(AP) – In what may have been his last game as
Tennessee’s coach, Bruce Pearl watched his Volunteers get thumped
by Michigan 75-45 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Zack Novak scored 14 points, including two 3-pointers in a
decisive spurt to start the second half of this West regional game
in Charlotte.

 

The loss was the eighth in 12 games for the Volunteers (19-15),
and Pearl’s future is in question after his athletic director
recently said “the jury is still out” on whether Pearl will
return.

Freshman Tristan Thompson had 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven
blocks as fourth-seeded Texas outlasted 13th-seeded Oakland 85-81.
The Longhorns led by 15 with less than 5 minutes remaining but the
Golden Grizzlies cut the lead to 80-75 with 1:23 left. Texas then
hit five free throws in the final minute to hold on for the win.
Reggie Hamilton scored 25 to lead Oakland.
Texas moves on to play the winner of Arizona and Memphis in
Sunday’s third round.

In a Southwest regional game in Chicago, Ben Hansbrough scored
15 points and Tim Abromaitis added 14 as second-seeded Notre Dame
fought off Akron for a 69-56 second-round victory.
The Irish move on to face the winner of this afternoon’s game
between Texas A&M and Florida State.

George Mason defeated Villanova 61-57 in a thriller in
Cleveland. The Patriots, out of the Colonial Athletic Association,
face the winner of this afternoon’s Ohio State and Texas-San
Antonio game.

In the East, No. 2 seed North Carolina meets Long Island
University at 7:15 p.m. Eastern. Then it’s Xavier against
Marquette, Washington versus Georgia and Syracuse against the
Sycamores of Indiana State.
The top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks start the night session with a
6:50 p.m. tip-off in Tulsa against Boston University in a Southwest
regional game. The winner of that contest plays the UNLV-Illinois
winner on Sunday.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)