Xavier, Kansas State, Michigan St., UConn advance to Sweet 16 round
Jack Nunge led six Xavier players in double figures with 18 points as the third-seeded Musketeers eased past 11th-seeded Pitt 84-73 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Xavier (27-9) advanced to its first Sweet 16 since 2017 and will face secondseeded Texas in the Midwest Regional this week in Kansas City, Missouri.
“It’s a group of guys that have fought to climb the mountain the last couple of years and pulled up short, and it’s just so rewarding to see our team, and them, finally get to the top,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said on the TV broadcast after the game.
Adam Kunkel went 5 for 5 on three-pointers in the first half to score his 15 points, while Souley Boum tallied 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Xavier. Jerome Hunter added 14 points, Desmond Claude had 11 and Colby Jones went for 10 points and 14 rebounds.
The Musketeers’ highoctane offense tallied 22 assists on their 30 made field goals.
Pitt (24-12), which won a First Four game against Mississippi State and upset sixth seed Iowa State in the Round of 64, was led by Blake Hinson’s 18 points. Jamarius Burton added 16, and Guillermo Diaz Graham
had 11 points and eight rebounds.
Xavier held Pitt to 6of-20 shooting from 3point range.
“I thought for most of the game we were very confident, not perfect, but we played a style of defense that we really set out to do against their 3-point shooting,” Miller said.
Xavier used a 14-3 run to turn a 15-14 deficit into its first double-digit lead with 9:30 left in the opening half. Jones, Nunge and Hunter combined to make six straight shots during the run; Hunter made it seven in a row with his short jumper before the Musketeers finally cooled down.
Kunkel took over during the final seven minutes of the half, hitting four of his five triples during that span. He punctuated a 12-2 Xavier stretch with a long 3, then gave the Musketeers their largest lead of the half, 48-29, with his final basket with 1:26 left.
Pitt trimmed it to 48-34 by halftime thanks to Nelly Cummings’ 3-pointer and Burton’s late layup. The Panthers got within 12 points twice early in the second half but could not get a 3-pointer to drop to help their cause.
Playing iso ball, Boum split two defenders, drove past a third and shot a layup over a fourth to ignite the crowd and deliver Xavier its largest lead at 74-54 with 7:22 to play.
The Musketeers then hit their coldest patch of the game, missing six fieldgoal tries in a row. This allowed the Panthers to forge a 10-0 run to slice the margin in half, with Hinson making their first three-pointer of the half.
Nunge fouled out with 3:19 to play, leaving Xavier short-handed, and Greg Elliott hit a three-pointer to get Pitt within single digits for the first time all half at 1:45. But Xavier was able to salt it away at the foul line from there.
EAST REGION No. 3 Kansas St. 75, No. 6 Kentucky 69:
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Markquis Nowell recorded 27 points, nine assists and three steals and Ismael Massoud drained the goahead three-pointer as the Wildcats beat Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA Tournament’s East Region in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Keyontae Johnson added 13 points for third-seeded Kansas State (25-9), which advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018. Nae’Qwan Tomlin had 12 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots and Desi Sills also had 12 points as K-State prevailed in the battle between two schools that go by Wildcats. Kansas State will face seventhseeded Michigan State on Thursday in New York.
Oscar Tshiebwe had a big outing with 25 points and 18 rebounds for sixthseeded Kentucky (22-12). Cason Wallace had 21 points and nine rebounds before fouling out and
Chris Livingston added 11 points.
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No. 7 Michigan State 69, No. 2 Marquette 60:
Tyson Walker scored 23 points and the Spartans upset the Golden Eagles (29-7), earning a Sweet 16 berth for the first time in four years. Marquette transfer Joey Hauser added 14 points and A.J. Hoggard had 13 for Michigan State.
The Spartans will play third-seeded Kansas State in the East Region semifinals on Thursday at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
WEST REGION No. 4 UConn 70, No. 5 St. Mary’s 55:
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Adama Sanogo scored 24 points and the Huskies routed the Gaels (27-8) at Albany, New York, to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in nine years. UConn (27-8) will travel to Las Vegas on Thursday against eighth-seeded Arkansas, which knocked off No. 1 seed Kansas.
ELSEWHERE Michigan:
Guard
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Isaiah Barnes is entering the transfer portal, multiple outlets reported. The news comes a day after the Wolverines lost 66-65 to Vanderbilt in the second round of the NIT.
The 6-foot-7 Barnes played in just 15 games for Michigan in 2022-23, averaging 1.1 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.1 minutes. Barnes will have three years of eligibility remaining.