With day two of the NCAA Tournament officially in the books, let’s take a look around the Big 12 and how the remaining teams have done in their second game of the tournament.
No. 3 Texas Tech matched up with No. 11 Drake after their first-round win over No. 14 UNC Wilmington. The Red Raiders were able to advance in the tournament with a 77-64 win over Drake in the second round. Junior forward Darrion Williams led Texas Tech with 28 points, six rebounds, and five assists in the win. Big 12 player of the year JT Toppin had 25 points. The Red Raiders will have a matchup with No. 10-seeded Arkansas after their big win over No. St. Johns.
No. 4 Arizona defeated No. 13 Akron in the first round. They will have their second-round matchup against former Pac-12 opponent, No. 5 Oregon. That game will be played on Sunday, Mar. 23 at 9:40 p.m. EST.
No. 9 Baylor won their first-round matchup in a thrilling 75-72 win over No. 8 Mississippi State. They will have their second-round matchup against No. 1-seeded Duke, who has the best odds to win the entire tournament. That matchup will be Sunday, Mar. 23 at 2:40 p.m. EST.
No. 3 Iowa State took care of business in their first-round matchup, topping No. 14 Lipscomb by a dominant score of 82-55. They will face off with No. 6 Ole Miss in the second round on Sunday, Mar. 23, at 7:45 p.m. EST. The Cyclones are favored in this game and the betting line for the game currently stands at -5.5 in favor of Iowa State.
No. 6 BYU matched up with No. 3 Wisconsin, and the Cougars got out to an early 11-point lead going into the first half. Richie Saunders led BYU with 12 first-half points before finishing the game with 25 points as the Cougars survived the late comeback to secure the 91-89 upset win over Wisconsin to clinch their first Sweet 16 birth in 14 years. They will await the winner of No. 2 Alabama and No. 7 St. Mary’s in their matchup tomorrow.
No. 1 Houston had their second-round matchup with No. 8 Gonzaga. They were able to hold off Gonzaga’s second-half efforts to win 81-76. L.J. Cryer led the team to an early eight-point advantage in the first half with 16 first-half points on 6/8 shooting. Cryer finished the game with a game-high 30 points on 8/15 shooting. The Cougars will match up with No. 4 Purdue in their sixth consecutive Sweet 16.
The Big 12 entered the tournament with seven teams getting a bid. So far, through the first two days, the only team to not advance past the first round was Kansas. The Big has a record of 8-1 in the tournament and still have six teams alive.
