NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark.— Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts put up the fancy stats and grab most of the attention. When Memphis needs to get down and dirty, though, it’s Joey Dorsey who gets it done.

The Tigers’ burly forward made his presence known on both ends of the court Sunday, finishing with 13 points, 12 rebounds, a season-high six blocks and an untold number of bumps and bruises as top-seeded Memphis outscrapped Mississippi State 77–74 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Three other Tigers finished in double figures, including 17 each from Rose and Douglas-Roberts. It was the ninth straight win for Memphis (35–1), which advanced to the round of 16 for a third straight year. The Tigers will play fifth-seeded Michigan State (27–8) in the semifinals of the South Region on Friday in Houston. Jamont Gordon had 21 points and Ben Hansbrough 19 for eighth-seeded Mississippi State, which hasn’t made it out of the first weekend since the 1996 team that went to the Final Four.

But the Bulldogs came close.

Gordon made a 3-pointer with about 19 seconds left to cut Memphis’ lead to 75–70. Antonio Anderson missed a pair of free throws, and Charles Rhodes slammed home a rebound. Rose was quickly fouled, but he could only make one of two. Gordon then made a layup to cut it to 76–74 with 4.2 seconds left.

But Douglas-Roberts made a free throw, and Gordon’s long jumper at the buzzer wasn’t close. That this game wasn’t going to be a thing of beauty was a given. Mississippi State and Memphis came into the tournament with two of the best defenses in the country, with the Bulldogs ranking second in the nation in both opponents’ field-goal percentage (36.8) and blocks (7.9).

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TEXAS 74, MIAMI 69

With a 17-point lead unbelievably cut to three, Texas needed somebody — anybody — to make a couple free throws.

A.J. Abrams was ready — as he had been all day.

Abrams calmly sank two with 9.5 seconds remaining, giving the second-seeded Longhorns just enough margin to hold off seventh-seeded Miami 75–72 in the second round of the South Regional on Sunday.

Abrams gave Texas a 74–69 lead, but the Longhorns weren’t quite safe yet. Miami’s Raymond Hicks made a 3-pointer, and D.J. Augustin then shot an air ball on his first of two free throws with 1.8 seconds to play. Augustin made the second, however, and Texas was able to break up a long pass to preserve the win.

Abrams scored 26 points on six 3-pointers for the second consecutive game. Texas (30–6) advances to the regional semifinals to play third-seeded Stanford on Friday. The Longhorns went 13-of-26 from 3-point range, including 9-for-16 in the first half. They nearly made up for that by going 12-of-21 on free throws. Damion James added 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Longhorns, and Augustin contributed 12 points and eight assists.