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NCAA Tournament- Arizona Region Second Round
With not a lot of exciting second round games in this region, I've combined all 8 games into 1 big pod. Only 3 of the 8 games were decided by single digits, but 2 of those games weren't as close as the score indicates. So without further adieu, let's get into our surprising game of the pod.
(15) Santa Clara vs. (2) Baylor -- The Bears found out early that Santa Clara wasn't to be taken lightly, as they trailed 7-0 early on, and 30-29 at the half. Baylor took control early in the second half, building the lead up to 9, but Santa Clara retook the lead 44-42 with just under 10 minutes to go. That would be their last lead, as Baylor got the lead back up to 10 and held on late. The Bears advance with a 64-57 victory. Jared Brownridge led Santa Clara with 21 points while Baylor was led by Gary Franklin and his 16 points.
Other Pod Games
(1) Arizona- 73, (16) Siena- 46 -- The Wildcats had no trouble in this one, toying with Siena in the first half then doubling them up in the second half. Siena had no double figure scorers, their leading scorer was Lavon Long with 9. Arizona was led by Nick Johnson and Brandon Ashley who each had 12, but the scoring effort was very balanced.
(8) Oklahoma St.- 79, (9) SMU- 58 -- Not exactly what you'd expect out of an 8-9 game, but the Cowboys led from start to finish, getting 26 from Le'Bryan Nash. SMU was led by Sterling Brown who had 11.
(5) New Mexico- 67, (12) Indiana- 59 -- The only thing that kept this one from being a blowout was the Lobos' inability to make free throws, as they were just 58.8% from the line. New Mexico was led by Cameron Bairstow who had 24, and Indiana was led by Yogi Ferrell who had 12.
(13) St. Josephs- 68, (4) LA Tech- 55 -- This was an interesting matchup, as St. Joes was probably underseeded based on their performance in the regular season. But a 44-25 edge on the boards helped St. Joes to the fairly easy win. They were led by Langston Galloway who had 16, while LA Tech was led by Raheem Appleby and Chris Anderson who each had 11.
(11) Iona- 85, (6) Oregon- 74 -- You wouldn't have thought this would be a double digit win based on how even the stats are, but Iona made 4 more shots and 2 more three pointers, which was really the difference. The Gaels were led by Tre Bowman who had 21. Oregon was led by Mike Moser and Johnathan Loyd who each had 13.
(3) Syracuse- 62, (14) Tulsa- 52 -- If you wanted to see lights out shooting, this was not the game to see, as both teams hot under 38%. Tulsa was just 1-11 from behind the arc however, just 9% and that proved to be the difference. James Woodard led Tulsa with 17, and Syracuse was led by Tyler Ennis who had 19.
(7) UConn- 82, (10) Florida St.- 73 -- The Huskies rallied from an 8 point halftime deficit to win this one going away, thanks to 52% shooting. Florida St. shot a little over 49%, a stark contrast from the Syracuse/Tulsa game. UConn was led by DeAndre Daniels who had 21, but the real star was Shabazz Napier who had a triple double: 17 points, 11 boards, 11 assists. The Seminoles were led by Okaro White and his 14 points.
So this region, for the most part, held true to the seeding. Only 2 lower seeds won, and both of them probably should have been seeded higher. Third Round pairings are as follows:
(8) Oklahoma St. vs. (1) Arizona
(13) St. Josephs vs. (5) New Mexico
(11) Iona vs. (3) Syracuse
(7) UConn vs. (2) Baylor
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