ESPN Men's Basketball

PITTSBURGH -- The copiers had just stopped churning out box scores and the fans had barely made it to the exits before Ohio State’s honeymoon officially ended.

There should have been more time. The Buckeyes had just eliminated a Gonzaga team that authoritatively put to bed any notion that West Coast hoops is soft, winning 73-66 on Saturday.

In a kinder world, Ohio State would have been able to savor the moment of the victory.

The Buckeyes do not live in a kind world. They live in the real world and in their reality, they will head to Boston for the East Regional packing their uniforms, sneakers, warm-ups and King Kong.

The gorilla is getting cozy on the Buckeyes’ back now, courtesy of yet another trip to their unhappy place, the Sweet 16. In 2010, No. 2-seeded Ohio State lost to sixth-seeded Tennessee and last year, No. 4 seed Kentucky eliminated the heavily favored and top-seeded Buckeyes in the regional semifinal.

“We gotta get past it, it’s that simple,’’ star big man Jared Sullinger said. “The last two years, we’ve been stopped short. We have to move beyond it. That’s it.’’

As recently as two months ago, Ohio State looked like anything but a smart pick for March success. After they lost to Illinois, the Buckeyes were lost in the black hole of dysfunction. Sullinger publicly questioned his team’s chemistry, saying, "We’ve got to like each other on the basketball court," and guard Aaron Craft echoed the sentiments, arguing, "One of the big things we need to do is find a way to play together."

Bad got worse in February, with Ohio State dropping three games in two weeks, a losing streak that ultimately would allow for a three-way tie for first in the Big Ten regular season.

But before the season slid off into the abyss, the Buckeyes stopped bad from becoming awful. There was no great Kumbaya moment as much as there was a realization that this is a very talented team and the players were in danger of ruining it for themselves.

Ohio State reeled off five consecutive wins to finish the season, losing only in an incredibly well-played Big Ten tournament title game against Michigan State, and entered the NCAA tournament on a mission.

But now that the Buckeyes are here, on the doorstep of their Waterloo, how do they know they can change their fate?

Ironically the Buckeyes say it is because of the earlier turmoil that they now are more equipped than ever before to avoid a premature exit.

“We’re more battle-tested,’’ Sullinger said. “We’ve had our bumps and bruises this year and that’s only made us stronger.’’

Perhaps most importantly the Buckeyes have learned they can no longer be a one-note song. Other players bristled then and still bristle now at the notion that this team revolves solely around Sullinger.

“Is that what they say?” William Buford asked. “That’s probably because that’s the only name they hear in the media.’’

But the fact is, until recently if Sullinger didn’t go, neither did Ohio State. Teams would double Sullinger, begging someone else to score and too often, no one answered the call.

No more.

The Buckeyes’ game against Gonzaga served as a microcosm of what has made Ohio State look more dangerous now than it did a year ago.

The Zags concentrated hard on Sullinger with decent success. The big man played just nine minutes in the first half, thanks to foul trouble, but still had eight points. In the second, Robert Sacre and Elias Harris limited him to only three field goals.

And in response, three other Ohio State players hit double figures, most critically Craft.

The point guard picked apart the Zags’ defense so deftly -- he had 10 assists -- coach Mark Few was forced to go zone.

Craft responded by sinking shot after shot, 7 of 9 in all for 18 points and his first double-double of the season.

“We just decided that he needed to score, and we were going to dedicate some of our attention to some other people,’’ Few said. “That allowed him to get the corner a couple of times because we were worried about [DeShaun] Thomas and Sullinger.’’

Now Ohio State is becoming a scouting nightmare. Whom do you worry about?

Against Loyola (Md.) in the opening round, Sullinger had only 12 points and Craft just eight, six of which came at the free throw line.

Instead Thomas had 31.

“You know I think a lot of people thought we were just Jared Sullinger,’’ Thomas said. “We’re not. People like me, Aaron, all of us -- we can score. People are starting to realize they can’t underestimate us.’’

PITTSBURGH -- Quick thoughts from Ohio State’s 73-66 win over Gonzaga in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Overview: No one will ever say Gonzaga is soft. No one will ever say Ohio State is just about Jared Sullinger.

Not after this game.

Robert Sacre and Elias Harris gave the Buckeyes’ big man all he could handle down low, pushing and shoving Sullinger and outrebounding Ohio State.

Sullinger proved bigger than the Zags’ bigs in the end, scoring the critical bucket, but it was really the rest of the Buckeyes who won this game. Aaron Craft (17 points), Deshaun Thomas (18) and William Buford (13) proved the difference-makers as Ohio State returns to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive time.

A team that played like a chemistry experiment gone awry only a month ago is now a picture of basketball harmony.

Ohio State looked like your typical No. 2 seed against Loyola, cruising to the win, and overcame a Gonzaga team screaming for the upset.

Turning point: Sullinger couldn’t find a lot of breathing room in the second half, not with Sacre glued to his hip. Sullinger, limited by foul trouble in the first half, was stymied by defense in the second, connecting on only three field goals.

But when Ohio State needed its big man most, he turned up.

Sullinger scored what would be the game-winner with 57 seconds left.

He connected on a hard-fought shot from underneath around Sacre, giving the Buckeyes the 66-61 lead, all the cushion Ohio State would need to secure the win.

Key player: Craft. Sullinger may have played hero but it was the steady hand of Craft that steered the Buckeyes to the Sweet 16. In a game billed as a matchup of point guards, Craft got the edge over Kevin Pangos, scoring 17 points -- but more critically, he dished out 10 assists. It was Craft’s first career double-double.

Key stat: Sullinger, limited to just nine minutes in the fist half, still had eight points. Despite playing more in the second, he would connect on just two more field goals thanks to the ferocious defense of Sacre. The Zags, led by Sacre and Harris, outrebounded the Buckeyes, 34-30, which is what kept the game close.

Miscellaneous: This was the first meeting between Ohio State and Gonzaga. ... John Stockton was on hand to watch his son, David, play for Gonzaga, his alma mater. ... This is the first time in school history OSU has made the Sweet 16 three straight years since expansion in 1979.

