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 to spark the deciding run in a 70-64 upset Friday over No. 4 seed Kansas State for 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 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 either Wisconsin or 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 tides with a streak of 12 consecutive points. 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 a confident team 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 minutes 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 Anteaters coach Russell 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 the winner of the game between Oregon and Wisconsin.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Kansas, with all its ups and downs this season, was a popular pick to be one of the NCAA Tournament’s first big upsets.

As higher seeds like Auburn and Michigan had tense moments in their openers, the Jayhawks soared into the next round.

Dedric Lawson had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Kansas dominated inside for an 87-54 rout over Northeastern Thursday in the Midwest Region

“I thought our guys were as locked in as they’ve been all year,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.

The fourth-seeded Jayhawks (26-9) had a notable size advantage inside and used it, outscoring the Huskies 50-16 in the paint while grabbing 17 more rebounds.

Devon Dotson controlled the offense and scored 18 points, while Dedric’s brother, K.J., chipped in 13 points.

Kansas shot 56 percent and advanced to Saturday’s second round against fifth-seeded Auburn.

“We were settling for 3s early in the game,” K.J. Lawson said. “Once we settled in, everybody was in attack mode and had a great performance today.”

The best shot for the 13th-seeded Huskies (23-11) was to make their 3-point tries.

They didn’t.

The Colonial Athletic Association champions went 6 for 28 from the arc after finishing the regular season 17th in Division I at 38.6 percent. Sharpshooter Vasa Pusica had a hard time getting separation from the Jayhawks’ athletic guards, finishing with seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.

Jordan Roland had 12 points to lead the Huskies, who shot 28 percent overall.

“They took us out of our own identity,” Northeastern coach Bill Coen said. “If you were dialing up a blueprint for an upset, you have to have a great shooting night. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that.”

The Jayhawks had a regular season like few others in their storied history.

Kansas made the NCAA Tournament. That was no shock. This was its 30th straight year in the bracket.

But the Jayhawks were a No. 4 seed when they’re usually a 1 or 2.

Kansas played all season without Silvio De Souza after he was connected to the federal probe into college basketball corruption. Center Udoke Azubukie was lost for the season in January to a wrist injury. Senior guard Lagerald Vick left the team for personal reasons in February.

Self navigated the attrition the best he could, piecing together a lineup with four freshmen and a lineup no one could have predicted at the season’s start.

The result: Kansas had its 14-year reign as Big 12 champions come to an end and was a trendy upset pick against the 3-shooting Huskies in the NCAA Tournament.

Kansas gave them little chance.

Northeastern was no match for Lawson inside and had a hard time stopping the Kansas guards off the dribble from the get-go. Lawson had 16 points by halftime and the Jayhawks led 37-25.

The Huskies also needed to make 3-pointers to keep Kansas in reach and didn’t, going 5 for 17 in the first half.

The trend continued to start the second half. Lawson hit a 3, scored inside and Kansas used a 16-2 run to go up 53-32.

“We missed our first few shots and I don’t know if we got flustered,” Northeastern’s Bolden Brace, who had seven points and nine rebounds. “We kind of relied on the 3-point shot and when that kind of didn’t work out, other parts of our game kind of fell apart a little bit.”

BIG PICTURE

Northeastern got over a hump by bouncing back from a big disappointment in last year’s CAA tournament, but didn’t have the size or athleticism to keep up with the Jayhawks.

Kansas did what it normally does as a high seed in the NCAA Tournament, stretching its opening-game winning streak to 13 games.

THE LAWSON MATCH-UP

Dedric Lawson was a preseason All-American and a matchup problem for teams all season.

Pack it in and he’ll shoot outside. Leave him 1-on-1 in the post, he’ll wear his defender out.

Northeastern, with one regular over 6-foot-8, certainly had no one who could contain him. Lawson made 9 of 16 shots, 3 of 5 from the 3-point arc and all four of his free throws.

“We didn’t really have a matchup for him,” Coen said. “It was a very difficult matchup for us going in. We were hoping to do a better job on him.”

UP NEXT

Kansas faces No. 5 Auburn in Saturday’s second round.

Northeastern’s season is over.

HAYS – TMP-Marian Senior Kaleb Hagans signed a of letter of intent to play football at Kansas Wesleyan University on Thursday at the TMP cafeteria.

Hagans is a two-time All Mid-Continent League selection at linebacker and after leading 3A in tackles as a junior with 148 total tackles he ranked fourth in class 2A this past season with 119 tackles.

His 267 total tackles ranks him 10th all-team in MCL history.

Kaleb Hagans interview

Coach David Bowen interview

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) – Markis McDuffie had 20 points as Wichita State topped Furman 76-70 in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday night.

Jaime Echenique had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Wichita State (20-14). Erik Stevenson added 12 points and six rebounds. Asbjorn Midtgaard had 10 rebounds for the visitors.

Matt Rafferty had 27 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals for the Paladins (25-8). Jordan Lyons added 19 points. Clay Mounce had 10 points.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs have signed cornerback Bashaud Breeland to a $2 million contract for the upcoming season that could be worth an additional $3 million if incentives are met.

The club announced the agreement, largely reached over the weekend, on Tuesday. Breeland even indicated it was close to becoming official Monday with a tweet about barbeque.

The Chiefs have been looking for a cornerback to replace Steven Nelson, whom they lost in free agency, while providing an upgrade to their beleaguered defense. Breeland nearly signed with Kansas City last training camp before signing mid-season with Green Bay.

He wound up playing well for the Packers down the stretch, earning his deal with the Chiefs.

FHSU University Relations

Another week, another conference series is being adjusted for Tiger baseball. The Fort Hays State baseball has announced that due to impending weather in the forecast, the series will now begin the weekend MIAA series between the Tigers and RiverHawks one day earlier. The three-game series will take play with one game each day, starting Thursday (March 21) and running through Saturday (March 23). First pitch from Thomas C. Rousey Field for games one and two are set for 2 p.m. The series finale is slated to begin at noon on Saturday.