Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Mountaineers show they can play o≠ense
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Don’t be fooled by West Virginia referring to itself as “Press” Virginia as a result of its relentless defensive pressure. This team can score. Led by Jevon Carter’s 24 points, the Mountaineers outshot Notre Dame in an 83-71 victory Saturday in the West Regional to clinch their third Sweet 16 berth since 2010.
“They thought of us as defensive players,” guard Tarik Phillip said. “But the coaching staff instilled a lot of confidence in us, helped us develop our offensive game, and we became pretty good offensive players.”
West Virginia entered the tournament leading the nation in forcing 20.4 turnovers while also ranking 15th in averaging 82 points. The Mountaineers topped 80 points for the 18th time while also breaking the single-season school scoring record set by the Jerry West-led 1958-59 squad.
Carter hit 4 of 5 3-pointers. His final one all but finished the fifth-seeded Fighting Irish (26-10).
After Notre Dame’s Matt Ryan hit a 3-point basket to cut the deficit to 72-66 with 3:06 left, Carter responded by crossing through the middle and pulling up to hit a fall-away 3-pointer about 25 seconds later.
“Just staying confident,” said Carter, the Big 12’s defensive player of the year. “When we step on the court, we feel like we can beat them. We got hot early and kept going from there. We keep that chip on our shoulder.”
Irish coach Mike Brey said the difference was Notre Dame falling behind 10-0 and eventually getting worn down from attempting to dig out of such a hole.
“Any time we thought we’d get this thing to four or get it to two possessions, somebody hit a big 3 or they got a putback,” Brey said. “It’s really spirit-breaking after a while.”
NEXT: West Virginia vs. No. 1-seeded Gonzaga, Thursday, San Jose, California.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Xavier didn’t have the regular season it hoped to have. The Musketeers are making up for it now.
The 11th-seeded Musketeers dominated third-seeded Florida State 9166 in Saturday’s second round of the NCAA Tournament. Their second upset in the West Region put them back into the regional semifinal round for the second time in two years and eighth time in program history.
“I’m so excited for the guys next to me and the guys in the locker room. They earned it,” Xavier coach Chris Mack said. “Our team’s gone through a lot of adversity this year, and we stayed the course.”
Trevon Bluiett scored 29 points for Xavier (23-13), which dominated the bigger and more athletic Seminoles (26-9). The Musketeers made 11 of 17 3-pointers, with reserve Kaiser Gates hitting four.
On defense, Xavier, which knocked off No. 6 Maryland in the first round, forced Florida State to shoot from long range by sitting in a 2-3 zone much of the game. The Seminoles hit just 4 of 21 3-pointers.
“We’ve been a very inconsistent 3-point shooting team this year, and obviously they knew that, and they packed it in,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “We determined that if we were going to win the game we were going to have to hit from the perimeter, and they did a good job of denying.”
Dwayne Bacon led Florida State with 20 points, but he was 0 of 5 from 3-point range. Xavier Rathan-Mayes was the only Seminoles starter to hit a 3.
In scoring off the bench, Xavier had a 27-17 edge.
“That’s the great thing about this team is we’ve got a lot of guys who can play,” said Xavier guard J.P. Macura, who had 10 points and five assists. “If somebody is not stepping up, another person is.”
NEXT: Xavier vs. No. 2-seeded Arizona, Thursday, San Jose, California.