As one would have expected, UNC came out in the second half to run away from 16 seed Iona.  However, the other two favorites were not as fortunate.

In Tulsa, the 11 seed Ohio State Buckeyes nursed a small lead through most of the second half – led behind Kaleb Wesson’s 21 points and Keyshawn Woods’ 19 points.

But the Cyclones had cut the lead to one at the last TV timeout, and Marial Shayot hit a jumper to give Iowa St a one point lead with a little under 4 minutes to play.  But Ohio State wouldn’t back down.  Woods came right back down the court and made a jumper of his own to regain the lead, and then hit a three-pointer from the corner to increase the lead to 4 points.

Iowa State continued to try to come back, and with 23 second left, Lindell Wigginton hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to one.  Then, Iowa State almost stole the inbounce pass.  Ohio State eventually got the ball into their best FT shooter on the court – and Keyshawn Woods was fouled and hit both FTs.  Still – it is only a 3 point game.

But the Buckeyes committed a foul trying to fight through a screen – sending the Cyclone’s star, Shayot, to the line.  And the 88 percent FT shooter missed the front end of the one-and-one, forcing Iowa State to foul Buckeye’s big man Kaleb Wesson.

Of course, Wesson can’t ice the game – he misses his FT as well, leaving it as a three point game.  Iowa State drove down the court, got the ball into Nick Weller-Babb for a decent look at a three-pointer, but the shot missed – Ohio State got the rebound and managed to quickly pass the ball out of the lane to burn the last couple of seconds off the clock.

The Buckeyes advance the Big 10’s record to 7-1 in this tournament, and become the Big 10’s third double digit seed to advance – where they will play #3 Houston on Sunday.

Meanwhile, as I typed this the UCF Knights finished off the local hometown VCU Rams 73-58, giving upset Friday another underdog a victory.

So, that leaves Virginia Tech as the only team left.  Unlike the other three top seeds in the late games, they came out strong, and have maintained a double digit lead.  Just 4 minutes left to hang on -and the Hokies will be the last team to advance to the Round of 32.