NCAA Scores 2015: Tournament Results Tracker for Saturday's 3rd-Round Bracket
The 2015 NCAA tournament continues on Saturday with the first eight games of the third round. While the round of 64 featured mostly top seeds advancing, especially on Friday, there were still some upsets to remind us that March Madness is in the air.
Kentucky, the top overall seed and clear favorite to cut down the nets in Indianapolis, highlights the day's action. The Wildcats cruised past Hampton in their first game, but the opponents are going to get progressively tougher starting with Cincinnati.
As they continue their pursuit of perfection, there are 31 other teams with championship dreams. Let's check out the schedule and results for Saturday's games, followed by the bracket and a recap. The information will be updated throughout the day.
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Saturday's Round 3 Games
| 12:10 p.m. | No. 11 UCLA | No. 14 UAB | 92-75, UCLA |
| 2:40 p.m. | No. 1 Kentucky | No. 8 Cincinnati | 64-51, Kentucky |
| 5:15 p.m. | No. 2 Arizona | No. 10 Ohio State | 73-58, Arizona |
| 6:10 p.m. | No. 6 Xavier | No. 14 Georgia State | 75-67, Xavier |
| 7:10 p.m. | No. 1 Villanova | No. 8 NC State | 71-68, NC State |
| 7:45 p.m. | No. 4 Georgetown | No. 5 Utah | 75-64, Utah |
| 8:40 p.m. | No. 4 North Carolina | No. 5 Arkansas | 87-78, North Carolina |
| 9:40 p.m. | No. 3 Notre Dame | No. 6 Butler | 67-64, Notre Dame |
2015 NCAA Tournament Bracket
Day 5 Recap
No. 3 Notre Dame 67, No. 6 Butler 64 (OT)
Notre Dame's Steve Vasturia is generally thought of as a solid defensive player first and foremost. Against Butler, however, he brought his A-game on both ends of the court.
Vasturia led Notre Dame with 20 points and added six rebounds, while Jerian Grant (16 points, five rebounds, five assists) and Demetrius Jackson (13 points) also came up huge for the team. Notre Dame had a slew of heroes, however, like Pat Connaughton, who blocked a Butler shot attempt with two seconds remaining, or Zach Auguste, who overcame two costly turnovers in regulation with a huge block and rebound in overtime.
Roosevelt Jones (23 points, five rebounds) and Andrew Chrabascz (20 points, three steals) did everything they could to will Butler to victory, but the Bulldogs simply came up a bit short.
Notre Dame now awaits the winner of No. 2 Kansas versus No. 7 Wichita State in the Sweet 16.
No. 4 North Carolina 87, No. 5 Arkansas 78
North Carolina won the battle, but did it lose the war?
Despite knocking off Arkansas on Saturday behind a vintage performance from Marcus Paige (22 points, six rebounds, five steals), the Tar Heels also watched big man Kennedy Meeks limp off the court in the second half with a knee injury.
If Meeks is out for the tournament, North Carolina will have a tough time advancing past the Sweet 16, where the winner of Wisconsin vs. Oregon awaits.
Michael Qualls (27 points, 10 rebounds) and Bobby Portis (18 points, 14 rebounds, five steals) did everything in their power to advance Arkansas, but the Razorbacks simply didn't have the firepower to stick with the Tar Heels.
No. 5 Utah 75, No. 4 Georgetown 64
Basketball may be a team sport, but individuals can take over a game like in few other sports. On Saturday night, however, Utah didn't need any one player to go above and beyond. They simply beat Georgetown by playing as a balanced, defensively sound team.
Delon Wright (12 points, five rebounds, five assists) showed why he is a star, while Brandon Taylor led the team with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three and Dallin Bachynski (nine points, eight rebounds) played a key role off the bench.
Jakob Poeltl (12 points), Dakarai Tucker (11 points, five rebounds) and Jordan Loveridge (10 points) also came up big for the Utes, who shot 57.9 percent from the field (8-of-14 from beyond the arc) got to the line 32 times, making 23.
Georgetown made six of their first 10 three-pointers but couldn't keep that pace going. L.J. Peak led the Hoyas with 18 points.
Utah will next face the winner of Duke vs. San Diego State.
No. 8 NC State 71, No. 1 Villanova 68
For the second year in a row, Villanova has been a top-two seed that failed to advance past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. Last year, it was eventual champions UConn that knocked them out of the round of 32. This year, it was NC State that pulled off the upset of the tournament thus far.
Really, it was the combination Abdul-Malik Abu (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Lennard Freeman (11 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks) down low and Trevor Lacey on the perimeter (17 points, six rebounds, four assists) that did in the Wildcats.
