We are back for the second day of the 2022 NCAA Tournament second round after a pretty exciting day of basketball yesterday. The day yesterday began with three electric games which included two upsets, one of which included a one-seed in Baylor falling to a red-hot North Carolina squad. There are quite a few intriguing matchups today, including our first game of the day in Illinois vs. Houston. Purdue vs. Texas at night will be a fun clash of styles and we once again have Izzo matching up against Coach K for the final time with a Sweet 16 berth on the line.
Enough talk, let’s jump into the recap which will be updated live throughout the day as each game finishes up.
No. 5 Houston vs. No. 4 Illinois
Houston 68 – Illinois 53
Coming in this was a super interesting matchup of two teams with interesting resumes. Illinois was inconsistent but dealt with injuries and still won a share of the Big Ten. Houston was solid all year long, also dealt with injuries, and didn’t earn a quad one win until their conference tournament championship. Illinois is led by their All-American big man and the shooters playing around him. Houston relies on toughness, rebounding, and a collective effort from multiple guys on the floor. Early on it looked like Houston’s style would win out while they collected offensive rebound after offensive rebound on tons of missed threes.
Houston opened up a double-digit lead in the first half and looked poised to run away with this game. Illinois entered a couple of freshmen into the game who had fallen out of the rotation in recent weeks and a spark seemed to be lit. Luke Goode knocked down a couple of threes and his fellow freshman RJ Melendez made a few plays that helped cut the lead that had risen to 14 in half. They were able to go into half-time down just four when senior leader Trent Frazier knocked down a three before the half and now we officially had ourselves a game.
Trent Frazier cuts into the Houston lead at the halftime buzzer! ? ? ? #MarchMadness
— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 20, 2022
In the second half, Illinois decided to go away from their much-maligned point guard Andre Curbelo and play Frazier at the point with their freshman also out on the court. It worked for a while and allowed Kofi Cockburn their All-American to get going a bit but they could never quite get over the hump and take the lead.
It then became clear down the stretch that the Illini seemed to run out of gas while Houston continued to put the clamps on. Once the defensive pressure was upped by Houston, the Illini couldn’t seem to get a bucket to fall. From there Houston just ground Illinois to a pulp and made it a double-digit game that helped them secure their place in next weekend’s Sweet 16.
No. 7 Ohio State vs No. 2 Villanova
Villanova 71 – Ohio State 61
Villanova has had very few issues winning games in March over the last six years. It seemed like today they were well on their way to cruising to another easy victory. The defense was locked in per usual and the shots were falling early with their star point guard Collin Gillespie catching fire early. With Tennessee losing yesterday, it seemed that the Wildcats were destined for another Sweet 16 and a possible Elite Eight appearance from there.
Malaki Branham is on FIRE ? ? ? #MarchMadness
— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 20, 2022
Then, Malaki Branham, the Ohio State freshman caught fire of his own. He made six straight shots at one point helping the Buckeyes erase a double-digit lead and cutting it down to just two points and looking poised to join the list of teams to pull off major upsets so far. Then, Villanova does what it always does, they responded and put the game away. They got key stops, knocked down free throws and Gillespie made the plays necessary to get his team to the next round. Ohio State had its chances but the hot shooting disappeared and with it, its chances of continuing their season in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 2 Duke
Duke 85 – Michigan State 76
The day so far has included some fake close games after a pretty thrilling set of games yesterday. This game though finally got us on track as Duke and Michigan State had an absolutely great back and forth. Michigan State was hot as can be in the first half, knocking down nine threes but Duke still led at the break as they seemed to get whatever they wanted at one point in the first half.
It’s raining threes!!! #MarchMadness
— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 20, 2022
Michigan State after a long scoring drought in the first half then began coldly to start the second half as Duke began to pull away a bit. Tom Izzo coached teams don’t just fold though and with that shots began to fall and so did Duke’s lead. The Duke freshman battled but the Spartans just kept coming and eventually were able to steal the lead with five minutes to go. The Spartans took a five-point lead and it looked like the pressure may get to the young Blue Devils but they were resilient and immediately countered with a 15 to 6 run to regain the lead and all but put the game away.
Jeremy Roach with a BIG shot for Duke #MarchMadness
— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 20, 2022
With the win, Coach K notched his 1,200 career win and his 99th career NCAA Tournament win. Both of which are the most all-time, making next week’s Sweet 16 game in the 2022 NCAA Tournament an opportunity for Coach K to become the first coach to notch 100 NCAA Tournament wins.
No. 11 Iowa State vs. No. 3 Wisconsin
Iowa State 54 – Wisconsin 49
After winning just two games last season, the Iowa State Cyclones had a chance to make the Sweet 16 if they could upset the three-seeded Wisconsin Badgers. And upset they did as the Cyclones advance in quite the turnaround season for coach T.J Otzelberger in his first year at the school. It was an ugly Big 10-style game with low scoring, not much shot-making, and physical defense. Sadly for Wisconsin is that is the exact type of game Iowa State is fine with as they proved throughout their Big 12 conference season.
Wisconsin’s point guard Chucky Hepburn went down with an ankle injury that saw him on the bench with crutches in the second half and his absence took all the life out of the Wisconsin offense. Some of that has to do with Iowa State’s defense which was ranked inside the top 10 on Kenpom this season but Hepburn was a big loss for the Badgers.