Next game: Ohio State will meet either Cincinnati or Florida State in the Sweet 16 in Boston. This is the Buckeyes' third consecutive regional semifinal appearance. They lost in the Sweet 16 to Kentucky a year ago.

PITTSBURGH -- Here’s a quick rundown of what to look for in Saturday’s third-round games at Consol Energy Center:

No. 1 seed Syracuse (32-2) vs. No. 8 Kansas State (22-10), 12:15 p.m. ET

One looks like The Thinker, pensively holding his chin in his hand as he solves the world’s mysteries from his courtside seat.

The other looks like The Incredible Hulk, his eyes narrowing and his veins popping as he flails at the world’s inadequacies from the bench.

Turns out there’s plenty of fire in Jim Boeheim and plenty of calm in Frank Martin.

We just don’t see it.

“I think it’s more behind closed doors,’’ Syracuse junior James Southerland said of Boeheim. “He’ll get after you if you make a mistake or if you’re not playing hard, but honestly, with him, I think you worry more if he’s not yelling at you.’’

The man who has perfected the art of blasé, passing off even the biggest disturbance with a hand flick or shoulder shrug, has built his outer calm over inner fire in 36 years of coaching. Boeheim is the constant.

The players change. The zone gets tinkered, but the coach stays the same.

Like a strict parent, Boeheim can get his players’ attention sometimes without raising his voice.

“I think the level of both of our intensities is high,’’ Boeheim said. “[Martin] may show his level a little more than I do. You know, I wouldn’t want him to be mad at me.’’

But beneath the withering stare, Martin actually is one of the gentler souls in the game. Affable and easy going, he’ll tell stories and poke fun at himself gladly.

On a recruiting visit to the home of Jordan Henriquez, Martin, a Cuban-American, started speaking in Spanish. Only Henriquez didn’t speak it.

“I started rambling off in Spanish because that’s my natural language,’’ Martin said. “I could tell the way he’s looking at me that something wasn’t right. When I finished that great first three or four sentences, he looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I don’t speak Spanish.’ You can imagine how I felt.’’

As for the on-court act, one that he promised to try to improve this season when he memorably vowed to clean up his own salty language if his student section would do the same, Martin makes no apologies.

“I’ve got my own way of doing things,’’ he said. “It was the way I was raised. I’m a little emotional. I’m not scared to show my emotion in public. Some guys are real emotional in private and they have a public personality. With me, what you see is what you get.’’

Who to watch: Kansas State’s Jamar Samuels. The Wildcats’ second-leading scorer was in the witness protection program against Southern Miss, making just one free throw and worse, taking zero shots from the floor. That can’t happen again. It puts too much pressure on Rodney McGruder and it doesn’t lead to good results for K-State. In six of the Wildcats’ 10 losses, Samuels failed to score in double digits.

But more critically in this particular game, Kansas State has to get some inside play against the Orange and try to establish Samuels against the replacements in the Syracuse lineup.

Syracuse’s Kris Joseph. The Orange senior is the leading scorer and de facto leader, but hasn’t played like that lately. From the Big East tournament to the NCAA tournament first round, Joseph is just 10-of-33.

That’s got to change, a point of emphasis that even Boeheim has stressed, insisting that the Orange will only go as far as Joseph and Scoop Jardine take them.

What to watch: The 3-point line. Kansas State is not a very good 3-point shooting team, hitting only 34 percent from the arc and making just 5.6 per game. Syracuse played its way to this point with its defense, in particular its defense on the arc. Teams hit only 30 percent on average against the Orange.

Of course much of that was with Fab Melo in the lineup, when the big man’s size allowed Syracuse to really stretch that zone. The Orange got back to that late against UNC Asheville, but that was after the Bulldogs already had done enough damage from the arc to make it a game.

K-State is going to have to drain some 3s in order to crack the zone, but the Orange are going to have to stretch wider, making the middle a little more vulnerable with Rakeem Christmas instead of Melo.

No. 2 seed Ohio State (28-7) vs. No. 7 Gonzaga (26-6), 2:45 p.m. ET

Asked how he thinks Ohio State, his third-round foe, views his team, Robert Sacre smiled.

He then rambled on about how the Buckeyes probably think his team is like the “United Nations, a bunch of guys from all over coming together to make it work,’’ before concluding that he’s certain the Buckeyes respected his team.

Which is true. Ohio State does respect Gonzaga.

But what Sacre danced around, what he wouldn’t say is what everyone always thinks and says about the Zags: they’re soft.

Big Ten equals brawn.

West Coast Conference equals finesses (a euphemism for soft).

“We played two Big Ten teams, Illinois and Michigan State, tough and came out of those, I think, showing who we were,’’ Sacre said. “But everybody expected us to lose those games and everyone still expects us to lose now.’’

The perception really is all wrong. The truth is, Ohio State scores more points than the Zags (75.1 to 74) and shoots better from the floor (48.6 percent to 47 percent), while soft Gonzaga actually outrebounds the Buckeyes (37.1 to 36.8)

And this soft team annually traverses the country to play just about anyone anywhere. Along with those two Big Ten games, Gonzaga this season played Notre Dame, Arizona, Butler and Xavier. Not exactly a pansy schedule.

“There’s nothing we can do about it; it’s the nature of the beast,’’ Sacre said. “All we can do is play basketball.’’

Which brings us to Saturday.

Ohio State will try to ground the more uptempo Zags into the ground and most figure Jared Sullinger and DeShaun Thomas will make life miserable for Elias Harris and Sacre.

If they can stand their ground, they might just be able to rewrite their own script.

Who to watch: Gonzaga’s Harris, who could be the Zags’ X factor. He has to keep track of OSU's Thomas, no easy task considering Thomas just went for a career-high 31, but Harris has the size and athleticism to make it interesting. More critical, with Kevin Pangos trying to get away from Aaron Craft and Sacre preoccupied by Sullinger, Harris needs to score.