It didn't help that 'Nova shot just 9-of-28 from beyond the arc, or that Daniel Ochefu shot 1-of-7 from the field and Dylan Ennis was 0-of-6 from three. Darrun Hilliard II did everything he could to keep the Wildcats in the game, pouring in 27 points and draining six three-pointers, but despite a furious second-half rally the No. 1 seed just never had enough answers for NC State.
The Wolfpack now await the winner of No. 4 Louisville vs. No. 5 Northern Illinois.
No. 6 Xavier 75, No. 14 Georgia State 67
It's hard to know how many injured limbs Georgia State head coach Ron Hunter might have accumulated if his Panthers were able to go on a deep Cinderella run at this year's tourney. Xavier wasn't going to give America the chance to find out.
Jalen Reynolds (21 points, six rebounds) and Myles Davis (17 points) came off the bench to spark the Musketeers past the Panthers in their round-of-32 matchup. R.J. Hunter did all he could to get the Panthers through, scoring 20 points and adding five assists, but the run for Georgia State ended on Saturday.
Ron Hunter, of course, needed a scooter on the sideline after injuring his leg in the team's play-in game, a scooter he promptly fell off of when his son, R.J. Hunter, hit a deep three to advance Georgia State past Baylor in the round of 64. It was one of the moments of the tournament, and both father and son became national darlings after the performance.
Xavier didn't much care for any of that. The Musketeers could be facing their own demise on Thursday, however, as they'll face an Arizona team that looked very impressive against Ohio State earlier in the evening.
No. 2 Arizona 73, No. 10 Ohio State 58
D'Angelo Russell was able to will Ohio State past VCU in the round of 64. He wasn't able to repeat the feat against Arizona.
The Wildcats held Russell to just nine points on 3-of-19 shooting from the field, and the other Buckeyes weren't able to pick up their star on Saturday. Sam Thompson led the way with 18 points, but it wasn't enough to get past the balanced, athletic and defensively sound Wildcats.
T.J. McConnell (19 points, six rebounds, six assists), Gabe York (19 points) and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (11 points, 10 rebounds, five assists) led the way for Arizona, who certainly looked the part of a Final Four contender against Ohio State.
Arizona will now face Xavier in the Sweet 16.
No. 1 Kentucky 64, No. 8 Cincinnati 51
Two games down, four games away from become legends.
Kentucky's unbeaten season remained intact on Saturday, as the Wildcats played far from their best basketball but were still able to pull away from a scrappy Cincinnati side in the second half. They also made some history in the process, as SportsCenter on Twitter noted:
Aaron Harrison (13 points) paced Kentucky's balanced attack and Trey Lyles (11 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks) was brilliant, while Troy Caupain (13 points) and Octavius Ellis (nine points, 10 rebounds) led the Bearcats.
Despite getting just a combined 17 points from big men Willie Cauley-Stein and Karl-Anthony Towns—and shooting just 37.0 percent from the field as a team and 4-of-15 from beyond the arc—Kentucky used its depth and length to survive in this one, swatting away nine shots.
The Dan Le Batard Show's Twitter page detailed what the Bearcats were up against every time they tried to shoot:
Still, Kentucky showed some weaknesses in the game, per Tim Brando of Fox Sports:
Indeed, the Bearcats were within striking distance of Kentucky for much of the game and trailed just 35-32 with 15:38 remaining. That's when Kentucky turned on the afterburners, however, and the Bearcats simply didn't have the second gear to match.
The Wildcats will face the winner of Sunday's Maryland vs. West Virginia matchup on Thursday.
No. 11 UCLA 92, No. 14 UAB 75 (South)
UCLA, a highly controversial choice by the selection committee, is now heading to the Sweet 16 after dispatching UAB. The Blazers upset Iowa State in their opening game but could never find that same type of rhythm on Saturday.
Bruins head coach Steve Alford defended his team and its resume before the tournament. He said one lopsided loss to Kentucky altered the outside perception. He felt it belonged in the Big Dance based on its entire body of work, as Jennie Rees of The Courier-Journal noted.
"It's been kind of funny to us," Alford said. "It's UCLA. The history and tradition of UCLA in this tournament goes way, way back. But there are other teams, if you look at resumes and RPI, that were behind us. It's not like we were the last one in."
UCLA edged SMU on Thursday and put together another solid overall performance to eliminate a potential Cinderella story in UAB. Tony Parker led the way with 28 points, while Bryce Alford chipped in 22. Robert Brown had 25 for the losing side.
ESPN Stats & Info had more on what UCLA accomplished with the victory:
The Bruins advance to face the winner of Sunday's game between No. 2 Gonzaga and No . 7 Iowa. They are playing well enough right now, perhaps with the help of that collective chip on their shoulder following the criticism, to give either of those teams a serious test next week.
If nothing else, UCLA has proved worthy of its spot in the tournament.
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