By PAUL GOTHAM
COLUMBUS, OH — The drought lasted 8:53. Eight missed shots and five turnovers proved too much for the Dayton Flyers.
Buddy Hield and Jordan Woodard combined for 31 points as the No. 3-seed Oklahoma Sooners (24-10) advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 72-66 victory over Dayton (27-9) in NCAA Tournament third round action at Nationwide Arena.
“Obviously a great moment for the guys, my program, the fans,” Oklahoma’s head coach Lon Kruger said. “Couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Hield and Woodard paced a decisive 15-2 run late in the second half to set up a meeting with the No. 7-seed Michigan State in the East Regional semi-final.
The pair combined on steal and layup coming out of a timeout to give the Sooners a lead with 5:56 to go. Woodard swiped a Darrell Davis pass and led Hield into the open for a basket.
“The coaches challenged us to step it up on defense, because we had to get the stops,” Woodard stated. “And as a team I feel that’s what we were talking about, the first to win the game, we had to get stops and turn it up a little bit.”
Oklahoma led 57-56 and never looked back.
“Oklahoma did a great job adjusting in the second half and some things that they did I thought put us on some islands where we weren’t successful,” Dayton’s head coach Archie Miller said. “Offensively we weren’t able to generate any two-point baskets. The size bothered us, the physicality around the basketball, we couldn’t get any easy ones.”
Held under his season average (17.8), Hield compensated with five assists.
Oklahoma took the opening tip and hit their first three shots from the behind the arc, but Dayton’s Flyers responded with a 15-0 run to draw close going into the locker room.
Isaiah Cousins connected twice from long range, and Frank Booker came off the bench to add nine points as Oklahoma sprinted to a double-digit lead at half.
Jordan Woodard, Buddy Hield and Cousins hit a trio of treys as Oklahoma grabbed a 9-0 lead.
D.J. Bennett dropped a jump hook in the lane, and Dinjiyl Walker drilled a corner three to give Oklahoma their biggest lead of the half at 29-17.
The Flyers responded.
Darrell Davis hit from behind the arc. Scoochie Smith converted a pair of free throws. Jordan Sibert and Smith ran a give and go with Sibert catching and cutting through the lane for two. Kendall Pollard had a steal and dunk. Darrell Davis knotted the score at 29 with trifecta in transition, and Dyshawn Pierre found the measure for a 32-29 UD lead.
Booker broke the five-minute scoring drought, and Ryan Spangler hit a pair of free throws to give OU a 34-32 edge at half.
Oklahoma outscored Dayton in the paint (24-22), off turnovers (19-15), second-chance points (9-2) and fast bereak points (10-9).
With the win, Kruger became the first coach in NCAA Division I history to take four programs to the Sweet Sixteen or beyond: Kansas State (1988 Elite Eight), Florida (1994 Final Four) and UNLV (2007 Sweet Sixteen). John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Bill Self and Tubby Smith have each taken three schools to the Sweet Sixteen.
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