Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg dunks duirng the Wolverines' second round win over Saint Louis on Saturday in Buffalo. (AP photo)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Yaxel Lendeborg punctuated his 25-point outing with a massive dunk in transition, and the Midwest Region’s top-seeded Michigan advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 95-72 victory over Saint Louis in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

Morez Johnson Jr. had 15 and eight rebounds for Michigan (33-3), which matched a program record for victories set during its seventh and most recent Final Four appearance in 2018.

The Wolverines’ 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara had 16 points, five rebounds and four blocks to increase his season blocks total to 96, one short of matching Michigan’s single-season record set by Roy Tarpley in 1985-86.

The Wolverines advanced to the round of 16 for the second consecutive year and seventh time since 2017. They’ll play the winner of Texas Tech and Alabama at Chicago on Friday.

Amari McCottry had 14 points and five rebounds for Saint Louis (29-6), which saw its season end after setting a single-season record for wins with its 102-77 first-round win over Georgia.

The Wolverines’ size and depth proved too much for the ninth-seeded Billikens, who dropped to 0-6 in second-round games.

Michigan particularly took away the Billikens’ primary strength, their outside shooting game, limiting Saint Louis to 5 of 17 3-point attempts through the first half, and 10 of 32 overall.

Billikens senior Robbie Avila, who entered ranking third among NCAA centers with 211 career 3-point baskets, struggled to find his range, finishing 3 of 13 — including 3 of 10 3-pointers.

After trading leads six times through the first 10 minutes, Michigan went ahead for good on Trey McKenney’s 3-pointer with 9:37 left in the first half. The basket sparked a 9-0 run. And the Wolverines put the game away midway through the second half with their transition game and a pressure defense.

Lendeborg had a highlight-reel dunk by bullying his way through two defenders and finishing his transition drive with a dunk to put Michigan up 66-57. A little over a minute later, Michigan’s press cashed in, with Nimari Burnett intercepting Brady Dunlap’s pass and taking it the other way for a layup to make it 73-58.

MICHIGAN STATE 77, LOUISVILLE 69

Coen Carr recorded his first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Jeremy Fears Jr. had 16 assists as Michigan State advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 17th time under coach Tom Izzo, beating Louisville.

Fears added 12 points on 3-of-13 shooting but did the most damage for Michigan State with his precision passing. The country’s assists leader, who came in averaging 9.2 per game, became the first Big Ten player with 10 or more assists in each of the first two games of an NCAA tourney. He had 11 in the Spartans’ first-round win over North Dakota State.

Magic Johnson had double-digit assists in four NCAA Tournament games during the Spartans’ run to the 1979 national title, before assists became an official stat.

Third-seeded Michigan State will play the winner of Sunday’s game between No. 2 seed UConn and No. 7 seed UCLA in the East Region semifinals on Friday night in Washington.

ARKANSAS 94, HIGH POINT 88

Darius Acuff Jr. had 36 points and six assists to help No. 4-seeded Arkansas survive a scare from 12th-seeded High Point.

The Razorbacks (28-8) will face the winner of Sunday’s matchup between top-seeded Arizona and No. 9 seed Utah State on Thursday in the Sweet 16 in San Jose, California.

Two of the highest-scoring teams in the nation combined on a back-and-forth affair that featured 15 lead changes and six ties, before Arkansas had just enough late to send coach John Calipari to his 17th Sweet 16.

Rob Martin had 30 points, five assists and four rebounds for High Point (31-5), which pulled off a first-round upset of fifth-seeded Wisconsin. Cam’Ron Fletcher, who was recruited by Calipari when he coached at Kentucky, had 25 points.

TEXAS 74, GONZAGA 68

Jordan Pope and Matas Vokieaitis each scored 17 points, Camden Heide hit a game-sealing 3-pointer and Texas became the first team in five years to go from the NCAA Tournament’s First Four to the Sweet 16, beating Gonzaga in Portland, Ore.

First-year coach Sean Miller’s 11th-seeded Longhorns (21-14), who lost five of six entering the tournament and looked underwhelming in their First Four win over N.C. State, will face either No. 2 seed Purdue or No. 7 seed Miami on Thursday in the West Region semifinals San Jose, California.

