Villanova knocks out West Virginia
Villanova’s three-point party rolled past the intense pressure of West Virginia to bring the Wildcats to the doorstep of another Final Four two seasons after winning a national championship.
The top-seeded Wildcats continued their outside feast in the NCAA tournament, downing the fifthseeded Mountaineers 90-78 on Friday night to earn their second trip to the regional finals in three seasons.
Jalen Brunson led Villanova with 27 points and Omari Spellman had 18 with eight rebounds as Villanova overcame the West Virginia press by hitting 13 of 24 shots from three-point range.
Daxter Miles had 16 points to lead West Virginia. Jevon Carter and Sagaba Konate added 12 each.
Villanova (33-4) has now made 44 three-pointers for the tournament. The outside barrage helped the Wildcats overcome 16 turnovers.
“What a game, man. I hope that looked as good as it did from the bench, man,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “That was the most physically demanding, mentally draining 40 minutes we’ve played in a long time. They are so relentless.”
The Wildcats struggled at times, but dug out of a sixpoint hole in the second half with an 11-0 run.
The Mountaineers (26-11) stayed close throughout, ramping up the pressure and making Villanova play faster than it wanted to early.
But foul trouble throughout the second half was too much for West Virginia to overcome after it gave up the lead.
Texas Tech 78, Purdue 65: Chris Beard has done it to Purdue again.
The Texas Tech coach knocked the Boilermakers out of the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years, this time leading the third-seeded Red Raiders to the Elite Eight.
Keenan Evans scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, when Texas Tech scored 11 straight points to pull away.
The Red Raiders (27-9) will play No. 1 seed Villanova on Sunday in the East Regional final for a spot in the Final Four.
Beard is in his second year in Lubbock after leaving Arkansas Little Rock, where he led the Trojans to a double-overtime upset over fifth-seeded Purdue in the first round of the 2016 NCAA tournament.
This time, No. 2 seed Purdue (30-7) was hoping to join Villanova in the Elite Eight, getting 30 points from Carsen Edwards and 12 points and 13 rebounds from Vincent Edwards.