After surviving first-round scares in the NIT, Georgia and visiting Louisiana Tech will square off Saturday in a late-morning tip-off. This second-round matchup features a Georgia team that trailed Vermont by five with just over four minutes left before squeaking out a victory Wednesday and a Louisiana Tech squad which edged Iona by a point thanks to Kenneth "Speedy" Smith's putback with 2.2 seconds left. The winner will face Georgetown or Florida State in the quarterfinals.

Florida and Pittsburgh seemingly swapped places in their NCAA tournament openers as the top-seeded Gators struggled while the ninth-seeded Panthers dominated. Florida, which meets Pittsburgh in third-round South regional action Saturday in Orlando, Fla., was tied with No. 16 seed Albany with 14:32 remaining Thursday before pulling away. “It was good enough to win. Is it good enough to (beat) Pittsburgh? Probably not,” Gators coach Billy Donovan told reporters after the 67-55 win.

Defending national champion Louisville came oh-so-close to being one-and-done in the NCAA tournament. The fourth-seeded Cardinals will look to put forth a better performance when they meet fifth-seeded Saint Louis in Saturday’s round of 32 in Orlando. Forward Luke Hancock, one of the stars of the Cardinals’ 2013 title run, scored eight of his 16 points in the final 1:53 to help Louisville overcome a late deficit against Manhattan and post a 71-64 victory in Midwest regional play.

Seventh-seeded Texas has to get through No. 2 Michigan and its new-found defense in Saturday's third-round matchup of the Midwest regional if the Longhorns want to advance past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008. The Wolverines beat Wofford 57-40 in the second round, the fewest point allowed by Michigan at the tournament.

Fresh off the first NCAA tournament win in school history, North Dakota State is setting its sights on higher goals. The 12th-seeded Bison will look to advance to the West regional semifinals when they take on No. 4 seed San Diego State in Spokane, Wash., on Saturday. The Aztecs, like North Dakota State, needed overtime to escape the second round and have no problem slowing things down and playing a physical game.

After struggling with his shot for more than five weeks, Trevor Cooney finally found the touch in Syracuse's NCAA tournament opener. The sophomore shooting guard hopes to pick up where he left off when the third-seeded Orange face 11th-seeded Dayton in Saturday's third-round game in Buffalo, N.Y. "I think he's been aggressive," coach Jim Boeheim told reporters of Cooney, who was 4-of-8 from 3-point range en route to 18 points in Thursday's 24-point victory over No. 14 Western Michigan.

Oregon and Wisconsin have experienced recent success in the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament as the Ducks advanced to the regional semifinals last season and the Badgers went two of the last three years. One is guaranteed to make the trip again as second-seeded Wisconsin and No. 7 seed Oregon meet Saturday in the round of 32 at the NCAA tournament West regional in Milwaukee.

Twelfth-seeded Harvard will try to slow down Michigan State forward Adreian Payne and reach the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament for the first time in its history when the teams meet in a third-round game of the East regional Saturday in Spokane, Wash. Payne was unstoppable in scoring a Spartans tournament-record 41 points in No. 4 seed Michigan State's 93-78 win over 13th-seeded Delaware in the second round Thursday.

Two former Big East rivals meet Saturday when second-seeded Villanova faces No. 7 Connecticut with a berth in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 on the line. The teams began East regional play Thursday, with the Wildcats pulling away late in a 73-53 win over No. 15 Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Huskies edging No. 10 Saint Joseph’s 89-81 in overtime. Villanova leads the series 33-30, including a 70-61 win last season in Hartford, Conn., in the final Big East matchup between the teams.