SALT LAKE CITY — Gonzaga played a nearly perfect second half, busting open a back-and-forth game with a 15-0 run Saturday to pull away from Kansas for an 89-68 win and extend its nation-best streak of trips to the Sweet 16 to nine.

Anton Watson shot 8 for 11 to score 21 points on an afternoon when basically everyone in a navy jersey was a star, especially after halftime.

The fifth-seeded Bulldogs (27-7) made their first five 3-pointers of the second half, not missing from long range until 1:30 remained and the game had long entered extended garbage time.

Mark Few’s team will make its regular trip to the second weekend to play the winner of Sunday’s game between Purdue and Utah State.

Nolan Hickman finished with 17 points, and big man Graham Ike had 15 points and nine rebounds, going toe to toe with KU’s Hunter Dickinson, who finished with a quiet 15 points. Making all the Bulldogs look good was Ryan Nembhard, who blew off a rough shooting night (1 for 6) and finished with 12 assists.

While Gonzaga was cruising, parts of this looked painfully familiar to fans of the fourth-seeded Jayhawks (23-11), who have struggled with depth, shooting, consistency and injuries – leading scorer Kevin McCullar Jr. (knee) was out for the tournament. During Gonzaga’s 15-0 run, the Jayhawks missed 10 straight shots. They never got within single digits again.

A few of those misses looked strangely ugly, including when Dickinson grabbed a rebound under the bucket and looked poised for an easy bucket but could barely get the ball to the rim.

For 22 minutes, at least, this game lived up to its billing – a rare showdown between much-adored power programs. There were eight lead changes. At one point late in the first half, the teams combined to make nine straight shots from the field, trading leads almost every time down.

The close battle changed abruptly when Ike made a turnaround jumper, then Watson took a dish from Ben Gregg on the next possession for an easy layup. It was the start of a 15-0 run that expanded to 32-4 and pushed the lead as high as 27.0000

TENNESSEE 62, TEXAS 58: Dalton Knecht scored 18 points and made four free throws in the final 8.8 seconds as the second-seeded Volunteers (26-8) topped the seventh-seeded Longhorns (21-13) in Charlotte, North Carolina, to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year.

Tennessee next plays No. 3 Creighton, which beat Oregon in double overtime, 86-73.

Jonas Aidoo had 11 points and Tobe Awaka added 10 for the Volunteers, helping Coach Rick Barnes beat the team he coached for 17 seasons. The Vols have reached the Sweet 16 three times in nine seasons under Barnes, but have yet to advance out of that round in that stretch.

Freshman center J.P. Estrella of South Portland got into the game for only a minute and did not score for Tennessee.

NORTH CAROLINA 85, MICHIGAN STATE 69: RJ Davis scored 20 points to help the Tar Heels (29-7) beat the Spartans (20-15) in Charlotte, North Carolina, pushing the Tar Heels to the Sweet 16 while keeping them unbeaten in March Madness against Michigan State’s Hall of Fame coach, Tom Izzo.

Harrison Ingram made five 3-pointers and scored 17 points for the West Region’s top seed, which continued its NCAA success in its home state. UNC ran off 17 straight points during a 23-3 run over the last eight minutes of the first half to erase a 12-point deficit, then continued answering every push by the eighth-seeded Spartans after halftime.

The Tar Heels improved to 5-0 in the tournament against Izzo, including victories in the 2005 Final Four and 2009 title game. They move on to the regional semifinals in Los Angeles, where they will face either Grand Canyon or Alabama on Thursday night.

UNC also got a strong showing inside from Armando Bacot (18 points), who got into the paint to score, draw fouls or kick out against oncoming double teams. Ingram was on the receiving end of some of those, knocking down 5 of 7 3-pointers to go with seven rebounds.

Tyson Walker scored 24 points for the ninth-seeded Spartans, who were playing what amounted to a road game in front of a blue-clad crowd about a 2 1/2-hour drive from UNC’s Chapel Hill campus.

ARIZONA 78, DAYTON 68: Caleb Love scored 19 points and the Wildcats (27-8) reached the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons, beating the Flyers (25-8) in the second round in Salt Lake City.

The Wildcats, who also reached a regional semifinal in 2022 in Coach Tommy Lloyd’s first season, will face either the West Region’s No. 6 seed, Clemson, or third-seeded Baylor in Los Angeles on Thursday night.

Keshad Johnson and Pelle Larsson each had 13 points and seven rebounds for Arizona. Larsson also had six assists, and Jaden Bradley scored 12 points off the bench. The Wildcats shot 53% from the field and made eight 3-pointers.

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