Remember the Alamodome!

The first game in the Alamodome turned out to be the only the fourth game in the Memphis The Aggie heavy crowd had little to cheer about as A&M managed to blow a 42-37 lead by only hitting three of their first 13 shots after halftime. winning streak decided by less than 10 points.

Willie Kemp, who had the same score line as I did in the first two games of the NCAA tournament (that would be zero for those without a stat sheet), and Hunt hit consecutive 3-pointers to start a 10-0 run while Texas A&M came up dry on six straight shots.

Memphis led 53-48 by time Douglas-Roberts hit two free throws after being fouled on a drive to the basket. Texas A&M's drought finally ended when Kirk made an acrobatic shot with 11:06 left. Kirk, coming off a career-high 21 points against Louisville last weekend, had only four points. But he had seven assists, including a highlight quality pass to Sloan who was cutting across the baseline for a basket that gave the Aggies a lead of 59-58 with 6:20 left.

Allen completely missed the rim on a 3-pointer that looked reminiscent of Jon and I playing horse and the Aggies got a long inbound pass to Jones. But Jones missed the breakaway layup and Allen was able to quickly redeem himself by driving for an easy layup and then completeing the free throw for a three point play.

"We all play like we have a chip on our shoulder, and we've been playing like that since early in the year," Douglas-Roberts said. "Now we're winning in the NCAA tournament and we're playing all the elite people and we're still winning."

In the night cap Ohio State overcame a 49-32 halftime deficit to defeat Tennessee, 85-84. That's the largest halftime margin that a team has erased to win a game in regulation in the history of the NCAA Tournament. There has only been one larger halftime deficit overcome by a winning team, back in opening round of the tourney in 1980 when Virginia Tech's came away with a 89-85 overtime victory against Western Kentucky which led by 18 points at the half. To quote Coach Matta, "In this tournament, the two most important words are survive and advance." And advance the Buckeyes do.

In Ohio State injury news Oden received three stitches in his chin after the game following a second-half collision with teammate Harris. Oden hit his chin on the floor and landed on Harris' knee while trying to block a shot. Harris, who had to leave the game, said his knee was fine.

Yippee ki yi yay...

--Big Marty