SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — When it comes to college basketball in California, UC Irvine is low on the totem pole.

Now the program that sometimes feels like a little brother to Pac-12 powers like UCLA and USC is the only school from the state still standing in the NCAA Tournament after pulling off a stunner .

The 13th-seeded Anteaters got back-to-back 3-pointers from Evan Leonard on Friday to spark the deciding run in a 70-64 upset of No. 4 seed Kansas State, the first tournament win in school history.

“Well, little brother has been in the weight room, getting better, getting ready for a chance like this,” coach Russell Turner said. “So I’m really happy for these players to be able to work so hard for something everybody can see and then accomplish it. But I’m also really excited for the fans of our program who also seem to have endured feeling like little brothers.

“You know, we need to stick our chests out a little bit right now.”

UC Irvine (31-5) had lost its only previous tournament game, 57-55 to Louisville in 2015. But the Anteaters got a longer stay this time after taking control of the game with a 12-0 run midway through the second half and then holding off the regular season co-champions of the Big 12 to earn their 17th straight victory.

Leonard and Max Hazzard each scored 19 points to send UC Irvine (31-5) into the second round of the South Region for a matchup against Oregon.

“We’ve had three goals all year, and that was to win the regular season championship, the tournament championship and advance in the NCAA Tournament,” Hazzard said. “And that doesn’t just mean one game. We have another game on Sunday, and we’re planning to put ourselves in position to win again, and hopefully we can do that and play into next weekend.”

One year after making a run to the Elite Eight, the fourth-seeded Wildcats (25-9) had a short stay in the tournament as they struggled to decipher the Anteaters’ zone defense and missed star forward Dean Wade, who was sidelined by a foot injury. Kamau Stokes led Kansas State with 18 points.

Despite that, Kansas State led by four points midway through the second half before the two long shots from Leonard turned the tide. Robert Cartwright added another 3-pointer and Leonard made three free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer to make it 59-51.

The Wildcats cut the deficit to two points, before Hazzard hit a corner 3 with 1:25 to play to make it 66-61 and then struck a pose to the delight of the Anteaters fans who made the trip up from Orange County.

“I just play with a lot of passion and a lot of joy,” Hazzard said. “The stage doesn’t get much bigger than this.”

Cartier Diarra hit a 3 for Kansas State off a tip pass from Xavier Sneed and the Wildcats had a chance to tie or take the lead, but Barry Brown Jr. threw a pass away with 38.8 seconds to play.

“We wanted to do something really special,” Brown said. “We did something special in our regular season, and we wanted to kind of carry that momentum over to this tournament, and just didn’t execute, didn’t hit some shots, didn’t guard the right way we should have.”

The Anteaters then sealed the game at the foul line.

BIG PICTURE

UC Irvine: Despite getting blown out early last season at Kansas State, the Anteaters were confident coming into this game thanks to 30 wins and the long winning streak. They used two big runs to stay close in the first half and forced the Wildcats into 11 straight misses to end the half. Hazzard’s buzzer-beater tied the game at 30 at the break.

Kansas State: Wade’s injury had a big impact on the Wildcats, but they managed the long tournament run last year with him mostly as a spectator because of an injury. What hurt more was an off-night from leading scorer Brown. He played only 5:45 in the first half after committing two quick fouls and didn’t make his first basket until early in the second half. He finished with five points on 2-for-9 shooting.

DRAWING CONTACT

Stokes drew fouls on 3-point shots three times in the game for the Wildcats. He drew two in the first half against Eyassu Worku, drawing the ire of Turner. Stokes then drew another in the second half against Robert Cartwright that had Turner complaining to the official instead. Stokes made seven of the nine free throws on those fouls.

Stokes then committed a foul on a UC Irvine 3-pointer, sending Leonard to the line for three shots late in the first half.

UP NEXT

UC Irvine advances to play Oregon.

— Associated Press —

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Michigan’s start to the NCAA Tournament was more thorough than coach Kim Barnes Arico expected.

Which is saying something for someone who has yet to lose an opener.

Naz Hillmon scored 17 points off the bench, Nicole Munger and Kayla Robbins each added 13 and the eighth-seeded Wolverines shot a season-high 56 percent to run away from No. 9 seed Kansas State 84-54 on Friday.

Michigan’s 17-5 surge over 5:10 in the second quarter provided a 43-28 halftime lead that expanded to as many as 37 late in the fourth. The Wolverines (22-11) owned rebounding 50-19 — including a 33-13 gap defensively — and paint scoring 52-26 while holding the Wildcats (21-12) to 36 percent shooting.

Michigan’s bench also outscored K-State 38-9. Barnes Arico had to get her mind around the Wolverines’ dominance against just about every defense K-State threw at them.

“We were locked into the scout (report),” said Barnes Arico, who is 8-0 in openers on the Division I and II levels. “We know they switch things up defensively and we knew it was something we don’t typically face. We have a couple of days to prepare for it, and I thought our kids did a tremendous job of coming out, moving the basketball, finding the open person and making extra passes.”

Not surprisingly, Hillmon provided the spark that helped earn her selection by media as Big Ten Freshman of the Year. The 6-foot-2 forward was strong on both ends as she made 8 of 10 from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds in 21 minutes.

That was key in helping Michigan achieve its second-highest board total this season.

“We don’t want any team to get second-chance points,” Hillmon said, referring to Michigan’s 17-4 advantage in that category. We know how that can affect the game, so we were trying to lock in on offensive and defensive rebounds.”

Munger and Robbins combined to make 11 of 18 shots while Deja Church added 12 points and a team-high seven assists.

Michigan shot well and hit 16 of 26 after halftime on the way to winning its 10th in 12 contests.

“Today, we just stayed focused,” Church said. “Whether we were up 10 (points), 20, we really didn’t think about it. We just looked at the score (as) 0-0 and kept pushing.”

Christianna Carr had 21 points and Rachel Ranke 11 for Kansas State, which committed 17 turnovers leading to 26 Michigan points. The Wildcats’ rebounding total marked a season low.

“They just whooped us on the glass for second and third chances, which was a problem,” Wildcats coach Jeff Mittie said. “Not very competitive on the glass today.”

Michigan will face top-seeded Louisville in Sunday’s second round. The Cardinals routed No. 16 seed Robert Morris 69-34 in the first game.

MILESTONE

Needing 11 points to become Michigan’s 28th player to surpass 1,000 career points, Munger had 12 at the break behind 5-of-10 shooting with two of the Wolverines’ five 3s on 13 attempts. “This has been the most fun year I’ve had playing basketball, and that’s just really exciting,” she said. “We’re really close as a team, that’s what makes it a lot of fun. That’s all that matters.”

BIG PICTURE

Kansas State: The Wildcats’ perimeter game got them with 26-23 in the second and on the verge of reclaiming the lead. The Big 12 school never got closer and struggled to contend with Michigan’s size, especially inside.

Michigan: The Wolverines have done a lot right down the stretch, and it paid off big with a dominant beginning to the NCAA Tournament. They seemed to get better as the game progressed and had many contributors as 10 of 14 players scored at least a point. They also dished out at least 20 assists for the fourth time in six games.

— Associated Press —