It’s over when Fatts sings for Rhode Island
The player with the best nickname in the NCAA tournament given because he was a chunky baby turned in the stout performance Rhode Island required to win.
Fatts Russell made three three-pointers and showed that — for this game, at least — he was the best freshman guard around as he pressured Oklahoma’s dynamic scorer Trae Young right out of the tournament.
E.C. Matthews hit the goahead three-pointer in overtime and one more that sealed it to help Rhode Island hold off Young and beat Oklahoma 83-78 Thursday in the Midwest Regional at Pittsburgh.
The seventh-seeded Rams (26-7) won a game in the tournament for the second straight season and will play second-seeded Duke on Saturday.
Young is likely one-anddone at Oklahoma. Fatts Russell plays on.
“I told him when I recruited him: The only point guard I saw better than him at the Peach Jam last year was Trae Young, and he told me I was wrong about that and he was going to prove me wrong today,” Rhode Island coach Dan Hurley said. “And he put on a show.”
Young had cooled a bit as the 10th-seeded Sooners (1814) ended the season on a 2-8 stretch headed into the tournament. Still, the freshman led the nation with averages of 27.4 points and 8.8 assists.
He needed a late-game surge to hit 28 points. But he also committed six turnovers and took a pair of illadvised shots in overtime.
Young said he will sit down with his family later this week to discuss whether he will return to school. Many projections have the 6foot-2 star who has drawn comparisons to Stephen Curry going in the first round of this year’s NBA draft if he decides to leave.
Kansas 76, Penn 60: Big 12 player of the year Devonte Graham finally got his shots to go, finishing with 29 points to help lift the topseeded Jayhawks to a tough, grind-it-out victory over the Quakers at Wichita, Kan.
Lagerald Vick added 14 points for the Jayhawks (28-7), who trailed the Ivy League champions by 10 in the early stages before going on a 19-2 run late in the half to take control.
Graham, perhaps atoning for a dismal performance in last year’s tournament loss to Oregon, also had six rebounds and six assists as the Jayhawks cruised into a second-round matchup with eighth-seeded Seton Hall.
“We didn’t play well offensively the first half. We stunk,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “It’s hard for us to play well offensively if we don’t make shots because we don’t have a big guy to throw it into right now. The way they defended us, we needed a guard to take it on himself to get downhill.”
Graham stepped up to the task.
“He was just keeping everybody’s heads right,” Vick said. “He told us we weren’t going to lose.”
A.J. Brodeur had 14 points to lead the Quakers (24-9), but he was just six for 16 from the field and committed five turnovers. He was also one for five from the foul line, where Penn was five for 14 as a team.
Duke 89, Iona 67: Marvin Bagley III did whatever he wanted against the game but overmatched Gaels, pouring in 22 points to go with seven rebounds in his NCAA tournament debut as the Blue Devils (27-7) pulled away at Pittsburgh.
The 6-foot-11 freshman forward, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, made 10 of 14 shots in 32 minutes — even making his lone three-point attempt.
Roland Griffin led the Gaels (20-14) with 21 points off the bench. Iona simply couldn’t keep up while falling to 1-13 all-time in the NCAAs.
Seton Hall 94, North Carolina State 83: Khadeen Carrington scored 26 points, Desi Rodriguez added 20 and the Pirates won the foulfilled matchup at Wichita.
Myles Powell added 19 points and Angel Delgado scored 13 for the Pirates (2211), who led the entire way a year after a late meltdown cost them an early exit against Arkansas.
Allerik Freeman made six three-pointers and had 36 points to lead the Wolfpack (21-12), who returned to the tournament under firstyear coach Kevin Keatts for the first time in three years. Torin Dorn added 18 points and 12 rebounds.
The only thing that slowed down the high-scoring, up-and-down matchup was the whistles. The teams combined for 53 fouls, resulting in 66 total free throws. Seton Hall had two players foul out and the Wolfpack had three players relegated to the bench.