Ohio State’s William Buford. For the same reasons as Harris, Buford is an X factor for the Buckeyes. The team’s third-leading scorer can be dominant (he dropped 29 on Purdue) and he can disappear (he came up with just four a night later against Michigan State). In this game, the senior needs to take charge and take advantage if he’s left alone.

What to watch: The frontcourt battle will get a lot of attention, but the game might be won or lost in the backcourt. That’s where Pangos will have to tango with Craft, one of the best defensive point guards in the game. Pangos has been a key offensive component for the Zags this season, averaging 13.8 points per game. They need him to score against the Buckeyes, but more critical, Pangos has to take care of the ball. He’s cut down on his turnovers considerably in recent weeks but has had his share of rough nights against more physical guards -- coughing it up five times against Xavier and Tu Holloway, for example.

PITTSBURGH -- Quick thoughts on Ohio State’s 78-59 win over Loyola in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Overview: UNC Asheville gave the underdogs hope here, pushing Syracuse to the limit before losing.

Ohio State was not going to let Pittsburgh turn into the land of the dreamers. The Buckeyes did not make this complicated, giving the ball to their big guys down low and getting out of the way, Jimmy Patsos' biggest fears realized.

“I see Ohio State having a chance to go to the Final Four because of their size,’’ he said on Wednesday.

DeShaun Thomas and Jared Sullinger combined for 43 points and worked the Greyhounds over on the boards. The two had 22 of Ohio State’s 49 rebounds, which was 25 more than undersized Loyola.

Only a late -- very late -- rally even allowed this one to get closer in the final box score. It forced Thad Matta to reinsert his starters after pulling them early in the game.

That end-of-game hiccup aside, this win continues an impressive late-season rally for a Buckeyes team that looked to be losing its way in February. Sullinger came back to win a national title, a goal that looked to be out of reach amid in-house issues midseason. But Ohio State has reeled off five wins in its past six games, the lone misstep being that incredible Big Ten tournament title game.

The Buckeyes are a No. 2 seed in name only.

Turning point: Not much of one here, as the Buckeyes did what high seeds are supposed to do to low seeds. They took control early and never really allowed the Greyhounds to pose much of a threat. By halftime the lead was 11 and Ohio State stepped on the gas from there. Matta, like most coaches, wasn't thrilled afterward, picking apart the Buckeyes' turnovers (they had 18), but it was of little consequence in a game they won easily.

Key player: Thomas was a matchup disaster for Loyola, which could match neither his power nor his athleticism. The sophomore scored a career high 31. He had 12 rebounds to complete the double-double, slicing and dicing his way to the basket with almost fluid ease. Aside from when he sees the green of Draymond Green and Michigan State (Thomas was 9-of-24 in the regular-season finale and Big Ten title game), Thomas has been terrific lately, scoring 20 or more five times in the Buckeyes’ past nine games.

Key stat: Not so much a stat but a pace. The Buckeyes got exactly what they wanted -- a grind-it-out, half-court game that kept Loyola’s up-tempo game in check. Loyola had zero fast-break points, completely contrary to the style Patsos was hoping he could force on Ohio State. It was grind-out, Big Ten basketball at its best and an impossible recipe for the Greyhounds to digest.

Miscellaneous: Patsos was facing an old coworker and good friend. Dave Dickerson is an assistant on Matta’s bench. Dickerson and Patsos coached together as assistants to Gary Williams. Patsos joked before the game that Dickerson would know his every play, since he’s pretty faithful to Williams’ old flex offense.

Next game: The No. 2-seeded Buckeyes face Gonzaga in the third round on Saturday, which should make for a few fun matchups to watch -- namely freshman point guard Kevin Pangos against sophomore Aaron Craft, and Robert Sacre against Sullinger down low.

PITTSBURGH -- The month of March can be like a great big tub of aloe, here to cure all that ails you, make you forget everything that went wrong in the regular season.

And surely a lot went wrong for Gonzaga this season, or at least by the Zags’ incredibly high standards.

For the first time since 1997, Gonzaga won neither the West Coast Conference regular-season nor tournament titles. Worse, the Zags ceded both to rival Saint Mary’s.

It was not an entirely illogical result, considering this is a Gonzaga team heavily dependent on freshmen at key spots, but a tough pill to swallow nevertheless.

Two weeks later, and suddenly those things seem like ancient history.

Gonzaga, the original mid-major gone big-time, rolled over home favorite West Virginia 77-54, putting together arguably its most complete game of the season.

“We played pretty well against BYU in the [WCC] tournament, too, but yeah, this might have been our best,’’ coach Mark Few said.

The Zags flew 2,000 miles to play this game, compared to the 75-mile bus ride the Mountaineers took from Morgantown.

Somehow West Virginia looked jet-lagged.

The Mountaineers were never in it, trailing by 18 at the break and then merely playing out the clock from there, handing coach Bob Huggins his worst loss in NCAA tournament play since West Virginia's 21-point defeat to Duke in the Final Four in 2010.

Gonzaga did what it wanted on offense, shooting at 56 percent from the floor, and locked down WVU on the other end. Never a good shooting team, the Mountaineers were positively dreadful Thursday, clanking to the tune of 32 percent from the floor and a woeful 3-of-17 from the arc.

“The truth of the matter is, this is really a microcosm of our season,’’ Huggins said. “This is the worst defensive team I’ve had in 30 years. We don’t get the help, we don’t get the loose balls, we don’t do the things we’ve done for years and years and years. A lot of it is because we’re so inept offensively. They get breakouts. We throw the ball around, throw the ball to them. That adds to it.’’

Robert Sacre came to Pittsburgh hoping he would finally get a taste of some Big East beefcake basketball. It never really happened. The Zags doubled Kevin Jones every time he touched the ball and Jones, who does a lot of his damage on the offensive glass, was fairly innocuous. He scored 13 but had just 4 rebounds and, more, only 2 offensive rebounds, as the Zags were able to match the Mountaineers’ effort on the glass, something Few had emphasized all week.

