NEW ORLEANS – So long, Lute. Maybe you, Coach K and The General can spend the rest of the NCAA tournament talking about how things used to be.

Lute Olson’s Arizona Wildcats were knocked out of the first-round Friday night 72-63 by Purdue. With Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Bob Knight of Texas Tech also losing their openers, three of the best coaches in tournament history are all on the sideline, making this the first time since 1995 that the second round opens without any of them.

Carl Landry powered the Boilermakers with 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Chris Kramer added 16 points, including a basket from his knees. Chris Lutz hit his first four 3-pointers and scored 16 and David Teague added 15.

This win was no fluke. Purdue (22-11) only trailed once and it was by a single point.

It was a fitting finish for an Arizona team that had underachieved all year. The Wildcats were (20-11) hoping to click in mid-March like their championship team from 10 years ago, but instead became another of Olson’s first-round flameouts.

The Boilermakers used a bunch of early 3-pointers to grab control and capped the first half with one more. An 8-0 start to the second half put them up by 11, and they went up 51-43 with 7:38 left on Kramer’s spectacular play.

He lost his footing after trying to shake his defender with a crossover dribble, then looked up and realized two important things: the shot clock was running out and he had a clear look at the basket. From about 10 feet, he put a nice arc on the shot and it landed softly on the rim, then bounced right through.

The Wildcats (20-11) got their act together soon after, getting within 55-52 on a 3-pointer by Mustafa Shakur with 4:19 left. But David Teague – who missed most of last season with a knee injury, as did Landry – answered quickly for Purdue, letting Arizona know the Boilermakers weren’t going away.

Arizona hung close for a while, but never really mounted a charge. Olson pulled his seniors in the final minute, realizing there was no avoiding defeat.

Florida 112, Jackson State 69

NEW ORLEANS – The Florida Gators waited all season for the NCAA tournament. They waited an extra 20 minutes to show up once it started.

The top-seeded Gators responded from a lackluster first half with the best half in school history and routed Jackson State.

Corey Brewer led the defending national champions with 21 points, but it was another balanced effort from the team that returned all five starters from last season.

Joakim Noah had 17 points and 12 rebounds, Al Horford added 15 points and 16 boards, and Lee Humphrey sparked a huge run with four 3-pointers in the first 5 minutes of the second half.

Chris Richard came off the bench to finish with a career-high 17 points. Taurean Green had a season-high 12 assists.

The Gators (30-5) were clearly bigger, faster and more talented than the Tigers (21-14). However, they didn’t show it until after halftime.

Oregon 58, Miami (Ohio) 56

SPOKANE, Wash. – When Oregon realized it couldn’t run away from Miami of Ohio, the Ducks didn’t get frustrated. They got tough on defense.

Aaron Brooks scored 18 points and the third-seeded Ducks moved into the second round for the first time since 2002.

The pesky RedHawks (18-15) had a chance to tie it late, but Michael Bramos’ fallaway 3-point attempt bounced off the front of the rim. It was an unlikely 3-pointer that put Miami into the NCAA tournament – Doug Penno banked in a 3 at the buzzer to beat Akron in the Mid-American Conference championship game.

Tim Pollitz finished with 21 points for the RedHawks.

UNLV 67, Georgia Tech 63

CHICAGO – Michael Umeh and Wendell White had 16 points apiece and UNLV won an NCAA tournament game for the first time in 16 years.

The last time the Runnin’ Rebels won was under Jerry Tarkanian, who led them to the 1991 Final Four. Now under coach Lon Kruger, UNLV (29-6) won its eighth in a row.

Umeh hit two free throws with 23.5 seconds left to give seventh-seeded UNLV a 65-61 lead.

Wisconsin 76, Texas A&M-CC 63

CHICAGO – Flustered for most of the first half, Wisconsin overcame an 18-point deficit to advance past the 15th-seeded Islanders.

Kammron Taylor, scoreless at the break, finished with 24 points for the Badgers (30-5). Wisconsin also clamped down its defense on the Islanders, who began playing basketball in the 1999-2000 season.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (26-7) came out strong in their first tournament appearance, scoring the game’s first 10 points and later leading 25-7 against the stunned Badgers.

