Final score: Auburn 89, Kansas 75. Auburn is heading back to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2003; Bruce Pearl for the first time since 2010. Bryce Brown and Jared Harper combined for 43 points and Auburn tallied 34 points in transition, 26 more than Kansas.
Auburn leads by 25 points with 11 minutes remaining. Kansas' largest ever margin of defeat in an NCAA Tournament game is 18, in the 1940 National Championship Game, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The coach was Phog Allen.
Brandon Clarke's 36 points and 5 blocks, which led Gonzaga to the Sweet 16 for the fifth consecutive year and set up a rematch with Florida State, came on 15 of 18 shooting. Clarke joined Shaquille O'Neal as the only players to score that many points and block that many shots in the NCAA Tournament. "It's actually a pretty crazy stat; I don't think I even knew that," Clarke said in an interview with ESPN. "Shaq is obviously an all-time great. To even have my name up there by his is something that's really cool."
Jared Harper hit a floater in the final seconds of the first half to put Auburn up 51-25 on Kansas. Yes, 51-25 — the largest deficit in Kansas' NCAA Tournament history. Harper and Bryce Brown combined for 31 points on 11 of 16 shooting. Dedric Lawson went just 1 of 7 for the Jayhawks.
Two things Auburn did well all year, and that they thought they could do against Kansas: Shoot 3s, force turnovers. Auburn hit 8 of 14 3s and forced 6 turnovers through the first 16 minutes. They held a 26-1 edge in transition points and a 44-23 lead at the 3:58 mark.
Bryce Brown has made all four of his 3-point attempts and Auburn is running all over Kansas, leading by 14 within the first seven minutes.
Michigan State is 3 1/2 minutes away from moving on to the Sweet 16 and a meeting with LSU in the East Regional in Washington. The second-seeded Spartans showed many of the qualities of a Final Four contender against Minnesota. They shot well, dominated the rebounding and stifled the Gophers on the defensive end. But they put themselves in peril with 21 turnovers and it's difficult to see them beating a higher quality opponent like LSU if they don't take better care of the ball.
Michigan State can be a puzzling team. They generally don't take a lot of bad shots and thus shoot a high percentage. They're a solid defensive team and they rebound well. But they're prone to turnovers. They have 16 with 12 1/2 minutes remaining against Minnesota in Des Moines. They lead 47-31 would be ahead by 25 or more if they protected the ball better.
Gonzaga wins, 83-71. Baylor hung around, but Brandon Clarke (36 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks) was too much, and the Zags were able to hold the Bears to just 4 3-pointers — a quarter of what they hit in the Round of 64.
The pro-Minnesota crowd has come to life in Des Moines as the Gophers are creeping back into this.
Brandon Clarke: 35 points, 5 blocks. The only other players to put up those numbers in the Tournament: Shaquille O'Neal and David Robinson.
No Jordan Murphy to start second half for Minnesota.
Rui Hachimura, quiet all night, goes baseline for a dunk, then later gets a lob, putting Gonzaga up 12 with 5:38 left. Baylor keeps fighting — as it has all season.
Minnesota has some momentum heading into halftime after finishing the first half on an 8-2 run. Michigan State went the final 4:47 of the half without scoring. But the Spartans still lead 33-19.
Brandon Clarke, with more than 13 minutes remaining: 26 points, 2 missed shots, 5 blocks. He has seemed to answer basically every time Baylor needs a stop.
Not good. Mark Vital, one of Baylor's best defenders, got called for back-to-back fouls, giving him 4 and forcing him to sit.
Minnesota usually isn't a good shooting team but the Gophers are 4-of-19 against Michigan State with 7 1/2 minutes left in the first half. Poor shooting is only part of their problem. Michigan State is shooting 85 percent, outrebounding the Gophers 14-4 and leading 26-11
Baylor had some of Michael's Secret Stuff at halftime. They began on a 10-run, cutting their deficit to 6.
Minnesota's Jordan Murphy played the first four minutes against Michigan State but hasn't been in the game since leaving the lineup. Murphy missed a portion of the Gophers' first-round win over Louisville after saying his back locked up. Rather than sitting on the bench, Murphy is standing behind it as play goes on without him. Murphy is Minnesota's leading rebounder and second-leading scorer.
Gonzaga leads Baylor 39-23 at halftime, and they are playing beautiful basketball. 56 percent from the field, 9 assists to 5 turnovers, and they have held Makai Mason and King McClure, Baylor's two key guards, to 1 of 9 shooting.
The Zags are flat-out dominating. They're on an 11-3 run over the last three minutes and lead by 17 points with 4:12 left in the first half. Brandon Clarke, expected to be a problem against a small lineup, already has 14 points and has missed only two shots.
Florida needed to make its second-round game against Michigan a relatively low-scoring affair to have a reasonable chance to win in Des Moines. The Gators accomplished that but still couldn't generate enough offense to overcome the Wolverines. Florida shot just 29 percent in the second half, including 3-of-14 from three. The Gators went a stretch of over five minutes late in the game without a point and fell 64-49. Michigan moves to the the Sweet 16 and the West Regional in Anaheim.
Gonzaga on a 9-0 run early to take a 14-7 lead with 13:26 remaining. They're pushing the pace early against Baylor, which knew going in that Gonzaga's offense was going to be a handful.
Credit to Florida for finding a way to hang around. The Gators trailed Michigan by as many as 15 points early in the second half but a 9-0 run kept the Gators in the game. Michigan is up 46-39 with less than 12 minutes left.
Three times now that Florida has fouled a Michigan three-point shooter. And we have almost 14 minutes to go.
