Buffalo proves immune to Big East flameouts

Turns out Buffalo is one of the few NCAA tournament sites immune so far to the Big East flameouts that have taken place around the nation.

No. 1-seeded Syracuse had no problem opening with a 79-56 win over Vermont. And second-seeded West Virginia rolled to a 77-50 over Morgan State after spotting the Bears a 10-0 lead.

"Yeah, there were some letdowns," Orange guard Andy Rautins said Friday night, referring to some of his Big East brethren. "But there's no question the Big East is still the best conference."

That remains to be seen, given that the powerhouse conference which opened the tournament with eight teams is now down to four after ninth-seeded Louisville lost 77-62 to No. 8 seed California on Friday. The Cardinals joined Georgetown, Notre Dame and Marquette, who each lost on Thursday.

Third-seeded Pitt, which routed Oakland 89-66, and No. 2 seed Villanova are the two other Big East teams still playing.

In the two other games played at Buffalo on Friday: eighth-seeded Gonzaga held off a second-half surge to beat Florida State 67-60; while No. 10 seed Missouri defeated Clemson 86-78 in a very entertaining, high-paced contest.

That sets up a competitive second round on Sunday. Syracuse (29-4) will face Gonzaga (27-6) in a West Regional matchup. In the East Regional, West Virginia (28-6) meets what should be a stiff test against Mizzou (23-10).

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim dismissed a question about his conference's struggles.

"Everybody has difficulty in this tournament," Boeheim said. "It's hard to measure a team or a league by what happens in the NCAA."

For their part, the Orange answered several initial questions that had followed them entering the tournament. In overwhelming the Catamounts, Syracuse eased concerns over how it lost its previous two games as well as playing without injured center Arinze Onuaku, who's nursing a knee injury.

Scoop Jardine had 14 points and Rautins finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists in a game Syracuse built a 35-10 lead less than 14 minutes in. Though Vermont got within 12 at the end of the half, the Orange finished with a flourish that had the sellout crowd on its feet.

Rautins hit Wes Johnson for a perfectly executed alley-oop with 4:40 left and then, 25 seconds later, Mookie Jones set up Johnson for another highlight dunk.

"I think you have to be relaxed," Boeheim said of his team's approach. "If you get too tight and you want it too much, you don't play well. We want to be loose."

Loose certainly doesn't describe how the Mountaineers opened their game against Morgan State. West Virginia missed its first 11 shots and fell behind 10-0 before it woke up. Kevin Jones scored nine of his 17 points during a 21-4 run in the first half that secured the victory.

"We always let teams get off to those huge leads and let them get confidence and that's where it hurts us," Jones said. "I'm just glad we could come out and stomp on them and not let them back into the game."

When it comes to the Big East, the Mountaineers are only focused on how they play.

"We're our own team," senior guard Da'Sean Butler said. "I just think we came out and didn't want to leave early. We wanted to take care of our own business."

The Big East champs are going to have to get off to a better start if they intend to keep up with the Missouri Tigers, who play such an up tempo style that it's been dubbed "The Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball."

Kim English and Keith Ramsey each scored 20 points, and the Tigers swarming defense forced 20 turnovers, nabbed 15 steals and stifled Booker for 35 minutes. Everybody that played for Clemson had at least one turnover.

"When you play at that pace - we scored 86 points but only had nine turnovers. That's efficient basketball," Missouri coach Mike Anderson said. "We had 15 steals, forced 20 turnovers and they outrebounded us by 15. I thought we imposed our will on a very good Clemson team.

"It ain't the Xs and Os. It's who wants it the most. I thought our guys displayed that today."

English's 3-pointer from the right corner gave Missouri a 54-50 lead with 13:10 remaining in a game that featured 11 ties and 11 lead changes. That sent the Tigers on a 15-5 run that put them in command.

As for Gonzaga, it played a near-perfect first half against Florida State to build an 18-point lead, only to almost squander it away in the second.

Senior Matt Bouldin responded in the clutch, scoring 14 of his 17 points in the second half to preserve the victory for the Bulldogs, who are making their 12th straight tournament appearance.

Deividas Dulkys scored 14 points for the Seminoles. Dulkys banked in a 3-pointer, and Florida State had a chance to pull closer but Michael Snaer missed two free throws a minute later.

Bouldin pulled down the rebound and the Bulldogs made 8 of 10 free throws to close out the victory.

"We play in so many big games like that all across the country that they're essentially NCAA tournament games really," Bouldin said. "But after the game, I'm not really thinking about all those other games we had. I'm just really happy about this victory."

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AP Sports Writer John Kekis in Buffalo, N.Y., contributed to this report.