The men’s NCAA Tournament second round started in exciting fashion on Saturday, with one No. 1 seed going down and another barely avoiding an upset.
North Carolina built …
The men’s NCAA Tournament second round started in exciting fashion on Saturday, with one No.1 seed going down and another barely avoiding an upset. North Carolina built a 25-point lead against No.1 Baylor, only to watch it wither away play-by-play in the game’s last 10 minutes, before the defending national champions finally forced overtime. UNC showed its resolve by gutting it out in the extra frame to advance to the Sweet 16. “I’m so proud of these guys,“ UNC coach Hubert Davis said afterward. „This is a group that shows toughness, resiliency. One of the things I wanted them to do was have their own testaments, their own March Madness moments.” Kansas evaded a similar fate in making key plays down the stretch to send Creighton home. Michigan showed what getting an at-large bid can do for a program, upsetting Tennessee to reach the Sweet 16 – just a week after being a bubble team and unsure of hearing its name called on Selection Sunday. A look at all the winners and losers from Saturday’s slate of games. The Tar Heels were exhaling after nearly blowing a 25-point lead in their 93-86 overtime win against Baylor. While much of the storyline will center on the Bears‘ comeback – nearly the biggest comeback in NCAA Tournament history – two takeaways to note from coach Hubert Davis‘ team: The resolve to pull out the win in overtime and how incredible the Tar Heels looked for the first 30 minutes of this game. If Brady Manek doesn’t get ejected for a flagrant foul, he may have kept draining threes and UNC could have won by 30-plus – against a No.