“I just want to go out with a bang,’’ Sacre said. “Coach always says, ‘Play like Rob, have a lot of energy, have passion, have fun.' That’s what I’m trying to do. That’s what the results are.’’

He’ll have another chance on Saturday, against either Ohio State or Loyola, and perhaps a little more of a soothing balm, too.

PITTSBURGH -- Quick thoughts on Gonzaga's 77-54 victory over West Virginia on Thursday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Overview: West Virginia traveled 75 miles for its second-round NCAA tournament game, Gonzaga 2,000. That was about right for the cruising speed for the teams, too.

While Gonzaga zipped, zigged and zagged, the Mountaineers looked like they were anchored to the court.

The Zags ate West Virginia up offensively, shooting 56 percent from the floor and a blistering 53 from behind the arc. They were also smothering defensively, forcing WVU out past the arc, from where the Mountaineers could hit only 3-of-17.

It was nothing less than a clinic from a team that, like West Virginia, is young, but is blessed with the one thing the Mountaineers have lacked all season -- decent shooting.

Senior forward Kevin Jones scored only 13 points -- and that’s not going to win many games for WVU.

Turning point: Approximately 16 seconds in. The Mountaineers led 2-0 ... and that was about the end of the highlights for West Virginia. By the end of the half, Gonzaga owned a 40-22 margin, completely dominating and outplaying the Mountaineers. It didn’t get better after that.

Key player: Robert Sacre came to Pittsburgh salivating at the chance to play some East Coast power ball. The Gonzaga forward didn’t really get that game, but he was important nonetheless, contributing 14 points and six rebounds. He got the outside part of the inside-outside compliment from Kevin Pangos (13) and Gary Bell Jr. (14).

Miscellaneous: The 23-point loss marked the worst for West Virginia coach Bob Huggins since a 21-point defeat to Duke in the Final Four in 2010, and nearly matched the 24-point beating Illinois handed his Cincinnati team in 2004. … This is the third year in a row Gonzaga has won its opening game in the NCAA tournament. ... These are two of the younger teams in the country. Gonzaga has three freshmen and four sophomores on its roster; West Virginia has seven freshmen.

Next game: Gonzaga faces No. 2 seed Ohio State, setting up a couple of terrific battles Saturday — between Pangos and Aaron Craft at the point and Sacre, who has been begging for more physical games, against Jared Sullinger.

No. 10 West Virginia (19-13) vs. No. 7 Gonzaga (25-6), 7:20 p.m. ET

When the bracket came up and Gonzaga players saw they were traveling 2,000 miles across the country to play a team that had a simple bus ride up the highway, they didn’t groan.

Frankly, they didn’t even react.

They’re used to it.

“I feel if you’re at Gonzaga, you come into this tournament, you’re guaranteed to have a backyard team,’’ Robert Sacre said. “You always have to go somewhere else, in someone else’s backyard, no matter if you’re a higher seed.’’

Lest anyone think he’s just a West Coast whiner, consider 2008, when Gonzaga was the No. 7 seed and was slated to play Davidson in North Carolina. The Zags lost. In 2010, Gonzaga was the No. 8 seed and met up with top-seeded Syracuse in Buffalo in Round 2.

And now the Zags, seventh again, are but a stone’s throw away from West Virginia’s Morgantown address.

Conspiracy theory, anyone?

“The one thing we try to impart on our guys is control what you can control,’’ coach Mark Few said. “We don’t have any control of when and where.’’

Few, this season, is at least blessed with a young roster that doesn’t know any better. Gonzaga has five freshmen on the roster, all making their NCAA tournament debut.

They, Few said, were just happy to see their name on the screen.

Not that playing so close to home is easy. Bob Huggins has a season-ticket holder base of 8,000 and 500 tickets to share.

That’s bad math. But the coach has faith in his Mountaineers fans’ craftiness and fully expects they’ll find a way to wrangle some tickets for the game.

Meanwhile, he’s just happy he made it.

“They were talking about flying 2,000 miles,’’ Huggins said. “I said, ‘They’ve never rode with our bus driver. I’m stressed from the time I get in the bus.'’’

Who to watch:

Gonzaga’s Sacre: The Zags’ forward said he was "salivating" for the chance to play some East Coast-style basketball, where power is valued more than finesse. He’ll get his chance against the Mountaineers’ Kevin Jones. Jones can score down low and on a turnaround but he is especially lethal on the boards, where he averages 11 rebounds per game.

West Virginia’s Truck Bryant: The point guard ought to have the edge against the Zags’ younger backcourt, but it’s more than ballhandling Bryant has to take care of. It’s shooting. He’s been this side of terrible much of the season, shooting just 36.2 percent from the floor. That inefficiency puts way too much pressure and responsibility on Jones. Bryant needs to score.

What to watch: The inside game. Sacre wants a challenge? He and teammate Elias Harris are going to get one from Jones and Deniz Kilicli. Rebounding will be critical for both teams, but especially for the Mountaineers, who don’t exactly throw it in with any frequency from outside.

No. 15 Loyola (24-8) vs. No. 2 Ohio State (27-7), 9:50 p.m. ET

Jimmy Patsos won the news conference.

Can he win the game?

The affable Loyola coach, as expected, had the gathered media in stitches, cracking jokes and telling stories. He’s enjoying a mini reunion here, what with so many of Gary Williams' old staff assembled in Pittsburgh -- Patsos, Billy Hahn, an assistant at West Virginia, and Dave Dickerson, now on the Ohio State staff -- and he played it all up perfectly.

That left Buckeyes coach Thad Matta to play the straight man, explaining where Ohio State, still viewed by many as a football school, fits on the national consciousness and how difficult it is to continue success in the age of one-and-done.

It was earnest and honest and not nearly as entertaining as Patsos, who at one time joked his biggest failure was sticking so hard to Williams’ coaching philosophies.

