Chiozza’s 3 at buzzer leads Florida past Wisconsin
NEW YORK — Chris Chiozza went end to end and made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Florida an 84-83 victory against Wisconsin on Friday night in the first overtime game of this NCAA Tournament.
Nigel Hayes had given the Badgers (27-10) a 2-point lead with 4 seconds left on two free throws. With no timeouts left, the Gators inbounded to Chiozza and the point guard stopped right at the top of the arc and dropped in the winner for Florida (27-8).
Wisconsin’s Zak Showalter forced overtime with a leaning 3-pointer off one leg with 2.1 seconds left in regulation as the Badgers wiped out a 12-point deficit in the last 4:15.
The fourth-seeded Gators will play South Carolina on Sunday in an allSoutheastern Conference regional final at Madison Square Garden. Florida is in the Elite Eight for the first time since 2014, and for the first time with secondyear coach Mike White — the man who replaced Billy Donovan in Gainesville.
Wisconsin built a five-point lead in overtime, but with star guard Bronson Koenig hobbled by a leg issue the Badgers couldn’t close out Florida.
• North Carolina 92, Butler 80 — At Memphis, Tenn.: North Carolina expects strong offensive performances from junior leaders Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II, but Luke Maye provided an unexpected bonus.
Berry scored 26 points, Jackson had 24, but it was the first career doubledouble from Maye - 16 points and 12 rebounds - that helped set the tone early and send the top-seeded Tar Heels to a 92-80 victory over Butler in the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.
“He has the ability to shoot the ball. He has the ability to rebound the ball,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said of the sophomore forward and former walk-on. “But the reason Luke is going to be successful is what he’s got in his brain and in his heart.”
Carolina, which reached the Elite Eight for the 27th time, will face the winner of Friday’s second South Regional between UCLA and Kentucky.
Maye’s early jolt off the bench helped Carolina (30-7) build a first-half lead to as many as 20 as the Tar Heels benefitted from accuracy, connecting on 54.4 percent of their shots while Butler was at 43.5 percent.
• South Carolina 70, Baylor 50 — At New York: Apparently South Carolina is getting the hang of winning NCAA Tournament games.
The Gamecocks, who hadn’t won a tournament game since 1973, got their third this year. One more and it’s on to the Final Four.
“It’s a great win for the program,” Gamecocks guard Duane Notice said. “It’s a good feeling when we continue to make history and I think once we get a taste of it, we kind of get addicted and want to continue doing it.”
Sindarius Thornwell scored 24 points and seventh-seeded 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 defenses and hustling all over the Madison Square Garden court to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time.
South Carolina will meet the winner of the Wisconsin-Florida game on Sunday with that trip to the Final Four at stake.
Women
• Mississippi State 75, Washington 64 — At Oklahoma City: It didn’t matter that Mississippi State center Teaira McCowan had scored just six points through three quarters.
Her teammates told her to take over and she listened. She scored 20 of her career-high 26 points in the fourth quarter, and the Bulldogs defeated Washington 75-64 on Friday night to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time.
McCowan, a 6-foot-7 sophomore who entered the game averaging just over eight points per game, made 9 of 10 field goals in the final 10 minutes. She scored 11 points in the first 2:33 of the fourth quarter to turn a two-point deficit into a seven-point lead for the second-seeded Bulldogs (32-4).
• Notre Dame 99, Ohio State 76 — At Lexington, Ky.: Notre Dame delivered on one promise by coach Muffet McGraw to look different without injured Brianna Turner, shifting from lobbing the ball inside to their star forward to throwing up perimeter shots with success.
The strategy certainly suited sophomore guard Arike Ogunbowale, who thrived from all over the court to help the top-seeded Irish maintain their dominance against Ohio State.
Ogunbowale had a career-high 32 points, Lindsay Allen added 16 and Notre Dame easily beat Ohio State 99-76 on Friday night in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
• Baylor 97, Louisville 63 — At Oklahoma City: Nina Davis scored 21 points to help top-seeded Baylor defeat Louisville 97-63 on Friday to advance to the Elite Eight.
The Lady Bears were a No. 1 seed in 2013 when they lost to Louisville in the Sweet 16 in Oklahoma City. They played much better defense this time, holding fourth-seeded Louisville to 30 percent shooting.