NCAA: Xavier, Cornell, West Virginia all opening up big leads in the second half

NCAA: So much for close games on Day 2

Xavier has its largest lead over Minnesota (55-44), Cornell has its largest lead over Temple (63-48), and West Virginia is blowing out Morgan State (70-38). So much for more close games after a terrific slate on Thursday.

Temple may rue the NCAA selection committee for sticking it with 12th-seeded Cornell in the opening round of the tournament. The Owls haven’t lost since traveling to Richmond on Feb. 6, a span of 10 games, although several of them were close.

The Big Red has extended their lead to a game-high 15 points, 63-48 with 10½ minutes to go. Coach Steve Donohue is giving his big guys a break before the final push to the buzzer.

Jordan Crawford isn’t the only Musketeer with some moves. Mark Lyons scored his first bucket of the game on a layup after a nice spin move around Blake Hoffarber, and Xavier leads 52-44 with 7:33 remaining.

There are a lot of fans who made the short trip from the Twin Cities to Milwaukee, and they’re not getting a whole lot to cheer about aside from Lawrence Westbrook. He has 15 points, while the next highest scorer for the Gophers has six.

Jordan Crawford is trying to add his name to BYU’s Jimmer Fredette as potential breakout stars of the NCAA tournament. The Xavier swingman has 20 points on 8 of 17 shooting as its lead over Minnesota remains 47-42.

Crawford sat out last season after transferring from Indiana. The Detroit native’s older brother Joe played for Kentucky and was drafted by the Lakers.

Cornell continues to lead Temple 54-44, and Ivy League alums everywhere are preparing to rejoice. No school from the league has won an NCAA tournament game since 1998, when Princeton stuck around for the weekend.

Temple fans are cheering “Ole, Ole, Ole” every time Juan Fernandez, a guard from Argentina, scores. It’s been about the only thing the Owls have to cheer about in Jacksonville, Fla.

Fernandez has 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting.

Cornell and Temple both have short benches, and it will be interesting to see who has legs left as the game (and tournament) press on. Subs in the game have combined for just eight of the two teams’ 80 combined points with about 18 minutes left.

Ryan Wittman is heating up — and his mom is standing and cheering — after consecutive 3s gave the Big Red a 46-34 lead.

What do the following teams have in common: Cornell, BYU, Marquette, Utah State and Saint Mary’s? They’re the best 3-point shooting teams in the nation, and they’re all in the NCAA tournament. Marquette is the only team to go down so far, falling to Washington on a buzzer-beater Thursday night.

Hot shooting usually lasts only so long, though.

West Virginia has found the soft spot in the Morgan State zone, and it happens to be in the paint. They have a 26-10 advantage there behind Kevin Jones, Devin Ebanks and Da’Sean Butler driving to the basket.

The Mountaineers have also ratcheted up their shooting percentage above 45 percent.

The Mountaineers are a trendy pick to win the national championship, but keep in mind that No. 2 seeds haven’t always had a lot of success. Only one (Michigan State) has even reached the Final Four the past two years.

The last No. 2 seed to win the title was UConn in 2004, when it beat third-seeded Georgia Tech. Kentucky won as a No. 2 in 1998, but you have to go back to Louisville in 1986 to find the next team to win from the second line of the bracket.

Xavier has dominated the offensive glass, 16-6, against Minnesota. It’s surprising since the Musketeers are a smaller team, but not as much when you consider the foul trouble that has plagued the Golden Gophers’ big men.

West Virginia is starting to put away Morgan State after a sluggish start, and doing so on the offensive end. The Mountaineers already have 10 offensive boards, a category in which they led the nation this season.

Da’Sean Butler is finally finding his stroke, but Kevin Jones and Devin Ebanks are the guys who are making everything move.

Cornell shot 68 percent in the first half to lead 37-29 at the break over fifth-seeded Temple. The Big Red are balanced on offense, too. Louis Dale has 11 points, and Ryan Wittman and Jeff Foote have scored nine each.

By the way, they’re not just hot from the field: Cornell is 9 of 10 from the foul line.

Everybody likes to joke about the dreaded 5-12 matchups, especially after fifth-seeded Butler easily handled UTEP on Thursday. But Temple is giving fellow No. 5 seeds Michigan State and Texas A&M something sobering to think about before their games later Friday.

Lawrence Westbrook has 15 first-half points for the Golden Gophers, who are tied with sixth-seeded Xavier 26-all at the break. Westbrook has drained three 3-pointers and is 6 of 9 from the field.

Xavier finished the half with six assists to only one turnover, numbers that would make any basketball purist proud. Too bad the Musketeers are 9 of 41 from the field (22 percent).

Minnesota has gone with a small lineup with its big guys riding the bench with two fouls each, and it seems to be working out. Blake Hoffarber knocked down a 3, and the quicker Gophers are hitting the offensive glass late in the first half.

There’s something about those big guys today. Xavier’s Jason Love also headed to the bench after picking up his second foul.

Xavier has turned the ball over only once in the first half, but only leads 22-19 with 2½ minutes to go in the first half. The Gophers have turned it over five times, and all three of their big men are in foul trouble. Uh-oh.

Tubby Smith finally put 6-foot-10 Colton Iverson and 6-11 Ralph Sampson III in the game together, something Gopher fans have been clamoring for all season. It didn’t last long, though, with Iverson taking a seat after picking up his second foul.