“Gary Williams has had assistants like Rick Barnes, Fran Fraschilla, all these guys,’’ he said. “I shouldn’t say this, but they’re probably more successful because they didn’t run all his stuff so much.’’

But in between the jokes, Patsos admitted to a little secret: He isn’t afraid to dream. His team will be wild underdogs against the Buckeyes, but that doesn’t mean he’s about to cede victory.

“When you have a [16-seed] against a 1, there are no numbers,’’ Patsos said. “A 15 and 2, it happens once every two or three years. I don’t see it as a long shot. It’s 40 minutes, 10 four-minute segments. We have to win six of them. We stole that from Thad, by the way. He used to do that at Xavier.’’

Patsos invoked other 15-2 upsets for his Greyhounds, reminding them that in the old Igloo, the downtown Pittsburgh arena currently being torn down across the street from the Consol Energy Center, Coppin State took down South Carolina in 1997.

That, of course, is ancient history to the Greyhounds, mere toddlers back then.

“I remember George Mason went on a run and beat a lot of good teams,’’ Dylon Cormier said.

Who to watch:

Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger: This is simple. Loyola doesn’t have a player with Sullinger's size or ability. If the Buckeyes can get the ball to him consistently, they will easily win.

Loyola’s Erik Etherly: The MAAC tournament's most outstanding player, Etherly led his team in scoring and rebounding for the title. The junior has been good all season, averaging 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds but he has never faced anyone quite like Sullinger. Etherly may not win the war, but he’s got to be able to hold his ground.

What to watch: The pace. Loyola wants to go; Ohio State wants to grind. If the Greyhounds can make like their namesake, they could potentially wear down the thin Ohio State bench. If not, this could be a long game for the MAAC champions. “If we can get the game going fast, we have a chance,’’ Patsos said. “If they put us in the meat grinder and go slow, Sullinger goes to work, you can call me at the 410 [area code]. I’ll be in Baltimore Friday by noon.’’

A scan of the college basketball box scores each night guarantees all kinds of fun oddities and standout performances. Here are a few we found from Wednesday:

Creighton 66, Missouri State 65
For the second time in three games, Creighton’s opponent committed three turnovers and still lost. On Friday night, it was Illinois State. Wednesday it was Missouri State.

Eastern Michigan 62, Western Michigan 59 (OT)
Western Michigan’s Mike Douglas played 40 minutes and attempted two shots. The only other player to play 40 or more minutes and attempt two shots or fewer this season is Steve Tchiengang of Vanderbilt.

Villanova 84, Seton Hall 76
JayVaughn Pinkston and Maalik Wayns of Villanova attempted 17 and 16 free throws, respectively. It’s the second time this season two players on the same team have attempted 16 or more free throws (the other being Gonzaga’s Robert Sacre and Marquise Carter, who each attempted 18 against Eastern Washington).

Duquesne 80, Massachusetts 69
UMass became the second team this season to commit at least 29 turnovers and 28 personal fouls in one game. Norfolk State is the other.

Trillion of the night: Davante Drinkard, Southern Illinois -- Played 11 minutes and did not record a single stat in a 75-68 overtime loss to Drake.

1. The A-10 race was initially going to be Xavier and everyone else. Now it’s everyone else. Xavier’s free fall is hard to comprehend. The Musketeers lost to La Salle by 10 points in the A-10 opener Wednesday. In a nonconference game Temple took out Duke in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Dayton upset Saint Louis in overtime and Saint Joe’s did the same against Duquesne. The race is officially wide open for the title, let alone second, third, fourth and fifth. La Salle coach John Giannini said at A-10 media day in October that he really thought his team could be one of his best, even though he was starting over. At 11-4, he may be right.

2. Gonzaga coach Mark Few has been pleasantly surprised by the progression of Sam Dower. The 6-9 sophomore can be a difference maker for the Zags if he continues his recent play. Dower scored 20 points in 22 minutes (how about that efficiency) in the road win at Xavier on Dec. 31, and prior to that opened up the WCC with a 15-point outing against Portland. The preseason hype for the Zags was focused more on Elias Harris, Robert Sacre and guards Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. But Dower could be the difference for the Zags in their quest to be a deep NCAA team.

3. Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin made the smart move by not starting Yancy Gates when he returned from a six-game suspension. Cronin may not have done that if the Bearcats were struggling. But he had leverage to do what he pleased since the Bearcats had won six straight without Gates. The Cincinnati turnaround from the brawl may be one of the most significant in-season turnarounds for a potentially dysfunctional team (see: losing to Presbyterian) in recent memory. The Bearcats are going to be competing for a top-5 finish in the Big East for the next two months.

Hopefully, you ignored college football. Hopefully, you procrastinated putting up your Christmas decorations. Hopefully, after Kentucky's thrilling win over North Carolina this afternoon, you stayed plopped in that couch groove, remote in one hand and snacks in the other, ready to flip from one hoops affair to the next.

Why? Because UK-UNC was merely this Saturday's opening salvo. Sure, it was the best and most important and most entertaining and most talented and most insert-your-adjective-of-choice-here game of the day. But it wasn't the only one. Let's run through the rest of this afternoon's action -- beginning with Xavier's remarkable comeback win over Purdue. (Tu!)

No. 11 Xavier 66, Purdue 63: Technically, a brief glance at the Game Flow illustration in the link to the left tells the story here. The Purdue lead was 20-6 after 10 minutes. It was 33-22 after 20 minutes. It was -- get this -- 55-36 after 30 minutes. Then, in the final 10 minutes, and especially the final five, Xavier staged a marvelous comeback, ending the game on a 30-8 run and holding on in the end to get the most unlikely of wins.

You can look at the box score and know this, and therefore know the story of the game. But believe me when I say this is one you had to see to believe. In particular, you needed to see X guard Tu Holloway, whose late-game transformations -- Holloway goes from inefficient to "oh my God, did you just see that?!?" -- are one of the strangest and most compelling performance storylines in college basketball this season. It pains me to say this, but in his past two games, Tu Holloway became college basketball's Tim Tebow. (I know, I know. I couldn't resist.)

