Nowell flourishes at the Garden
Markquis Nowell walked the ball up the floor with the score tied in the final minute of overtime and exchanged animated hand signals with his coach, Jerome Tang.
Standing on the March Madness logo at Madison Square Garden in New York, the 5-8 Kansas State point guard who grew up in Harlem glanced at the basket for a split second and flicked a chest pass into the lane. Keyontae Johnson slipped behind the Michigan State defense, elevated with his back to the basket, grabbed the ball and slammed it down.
It was the signature play of a towering performance by the shortest player on the floor.
Nowell broke the NCAA Tournament record for assists in a game with 19, his last two on spectacular passes in the final minute of overtime, and Kansas State beat Michigan State 98-93 on Thursday night in a Sweet 16 thriller.
“Today was a special one, man,” said Nowell, who fought through a second-half ankle injury. “I’ve got to give a lot to credit to my teammates for battling, for fighting through adversity when we was down. I can’t even explain how I’m feeling right now. I just know that I’m blessed and I’m grateful.”
Nowell’s alley-oop to Johnson with 52 seconds left in OT gave the Wildcats (26-9) the lead for good in this back-and-forth East Region semifinal.
“I mean, it was just a basketball play between me and Keyontae,” Nowell said. “We knew how Michigan State plays defense. They play high up, and Keyontae just told me, we got eye contact, and he was like, lob, lob. I just threw it up, and he made a great play.”
Michigan State cut the lead to one before Nowell bounced an inbound pass from under the basket to Ismael Massoud, who knocked down a jumper with 17 seconds left that put Kansas State ahead 96-93 and gave Nowell the assists record.
With Michigan State (21-13) needing a three to tie, Nowell stole the ball from Tyson Walker and drove for a clinching layup at the buzzer. Nowell finished with 20 points and five steals in a signature performance.
UNLV’s Mark Wade had the previous NCAA tourney assists record with 18 during the Runnin’ Rebels 1987 Final Four victory over Indiana.
UConn 88, Arkansas 65
Jordan Hawkins scored 24 points and the Huskies (28-8) moved one step away from the Final Four after a rout of the Razorbacks (2214) in a West Region matchup in Las Vegas.
UConn played like a team capable of winning
its fifth NCAA Tournament title and first since 2014. The Huskies have outscored their three March Madness opponents by 62 points.
They won their first two games by outscoring Iona and Saint Mary’s by a combined 86-49 in the second half. UConn surged early against Arkansas with a 14-point run and took a 46-29 lead into halftime.
The Huskies never trailed and led by 29 points when they went up 62-33. Arkansas answered with a 10-point burst in just 27 seconds,
but the outcome was never in doubt.
UConn, which has won nine of its last 10 games, shot 57.4% compared to 31.7% for Arkansas. The Huskies dominated inside by outrebounding the Razorbacks 43-31 and outscoring them 42-24 in the lane.
Florida Atlantic 62, Tennessee 55
Playing in just their second NCAA Tournament, the Owls (34-3) moved within a victory of the Final Four by using a secondhalf
push led by Michael Forrest to stun the fourth-seeded Volunteers (25-11) in New York.
Ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic will play Kansas State in the East Region final at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Johnell Davis led the Owls with 15 points and Forrest finished with 11, eight in a crucial second-half run where FAU took control. The Volunteers shot just 33% — including 6-for-23 from three-point range.