Sampson also has two fouls, which could spell trouble in the second half.

Cornell, the best 3-point shooting team in the country, missed its first four shots from behind the arc against Temple. Both teams have been good from the field overall, though.

The Big Red led 27-18 with 5½ minutes left on the strength of 10 of 15 shooting, and did not miss a shot from inside the arc for 16 minutes. Temple, meanwhile, is 8 of 16 from the floor.

Da’Sean Butler is just 1 for 6 in the first half for West Virginia, one of the reasons that Morgan State hasn’t been blown out by halftime. The Mountaineers lead 38-27 at the break, with Kevin Jones and Devin Ebanks going 9 of 12 from the field for 23 points.

Lawrence Westbrook scored seven points as Minnesota rattled off a 9-0 run, giving the Gophers a 17-15 lead with 7:48 left in first half.

Westbrook is the cousin of former Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook, who is probably watching the game somewhere. A few teams have expressed interest in the free agent, but he’s yet to sign anywhere.

Kevin Jones is still perfect from the field, 5 for 5 for 11 points, and also has pulled down four first-half rebounds for West Virginia. Morgan State scored the first 10 points, but has been outscored 26-11 since then.

Cornell has opened by hitting 9 of 11 shots from the field, while Temple has nearly as many turnovers (four) as field goals (five). The Big Red had a 22-11 lead before Juan Fernandez — the only guy shooting for Temple — knocked down a 3.

The Gophers have gone the last 5 minutes without a field goal since Ralph Sampson’s reverse hook at 16:43. And in case you were wondering, yes, it’s that Ralph Sampson. His father was the first overall pick in the 1983 NBA Draft and a four-time All-Star.

___There are a couple of streaks to keep an eye on in the Temple-Cornell game. Owls coach Fran Dunphy’s teams have lost 10 straight NCAA games and are 1-11 overall, while Cornell is 0-5 with quick exits the past two seasons under Steve Donahue.

Ryan Wittman is the star for Cornell, and has the Big Red out to a 19-11 lead at the second media timeout.

Kevin Jones is keeping the Mountaineers in the game against Morgan State. He’s 4 for 4 from the field and has nine of their 14 points. Jones averages only 13.5 per game.

Xavier is off to a rocky start. With 4 minutes gone, the Musketeers are 2 of 8 from the field and leading scorer Jordan Crawford has missed his first two shots.

Crawford is the guy who became an internet sensation when his YouTube dunk over LeBron James went viral.

Royce White was dismissed from the team, Trevor Mbakwe is sitting out during a criminal investigation, and Al Nolen is out because of academics. And yet Minnesota still reached the NCAA tournament against No. 6 seed Xavier in the West Regional.

The Gophers have an early 8-6 lead over the A-10 heavyweight.

Among the intriguing plot lines in the Temple-Cornell game is the matchup between the Owls’ Fran Dunphy, a candidate for national coach of the year, and Cornell’s Steve Donahue — Dunphy’s former pupil.

Devin Ebanks finally hits West Virginia’s first field goal after 11 straight misses, just before the second media timeout. Morgan State still leads 14-5.

This game could come down to who can make jump shots. The Bears are in a 2-3 zone to cover the court against better athletes, while West Virginia coach Bob Huggins will stick with his vaunted 1-3-1 zone.

Leave it to Da’Sean Butler to finally get West Virginia on the board with one of two free throws at 14:36 of the first half. Still, the Mountaineers are 0 for 10 from the field.

Most of the West Virginia lineup is back from last year’s team that lost to Dayton in the first round of the NCAA tournament. That could begin to weigh on their minds if the game remains close in the second half.

Morgan State has scored the first 10 points against the Mountaineers, bringing up the question: Can the Big East really lose another first-round game?

West Virginia can’t afford to get behind by too much, either. It shoots only 43.7 percent from the field, making it difficult to fight back into a game.

Todd Bozeman finally gets the feeling of the NCAA tournament again, now that Morgan State has tipped off against second-seeded West Virginia. He was banned by the NCAA for eight years after he admitted to paying a recruit while coaching at California, where he led those Bears to three tournament appearances.

Already Reggie Holmes has knocked down a 3 for the Bears’ first basket. He’s the school’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Marvin Webster earlier this season.

Minnesota came out for its shootaround before playing sixth-seeded Xavier in Milwaukee wearing shirts that say “RESPECT” on the back.

The Gophers have won seven of their last 10 games to play their way into the first round, but lost to Ohio State by 29 in the Big Ten tournament finals.

Cornell forward Alex Tyler has his right calf heavily taped for the Temple game in the East Regional. He practiced Thursday for the first time in two weeks, then said, “They’ll have to kill me to keep me off the court.”

The opening day of the NCAA tournament shocked the Big East — three teams lost and another won in overtime. It thrilled double-digit seeds — three of them won. And it wore out fans with three games going overtime, including BYU’s 99-92 double-overtime win against Florida.

Can the second day live up to the madness?

Things get started with Morgan State and West Virginia in the East Regional, followed by Minnesota-Xavier in the West and the game a lot of folks are keeping an eye on: fifth-seeded Temple against No. 12 seed Cornell, two teams that most people consider under-seeded.

Let the games begin.