MEMPHIS — If patterns hold, Oklahoma will give North Carolina a dual defensive look Sunday in the NCAA South Regional championship game.

Throughout most of the season, OU coach Jeff Capel has mixed zone and man-to-man strategies. In Friday’s 84-71 semifinal win over Syracuse, the Sooners played zone variations on about 25 percent of the Orange possessions.

“We’re comfortable doing that,” said senior forward Taylor Griffin. “I guess it’s a little unusual, but I think it’s helped us against a few teams. It’s surprised a few of our opponents a little, I think.”

Staff photo by Robert Willett

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Oklahoma is dangerous enough with Blake Griffin. Give him some help? The Sooners are nearly unstoppable.

Griffin scored 30 points and had 14 rebounds, and Tony Crocker added a career-high 28 points as the second-seeded Sooners beat Syracuse 84-71 Friday night and advanced to their first regional final since 2003.

MEMPHIS — After breakfast and a couple of hours of free time, North Carolina began its standard basketball game-day routine with a midday light practice session and shoot-around in a Memphis area high school gym.

The favored Tar Heels (30-4) face Gonzaga (28-5) at approximately 9:57 p.m. Eastern time in a third-round NCAA Tournament game at the FedExForum. The winner will face the survivor of the other South Regional semifinal between Oklahoma (29-5) and Syracuse (28-9). That game will begin at 7:27 p.m. Eastern.

Staff photo by Robert Willett

MEMPHIS — Oddsmakers have made Gonzaga an 8-point underdog against North Carolina in Friday’s South Regional semifinal game in the FedExForum.

That fact has not escaped the attention of the Bulldog players. Among the final 16 teams, only Arizona against Louisville is considered more of a long shot to advance.

“It’s kind of nice to be the underdog,” said Zags senior center Josh Heytvelt. “Most of the season, we’ve had the bull’s eye on our back ... There’s just a lot of hype for Carolina. Their fans don’t expect anything less than a championship from those guys.”

MEMPHIS — Of the 16 remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament, Syracuse could have the most difficult route to the Final Four in Detroit.

Against Oklahoma in Friday’s South third-round, the Orange will have to deal with Sooners’ star big man Blake Griffin. With a win, Jim Boeheim’s Big East team could have to deal with North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough in Sunday’s regional title game.

During Thursday’s pre-game interview, some of the Syracuse players made it fairly obvious that the challenge against the 6-10, 251-pound Blake is something they have rarely confronted. Even so, the Orange players were careful to qualify their words — just in case they have to say much the same thing about Hansbrough.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Shot after shot clanged off the rim, if they hit anything at all. Jumpers, 3-pointers, layups — didn't matter. Clemson just couldn't figure out Michigan's zone defense.

Michigan stymied Clemson with its 1-3-1 defense and survived a late scare in its first NCAA tournament game in 11 years, beating the Tigers 62-59 in the first round of South Regional Thursday night.

Staff photo by Chuck Liddy

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GREENSBORO – Fans at the Greensboro Coliseum got exactly what they expected Thursday afternoon.

North Carolina senior Tyler Hansbrough broke the ACC scoring record. Ty Lawson, the Tar Heels’ point guard, didn’t play because of an injured right big toe.

And top-seeded North Carolina rolled to a 101-58 defeat of No. 16 seed Radford in a first-round NCAA Tournament game. The only real suspense was the method by which Hansbrough would score the points to break the ACC career scoring record of 2,769 points set in 2006 by former Duke guard J.J. Redick.

GREENSBORO (AP) — Marcus Thornton scored 30 points and LSU held off a late rally to beat Butler 75-71 on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Tasmin Mitchell had 14 points and Chris Johnson added 12 points for the Tigers (27-7), seeded eighth in the South Regional. They advanced to Saturday's second round against the North Carolina-Radford winner.