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Officials from Southern Mississippi apologized to Kansas State freshman guard Angel Rodriguez and coach Frank Martin for a racist chant by the school pep band during a second-round game on Thursday. Members of the Southern Miss band chanted “Where’s your green card?” as Rodriguez shot a free throw in Kansas State’s 70-64 victory over the [...]

So much for appearances. West Virginia was supposed to be the physical team, and Gonzaga was supposed to be the finesse team from the West Coast. In dispatching the Mountaineers from the NCAA Tournament, 77-54, Thursday night, all Gonzaga did was match the Mountaineers in toughness — and then some. The rebounding edge was even [...]

 By Joe Rutter   Tribune-Review A non-goaltending call. A lane violation. A controversial out-of-bounds ruling. Three decisions by the officials went against No. 16 UNC Asheville in the second half of its 72-65 loss to No. 1 Syracuse on Thursday in an NCAA Tournament second-round game at Consol Energy Center. Three game changers, too, according to [...]

In his final college game, former Pitt enrollee Darnell Dodson came off the bench to net 14 points and 10 rebounds for Southern Mississippi. He also had a team-high four steals. It was the third career double-double for the maligned Dodson, who spent time at four schools and was kicked off the Southern Miss team in [...]

And the games have begun. Rodney McGruder scored 30 points to lead eighth-seeded Kansas State past No. 9 seed Southern Miss, 70-64, this afternoon to start the all-day action in the NCAA Tournament East Regional games at Consol Energy Center. The Wildcats (22-10) clinched a date with the winner of No. 16 UNC-Asheville (24-9) vs. [...]

Southern Miss players and coaches talked a length on Wednesday about getting no respect from national pundits. It carried over to the Average Joe, too. Southern Miss was picked to win the second-round game over Kansas State on only 22.8 percent of the brackets in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. Last year about six million brackets were filled out. [...]

Playing in front of, by far, the smallest crowd in Petersen Events Center history, Pitt beat Wofford, 81-63, to advance into the quarterfinals of the CBI. Here is the early game story.

His team might be a decisive underdog, but don’t expect Loyola (Md.) coach Jimmy Patsos to play up to the Pittsburgh crowd for support when his team faces No. 2 seed Ohio State. No. 15 seed Loyola, after all, is located in Baltimore, and Patsos can’t ignore the fact that the city’s football team isn’t [...]

Losing a starting center on the eve of the NCAA Tournament is a big blow for any basketball team. It’s magnified when that player is 7-foot and is the Big East Defensive Player of the Year for top-seeded Syracuse. But Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim is prepared to make due without shot-block specialist Fab Melo, who [...]

First impressions of Consol Energy Center as an NCAA Tournament basketball venue were, well, rather icy. That had to do with the temperature inside, not the facility itself. Two Kansas State players and Southern Mississippi’s Maurice Bolden noted the temps didn’t quite match the high-60s conditions outside. “I like it,” said K-State’s Rodney McGruder. “But it’s very cold, very [...]