The last First Four team to reach the Sweet 16 was UCLA, which made it all the way to the Final Four in 2021.

Graham Ike led third-seeded Gonzaga (31-4) with 25 points, but the Bulldogs struggled to generate much secondary scoring.

Coach Mark Few’s team bowed out in the second round for the second straight year after reaching the Sweet 16 in nine consecutive tournaments, a run that included two losses in the national title game.

DUKE 81, TCU 58

Duke got two tests to open its run as the No. 1 overall seed in March Madness. The Blue Devils responded both times, the latter coming when they got their defense and star freshman Cameron Boozer rolling after halftime.

Boozer shook off a quiet first half to finish with 19 points and Duke shot 61.5% after halftime Saturday to pull away from TCU.

The forward voted a unanimous first-team Associated Press All-American earlier this week had just two points and missed his only shot in the first half. But he scored three times during the 11-0 second-half burst — twice on high-low feeds from fellow big Patrick Ngongba II in his return to the lineup — as Duke (34-2) finally shook free of the ninth-seeded Horned Frogs (23-12).

That 11-0 run was the capper on a 26-6 surge that spanned nearly nine minutes, with TCU missing 15 of 17 shots after Jayden Pierre’s layup tied it at 44-all with 13:56 left. TCU shot just 10 for 38 after halftime and 33.3% for the game, while Duke finished with a 42-25 rebounding advantage.

HOUSTON 88, TEXAS A&M 57

Emanuel Sharp scored 18 points, Chris Cenac Jr. had 17 points and nine rebounds, and seed Houston rolled past Texas A&M to reach the Sweet 16 for the seventh consecutive year.

Milos Uzan added 15 points for the Cougars (30-6), the No. 2 seed in the South Region. Houston will play in its home city on Thursday against either No. 3 seed Illinois or No. 11 seed VCU, and coach Kelvin Sampson’s squad — which lost in the national title game to Florida last year — again looks like an opponent nobody wants to play.

Josh Holloway scored 12 points in a reserve role for Texas A&M. The 10th-seeded Aggies (22-12), who beat St. Mary’s in the first round, struggled against Houston’s aggressive interior defense. The Cougars won the rebounding battle 46-29, had 19 offensive boards and blocked seven shots.

ILLINOIS 76, VCU 55

Andrej Stojakovic scored 21 points and No. 3 Illinois beat 11th-seeded VCU to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons under coach Brad Underwood.

Tomislav Ivisic had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Keaton Wagler chipped in with 14 points for the Fighting Illini (26-8), who advanced to face South Region No. 2 seed Houston, an 88-57 winner over Texas A&M.

Underwood celebrated after the game by waving both arms up in the air simultaneously at the Illinois crowd.

Illinois, which had a huge height advantage, held VCU to 35% shooting and outrebounded the Rams 45-29. The Illini blocked five shots.

Terrence Hill Jr. had 17 points for VCU (28-8).

VCU’s Nyk Lewis went down for the game with a sprained right ankle in the opening minute and Illinois bolted to 20-8 lead.

But just as they did on Thursday night against No. 6 seed North Carolina, when they came storming back from a 19-point, second-half deficit to win 82-78 in overtime, the Rams got back in it with a series of 3-pointers to take a 28-26 lead behind 12 first-half points from Hill. But VCU couldn’t sustain the momentum.

NEBRASKA 74, VANDERBILT 72

Braden Frager made a driving layup with 2.2 seconds left, and Nebraska advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time, outlasting Vanderbilt when Tyler Tanner’s heave from beyond half court rimmed out at the buzzer.

Frager finished with 15 points and Pryce Sandfort also scored 15 for the fourth-seeded Cornhuskers (28-6), who had never won a March Madness game until beating Troy two days ago. Nebraska advances to the South Region semifinals in Houston, where it will face either top-seeded Florida or ninth-seeded Iowa on Thursday.

Tanner scored 27 points and Tyler Nickel added 16 for No. 5 seed Vanderbilt (25-9), which was trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2007.

Rienk Mast added 13 points for the Huskers. Sam Hoiberg, coach Fred Hoiberg’s son, finished with eight points, none bigger than his putback with 1:20 to go that tied the game at 70-all. The teams traded the lead four times in the final 2:08.