Baylor advances, Sister Jean and the Ramblers topple Illini
— Upset-minded: No. 11, 12 & 15 seeds reach Sweet Sixteen

03/22/2021

No. 1-seed Baylor knocked off No. 9 Wisconsin in businesslike fashion, 76-63, but the story of day was Loyola-Chicago’s complete domination of in-state rival and top-seeded Illinois. Who doubts Sister Jean and the Ramblers on a Sunday?

But that wasn’t the day’s only drama. Of course it wasn’t. No. 15-seed Oral Roberts kept dancing with an 81-78 upset of Florida, No. 11 seed Syracuse got past No. 3 West Virginia and 12-seed Oregon State raced past Oklahoma State just past midnight. It was the first time in NCAA Tournament history that three teams seeded 11 or lower advanced to the Sweet Sixteen on the same day.

Loyola led wire-to-wire at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in a no-doubt destruction of the highly ranked Illini. Cameron Krutwig finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and five assists to pace Loyola. The Ramblers outshot and outrebounded Illinois, they never trailed and led by as many as 14 while advancing to the Sweet Sixteen.

Davion Mitchell scored 16 points and spearheaded a dominant defense as top-seeded Baylor avoided chances of any upset by ninth-seed Wisconsin, beating the Badgers 76-63 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Oral Roberts’ 15th-seeded Golden Eagles erased a double-digit deficit to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1974.

In the final game of the night, 12th-seeded Oregon State scored a second straight upset by downing No. 4-seed Oklahoma State, 80-70, at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Beavers led 40-22 in the first half and allowed the Cowboys within 70-67 before scoring 10 of the game’s last 13 points.

Buddy Boeheim scored 22 of his 25 points in the second half to lead the No. 11-seed Syracuse Orange past third-seeded West Virginia, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Rutgers led 27-24 at intermission and grew its lead to 10 with 8:45 to play. But second-seeded Houston scored 14 of 16 down the stretch. Tramon Mark’s three-point play gave the Cougars their first lead of the half with 24 seconds to play, 61-60. After an RU turnover and two more free throws, Ronald Harper’s 3-point try with three seconds left bounded off the rim.

Third-seeded Arkansas advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1996 while besting Texas Tech 68-66. Kyler Edwards’ contested layup with two seconds to play missed the mark to preserve the Razorback win.

Villanova led 47-27 at halftime and No. 13-seed North Texas never got closer than 15 points in the second half in a game played at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

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