NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Midwest Regional : Orr-Frieder Coaching Matchup Now a Reality

Johnny Orr and Bill Frieder have their wish -- each other.

Coach Orr’s Iowa State team and Coach Frieder’s Michigan team will play Sunday to determine which advances to next week’s NCAA Midwest Regional at Kansas City.

Both earned a second-round match with tougher-than-expected first-round victories Friday.

Iowa State bumped Miami of Ohio 81-79 in overtime on Jeff Hornacek’s 26-foot whirl-and-drill shot just before the buzzer.

Michigan got a key three-point play and blocked shot from center Roy Tarpley, benched at the start of both halves for disciplinary reasons, in the final 8:03 of a 70-64 victory over Akron.

“I’m happy to get a chance to play them,” said Orr, who hired Frieder at Michigan in the mid-1970s. “It didn’t look like we were going to get to play them.

“In the first game, it didn’t look like they were going to get a chance to play us.”

“Looking at the results of the other first-round games you knew it was going to be rough,” Michigan coach Frieder said, “and it was.

“Their (Akron’s) zone defense was good,” Frieder said. “They trapped good and controlled the tempo.

“They would come up and get you but still were quick enough to get back and protect the basket,” said Frieder, whose team trailed 32-30 at halftime.

Michigan freshman Glen Rice led the Wolverines with 14 points and an excellent defensive job on the Zips’ leading scorer, Marcel Boyce. The Akron forward had a game-high 17 points but had 10 of them in the first half and missed six minutes of the second half with four fouls.

Tarpley was set down for a “minor infraction,” Frieder said, such as being late for a meeting. “I’m a stickler for things like that.”

The 6-foot-10 center still had 13 points and nine rebounds. His rebound basket of a missed Butch Wade free throw was turned into a three-point play with 8:03 left and gave Michigan a 52-48 lead after Akron had cut it to 49-48.

Tarpley later rejected a shot by freshman Eric McLaughlin that was turned into a fastbreak layup by Gary Grant to make it 56-50 with 5:50 left.

Antoine Joubert added 12 points for the Wolverines, rated fifth in the country and the second seed in the NCAA Midwest Region. Michigan takes a 28-4 record against Iowa State.

“We play against guys that size -- but not so many at one time,” Akron coach Bob Huggins said after his Zips were ousted in their first NCAA tournament try at the Division I level. Akron finished 22-8.

Hornacek’s shot came off a double screen after Iowa State had called timeout with two seconds left. The 6-foot-3 guard got the ball from near mid-court, took a dribble, whirled and let fly a shot that was still some feet from swishing as the buzzer sounded.

“I’d rather get beat by Hornacek at 26 feet than somebody else because we went out to get him,” Miami of Ohio coach Jerry Peirson said after the Redskins were knocked from the NCAA first-round for the third straight year.

“I knew as soon as it left his hand we were done,” said Peirson, whose Miami of Ohio team finished 24-7. “And he knew it too.”

“I knew it was a good shot, too, as soon as he shot it,” Orr said after his Cyclones improved to 21-10. Last year Iowa State was bumped in the first round in its first NCAA appearance in 41 years.

After Grayer’s 19 points, made on 8-of-10 shooting, Jeff Hornacek had 15 points, Ron Virgil had 14 and freshman Elmer Robinson made 13.

Harper scored 17 for Miami of Ohio but only made 7-of-22 shots. The Redskins also squandered a 46-31 edge in rebounding and a career game by center Lamont Hanna, who averages 1.3 points per game but got 17 before fouling out with 1:39 left in regulation.

Hornacek tied the score 65-65 on a shot from the top of the key with 27 seconds to go to force the overtime.