As in Xavier's victory at Vanderbilt on Monday, Holloway was pedestrian to downright bad for much of Saturday afternoon. Before the final five minutes, he was borderline invisible, when he wasn't committing one of his six turnovers, that is. And then, just as it did Monday night in Nashville, something clicked. After the five-minute mark, Holloway went 3-of-4 and scored 13 of his 21 total points, including the three consecutive dagger 3s he stuck in the closing moments when his team needed them most. He won the game with his shooting and finished it off with his free throws.

It's strange, this lightbulb that seems to click only in the closing moments. But whatever it is that goes off in Holloway's head when the game is on the line in the closing moments, Xavier fans will take it. Thanks in large part to Holloway's late-game heroics, the Musketeers end this week with two crucial nonconference wins over two power-six teams, one of which came on the road.

There's a ton of season left, but would anyone want to draw the Muskies in an elimination game right now? For all its occasional struggles -- and by occasional, I mean "for the first 35 minutes of any given game" -- this Xavier team not only appears to be balanced and talented, but also appears to be as difficult an out as any team in the country. If you're up on the Musketeers, you better bury them deep. As long as Holloway's on the floor and the lead is mathematically in reach, you're never, ever safe.

As for Purdue, Matt Painter and Co. will certainly be unhappy to lose a game they controlled for so long in such heartbreaking fashion. And the sight of Robbie Hummel wincing at the end of the Boilermakers bench -- Hummel was crippled by apparently excruciating cramps for much of the afternoon -- was certainly an unwelcome one. But there are bright sides. For one, Hummel's injuries were merely cramps. (Seeing the Purdue senior, in the midst of a heartwarming comeback from two major ACL surgeries, hold his leg after contact is the quickest way this side of an Eli Roth movie to feel one's stomach turn in knots.)

More important, it should be noted that Purdue was the vastly superior team for much of the game. A loss is a loss, of course; no distinction will be made for its type during the résumé comparison season in early March. But the Boilers can take something from this game. They were the better team for its majority -- on the road, in a tough environment, against an experienced and talented team, with its best player cramping late -- and at the end of the day, maybe that's what's worth remembering.

No. 16 Marquette 61, No. 7 Wisconsin 54: Make no mistake: Marquette is a good team. Arguably a very good one. Even without star Jimmy Butler, last season's do-everything scorer, rebounder, glue guy and teammate extraordinaire, the Golden Eagles are still very good.

Even so, this is a borderline shocking result. Why? Because Wisconsin doesn't lose at home, like, ever. Before Saturday, in 11 seasons under Bo Ryan, UW was 156-11 at the Kohl Center. The Badgers were working on a 23-game home winning streak against all opponents; the last time they lost a nonconference home game was Dec. 23, 2008. So for the Golden Eagles to come in and get a win in this underrated in-state hoops rivalry -- well, yeah, that's a shocker, no matter how good this Marquette team is.

Of course, the Badgers gave Marquette the opportunity almost from the starting tip. Wisconsin posted an uncharacteristically awful shooting performance Saturday afternoon, particularly in the first half, when the Badgers scored just 22 points and found themselves in a 10-point hole at halftime. Things improved slightly in the second, but UW still finished 16-of-50 from the field and 5-of-19 from 3. For a team averaging 44 percent from 3 and 50 percent from 2 this season -- a team that relies on slowly working the ball in pursuit of a high-percentage final shot -- that simply won't get it done.

Wisconsin's slow pace -- its greatest advantage at times -- also makes it very difficult for the Badgers to mount a comeback. They tried, and cut the lead to within striking distance late in the second half even despite a tough charging call on point guard Jordan Taylor that cost the Badgers a three-point play and sent Taylor to the bench with his fourth foul. But Marquette was just as good down the stretch. Guard Darius Johnson-Odom didn't have a hugely efficient night (17 points on 15 shots), but anytime he can get his 18-foot step-back jumper off, it becomes an unstoppable offensive weapon. Meanwhile, Marquette is getting good contributions from sophomore Vander Blue and freshman guard Todd Mayo (younger brother of O.J.).

Wisconsin may have shot itself in the foot in this one -- not unlike Tuesday's close call at North Carolina -- but Marquette deserves the credit. The Golden Eagles took advantage early, made enough plays to finish the game and in the process notched one of the biggest wins of Buzz Williams' ever-promising tenure at the program. Impressive stuff.

Illinois 82, No. 18 Gonzaga 75: Maybe Gonzaga beats Illinois on a neutral court. But maybe not.

That's the feeling one got while watching this game, in which Illinois -- a young team but one with talent, which is something yours truly has been saying all season -- never looked overmatched or overwhelmed against a ranked Bulldogs team with designs on a deep tournament run. A little like UK-UNC, this win didn't feel like the benefit of home-court advantage as some deciding factor. Illinois can play with people. Now we know.

Of special note? Illinois forward Meyers Leonard. The sophomore missed much of the first half thanks to foul trouble, but he returned in the second with a determined style of play. The end result: 21 points and 6 rebounds on 9-for-11 shooting from the field. Those are impressive tallies any way you slice them, but considering Leonard posted those numbers while matched up with Gonzaga center Robert Sacre, they're doubly so. Throw in the balanced performances from starters D.J. Richardson (19 points), Brandon Paul (13 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds) and Sam Maniscalco (10 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds) and, well, don't look now, but this Illinois team might well be better than last season's disappointing senior-led squad. It certainly looked the part Saturday.

No. 17 Pittsburgh 61, Tennessee 56: In Maui, the Tennessee Volunteers proved themselves to be a flawed but hard-nosed and pesky bunch, one that would refuse to roll over for their apparently more talented opponents. That quality was on full display against Pitt, which led UT by eight with 1:46 to go. That's when the Vols began fouling, and after an elbow cost guard Ashton Gibbs a technical foul -- and gave Tennessee the customary shots and possession -- the Panthers missed the front end of two one-and-ones and watched as Trae Golden's 3 cut the lead to 58-56 with 11 seconds remaining.