Iowa State was 2-22 last season. Now they’re going to the Sweet 16 #MarchMadness
— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 21, 2022
Wisconsin’s Achilles heel all year long was their ability to knock down outside shots consistently and it’s the reason they’re going home. Johnny Davis couldn’t quite get it going in notching 17 points but shooting 4/16 to get there, including 0/7 from three-point range. Now Iowa State will play in just their sixth Sweet 16 in school history, quite a feat for their first-year head coach.
No. 11 Notre Dame vs. No. 3 Texas Tech
Texas Tech 59 – Notre Dame 53
Just two days after Notre Dame had an offensive explosion against Alabama, Texas Tech brought them back down to earth as the number one defense in the country held Notre Dame to just 53 points. Cormac Ryan who had 29 in that game two days ago was held to just nine points in a great effort by the Red Raiders. Notre Dame gave them all they could handle though and made Texas Tech’s offense look more like they usually do after Tech also exploded on offense in their first-round game.
Blake Wesley fights through three Red Raiders for the hafltime score #MarchMadness
— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 21, 2022
Notre Dame even held a lead late in the game before Tech remembered what they do on the defensive end and made life difficult as could be for Ryan, stud freshman Blake Wesley and the rest of the Fighting Irish. Kevin Obanor was huge, grabbing an offensive rebound down the stretch, one of his 15 rebounds on the day before getting fouled and knocking down both shots to take the lead for good. Outside of a free throw with 10 seconds left, Tech was able to keep Notre Dame off the scoreboard for the final 2:09 of the game. Overall an impressive effort by the Red Raiders who will face Duke in the Sweet 16 next weekend.
No. 10 Miami vs. No. 2 Auburn
Miami 79 – Auburn 61
ISAIAH WONG POSTER #MarchMadness
— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 21, 2022
This dunk explains the entire Auburn and Miami game tonight. Miami came out from the start and jumped Auburn and the Tigers never had much to say about it. Miami jumped out to a solid lead early and could have extended it even further if they hadn’t missed so many layups. Some of that was due to Auburn’s length but they had chances to get up big in the first half. Auburn slowly chipped away at the lead but could never pull in front as Miami was able to keep them at somewhat arms length.
The second half was a completely different story though as Miami blitzed them from the start and never looked back. It was impressive how fast Miami looked against Auburn and Auburn never seemed to catch up with that speed. Star freshman Jabari Smith had a rough day shooting the ball and Walker Kessler was played off the court by Miami’s spread it out offense. Meanwhile, Miami’s guards who all played over 35 minutes were great including super senior Charlie Moore who went for 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists.
Miami is now one game from the Elite Eight where they will face fellow double-digit seed (11) Iowa State. The Midwest bottom bracket has been complete madness, which many people sort of predicted it may be. Chicago is setting up to be quite an interesting regional location next week.
No. 6 Texas vs. No. 3 Purdue
Purdue 81 – Texas 71
Trevion Williams and Jaden Ivey were the story here. Every time Texas seemed to threaten Purdue, one of those two would go make a play and allow the Boilermakers to get advance on to the Sweet 16. Texas played a great game and had their chances to pull the upset but those two players were too much for the Longhorns to overcome. With Texas forward Teddy Allen fouled out down the stretch, it was difficult for Texas to have a go-to guy as Andrew Jones isn’t always capable of being the lead man.
Jaden Ivey ?
— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 21, 2022
The bracket has opened up for Purdue to end their long Final Four drought. They will face an upset-hungry St. Peter’s who has proven to be giant slayers so far but Purdue will be a different beast with their size. No 15-seed has made an Elite Eight and Purdue has had their second-weekend tournament struggles over the years, it will be fun to see which “curse” of sorts will be broken in Philadelphia next weekend.
No. 9 TCU vs. No. 1 Arizona
TCU came ready to play early jumping out to a small lead and foreshadowing they would be around all night long. Arizona seemed to finally settle in part way through the first half and made sure TCU was not about to get away from them. The 2022 NCAA Tournament has been chalked full of upsets and TCU came ready to pull one off. Arizona made a run to take the lead and were able to give themselves a bit of breathing room heading into the locker room.
BEN MATHURIN WITH THE JAM
— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 21, 2022
This dunk during a run Arizona was on seemed like it was going to be the catalyst towards the Wildcats running away from TCU. They did open the game up a bit and got a lead up to nine before TCU once again came stomping right back. Not only did they come running back, they took the lead on the back of big Eddie Lampkin Jr.
Then following a deep Benedict Mathurin three to tie things up with less than 20 seconds left, the below happened.
The last game of the weekend heads to OVERTIME! #MarchMadness
— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 21, 2022
Overtime was an absolute battle with Arizona prevailing just barely. TCU fought extremely hard but just couldn’t knock down the shots necessary to keep pace in overtime while Arizona got second chance points and won the game at the free-throw line. Benedict Mathurin was massive and finished with 30 points and it was his offensive rebounding late that helped win the game for the Wildcats. It was truly an unbelievable game to cap off an unbelievable weekend of basketball.
