March Madness: 2nd-seed Duke dances past No. 11 Syracuse into Elite Eight

Duke found a way to crack Syracuse's zone defence, and now the Blue Devils are back in the Elite Eight for the first time since the 2015 team won it all.

Freshman Marvin Bagley III turned in a giant second-half effort, and second-seeded Duke held off the 11th-seeded Orange in a 69-65 chess match of a victory in the Midwest Region semifinals Friday night.

All that talk about busted brackets and the maddest March ever — not happening in the Midwest.

The win by Duke (29-7) set up a 1 vs. 2 showdown against Kansas, which also escaped with a four-point win earlier against Clemson.

Syracuse (23-14), the last at-large team invited to the tournament, saw its unlikely run to the Sweet 16 end — unable to overcome 16 turnovers against a Mike Krzyzewski-designed zone that was every bit as pesky as Jim Boeheim's vaunted 2-3.

Bagley scored 13 of his 22 points and had all eight of his rebounds in the second half. Seven of those boards were on the offensive end and led to second-chance baskets.

Texas Tech tops Purdue

Texas Tech is headed to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history.

Keenan Evans had 16 points and the third-seeded Red Raiders overcame an early first half hole and dominated second-seeded Purdue down the stretch to earn a 78-65 victory in the Sweet 16 on Friday night.

Texas Tech will play top seed Villanova in the East regional final Sunday.

Zach Smith added 14 points and five rebounds.

Texas Tech trailed by as many as 7 points in the first half. But it closed the period on a 10-0 run to take a 30-25 halftime advantage. Purdue got it down to 1 early in the second but the Red Raiders never surrendered the lead.

Carsen Edwards led Purdue with 30 points, including four 3-pointers.

The Boilermakers (30-7) were playing in their second straight regional semifinal. They were denied what would have been their first Elite Eight berth since 2000.

Purdue came in ranked second nationally in 3-point percentage and connected on 7 of 18 for the game. But the Boilermakers allowed the Red Raiders 17 second-chance points.

Kansas temporarily halts madness

No crazy comeback story here.

Top-seeded Kansas brought at least a temporary halt to the insanity this March, withstanding a wild comeback from fifth-seeded Clemson for a too-close-for-comfort, 80-76 victory on Friday.

Malik Newman led the Jayhawks (30-7) with 17 points in a one-time runaway that got much closer and, quite frankly, won't mean much if KU can't finish the job in the Midwest Region final Sunday.

For the third straight year as a No. 1 seed, KU made its way through the Sweet 16. Getting to the Final Four has been a different story — and the Jayhawks are on the doorstep once again.

As a top seed the last two seasons, Kansas made it through the regional semifinals, only to flop a game shy of the Final Four both times. In fact, this is the sixth time Bill Self's team has been seeded first since winning it all in 2008; the Jayhawks haven't made the Final Four one of those times.

It could've ended Friday.

"We finished the game about as poorly as a team can," Self said. "We know we've got to be a lot better Sunday, but we're really proud and happy to be in the game."

Clemson trailed 62-42 midway through the second half, but climbed to within six with 2:27 left. But thanks to Devonte' Graham's offensive rebound with 1:57 left, the Jayhawks ran almost a minute off the clock.

From there, Kansas overcame a dogged Clemson press just long enough to ensure that the Tigers couldn't pull any closer until the final buzzer. Kansas came into the game a 4 1/2-point favourite.

Villanova downs West Virginia

Top-seeded Villanova beat the press of West Virginia and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

Jalen Brunson scored 27 points to lead the Wildcats to a 90-78 victory over fifth-seeded West Virginia. Villanova will play the winner of the regional semifinal later Friday night between No. 2 seed Purdue and third-seeded Texas Tech for a spot in the Final Four.

Villanova trailed by 6 before scoring 11 straight points to take a 65-60 lead with 9:03 remaining. The 2016 national champions led 68-64 before scoring 10 of the next 14 points to pull away.

Omari Spellman scored 18 with eight rebounds for Villanova, which overcame Press Virginia's well-known defensc by hitting 13 of 24 shots from 3-point range.

Daxter Miles Jr. scored 16 for the Mountaineers before fouling out with just over two minutes left. Sagaba Konate added 12 points with nine rebounds.