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Nobody could have blamed him, since a portion of Kemper Arena fell down upon Heskett three years ago at the Big 12 Tournament. Rowdy Missouri fans rattled that bleacher section, which gave way and grazed the back of Heskett's skull.

He was knocked out cold and suffered head and thigh injuries, but he dodged serious damage. A second or two earlier, and the steel of the Kemper bleachers, whose safety measures have been upgraded considerably, would have smacked into his forehead.

"And who knows what would have happened?" he said. "But I don't think about it at all. No big deal."

Thursday, Heskett knocked out 14th-seeded Winthrop with four 3-pointers in third-seeded Oklahoma's 74-50 victory.

After his finest NCAA Tournament game, he said it was no big deal.

He connected on all four 3s in a five-minute stretch of the second half in which the Sooners peeled away from the Eagles. It was timely, since Eduardo Najera had only 10 points and five rebounds. Najera did add five assists, but he turned it over six times.

"We have a complete team, that's the thing," said Heskett, 21. "We have an All-America in Ed, but we have so many other weapons. In close games, we're going to Ed. But it was nice that he could sit back and almost take it easy today. We have nine who can play, and at any given moment one can hurt you. You can't sit on one person."

Heskett's marksmanship allowed the Sooners to turn a 15-point lead into a 21 points when he nailed three 3-pointers in a two-minute stretch, each from the left side. Three minutes later, his 3 from the left corner gave Oklahoma a 64-43 advantage with 7:52 remaining.

Winthrop got no closer the rest of the way.

"Ed set a couple of good picks, so did Renzi (Stone)," Heskett said. "And I got my feet squared away. I felt I came in and gave us a good spark today."

As usual. Last season, Heskett set a school 3-point record when he hit 47.3 percent from long range. He was 6-for-8 beyond the arc in a double-OT win over Iowa State this season, ending the Cyclones' winning streak at 13, and he went 5-for-8 in an impressive 14-point victory at Arkansas.

Heskett didn't commit a turnover in his 12 minutes Thursday, which coach Kelvin Sampson also expects of Heskett.

In his last 112 minutes of action, stretching nine games, the 6-foot-1 junior has turned it over only once. He has only one multiple-turnover game this season, and his 3.1-1 assists-turnovers ratio topped the Big 12.

Ask him about any of those numbers, though, and he blushes the shade of his Sooners jersey.

"It's a team thing," Heskett said. "It says Oklahoma across the front of the jersey, not my name. We got here as a team and we'll leave as a team."

His first phone call after the game was to sister Jennifer, who is a freshman golfer at the College of Charleston. Heskett hasn't defeated his little sister on the links since she was 11, so he could empathize with Winthrop.

And Heskett couldn't wait to return to his team's headquarters at a Doubletree Hotel, where Leo the shoeshine man has been telling the Sooners they would be one-round wonders for the past two days.

"People can say what the want to say," Heskett said, "but we plan on being here a while."

Dodging disaster

St. John's, the second-seeded team in the West Region, averted becoming a part of history late Thursday night when it turned back 15th-seeded Northern Arizona at McKale Center.

Up until that game, 15th-seeded teams had won only three of 61 games since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Make that 3-59 after St. John's rallied to score the final six points of the game.

Temple and Cincinnati, second-seeded teams that play Friday (against Lafayette and North Carolina-Wilmington, respectively), will probably use the St. John's game to keep from taking their foes lightly.

"Yes, very much so," said St. John's coach Mike Jarvis, when asked if he was nervous toward the end of the game. "But you know what? This year has been so incredible, one of the lessons I've learned is that I'm not in charge. This game is full of lessons to be learned. It's been one of the most educational years and seasons of my life."

Anthony Glover had hit two free throws to give the Red Storm a 47-38 lead midway through the second half. The Lumberjacks poured it on, blasting St. John's with an 18-8 run to take the lead by a point, but NAU didn't score again.

Junior guard Cory Schwab had hit the 3-point shot that briefly gave the 'Jacks a 56-55 lead. Until then, he had gone 0-for-5 from beyond the arc.

"Coach said when it came down to the big shot, that I was going to hit it," Schwab said of coach Mike Adras. "I got the open look in the corner, and it went down. They got it done when they needed to, but we gave them all they could handle. And the country is going to know who we are from now on."

After Lavor Postell converted a three-point play to give St. John's a 58-56 lead, NAU called a timeout and worked the ball around the perimeter when play resumed.

However, guard Ross Land had the ball stripped from him by Red Storm point guard Erick Barkley, sealing NAU's fate.

"I mean, he put the ball in my face," said Barkley, almost apologetically. "I had no choice."

Flyers get fried

Dayton sophomore guard David Morris said he should have taken another dribble or two to get a closer and better look for the Flyers' potential game-winning shot against Purdue on Thursday.

He wound up fielding Brooks Hall's 45-foot lob near the left sideline, and he straddled the line before launching a desperation shot with Boilermakers forward Brian Cardinal playing tight defense.

The ball bounced off the left side of the scoreboard, securing Purdue's 62-61 victory. Dayton fell to 0-for-1 in the NCAAs in the past 10 years.

Given the circumstances, that miss was forgivable. But Dayton's other 14 misses from beyond the arc were a telltale sign of its defeat. UD entered the game with a 37.6-percent team mark from 3-point territory, then went only 2-for-17 against the Boilers. That 11.8 percent accuracy was a season low for the Flyers.

Purdue was 10-for-23 from long range. Cardinal had been fouled under the Dayton basket with four seconds remaining, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one. Mark Ashman grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 3.2 seconds left, and that set up Morris' miracle heave.

When Dayton took its third lead of the game, with three minutes left, Jaraan Cornell answered with a 3-pointer to tie it at 58 with 2:03 left. Dayton turned it over, and Cardinal followed with a 3-pointer from the right side to give Purdue the lead for good.

"We just didn't recover quickly enough in our zone defense," said UD guard Tony Stanley, who made only two of his 10 3-point attempts. "And we're obviously disappointed in our 3s."

Cornell guarded Stanley like a pickpocket, trying to make Stanley beat him on the dribble -- knowing Cardinal and other helpers were waiting behind him -- rather than from beyond the arc.

"Just didn't get good looks," Stanley said. Neither did Morris.

Seventh heaven for Keady

Purdue coach Gene Keady joined some elite company Thursday by advancing to the second round for the seventh consecutive year. Only one coach can match or surpass that streak, as Kansas coach Roy Williams can win his 11th consecutive first-round game Friday against DePaul.

Keady downplayed the statistic, saying all he wants to do is win the next game. That will be Saturday against Oklahoma.