2011 NCAA Tournament Round Three: Marquette Upsets Syracuse While OSU Dominates Goerge Mason

Earlier, No. 11 VCU won in dominant fashion over No. 3 Purdue. Apparently, No. 3 seeds losing to No. 11 seeds was a trend. Immediately following VCU’s victory, Marquette took it to Big East rival Syracuse and defeated them 66-62 in Cleveland, OH.

Darius Johnson-Odom scored 17 points on 7-15 shooting. Jae Crowder had 16 points, 6 rebounds, and was 7-8 from the charity stripe.

Though Marquette shot only 40% from the field, they got to the free throw line. The Golden Eagles attempted 23 free throws and made 18 of them. Contrast this with Syracuse who attempted only seven free throws. Syracuse shot 56% from the floor, but had 19 costly turnovers. They also committed 21 fouls, leading to the before-mentioned 23 free throws.

Marquette moves on to the Sweet Sixteen where they will face North Carolina.

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The Buckeyes have come alive and are playing their best basketball at just the right time, dominating the George Mason Patriots from nearly start to finish. Mason took an early lead in the game of 11-2, but from that point forward they were completely unable to stop Ohio State's offense.

Even the lopsided score of 98-66 does not indicate how in control of this game Ohio State was. The Bucks had reached 90 points with five minutes to play, and pulling the starters and stopping short of putting triple digits on the Patriots. Had Thad Matta not called off the dogs, OSU could have easily put up 120.

With nearly 100 points to go around, there were no shortage of stellar stat lines for the Ohio State box. David Lighty scored 25 points, going 7-7 from three point distance, and was complemented by an 18 point and 9 rebound performance from Jared Sullinger, an 18 point and 6 rebound day from William Buford, and an additional 13 points from Jon Diebler.

This is clearly one of the most dominating performances seen all weekend, and reinforced the position of Ohio State as the No.1 overall seed, and the team with the best shot at winning the national title. Ohio State will face a very talented Kentucky team next weekend in the Sweet Sixteen.

Ohio State got off to a slightly slow start in today’s 2011 NCAA Tournament third round game in Cleveland.

Emphasis on slightly.

The Buckeyes trailed 11-2 early on, but have since outscored the Patriots 50-15 to open up a 52-26 halftime lead. Ohio State has shot 63% from the field and 75% (9 of 12) from 3-point land as they have thoroughly taken control off the game. David Lighty has 17 points already for the Buckeyes, including a perfect 5 for 5 from three-point range. Jared Sullinger has added 13 points and seven rebounds while facing little challenge in the paint.

Basically, everything Ohio State has done, it has done it exceptionally well since George Mason’s opening spurt. The Patriots are shooting only 38.5% from the field and have already committed 10 turnovers. Luke Hancock, who had a team high 18 points in Friday’s win over Villanova, has not played so far. He is listed as being out with food poisoning, but he may play in the second half. Ryan Pearson has scored nine points for George Mason.

Ohio State has also gotten nine points from Jon Diebler, who has connected on three three-pointers, including one just before halftime that doubled George mason’s total.

The defending national champions survived, but just barely. The Duke Blue Devils struggled to stop a furious comeback by the Michigan Wolverines in their West Region 3rd round game in Charlotte on Sunday. Duke held on for a 73-71 victory over the Wolverines, who lack a senior on the roster. Darius Morris missed a tying jumper with five seconds left as the Wolverines came back from as many as 14 down in the second half.

Morris had 16 points to lead the Wolverines, who placed five players in double figures. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 15 points for Michigan, including a late 3-pointer that cut the Duke lead to one with a minute and a half to play. Kyrie Irving answered with a short jumper to put Duke back up by three, but Morris scored with 10 seconds left to make it 72-71 in favor of Duke.

Michigan’s final chance came when Nolan Smith hit one of two free throws with nine seconds left to push the lead to two. Michigan quickly brought the ball up the floor, but Morris was unable to convert and Smith corralled the rebound to run out the clock. Smith led all scorers with 24 points on the day.

The defending National Champions are not having an easy time in their third round game against a young but talented Michigan squad. The Wolverines, who appeared to be very much out of the picture when they started the Big Ten season 1-6, are giving Duke all they can handle in the first half of their West Region third round game. The Blue Devils lead 37-33 at halftime behind 10 points from Kyle Singler.

Michigan has been able to stay close thanks to 11 points from Evan Smotrycz off the bench. he has provided a spark while Darius Morris has been held to four points. Zack Novak also has nine points for Michigan, who is trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1994 when they reached the Elite 8 before losing to eventual National champion Arkansas.

The Blue Devils hold the lead because of torrid near 60% shooting from the field. Duke also holds a substantial 17-8 edge on the glass, but they have six turnovers. Kyrie Irving and Nolan Smith each have seven points for the defending champions.

The winner will advance to face Kentucky in the West Region semifinals, who defeated West Virginia yesterday to reach the Sweet 16.

Be sure to grab an updated 2011 NCAA Tournament printable bracket.

For more on the 2011 NCAA tournament, stay tuned to this StoryStream on SB Nation Indiana. Browse our 300 team blogs for a community devoted to your school, and visit our NCAA basketball hub for more on the NCAA tournaments.

The North Carolina Tar Heels managed to do something few teams have been able to do all season: Slow down Washington Huskies guard Isaiah Thomas.

Thomas was 5-15 from the field and 0-2 from three-point range as his Huskies were unable to upset the No. 2 seeded Tar Heels. UNC moves on to the Sweet Sixteen. Though Thomas had trouble finding his shot, he did dish out eight assists. Still, UNC did enough to win 86-83.

Washington players Terrence Ross and Matthew Bryan-Amaning chipped in with 19 and 14 points, respectively. Both shot well from the field (over 50%). Bryan-Amaning also pulled down nine boards while Ross was 3-5 from downtown.

UNC's Harrison Barnes and Tyler Zellers scored 22 and 23 points, respectively. Zellers was 7-7 from the charity stripe.

Be sure to grab an updated 2011 NCAA Tournament printable bracket.

For more on the 2011 NCAA tournament, stay tuned to this StoryStream on SB Nation Indiana. Browse our 300 team blogs for a community devoted to your school, and visit our NCAA basketball hub for more on the NCAA tournaments.