It wasn't pretty, but the Panthers pulled this one out after forcing a jump ball on Tennessee's key possession late. They'll be thankful for that when seeding time comes around this spring. But let it be known: Tennessee was supposed to be rebuilding. That may be true. But don't tell the Volunteers. Because they aren't yielding anything in the meantime.

Other noteworthy results from the afternoon: The jury is still out on Iowa State; the Cyclones don't have any truly bad losses (at Drake is forgivable, and so is a home loss to UNI), but after Saturday's 75-65 loss at Michigan, Fred Hoiberg's rebuilt team hasn't made us sit up and take notice either. ... Ryan Boatright's home debut after a six-game NCAA rules suspension went swimmingly: The freshman guard scored 23 points and led his team to a game-opening 14-2 run in what was arguably a struggling UConn team's most impressive performance of the year, a 75-62 victory over Arkansas. ... Usually, UCLA-Texas is a marquee game. Not this season. The Bruins are now 2-5 after today's home loss to the Longhorns, which was briefly interrupted by a power surge that caused the lights to dim in the aging Los Angeles Sports Arena, UCLA's temporary home. One imagines Ben Howland would have preferred the lights stay off. ... BYU played at the home of the Utah Jazz (hey, there's nothing going on there) and dusted off Oregon with a 13-0 run in the second half of its impressive 79-65 win. Noah Hartsock led the way with 23 points and 12 boards for the Cougars. In other news, the Horizon League began conference play -- yes, conference play -- on Saturday, with the two biggest results a 77-71 overtime win by Valpo at Butler and Cleveland State's 66-61 win at preseason Horizon favorite Detroit. We know to never count out Butler (or Detroit if Eli Holman ever returns), but it's becoming apparent that the Crusaders and Vikings are the teams to beat in the Horizon.

1. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said senior forward Nasir Robinson should be back at practice sometime next week after missing the past few weeks following a torn meniscus in his right knee. Robinson is one of two key seniors for the Panthers. The other is lead guard Ashton Gibbs. Dixon said Gibbs has been playing at a high level, making shots, and proving to be the necessary leader for the Panthers. “He’ll play in the NBA some day,’’ Dixon said of Gibbs.

2. BYU coach Dave Rose said that so far the two players on the Cougars who appear to be ready to take over for Jimmer Fredette’s production are wing Charles Abouo and big man Stephen Rogers. Rose said both have been highly productive so far in practice. But the one player who has the most NBA potential and is starting to be even more assertive is forward Brandon Davies. Davies was reinstated to the team in the fall after being dismissed for an honor code violation last February. The Cougars will need the inside-out combination to have a chance to catch Gonzaga in the WCC.

3. Gonzaga coach Mark Few said he might have his best set of big men in his tenure with Robert Sacre, Elias Harris, Kelly Olynyk, Sam Dower and Ryan Spangler. If Gary Bell and Kevin Pangos can have as much of an impact as projected and David Stockton proves to be a calming presence at the point then the Zags have a shot to be a deep March team. Gonzaga needed to be deeper inside and with more options. It appears they have that this season.

Gonzaga is out to win its 12th consecutive West Coast Conference title and has a loaded roster highlighted by Robert Sacre, a fifth-year senior who'll be the latest in a long line of players in the program to be relied upon for leadership.

The 7-footer has experience going all the way back to the 2007-08 season when as a freshman he started in the NCAA tournament. The Zags now hope he can help carry them to the postseason again, and coach Mark Few holds the veteran big man in very high regard.

"There's probably no bigger, stronger, tougher center in all of college basketball," Few told 710 ESPN Seattle. "He's just got the biggest heart in the whole world and is just an amazing teammate. He probably could have came out been and been drafted in the late first or early second in the last draft."

Few continued with his praise in announcing today that Gonzaga has scheduled the BC Basketball Classic in Vancouver, Canada on Nov. 19 against Hawaii in order to give Sacre an opportunity to play in front of a hometown crowd.

"It will be exciting to get Rob back home to play," Few said in a statement. "He's one of the all-time great Zags."

Sacre last season averaged 12.5 points and a team-leading 6.3 rebounds, with the 260-pounder serving as a force in the middle with tattoos that cover his arms featured prominently. He's also a gentle giant in many ways and one of the bright personalities in college basketball.

From North Pole Hoops:

"Sometimes if we are going through a hard stretch I'll try and cheer people up -- like wear a teammate's shorts to practice, and they'll be too small for me, but I'll wear them anyway. Just to crack guys up and keep things loose. Then when everything's alright, you go right back to staying on each other and working hard."

Another example of Sacre's humour is the greeting left on his voicemail, imploring you to "stay thirsty my friends", after the famous Dos Equis beer commercial.

Sacre, who suffered through a medical redshirt season in 2009 the last time Gonzaga went to the Sweet 16, has to hunger for big-time NCAA tournament success of his own. It couldn't have been easiest offseason to go through following news that his father, Greg LaFleur, had been fired as Southern's athletic director after an arrest.

But this year the Zags could go far. They return a frontcourt that also includes experienced players in Elias Harris, Sam Dower and Kelly Olynyk.

And it's Sacre who will be asked to lead them.

Butler and Gonzaga are the two kings of college basketball's mid-majors (if you can still call them that), and they'll be starting a home-and-home series in December for the next two seasons, according to the Indianapolis Star.

Butler is to travel to Spokane, Wash., to meet the Zags on Dec. 20. The Bulldogs are to play at Stanford two or three days later. Gonzaga is to visit Hinkle Fieldhouse in December 2012.

“It’s an exciting series, and it’s going to benefit both teams and help them prepare,” Butler associate head coach Matthew Graves said today.

It's a buzz-worthy match-up that brings together two programs that didn't need power conference affiliations to rise up as basketball powerhouses. Gonzaga has won 11 straight regular-season titles in the West Coast Conference, making annual trips to the NCAA tournament during that span. Butler is coming off consecutive national championship game appearances and has seen its profile boosted as well by Brad Stevens and his celebrity status.

