Oklahoma advances to Sweet 16, ends Dayton's NCAA run

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Oklahoma's hot start was fueled by its offense — specifically, the 3-pointer. The Sooners' finish — and a 72-66 victory against Dayton — was propelled by a defense that suddenly grew fangs.

Or maybe the Flyers, who were playing their sixth game in 10 days, finally ran out of gas. After grabbing a nine-point lead midway through the second half, they went more than nine minutes without scoring.

The Sooners, seeded No. 3 in the East region, advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009. Backed by a large, loud crowd at Nationwide Arena, which is 70 miles from their campus, Dayton shrugged off an early 12-point deficit and led by nine in the second half — but then faded.

Up 56-49 with 10:23 left, Dayton did not score again until 79 seconds remained. The stretch included three consecutive turnovers at one point. Scoochie Smith's twisting layup with 1:19 left ended a 13-0 run by Oklahoma.

BRACKET HUB:Sooners 72, Flyers 66

Seconds later, after a steal, the Flyers seemed set to cut the deficit to two points. But Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield raced back and blocked Darrell Davis' layup attempt.

"That was nice, huh?" said Hield, the Big 12's player of the year – and a guy known more for his offense. "The game could have gone either way. I messed up on offense, so I had to jump back and help my team out."

For Dayton, it meant the end of a grueling run — though to be fair, the three NCAA Tournament games were played at home, or very nearly so. After attrition including academic issues, midseason dismissals and injuries, the Flyers played much of the season with only six scholarship players, and with a seven-man rotation. When they earned an at-large berth in the bracket, then won twice, suddenly a run mimicking their journey last season to the Elite Eight seemed possible.

Instead, the Flyers faded in the final moments. Their fizzle was epitomized when, down 63-58 with 51.9 seconds left, Kendall Pollard airballed the front end of a one-and-one.

"Fatigue played a role," Dayton coach Archie Miller said.

But so did Oklahoma's defense.

As the Dayton pep band chanted, "Save your bracket! Save your bracket!" Oklahoma moved on to face Michigan State, the highest remaining seed in the East region after No. 1 Villanova and No. 2 Virginia were upset earlier.

Oklahoma's Lon Kruger is the second coach to lead four different schools to the Sweet 16, following Eddie Sutton.

"He's a Hall of Fame coach, and every place he's been he's done it the right way," Dayton coach Archie Miller said of Kruger. "And every place he's been they play so hard, they play together. I remember going to Arizona when he was at UNLV in these last couple of years and we played them. And he did the same thing there and Hall of Fame coach. A great guy, too."

The second half was a complete switch for Oklahoma. In the first half, when fueled by eight 3-pointers (and hitting seven of their first nine), the Sooners led by as many as 12 points. In the second half, they tried only five 3s, and hit just one.

Dayton's 12-0 run turned a three-point deficit into a 49-40 lead with a little more than 13 minutes left. But a couple of minutes later, the Sooners clamped down and the Flyers stopped scoring. After committing only five turnovers in the first half, Dayton had 10 in the second half — including three in a row as Oklahoma retook the lead. Back-to-back steals turned into easy points; Buddy Hield's layup with 5:54 left gave Oklahoma a 57-56 lead.

"I think everybody buckled down, took care of their assignments, helped each other a lot more," Oklahoma's Tashawn Thomas said. "I felt there were a lot of plays where it would be, like, one person had to help and the second person had to help, and the second help man was feeling like they didn't have to. That's when they kept on getting a lot of open shots. And I felt we did like the little extra things that just got us a little more stops and just being more physical through screens and stuff like that."

Oklahoma led 29-17 with 8:33 left in the first half. But Dayton's switch to a zone changed things. As the Sooners went scoreless for more than six minutes and 10 possessions, committing six turnovers, the Flyers scored 15 consecutive points, inciting the crowd. Darrell Davis' 3-pointer pushed them ahead 32-29 with 2:19 left before Oklahoma retook a 34-32 lead into halftime.

The zone helped take Oklahoma out of its offense; during that stretch, the Sooners largely stopped going inside. While most of their points had been scored from outside, many of the open shots came after penetration, or after passes from the Sooners' interior players.

Dayton, which saw its roster steadily decimated during the season, had been aiming for its second consecutive trip to a region semifinal.

"I'll remember this season for as long as I live regardless of how long I coach," Miller said. "There will never be a team of seven people duplicate what we did, win 27 games with six scholarship players, a freshman, three sophomores. It will never been done again."