Penn State, Minnesota Win In Big Ten Tourney Openers, College Scores

CHICAGO -- D.J. Newbill sees the Big Ten tournament as a shot at redemption for Penn State. It was nearly the stage for a big collapse, too. Newbill scored 26 points, Shep Garner added 19 and Penn State hung on to beat Nebraska 68-65 Wednesday in the Big Ten tournament opener. The 13th-seeded Nittany Lions (17-15) advanced in the tournament for the first time since a run to the final in 2011, despite letting a 16-point lead in the second half dwindle to one. They came away with their second-straight win after dropping six in a row when Shavon Shields missed a 3 for 12th-seeded Nebraska (13-18) at the buzzer.

Penn State will play No. 5 seed Iowa on Thursday.

"We're disappointed in how we finished in Big Ten play," Newbill said. "We've got another opportunity to come out here and prove to ourselves and prove to everybody we're better than what we showed."

Garner hit five 3-pointers. Newbill nailed four from long range and keyed a 14-1 run early in the second half that stretched the lead from three to 16. Penn State also blocked a tournament-record 16 shots.

Minnesota 80, Rutgers 68

No sooner did Minnesota pass its first test in the Big Ten Tournament than it had payback in mind.

Joey King hit six 3-pointers and scored 20 to lead Minnesota to an 80-68 victory over Rutgers in the first round on Wednesday. The Golden Gophers will meet Ohio State on Thursday. The Buckeyes edged them 74-72 in overtime in January.

"We feel like we let (that) one go," Minnesota guard Nate Mason said. "All we have to do is play our game and focus on the little things -- rebound, play defense -- and don't let them get off to a hot start."

"There's really no team that we don't have confidence against," King said. "We've just go to come out to play our game. That's when we have success."

Minnesota (18-14) almost certainly will have to get more out of Andre Hollins to pull off the upset. He was scoreless in 21 minutes and remained 25 points behind Randy Breuer for third place on the team's career list.

(19) North Carolina 81, Boston 63

North Carolina's players were in no mood for a repeat of last year's brief stay at the Atlantic Coast Conference, and they didn't want to watch Boston College's Olivier Hanlan have another big game against them. Instead, the No. 19 Tar Heels slowed Hanlan and led most of the day to beat the Eagles 81-63 on Wednesday in the second round of the tournament, a much better debut in Greensboro than the one-and-done exit of a year earlier. Paige and Brice Johnson each scored 17 points to lead the fifth-seeded Tar Heels (22-10), who played without forward Kennedy Meeks. UNC had trouble putting away the 12th-seeded Eagles (13-19) for much of the second half, but pulled away late and won its seventh straight meeting to set up a matchup with No. 14 Louisville.

Wednesday, March 11 Scoreboard

(19) North Carolina 81, Boston College 63

Florida St 76, Clemson 73

Florida International 57, UT San Antonio 54

California 84, Washington St 59

Air Force 68, New Mexico 61

Middle Tennessee 63, Charlotte 60

Alabama St 93, Miss Valley St 81

Penn State 68, Nebraska 65

USC 67, Arizona St 64

UNLV 67, Nevada 46

McNeese St 62, SE Louisiana 60

North Carolina Central 91, Coppin St 43

Fordham 71, George Mason 65

Eastern Michigan 73, Bowling Green 67

Marquette 78, Seton Hall 56

NC State 81, Pittsburgh 70

Auburn 74, Mississippi St 68

TCU 67, Kansas St 65

Western Kentucky 59, Marshall 45

Minnesota 80, Rutgers 68

Lafayette 65, American 63

Norfolk St 68, South Carolina St 54

New Orleans 82, Nicholls St 73

Colorado 78, Oregon St 71

Duquesne 61, Saint Louis 55

Akron 58, Western Michigan 45

Creighton 78, DePaul 63

Texas 65, Texas Tech 53

Rice 82, North Texas 54

Texas Southern 95, Alcorn St 74

South Carolina 63, Missouri 54

Miami (FL) 59, Virginia Tech 49

Stanford 71, Washington 69

Thursday, March 12 Schedule (All Times Central)

NC State vs (2) Duke, 6 p.m.

Florida St vs (3) Virginia, 11 a.m.

Marquette vs (4) Villanova, 11 a.m.

California vs (5) Arizona, 2 p.m.

TCU vs (9) Kansas, 1:30 p.m.

Miami (FL) vs (11) Notre Dame, 8 p.m.

Texas vs (13) Iowa State, 6 p.m.

(19) North Carolina vs (14) Louisville, 1 p.m.

Oklahoma St vs (15) Oklahoma, 8 p.m.

(18) West Virginia vs (16) Baylor, 11:30 a.m.

Stanford vs (17) Utah, 10:30 p.m.

Xavier vs (22) Butler, 8:30 p.m.

Creighton vs (23) Georgetown, 6 p.m.

Air Force vs (25) Boise State, 2 p.m.