Whole Lotta Love ... And a Little Neitzel, Too

By Will Brinson

[img=http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l126/rwbrinso/uclawin.jpg]

It was defense, Kevin Love getting hot and Texas A&M's inability to score, which also probably relates to defense, that kept UCLA alive and staved off a collective wave of bracketology suicide. The Bruins survived the Aggies' strong first-half play to advance 51-49. A&M neglected to play the second half, apparently. Seriously, this game was much more exciting than the score indicates.

Despite that, the Aggies didn't score for six-plus minutes at one point, coughing up a 10-point lead, and ended up with only 20 points in the second half. Love finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks. Dominique Kirk and Donald Sloan were the only two Aggies in double figures.

Meanwhile, Drew Neitzel was unstoppable from deep, and despite Levance Fields' playing through (another) injury, Tom Izzo -- wearing a not-very-Spartan-esque Carolina blue tie -- and Michigan State advanced to the Sweet 16. Not that Izzo's fashion is important; he did coach the Spartans to a 35-point second half as the team held the Panthers to 32 percent shooting for the game.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.