The Bulldogs versus Bulldogs games should bring plenty of intrigue, especially this coming season in Spokane. While Butler will be in the process of finding out which players will step up after the departures of Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard, Gonzaga returns a team of veterans that include Elias Harris and Robert Sacre.

It will be a big early-season test for both Cinderella programs and will reunite Stevens and Gonzaga coach Mark Few, who helped each other through rough starts last season, as Andy Katz reported in March.

"We talked through it," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "I kept telling him that it would be OK. We were going through something similar [back-to-back losses to Santa Clara and San Francisco]. I kept following them through January and February and compared how we both took care of business."

Like Butler, Gonzaga rallied to win a share of its league title and then won its conference tournament.

"I'm sure the people around the Butler program were lamenting coming off a national championship game with the expectations of all those guys coming back and all that noise," Few said. "But you have to believe in the system. And his guys did."

DENVER -- BYU fans were chanting long after the team had left the court at the Pepsi Center. Their cries could be heard inside the Cougars locker room, where a player asked Jimmer Fredette if he could understand the chants.

“3:16?” he asked Fredette, a reference to the famed verse of Biblical scripture.

The BYU faithful were actually chanting “Sweet 16!“ The team's hearing problem was one of the few struggles the Cougars experienced as they trounced 11th-seeded Gonzaga 89-67 on Saturday. Behind Fredette’s 34, BYU advanced to the regional semifinal round for the first time in 30 years.

“It’s been a long time for our fans, and I’m happy, really happy for them,” said BYU coach Dave Rose, pausing as his voice cracked with emotion. “I’m happy for our players, happy for our coaches, our administration. I mean, everybody is in this. We’re in this together. This is a special team.”

Fredette, the nation’s leading scorer, delivered one of his most memorable performances, hitting seven 3-pointers and burying the Zags.

The Cougars faced many uncertainties heading into the tournament.

Leading rebounder Brandon Davies had been suspended for the rest of the season in early March after violating the school’s honor code. He was relegated to the bench wearing a sweater rather than a jersey. In its first game following Davies' suspension, BYU lost to New Mexico at home. Rose told the team it needed to adjust or this magical season would soon end.

He also implemented associate head coach Dave Rice’s new game plan -- a strategy that called for spreading the floor and creating chances based on driving and kicking the ball out to the perimeter.

Against an imposing Gonzaga frontline that included 7-foot center Robert Sacre and ultra-athletic 6-foot-7 forward Elias Harris, BYU did just that. Fredette scored his first five field goals on 3-pointers. He ran off screens and pulled up in transition to get looks at the basket. While Fredette was 2-for-9 from beyond the arc two days earlier against Wofford, he was 7-for-12 facing a mixture of man-to-man and zone defenses from the Zags.

“You have off nights, then you come back and have good nights,” Fredette said. “Kind of the law of percentages throughout the year.”

Said guard Jackson Emery: “Jimmer’s Jimmer. He’s going to score from outside, inside, you never know.”

The Cougars made half of their 3-point attempts, with Emery and Noah Hartsock each notching three. Emery scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half while Hartsock scored 13 on 5-for-5 shooting.

Hartsock got in early foul trouble, but Stephen Rogers came off the bench to score 10 first-half points and James Anderson blocked two shots to further show that BYU isn’t just about Fredette.

The Bulldogs (25-10) saw their 10-game winning streak snapped despite 17 points from Sacre and 18 points apiece from Harris and senior Steven Gray. Harris grabbed eight rebounds, and Sacre had seven to help outrebound the Cougars 36-27.

But after a Gray 3-pointer cut the lead to eight with 12:19 left, BYU responded with a 12-0 run capped off by back-to-back 3-pointers from Fredette and Hartsock, and eventually extended the lead to 24. Rose called this the best game BYU has played all season.

“They got points, they were physical, but we tried to be physical back with them even though we don‘t have the size,” Hartsock said.

Not since Danny Ainge led BYU to a run to the Elite Eight in 1981 has the program experienced this level of success. The Fredette worship has become a national phenomenon. In each corner of the Pepsi Center, fans held up homemade posters and marked Fredette’s points as he scored them. They left plenty of space available just in case the star senior exploded for more.

The Cougars hope to make more history during a dream season in which Emery has already broken Ainge’s all-time steals record and Fredette has broken the school record for points. They’ll now face Florida in New Orleans for a chance to go to the Elite Eight.

“It’s stuff you’ve always dreamed of,” Emery said. “We know we’re not done yet.”

DENVER -- BYU beat Gonzaga 89-64 to earn a spot in the Sweet 16 -- the first time the Cougars have gotten this far since 1981. They did it behind Jimmer Fredette's 34 points and six assists. Jackson Emery scored 16 points, and Noah Hartsock added 13. The Zags were led by Steven Gray and Elias Harris, who scored 18 points apiece. But with BYU making 14 of their 28 3-point attempts, there was no stopping the Cougars.

Turning point: Gonzaga briefly got the lead down to single digits, but Fredette’s seventh 3-pointer made it 72-55. Hartsock then hit another to push the lead to 20 with 8:17 left, leaving Fredette emotional headed into the timeout.

Key player: Fredette was held without a field goal for nearly the first nine minutes of the game, but he soon began to heat up. He finished 11-for-23 from the field, was perfect at the line and finished with seven 3-pointers.

Key stat: Fredette was 7-of-12 from beyond the arc, taking advantage of whatever defense the Zags were throwing at him, man-to-man or zone. The Zags ran different defenders at Fredette, and it was no use.

Miscellaneous: The Cougars were out-rebounded 36-27 by a bigger Zags team, but still managed to do enough to slow Gonzaga's frontline. Kyle Collinsworth played well and had six points and seven rebounds, and Hartsock was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field.

What’s next: BYU moves on to the Sweet 16 in New Orleans to face Florida, a team the Cougars beat last season in the first round of the NCAA tournament.