Noah Horchler had a double-double, Al Durham scored 13 points and A.J. Reeves added 12 as fourth-seeded Providence routed 12th-seeded Richmond 79-51 Saturday in an NCAA Tournament second-round game in Buffalo N.Y.

Nate Watson and Jared Bynum each scored 10 points for Providence (27-5), which advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1997. The Friars will play top-seeded Kansas in a Midwest Regional semifinal in Chicago on Friday.

"I'm speechless. (I'm) very happy for our players, very happy for our program, so excited about our state and our city. ... That's the best we've played all year," Providence coach Ed Cooley said on the TV broadcast. "Our guys have had a chip on their shoulder because the narrative was, their luck will run out.

"I can't wait to get to Chicago. We've got a tough opponent (Kansas), but we're going to enjoy this moment."

Horchler scored 16 points, shooting 4-for-6 from 3-point range, and also grabbed 14 rebounds. Bynum had six assists and Reeves had five.

Nathan Cayo scored 18 points for the Spiders (24-13). Grant Golden scored 10 points but Jacob Gilyard was limited to four points on 2-for-10 shooting two days after recording 24 points in the upset victory over Iowa. He also was assessed a technical foul in the second half.

The Spiders earned an automatic bid by winning the Atlantic-10 tournament and were trying to reach the NCAA regional semifinals for the first time since 2011.

Providence led 39-24 at halftime.

The Friars opened the second half with a basket by Watson in the paint and a 3-pointer by Durham to extend their lead to 44-24. The Spiders never challenged, with the Friars' lead eventually growing to 30.

Providence dominated the first half with 15-for-30 shooting, including 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) from beyond the arc. That was well above the Friars' season average of 34.3 percent from long distance entering the contest. Providence finished 12-for-22 from deep.

Providence started quickly, with a 7-0 run capped by Durham's 3-pointer. Richmond was able to cut its deficit to 10-6 on two foul shots by Matt Grace with 15:21 to go in the half, but Providence answered with an 11-2 run that was fueled by eight points from Horchler.

The lead continued to grow, with Justin Minaya's trey giving Providence a 30-14 advantage with 9:17 left in the half.

--Field Level Media