3-pointers against Kentucky, poured in six more 3s and finished with 22 points.
ARIZONA 78, DAYTON 68
SALT LAKE CITY — Caleb Love scored 19 points and second-seeded Arizona reached the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons, beating No. 7 seed Dayton in the second round.
The Wildcats (27-8), who also reached a regional semifinal in 2022 in coach Tommy Lloyd’s first season, will face either the West Region’s No. 6 seed, Clemson, or third-seeded Baylor in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
Arizona’s two wins in Salt Lake City helped the program ease the sting of last year’s first-round loss to 15th-seeded Princeton.
“We’re really excited to be back,” Wildcats guard Pelle Larsson said. “I feel like it’s been a (long) journey to come back here. But I think the journey has made us stronger and this team is ready for it.”
Keshad Johnson and Larsson each had 13 points and seven rebounds for Arizona. Larsson also had six assists, and Jaden Bradley scored 12 points off the bench. The Wildcats shot 53% from the field and made eight 3-pointers.
DaRon Holmes II had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Flyers (25-8), who were denied their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2014. Koby Brea added 14 points and Kobe Elvis scored 13 for Dayton, which trailed by 17 points in the first half but stayed within striking distance nearly to the end.
“We weren’t as aggressive as we wanted to be at the start, and ultimately, when we started with the pressure, we had some success,” Elvis said.
Arizona staved off a potential rally when Bradley capped a 10-0 run with a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 66-51 lead with 6:51 remaining. Two front-end misses by Holmes on one-and-one trips to the line thwarted Dayton’s comeback bid.
Dayton trimmed the deficit to single digits multiple times, drawing within 71-64 on a pair of free throws from Nate Santos with 55.1 seconds left. The Wildcats went 7 of 8 from the line in the final minute to put the game away.
“That’s key, staying calm in those moments when they’re making a run,” Love said. “Not panicking. We stuck to the plan, and we got the job done.”
IOWA STATE 67, WASHINGTON STATE 56
OMAHA, Neb. — Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger challenged his players at halftime of their NCAA Tournament game against Washington State to remember who they are, along with what had gotten them to the brink of the Sweet 16.
It was a simple speech. And it set in before the Cyclones stepped back on the court.
Immediately cranking up its intensity, Iowa State began to fluster the seventh-seeded Cougars with its in-your-face defense, and that created offense at the other end. Tamin Lipsey proceeded to score 15 points, Curtis Jones had 14 and the Cyclones went on to a victory that sent them into the second weekend for the second time in three years.
“I think our guys are a very together and poised group,” Otzelberger said. “We know we’re going to have adversity, and credit Washington State for doing a great job putting us on our heels. But credit to our guys for not panicking, not getting too low or emotional, and staying the course, waiting for it to come back around to us.”
Now, the Cyclones will face No. 3 seed Illinois or No. 11 seed Duquesne in the East Region semifinals Thursday night in Boston.
“We knew it would take our very best today,” Otzelberger said, “and we were fortunate in the second half we had that.”
Jaylen Wells scored 20 points and Myles Rice had 13 for the Cougars (25-10), who romped past South Dakota State in the first round but were banished back to the Palouse still searching for their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2008.
“So proud of the way our guys competed,” Washington State coach Kyle Smith said. “We knew we were going against the Big 12 champs, a top-five team, and we were unintimidated. We’ve played teams like that. We just didn’t play well enough to win.”