Forty-two minutes and 16 seconds of hell put Massachusetts and Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA East Regional.
The top-ranked Minutemen used 2:16 of wilting defense at the start of the second half to turn a close game into a 92-70 runaway against Central Florida, while the Razorbacks didn't put away 18th-ranked Penn State until the final seconds of their 86-80 first-round win Thursday at the Providence Civic Center."We're trying to get back to the 40 minutes of hell," said Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson, whose Razorback teams used high-pressure defense to win a national title in 1994 and reach the NCAA finals last year.
Richardson lost 10 players from last year's team, then lost his top scorer, Jesse Pate, and top rebounder, Sunday Adebayo, this year because of eligibility questions.
"(You) haven't seen the real Razorbacks play yet because we had to teach, teach, learn, learn," Richardson said.
Real or not, the Razorbacks will play in the second round Saturday against 20th-ranked Marquette, a 68-44 winner over Monmouth. Massachusetts will play Stanford, which eliminated Bradley 66-58.
Arkansas (19-12) is in the tournament for the ninth straight year despite having its worst season in that stretch.
Fifth-seeded Penn State (21-7) entered the tournament second in the country in 3-point shooting at 42 percent, but went cold from downtown after hitting four 3-pointers in the first seven minutes. They didn't hit another until 8:44 was left, by which time Arkansas was up 61-46.
Trying desperately to get back in the game, they ended with a season-high 30 3-point attempts, hitting just seven.
Penn State closed to 74-67 with 3:17 remaining, but Arkansas called a timeout, regrouped and never led by less than six the rest of the way.
Kareem Reid led the Razorbacks with 21 points, five assists and five steals. Darnell Robinson added 15 points and Antwon Hall had 14. Calvin Booth had 20 points for Penn State.
Earlier Thursday, Massachusetts (32-1) was surprised by a stiff first-half challenge from 16th-seeded Central Florida. The Minutemen led by only four at the break, then cranked up their defense to overwhelm the Golden Knights.
UMass forced turnovers on Central Florida's first six possessions of the second half, shook off the temporary loss of All-America center Marcus Camby and pulled away.
Carmelo Travieso led UMass with 21 points. Camby had 14 points and 17 rebounds.
It took a while, but Marquette (23-7) finally took control of the inside game and put away Monmouth (20-10), 68-44
A 9-0 run in the last 2:43 of the first half gave the fourth-seeded Golden Eagles a 31-21 halftime lead. Monmouth, making its first NCAA tournament appearance, never got closer than seven points the rest of the way, as Marquette exploited its height advantage in the second half.
Aaron Hutchins had 17 for Marquette and Chris Crawford added 13.
Stanford (20-8) advanced by overcoming Anthony Parker's career-high 34 points for Bradley (22-8) and going on to win 66-58.
Parker scored 29 of eighth-seeded Bradley's first 45 points, but it was the Cardinal's Brevin Knight who took over down the stretch, scoring eight points after Parker's 3-pointer cut Stanford's lead to 50-45 with 6:59 remaining.