Michigan State again ends Virginia's season

Travis Trice scored 23 points Sunday to help Michigan State knock second-seeded Virginia out of the NCAA tournament for the second straight year, 60-54, in Charlotte, N.C.

The 6-foot, 175-pound Trice scored 13 of his team's first 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting, including three three-pointers, to help the Spartans build a 15-4 lead.

Branden Dawson added 15 points and nine rebounds for the seventh-seeded Spartans, who advanced to the Sweet 16 for the seventh time in the last eight seasons under coach Tom Izzo.

The Spartans will play Oklahoma on Friday in the East Regional in Syracuse, N.Y.

"Our thing was attack from the get go and get a lead," said Trice, in his first full season as a starter after three years as a reserve.

"It was his time to shine," said Dawson, who started playing with Trice in AAU.

With top seed Villanova having lost Saturday, it is the first time a No. 1 and 2 seed from the same region didn't advance to the Sweet 16 since Kentucky and Gonzaga in 2004.

The Cavaliers (30-4) were led by Anthony Gill's 11 points and Darion Atkins' 10 points and 14 rebounds.

Izzo made some defensive tweaks to his game plan after Michigan State's first-round win over Georgia, and the Spartans (25-11) stole a page from last year's regional semifinal win by limiting the Cavaliers to 29.8 percent shooting. Virginia finished 2 of 17 from three-point range.

Izzo said the Spartans "changed what we do" defensively in a day-and-a-half.

Instead of having his guards jump to the ball and give help, Izzo relied more on his big men in the middle to stay disciplined - and not cheat or go for steals - and guard against Virginia's flare screens.

"We're just not as talented as we've been so we are always cheating to find a way to get an edge," Izzo said. "Coaches can tell you what to do, but when muscle memory tells you to do it another way ... your focus has to be incredible. And that was incredible focus if you asked me."

While Trice was beating them up and down the court and making threes, the Cavaliers opened the game 2 of 10 from the field and could never get on track.

Oklahoma 72, Dayton 66 - Jordan Woodard had 16 points and a steal that set up Buddy Hield for a layup to give third-seeded Oklahoma a lead it never relinquished.

Sooners coach Lon Kruger became the second coach to take four schools (Kansas State, Florida and UNLV) to the round of 16 with the win in Columbus, Ohio.

The Flyers (27-9), who started in the first round at home, came up a victory short of their second straight trip to the Sweet 16 as an 11th seed.

Hield scored 15 points, including a layup off a feed from Woodard at 5 minutes, 56 seconds that made it 57-56. Oklahoma (24-10) rallied with its defense, holding Dayton scoreless for 9:04 and without a basket for 10:32 in the second half.

Scoochie Smith led Dayton with 16 points.

Louisville 66, Northern Iowa 53 - Rick Pitino and Louisville are heading to the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight year.

Terry Rozier scored 25 points to lead the fourth-seeded Cardinals in a game played in Seattle.

Montrezl Harrell added 14 for Louisville (26-8), including a couple of game-sealing alley-oop jams.

The Cardinals will play eighth-seeded North Carolina State on Friday in an East Regional matchup.

The Cardinals packed it in against Northern Iowa's top scorer, Seth Tuttle, holding him to 14 points and only seven shot attempts.

The Panthers (31-4) were trying for their first trip to the second weekend since 2010, but it didn't happen.