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Wednesday's play-in games at a glance

Yahoo Sports

East Region No. 16 play-in game

Alabama State vs. UT San Antonio

SITE: Dayton, Ohio
TIME: 6:40 p.m.
TV: truTV
ANNOUNCERS: Gus Johnson play-by-play, Len Elmore analyst
THE SPREAD: UTSA by 4
RECORDS: Alabama State 17-17; UT San Antonio 19-13.
ENROLLMENTS: Alabama State 5,627; UT San Antonio 25,893.
THE BUZZ: The winner will serve as first-round fodder for Ohio State on Friday in Cleveland. Both were surprise winners in their league tourneys, as Alabama State was the fourth seed in the SWAC tourney and UTSA was seeded seventh in the Southland tourney. UTSA is the only team in the field that did not play another team in this tourney. UTSA G Devin Gibson is one of the best low-major players in the nation. He is the team's leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, and is second in the nation in free throws attempted with 286; he and freshman F Jeromie Hill, an Australian, have to be productive if the Roadrunners are to prevail. Alabama State is all about defense. G Tremaine Butler (10.9 ppg) is their only double-figure scorer, but the Hornets hold foes to 40.3 percent shooting from the field, force 15.6 turnovers per game and block 4.7 shots per game.

– MIKE HUGUENIN

Southwest Region No. 11 play-in game

USC vs. Virginia Commonwealth

SITE: Dayton, Ohio
TIME: 9:10 p.m.
TV: truTV
ANNOUNCERS: Gus Johnson play-by-play, Len Elmore analyst
THE SPREAD: USC by 4.5
RECORDS: USC 19-14, VCU 23-11
ENROLLMENTS: USC 33,000; VCU 32,000
THE BUZZ: The winner faces No. 6 Georgetown on Friday in Chicago. USC's big-time frontcourt should really worry VCU. Trojans F Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stepheson might be the best frontcourt duo in the Pac-10, and VCU gets outrebounded by almost four per game. Vucevic is a double-double machine who can hit the mid-range jumper and score in the paint, while Stepheson is strictly a low-post guy. VCU's best big man is Jamie Skeen, but can he get enough help defensively? USC needs to keep VCU PG Joey Rodriguez out of the lane and make sure Bradford Burgess and Brandon Rozzell don't get hot from the perimeter. The only way VCU wins this is to get hot from the perimeter.

– MIKE HUGUENIN