Friday, March 27, 2009

 

South, Midwest Regional Semis: Friday Games

Midwest Region
Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis, IN)

(1) Louisville 103, (12) Arizona 64 - The Cardinals took control early and led 49-28 by the half and the contest was essentially over. Louisville completely dominated the less-experienced Wildcats throughout and cruised to the round of 8. Their lead widened in the second half. Look out Final Four, Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals are more than ready. Louisville's final tally tied Connecticut for the highest of the tournament. Twelve different players scored for the Cardinals, led by Earl Clark's 19.

(2) Michigan St. 67, (3) Kansas 62 - The Jayhawks took a 36-29 lead into the half after leading by as many as 13 earlier on the strength of 22 combined from Cole Aldrich ad Sherron Collins.

Michigan State rallied in the second half, with the game eventually taken over by Kalin Lucas who hit a clutch three and numerous free throws down the stretch.

Lucas and the Spartan faithful will have their hands full with Louisville on Sunday.

South Region
FedExForum (Memphis, TN)

(2) Oklahoma 84, (3) Syracuse 71 - The Orangemen could not buy a bucket from outside, missing all 10 of their 3-point attempts in the first half. The Sooners took advantage with 16 first half points from Blake Griffin and 14 on 3 3-pointers by Tony Crocker for a 39-26 lead.

With an injured Jonny Flynn on the floor for the Orangemen in the second half, the Sooners quickly upped the lead to 22 points and were never seriously challenged. Crocker finished with a career-high 28 points, hitting 6 of 11 from three-point range, Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 boards.

(1) North Carolina 98, (4) Gonzaga 77 - Two of the highest scoring teams in the nation played at a breakneck pace in the first half, but Carolina made fewer miscues and was the swifter and more adroit, taking a 53-42 lead into intermission. The Tar Heels expanded their lead and cruised to the Elite Eight.

North Carolina will play Oklahoma in the regional final. That will be one hot game. Get ready.

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Thursday, March 26, 2009

 

NCAA Regionals: Thursday Results

West Region
University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, AZ)

(1) Connecticut 72, (5) Purdue 60 - This game should have been over after the first ten minutes, but Robbie Hummel's 15 first half points and Connecticut turnovers, missed free throws, poor shot selection and an overall lack of emotion kept this game closer than it should have been.

The confident Connecticut players, leading the entire game, never seemed concerned about Purdue, even when the Boilermakers pulled to within 3 points on three different occasions. Each time, the Huskies upped the defensive intensity and worked harder for shots, instead of playing it like a shoot-around game, which they did for the most part.

Foul shooting was a troublesome area for both teams. UConn hit just 19-30; Purdue was 6-11 from the stripe. Hasheem Thabeet dominated the interior, scoring 15 points with 15 boards and 4 blocked shots. The Huskies advance, but will have to play much better, especially in terms of taking care of the rock, if they expect to win their next game.

(3) Missouri 102, (2) Memphis 91 - In the battle of Tigers, Missouri took it to Memphis in a big way. It wasn't bad enough that Missouri was going to go into the half up 10 points, but Marcus Denmon beat the buzzer from beyond half court to really put Memphis in a hole, down 49-36 at the break. J.T. Tiller led the Mizzou assault with 17 first half points.

It didn't get much better for Memphis, even though they closed to within 6 points with under a minute left, Missouri was just too aggressive on both ends of the floor. Memphis frosh Tyreke Evans scored 31 points, countered by Tiller's 25, DeMarre Carroll's 17 and Leo Lyons' 15.

Missouri will face Connecticut for a trip to the Final Four on Saturday.

East Region
TD Banknorth Garden (Boston, MA)

(1) Pittsburgh 60, (4) Xavier 55 - The Panthers got more than they bargained for from Xavier, trailing at the half, 37-29, but rallied to score the first 9 points after intermission to lead by a point. The teams exchanged leads through the half, with Xavier coming from five down to grab a 54-52 lead with 1:50 left.

Levance Fields' three-pointer with 51 seconds left, and subsequent steal and layup gave Pitt a 57-54 lead with 25 seconds to go. Xavier's Terrell Halloway made one of two free throws, but Sam Young buried a pair of foul shots to give Pitt a 4-point lead with 13 seconds left to seal the win. Young had 19 points to lead the Panthers, followed by Fields with 14 and 6 assists. DeJuan Blair scored 10 and hauled down 17 rebounds.

(3) Villanova 77, (2) Duke 54 - For a game that on paper appeared too close to call, this one turned out to be a very one-sided affair as the Wildcats put it on Duke to advance to the regional final. Villanova beat the Blue Devils in just about every imaginable way, driving repeatedly to the tin, playing intense individual and team defense which took Duke out of their normal routine and hitting the boards at both ends.

All nine player to get playing time for Villanova scored, led by Scottie Reynolds with 16 points and Dante Cunningham's 14. The Wildcats had the advantage over Duke in shooting percentage, three-pointers, free throws, assists, steals and rebounds. It was the most dominant team performance of the evening. Duke shot 28% from the field and 20% from beyond the arc (5-25).

Villanova moves on to meet fellow Big East entrant, Pitt, in the regional final on Saturday.

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