Alabama knocks off North Carolina
Grant Nelson scored the last five points for Alabama, including two free throws with eight seconds remaining, as the Crimson Tide defeated North Carolina 89-87 on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
The Tar Heels become the first No. 1 seed eliminated from NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Nelson led fourth-seeded Alabama (2411) with 24 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 6-for-9 from the field and 10-for-13 from the free-throw line. Rylan Griffin and Aaron each chipped in 19 points for the victors.
Armando Bacot had 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for North Carolina (29-8).
Clemson 72, Arizona 77
Chase Hunter scored 18 points and converted a three-point play with 25.7 seconds remaining, and the Tigers advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in school history, beating the Wildcats in a West Region semifinal in Los Angeles.
PJ Hall added 17 points for the sixth-seeded Clemson (24-11).
Clemson last reached the final eight in 1980, when 48 teams were in the NCAA Tournament. Coach Brad Brownell made his second appearance in the second weekend of March Madness in his 14 seasons with the Tigers.
“We’ve battled a lot of things. This is a great moment for Clemson basketball,” Brownell said.
Jaden Bradley scored 18 points, Oumar Ballo had 15 and Caleb Love 13 for secondseeded Arizona (27-9), which had a horrific shooting night, going 5-for-28 (17.9%) from three-point range. Love missed all nine of his attempts beyond the arc as the Wildcats failed to reach the Elite Eight for the 12th time overall and first time since 2015.
After Bradley’s three got Arizona within 72-70, Hunter put it out of reach when he drove for a layup while being fouled by Bradley. Hunter’s free throw made it a fivepoint game.
UConn 82, San Diego 52
Stephon Castle had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the top-seeded Huskies (34-3) and the defending NCAA champions advanced to the Elite Eight with another double-digit victory, pounding the Aztecs (26-11) in Boston in a rematch of last year’s title game.
Cam Spencer scored 18 points and Tristen Newton added 17 points and seven rebounds for UConn.
A year after cruising to their fifth national championship — winning their six NCAA Tournament games by an average of almost 20 points — the Huskies followed up blowouts last weekend with their ninth consecutive double-digit March Madness victory.
WOMEN’S NCAA
Truong twins flourishing for Gonzaga
Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier has put so much trust in the sister duo of Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong on the court for a reason.
“Well, I mean, I basically raised them as my own. They’ve been here for so long,” Fortier quipped.
Jokes aside, a big part of why the fourthseeded Bulldogs find themselves in the women’s Sweet 16 for the first time in nearly a decade is because of what the twin sisters have brought to the program during their five years at Gonzaga. The next challenge is the biggest the Zags (32-3) have faced to date — top-seeded Texas (32-4) in the Portland 4 Regional semifinal on Friday night.
“It started from the jump, right before preseason even started,” Kayleigh said. “Like coach Lisa said, we all came together as a team and we set a standard. ”
The Truongs arrived in Spokane in 2019. They could have ended their college careers last year, but a foot injury suffered by Kayleigh robbed the pair of a chance to start together as seniors. Before, Kayleigh had started with Kaylynne the first off the bench.