The top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes thrashed the overmatched UT-San Antonio Roadrunners 75-46 on Friday night, advancing to the third round of the tournament for a matchup against the George Mason Patriots.

The Buckeyes were led by William Buford, who scored a team high 18 points while chipping in six rebounds and five assists. He did all of this despite sitting the last eight minutes of the game, which was getting out of hand when coach Matta pulled him and some of the other starters.

Buford talked about his performance after the game, “My teammates, they were giving me the ball and shots were open, so I was just taking good shots and knocking them down.”

Success was shared for an Ohio State team that set an NCAA Tournament record by assisting on 26 of their 29 made baskets. The previous record of 21 was broken before the starters left the court with eight minutes to play. It was a great overall performance from the Buckeyes as they shot a blistering 55% from the field (29-52) while connecting on 12 of their 24 3-pointers.

“I think we really did a good job of moving the ball,” senior Jon Diebler said. “[We’re] very unselfish. That’s how we’ve been playing all year, and that’s how we plan on playing the rest of the year.”

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Four games will be played at “The Q” today (Friday, March 18), each a second round matchup in the East region of the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State headlines a group of great basketball teams that include Syracuse, Xavier, George Mason and Villanova. The action tips off just after 2:00 and won’t end until midnight, and here’s a brief preview of the games that are on tap.

(8) George Mason  (9) Villanova     2:10 PM EST

Villanova started the year on an absolute tear, going 16-1 and climbing to No. 7 in the Coaches poll. On January 17, they were in a close matchup with the No. 8 UConn Huskies. With the game knotted up at 59, UConn’s Kemba Walker drove the lane and hit a 10-foot floater that handed the Wildcats their second loss of the season. Nova looked like they had bounced back by beating No. 3 Syracuse the next game, but the Wildcats fell apart down the stretch -- losing nine of their last 13 games. They enter their matchup with George Mason on a five game losing streak and although no one is too high on them, the Wildcats feel that they’re finally healthy enough after their team suffered key injuries to make a run in the tournament.

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The Ohio State Buckeyes won their second consecutive conference tournament championship on Sunday afternoon, beating the Penn State Nittany Lions 71-60.

The Buckeyes had an easy road to the championship game, taking down Northwestern before handling Michigan on Saturday. It was supposed to get difficult for Ohio State in the title game where they were expected to meet up with Purdue, Wisconsin, or maybe even Michigan State if they got hot. None of those teams survived the surprising Penn State Nittany Lions, who defeated Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan State on their way to the championship game.

The Nittany Lions were able to keep it close in the first half, but things started slipping away from them with about a minute to go before intermission. Momentum was going the way of Penn State before Ohio State scored four quick, unanswered points. Taylor Battle hit two free throws to momentarily stop the bleeding, but with nine seconds on the clock, Ohio State was able to advance the ball and Dielber drilled a 3-pointer over two Penn State defenders.

"It was a huge momentum boost, especially because I thought we defended him pretty well," Battle said of Diebler’s shot. "We were scrambling, I was right there in his face, and he just knocked it in. It took the lead from three to six and gave them a little momentum going into the half."

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Ohio State was in a close battle with Michigan in the conference semifinals, leading the Wolverines 47-45 with just under 10 minutes to play. After 30 minutes of competitive basketball, the Buckeyes took over the game with an 18-3 run, eventually beating Michigan 68-61.

William Buford was a huge reason for Ohio State’s run late in the game. After a timeout was called, Buford was pushed and got in a scuffle with Michigan’s Jordan Morgan. With Ohio State already pulling away from the Wolverines, Buford assisted on Ohio State’s next basket and then scored six straight points to blow the game wide open.

"That kind of ticked me off,” Buford said after the game. “I'm not gonna lie, it made me more aggressive."

The Buckeyes looked to be in complete control with a 17 point lead and just under two minutes to play, but Michigan was able to make things interesting down the stretch. The Wolverines scored an incredible 13 unanswered points in 80 seconds, cutting Ohio State’s lead to four before the Buckeyes put the game away at the free throw line.

After ending the regular season with four blowouts, Ohio State coach Thad Matta was asked about the impact two close tournament games could have on his team, “We've been in a lot of tight basketball games throughout the course of the season, and I think our guys have a pretty good understanding, appreciation of what it takes to play through those.” He later added, “I think our guys for the most part have done a very good job of handling the situation that has been thrown at them.”

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