All games will be played Friday in St. Louis.
No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers (+4.5, 133.5)
Tennessee (27-8), and its all-everything Evan Turner, is the next team to take a crack at slowing down Ohio State (29-7) and try to use the Buckeyes’ lack of depth against them.
It’s been a while since anybody’s been able to do it and come out with a win.
Turner didn’t have to do much in the opening-round win over UC Santa Barbara. In his team’s 75-66 victory over Georgia Tech Sunday, he had 24 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, but also nine of his team’s 19 turnovers.
Clearly, Turner will be the focus of Tennessee’s defence. Expect Vols coach Bruce Pearl to throw all he has into making sure Turner doesn’t dominate. But the Buckeyes do have other players.
Jon Diebler, a 6-foot-6 junior guard, hit 11 3-pointers in the opening two rounds. He and David Lighty combined for 38 points against Georgia Tech, as OSU shot 49 percent overall.
The play of on-again, off-again guard J.P. Prince has been big for the Volunteers. In the team’s last 12 games, UT is 9-0 when the senior scores in double figures and 0-3 when he doesn’t. He had 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting in an 83-68 win over Ohio Saturday.
But the key for Tennessee will be the play of 6-foot-7 guard Scotty Hopson. He is the team’s leading scorer (12.5 ppg) but is also its best perimeter defender, and could get the task of slowing Turner.
We’re still waiting for a team to take advantage of the Buckeyes’ lack of depth. Three OSU starters played the full 40 minutes Sunday and the bench played a total of 15 minutes. Only 6-foot-8, 250-pound starting forward Dallas Lauderdale regularly gets rest.
If any team can do so, it may be the high-octane Vols. They went a solid nine deep in the win over Ohio.
But that was Georgia Tech’s plan, before OSU’s pressure on both ends got the Yellow Jackets in foul trouble and caused 21 turnovers.
Prediction: Ohio State 82, Tennessee 76
No. 5 Michigan State Spartans vs. No. 9 Northern Iowa Panthers (+1.5, 122.5)
This is a matchup of two teams that did what it took to get through to the Sweet 16 in the unpredictable Midwest. Northern Iowa (30-4) knocked off tournament favourite Kansas 69-67, while MSU (26-8) got a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by reserve guard Korie Lucious to stun Maryland 85-83.
Michigan State will be without its top player, point guard Kalin Lucas, who ruptured his Achilles on Sunday. Lucious takes his spot in the starting lineup.
Two big advantages for the Spartans: Few teams can hang on the boards with them. They rank No. 2 nationally in rebounding and held a 42-24 advantage over Maryland Sunday.
And few coaches get their teams better prepared for games than Tom Izzo, who has his Spartans in the Sweet 16 for the ninth times in 13 seasons.
Some more positive news for MSU, starting guard Chris Allen, who played just four minutes against Maryland (foot), expects to be at full speed by Friday. The team also hopes hobbling 6-foot-8 starting forward Delvon Roe (knee) will continue to improve as he heals.
Taking care of the ball has been an issue for MSU of late. The Spartans committed 19 turnovers against Maryland’s pressure defence, but UNI doesn’t press the ball the same way.
“We’re going to need everybody we have in uniform to step up,” Izzo said on Monday. “There were times we had two walk-ons, a freshman and a sophomore on the court Sunday and that probably won’t be the last time in the tournament. Northern Iowa is good, but thank God they’re not a team that presses like Maryland.”
No team is more confident than the Panthers. The current face of the NCAA Tournament is UNI guard Ali Farokhmanesh, who hit two 3-pointers to close out Kansas and UNLV.
The Panthers had just nine turnovers in the win over Kansas and they rank No. 2 in scoring defence, allowing only 54.8 ppg.
“We feel like we are a good team and can play with anyone,” said senior forward Adam Koch after the Kansas win. “We never doubted we could play with them at all.”
Seven-foot center Jordan Eglseder, the team’s leading scorer at 12 ppg, was a force in the two opening rounds. Michigan State doesn’t have that kind of height, although its center, freshman Derrick Nix (6-foot-8), is listed at the same weight (280 pounds) as Eglseder.
Both teams are physical and big and have good shooters. Two big questions the game will likely hinge on: How will Lucious do taking over at the point for the Spartans and will anyone for the Panthers be able to matchup with Spartans athletically strong forward Raymar Morgan?
Prediction: Michigan State 68, Northern Iowa 62