Nothing could be finer for Carolina than Sweet wins
South, North roll to berths in Elite Eight with victories over Baylor and Butler
NEW YORK Sindarius Thornwell scored 24 points and seventhseeded South Carolina cruised past third-seeded Baylor 70-50 on Friday night in the East Regional semifinals, the Bears’ worst NCAA Tournament loss.
The Gamecocks (25-10) were in control from the middle of the first half on, mixing defences and hustling all over the Madison Square Garden court to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time.
South Carolina will meet Florida on Sunday after the Gators scored an amazing 84-83 last-second overtime victory over Wisconsin in Friday’s late game.
DJ Dozier and Chris Silva had 12 points each and Toronto’s Duane Notice added 11 for the Gamecocks.
Johnathan Motley had 18 points, 12 in the second half, for Baylor (27-8), which just couldn’t get any offence going. The Bears missed 11 of their first 13 shots from the field and it didn’t get a whole lot better the entire game. They finished 17-for-56 from the field (30.4 per cent), including 3-for-13 from 3-point range.
South Carolina opened the second half on a 12-6 run to get the lead to 49-28. The largest lead was 63-41.
Baylor was able to close to 11 points, but that was as tight as the game would get. The Bears shot just 25 per cent from the field in the first half (8 of 32) and committed seven turnovers.
SOUTH REGION
Kentucky 86, UCLA 75
MEMPHIS, TENN. De’Aaron Fox scored a career-high 39 points as Kentucky beat UCLA in a showdown between two of college basketball’s goliaths for a spot in the regional final.
The only No. 2 seed to survive and advance, the Wildcats (32-5) won their 14th straight game. Now the NCAA’s winningest program will play another of basketball’s titans Sunday in top-seeded North Carolina with a trip to yet another Final Four on the line.
The third-seeded Bruins (31-5) still have the most national titles. Yet they leave their third Sweet 16 under coach Steve Alford short of the Elite Eight.
Kentucky coach John Calipari’s latest crop of talented freshmen put Kentucky into a regional final for the sixth time in seven years.
North Carolina 92, Butler 80 MEMPHIS, TENN. Joel Berry II scored 26 points and Justin Jackson added 24 as top-seeded North Carolina moved to the Elite Eight with the victory over Butler on Friday night.
Luke Maye recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, helping fuel a quick start for Carolina (30-7). The Tar Heels never let their lead get under double digits in the second half.
Andrew Chrabascz led the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (25-9) with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Kelan Martin finished with 16 points for Butler, which struggled shooting early and did not recover.
The Tar Heels connected on 54.4 per cent of their shots, while Butler was at 43.5 per cent.