Big Ten player of the year Alando Tucker scored 23 points for the Badgers, and 7-foot center Chris Daniels led A&M-Corpus Christi with 20 points.

South regional

Virginia 84, Albany 57

COLUMBUS, Ohio – J.R. Reynolds scored 28 points and Virginia got its first tournament win since 1995, when it reached the final eight.

Sean Singletary added 23 points and nine assists for the fourth-seeded Cavaliers (21-10), who will meet Tennessee in the second round.

Reynolds made his first seven shots – four of them from behind the arc – and went 7-of-9 overall in the first half, piling up 23 points in only 17 minutes.

Jamar Wilson scored 25 points for Albany (23-10).

Tennessee 121, Long Beach St. 86

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tennessee had five players score in double figures as it matched the most points in a first-round game, set by UNLV in 1977 against San Francisco.

Chris Lofton scored 25 points and Dane Bradshaw had 11 assists for the fifth-seeded Volunteers (23-10), who tied the school record for most points in a game.

Kejuan Johnson scored 24 points for 12th-seeded Long Beach State (24-8).

Memphis 73, North Texas 58

NEW ORLEANS – Chris Douglas-Roberts had 16 points and Memphis extended its winning streak to 23 games.

Robert Dozier had 11 points and seven rebounds, and Joey Dorsey had nine points and 15 rebounds for the Tigers (31-3), who overcame a slow start to grab control late in the first half and hardly let up against their Sun Belt foe.

Nevada 77, Creighton 71, OT

NEW ORLEANS – Marcelus Kemp saved seventh-seeded Nevada from another early exit in the NCAA tournament.

With Wolf Pack star Nick Fazekas off his game, Kemp capped a 27-point performance with nine points in overtime.

Nevada (29-4) was bounced by Montana in last year’s first round.

Fazekas had his second-worst shooting performance of the season and fouled out with 3:06 left in overtime. The senior still finished with 17 points.

East regional

Texas 79, New Mexico St. 67

SPOKANE, Wash. – Kevin Durant’s first NCAA tournament game went just as his first collegiate regular season. Splendidly beyond his years.

The 18-year-old candidate for national player of the year had 27 points and eight rebounds to lead fourth-seeded Texas past hard-charging New Mexico State.

Durant’s long-armed tip-ins, smooth pivot moves, sudden pull-up jumpers and blocked shots had NBA scouts chuckling courtside. Then he went the first 12 minutes of the second half without a field goal but made 11 of 12 free throws in the second half and 15-of-16 overall.

West regional

Kansas 107, Niagara 67

CHICAGO – No first-round exit for Kansas this time.

The fast-breaking and top-seeded Jayhawks took care of that early Friday night, running out to a 25-point halftime lead and routing Niagara.

Sent to the sidelines by first-round losses against Bucknell and Bradley the last two seasons, Kansas (31-4) was too fast, too deep and too talented for the Purple Eagles.

Kentucky 67, Villanova 58

CHICAGO – This should get the critics off Tubby Smith’s back.

For another day, at least.

Randolph Morris finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and eighth-seeded Kentucky flexed its muscle in the second half over ninth-seeded Villanova.

Jodie Meeks (12), Ramel Bradley (11) and Joe Crawford (10) also finished in double figures.

Scottie Reynolds, Big East rookie of the year, came up big in his first NCAA tournament appearance with 23 points. Curtis Sumpter added 19.

Virginia Tech 54, Illinois 52

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Virginia Tech waited 11 years – and most of its first-round game against Illinois – to win another NCAA tournament game.

After trailing by as many as 13, the Hokies beat Illinois on Deron Washington’s banked runner in the final minute.

Illinois (23-12) led by 10 with just over 4 minutes left, but didn’t score in the last 4:28 as the Hokies had the last 12 points.

Washington led the Hokies with 14 points, and Collins added 13.

Warren Carter led the Illini with 15 points, and Rich McBride had 14.

before leaving in the final minutes with an ankle injury.