NCAA tournament roundup: Ohio State, Auburn are early winners

E.J. Liddell scored 16 points, Big Ten freshman of the year Malaki Branham added 14 and seventh-seeded Ohio State shut down 10th-seeded Loyola Chicago from start to finish, winning 54-41 in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday.

The Buckeyes (20-11) advanced to play either Villanova or Delaware on Sunday in the South Region while preventing another March run by the Ramblers (25-8), who shot 27% (15 of 56) from the floor.

Braden Norris led Loyola with 14 points, but star Lucas Williamson endured perhaps his worst game of the season. The winningest player in program history finished with four points on one-of-10 shooting and committed three turnovers as Loyola fell in the first round after reaching the Sweet 16 last season and the Final Four in 2018.

Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt, Loyola’s 102-year-old chaplain, led the Ramblers in a pregame prayer and took in the school’s third NCAA appearance in five years from the mezzanine but could only watch as Loyola — listed as a slight favorite by FanDuel Sportsbook, a nod to the program’s rise — fumbled away an opportunity to further cement its status as a mid-major power.

Ohio State came in having lost four of its last five games, including a baffling setback to lowly Penn State in the Big Ten tournament last week. The return of forward Kyle Young — who hadn’t played since March 8 due to a concussion — and Liddell’s steadiness helped the Buckeyes avoid a second straight early exit.

While Williamson and company frustrated Liddell — holding him without a field goal in the first half — Loyola could muster little offensive flow as the Buckeyes swallowed up the lane in a game that made up for in intensity what it lacked in aesthetics.

Every Loyola drive to the rim was contested and every loose ball — and there were plenty in an opening half in which the teams combined for as many turnovers as made baskets (15) — seemed to end with Ohio State heading the other way.

No. 2 Auburn 80, No. 15 Jacksonville State 61

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Freshman Jabari Smith had 20 points and 14 rebounds as second-seeded Auburn pulled away from Jacksonville State late in the first half to win its 10th straight NCAA tournament opener 80-61 Friday.

Walker Kessler, Smith’s partner in the paint, finished a block shy of a triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and nine blocks.

The Tigers (28-5) will face either seventh-seeded USC or 10th-seeded Miami on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet 16.

If Smith, the potential high NBA lottery pick, plays like he did Friday, Auburn will be hard to slow down.

Smith had four three-pointers, a couple from far behind the line. He ended his first tournament game with an emphatic, right-handed slam with just more than a minute to go as teammate Wendell Green Jr. covered his face in disbelief.

Auburn was on target from the outside. K.D. Johnson ended his shooting slump — he was 0-14 in a Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinal loss to Texas A&M — and had 10 points and a couple of threes during a 17-3 that put the Tigers in control in the first half.

Jalen Gibbs, Division I’s fifth-leading three-point shooter coming in, hit his third long-range shot of the half to put the Gamecocks up 24-22 about six minutes before the break. That’s when the Tigers got going.