Barnes scores 5 in OT, NCarolina beats Ohio 73-65

ST. LOUIS (AP)—The last of the little guys gave North Carolina a massive scare.

Harrison Barnes scored five of his 12 points in overtime and the top-seeded Tar Heels escaped a huge upset with a 73-65 victory over No. 13 seed Ohio on Friday night in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

Ohio, trying to become the first team seeded 13th or worse to make the regional finals since the NCAA tournament expanded in 1985, had a chance to convert a three-point play that would have given the Bobcats the lead with 25 seconds left in regulation. Walter Offutt missed from the line, however, and Ohio went 0 for 6 from the field in the first overtime of this year’s tournament.

“One free throw away,” Offutt said. “As a leader on this team, I take responsibility that I’ve got to hit that free throw. … It just feels terrible to kind of let my team down in that sort of way.”

Tyler Zeller finished with 20 points and a career-high 22 rebounds for North Carolina, which sorely missed injured point guard Kendall Marshall. The Tar Heels had three players with double-doubles for the first time in an NCAA tournament game: Reggie Bullock had 17 points and 10 boards, and John Henson had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman guard Stilman White was an impressive fill-in for Marshall, dishing out six assists without a single turnover and playing 32 minutes—almost three times his previous high.

“We feel like we got away with one,” Zeller said. “Ohio played the better game, they hit a lot of shots. I think we just were able to make a lot of plays at the end that made us capable of pulling it out.”

Offutt led the Bobcats (29-8) with 26 points, including 18 from 3-point range, and Nick Kellogg added 14. But D.J. Cooper, who averaged 20 points in Ohio’s first two tournament games, finished with just 10 on 3-of-20 shooting.

“I’ve been getting those same shots all tournament,” Cooper said. “I’ve been making them, and tonight I just didn’t get the job done.”

North Carolina (32-5), which has won 11 straight in the regional semifinals, plays Kansas on Sunday afternoon for a trip to the Final Four. The Jayhawks beat North Carolina State 60-57.

“It means a heck of a lot,” coach Roy Williams said moments after his team escaped, “but we’ve got to play better than we did today.”

That’s for sure—especially since the Tar Heels are unlikely to have Marshall, perhaps their most irreplaceable player and the steadying hand behind their fast-paced attack. The left-handed guard broke his right wrist Sunday when he was fouled on a drive against Creighton. He had surgery Monday to put a screw in the wrist and got his cast off Wednesday.

Though Marshall said the wrist is improving, he didn’t even dress Friday night, sitting on the bench in a suit.

“He still hasn’t done anything,” Williams said when asked about the prospects of Marshall returning Sunday. “But North Carolina’s going to play on Sunday. We’re happy about that.”

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Rick Pitino’s prepared Louisville Cardinals send tuckered out top-seeded Michigan State home

PHOENIX – Draymond Green was worried. All week, the energy that had suffused Michigan State’s basketball team throughout its surprising run to the Big Ten championship and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament went missing. Mediocre practices. Dead film sessions. A grim feeling that the Spartans’ Sweet 16 game against Louisville might be its last of the season.

“I think everybody just knew,” Green said. “We had a feeling.”

Fight though they did, Green’s prophesy – and the Spartans’ fatigue – proved true. Louisville overcame an ugly first half to run away from Michigan State in a 57-44 West Regional semifinal victory during which the Cardinal outrebounded, outfoxed and outclassed a team rarely beaten in any of those facets and almost never in all three.

“I definitely had a sense,” said Green, a likely first-team All-American who led a Spartans team expected to suffer through a down season. “Nobody’s crazy. We know the energy level this team has had, and … our energy level just wasn’t there.”

[ Related: Breaking down Friday’s Sweet 16 matchups ]

Green wasn’t blaming any one person. Not his teammates who shot 14-of-49. Not himself, with six of the Spartans’ 15 turnovers. Not coach Tom Izzo, who added to the misery by getting outcoached by Rick Pitino. Michigan State had no answer for Louisville’s 2-3 zone, helmed by Gorgui Dieng playing goalkeeper with seven blocks, nor did Izzo adjust accordingly when the Cardinals unleashed a press designed, in Pitino’s words, “to get to the legs.”

As with a boxer, once they went, Michigan State’s will followed.

If Green sounded like a beaten man, it’s because he was. More than perhaps any coach in college basketball, Izzo emphasizes mental fortitude over talent. Sure, because he has won a national championship and made six Final Fours at Michigan State, he can wrangle McDonald’s All-Americans. He just doesn’t need them.

To compensate, Izzo pushes his players, rides them, implores them that they have to be stronger, tougher, better. He is widely recognized as the godfather of the War Drill, a gruesome rebounding exercise that has bloodied many a face. Other coaches have stolen from him the use of a plastic bubble to cover the rim, force every shot to carom away and necessitate a rebound.

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Michigan State handles LIU 89-67

By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer
6 hours, 49 minutes ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—Draymond Green got on the phone earlier this week with a former Michigan State star.

Magic Johnson must have told Green to play just like him.

Green recorded his second career NCAA tournament triple-double—the first player to do it since Johnson—and Derrick Nix added 18 points as top-seeded Michigan State fought off the upset bug that took down two No. 2 seeds, advancing in the West Regional with an 89-67 win over LIU Brooklyn on Friday night.

On a freaky Friday of upsets, Michigan State wasn’t going down.

Green wouldn’t stand for it.

“The kid’s a great player,” LIU coach Jim Ferry said. “I thought he was a great player going in on tape. He’s a great player live. He’s going to have a very long career in front of him. He’s just a fantastic basketball player.”

The Spartans (28-7) finally put away the bothersome No. 16 Blackbirds (25-9) with a 14-4 run midway through the second half. Michigan State outscored LIU 47-30 after halftime to set up a third-round game with Saint Louis on Sunday.

Green had 24 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and no turnovers in 35 minutes. He joined Johnson and Oscar Robertson as the only players in history to have more than one triple-double in the tournament.

Afterward, Green showed typical humility in downplaying his accomplishment. His previous triple-double came in last year’s tournament loss to UCLA.

“At the end of the day I’d much rather have a win than a triple double, because when you look at those record books it’s going to say Draymond Green stats triple double and then it’s going to say the score of the game,” he said. “And the last one was a loss and this one was a win. So it don’t really matter.

“It’s just about getting wins this time of year, and I’m just happy we’re able to do that.”

Green didn’t get into any specifics about his conversation with Johnson. The Hall of Famer was talking with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who put Green on the phone.

“I don’t know what he said to him, but it might have been something good,” Izzo said. “I might have to call him back. I’m proud of Day Day (Green’s nickmane). I’m pleased for him. Happy for him. And yet he’s got a lot of basketball to go. “

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