By OnMilwaukee Staff Writers   Published Mar 19, 2011 at 9:03 AM

Marquette overcame 15 turnovers and some times of lackluster second half play to beat Xavier, 66-55, Friday and advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

The 11th-seeded Golden Eagles (21-14) got 19 points from Darius Johnson-Odom and 15 from senior Jimmy Butler in the victory -- just the third in Marquette's last eight NCAA tournament games.

Marquette never trailed in the contest and did good work neutralizing Xavier's top scoring threat, Tu Holloway. The third-team All-America selection had just five points and made only one field goal in nine attempts thanks in large part to Butler's defensive efforts.

"With a player like that, the key to their team, you have to stop him," Butler said. "You have to want to take that challenge and take him out of his game, make it hard for him, make it uncomfortable."

Xavier trailed by 13 at the hald and mounted a couple of second-half runs but couldn't really close the gap.

Next up for the Golden Eagles is Big East rival Syracuse, which defeated No. 14 Indiana State, 77-60. Marquette upset the then-No. 10 Orange, 76-70 Jan. 29 at the Bradley Center.

A victory Sunday would put the Golden Eagles in the Sweet 16 for the first time since their run to the Final Four in 2003.

It's not an upset: George Mason's 61-57 victory over Villanova was one of the most exciting games of the tournament. It was close. It was down to the wire. It was thrilling.

But it wasn't an upset. The Patriots came into the game seeded ninth while the Wildcats were eighth in the East Regional. Of course, with Villanova coming from the rough-and-tumble Big East and George Mason the Colonial Athletic Association, it would be easy to assume otherwise.

See ya, Bruce: It's hard to believe that Bruce Pearl will be back as head coach next season at Tennessee. He was already on thin ice after a tumultous season plagued with revelations that he lied to NCAA investigators and numerous other allegations that resulted in an eight-game suspension earlier this year.

Before the tournament, Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton said the jury was "still out" on Pearl's future in Knoxville. After laying an egg against Michigan Friday -- losing by 30 points -- you can probably start removing Pearl's name from the office door.

Couldn't have scripted it better: Duke and Michigan will face off Sunday in a third-round game in Charlotte and the timing couldn't be better. The game will come one week after an ESPN documentary on the Michigan "Fab Five," in which members of that team expressed their dislike of Duke in not-so-subtle terms.

After the show aired, former Duke star Grant Hill, in a New York Times op-ed, expressed his disappointment with the comments, especially those of Jalen Rose, who said that black players recruited by Duke were, in his eyes at the time, "Uncle Toms."

Many years have passed for both programs but you have to wonder what the atmosphere will be like in the Time Warner Cable Arena.

He said it: "If we're that boring, turn the channel"

-- Wisconsin guard Jordan Taylor

Second round scores

Friday

East Regional

  • No. 1 Ohio State 75, No. 16 UT-San Antonio 46
  • No. 2 North Carolina 102, No. 15 Long Island 87
  • No. 3 Syracuse 77, No. 14 Indiana State 60
  • No. 7 Washington 68, No. 10 Georgia 65
  • No. 8 George Mason 61, No. 9 Villanova 57
  • No. 11 Marquette 66, No. 6 Xavier 55

West Regional

  • No. 1 Duke 87, No. 16 Hampton 45
  • No. 4 Texas 85, No. 13 Oakland 81
  • No. 5 Arizona 77, No. 12 Memphis 75
  • No. 8 Michigan 75, No. 9 Tennessee 45

Southwest Regional

  • No. 1 Kansas 72, No. 16 Boston University 53
  • No. 2 Notre Dame 69, No. 15 Akron 56
  • No. 3 Purdue 65, No. 14 St. Peter's 43
  • No. 9 Illinois 73, No. 8 UNLV 62
  • No. 10 Florida State 57, No. 7 Texas A&M 50
  • No. 11 VCU 74, No. 6 Georgetown 56 

Third Round schedule
(All times Central)

Saturday

East Regional

  • No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 5 Virginia, 11:15 a.m. (CBS)

West Regional

  • No. 2 San Diego State vs. No. 7 Temple, 5:10 p.m. (TNT)
  • No. 3 Connecticut vs. No. 6 Cincinnati, 8:55 p.m. (TBS)

Southeast Regional

  • No. 2 Florida vs. No. 7 UCLA, 2 p.m. (CBS)
  • No. 1 Pittsburgh vs. No. 8 Butler, 6:10 p.m. (TBS)
  • No. 3 BYU vs. No. 11 Gonzaga, 7:05 p.m. (CBS)
  • No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 5 Kansas State, 7:55 p.m. (TNT)

Southwest Regional

  • No. 12 Richmond vs. No. 13 Morehead State, 4:15 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday

East Regional

  • No. 2 North Carolina vs. No. 7 Washington, 11:15 a.m. (CBS)
  • No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 8 George Mason, 4:15 p.m. (CBS)
  • No. Syracuse vs. No. 11 Marquette, 6:45 p.m. (truTV)

West Regional

  • No. 1 Duke vs. No. 8 Michigan, 1:45 p.m. (CBS)
  • No. 4 Texas vs. No. 5 Arizona, 5:10 p.m. (TNT)

Southwest Regional

  • No. 3 Purdue vs. No. 11 VCU, 6:10 p.m. (TBS)
  • No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 9 Illinois, 7:40 p.m. (TNT)
  • No. 2 Notre Dame vs. No. 10 Florida State, 8:40 p.m.