New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Arkansas scores upset of Gonzaga
SAN FRANCISCO — JD Notae scored 21 points despite missing 20 shots and fourth-seeded Arkansas made Gonzaga miserable on both ends of the floor, bouncing the top overall seed from the NCAA Tournament with a 74-68 win on Thursday night.
Notae finished with six rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocked shots for coach Eric Musselman’s scrappy, hustling Razorbacks (28-8), who reached the Elite Eight for the second straight year and will face either Duke or Texas Tech in the West Region final on Saturday.
Drew Timme scored 25 points but couldn’t rally the Bulldogs (28-4), who for the second straight season were favored to win that elusive national title but were eliminated by a more physical foe. Coach Mark Few’s squad was undefeated last year before falling to Baylor in the national title game.
Arkansas continually challenged 7-foot Gonzaga freshman Chet Holmgren in the paint, and the skinny NBA prospect fouled out with 3:29 remaining after some questionable calls went against him. Holmgren finished with 11 points, all in the second half, and 14 rebounds in what may be his final college game.
Moments after Au’Diese Toney dunked with 1 second left, Notae threw the game ball into the air in triumph as teammate Jaylin Williams flexed and roared near midcourt. Musselman, meanwhile, found mother Kris in the stands for an embrace as she watched him in person coaching the Razorbacks for the first time.
Notae shot 9 of 29 overall and 2 of 12 from 3-point range but was still the catalyst for the Razorbacks. The senior guard’s 3 with 6:38 left made it 59-50, and Arkansas held on from there.
Toney converted a threepoint play with 8:36 left by going right at Holmgren to draw his fourth foul and send him to the bench. Holmgren returned at the 6:46 mark but Notae drove at him three minutes later and drew the fifth foul on the freshman, who raised his arms in protest.
During one sequence, Notae scored, then sneaked behind Timme for a steal. Notae had an early block and steal that got his team going. He hit the floor at every chance to corral loose balls.
Gonzaga trailed at the break for just the fifth time this season and never found the shooting touch that made the Zags the top scoring team in the nation at 87.8 points per game. The Zags shot 37.5% and went 5 of 21 from 3-point range. Andrew Nembhard was a non-factor with seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Williams took a charge late in the first half — his 45th of the season — and drove through the lane for an emphatic dunk during a 9-0 run by Arkansas in which the Zags were 0 for 5 with three turnovers.
Williams and Trey Wade scored 15 points apiece.
VILLANOVA 63, MICHIGAN 55
SAN ANTONIO — Jermaine Samuels scored 22 points and Villanova controlled Michigan and center Hunter Dickinson to earn a Sweet 16 victory over the Wolverines on Thursday night in the NCAA Tournament.
Samuels’ 8-of-13 shooting performance, much of it coming on tough drives through Michigan defenders and around Dickinson, carried a Wildcats offense that had long stretches of misfiring on 3-pointers.
The second-seeded Wildcats (28-7) advance to the South Region final to play the winner of Thursday night’s matchup between top-seed Arizona (33-3) and No. 5 Houston (31-5).
Villanova twice led by nine in the second half only to see the Wolverines match their 3-point shooting in spurts and make it a contest.
Guard Eli Brooks kept rescuing Michigan with 3-pointers, making 3 of 5. One of Brooks’ treys, plus two free throws from Terrance Williams II, had the Wolverines within 54-50 with just over 3 minutes left.
But after Dickinson, who led the Wolverines with 15 points and 15 rebounds, missed near the basket, Samuels blew by him on the other end for a layup. Collin Gillespie followed it with a 3-pointer — his fourth of the game— from the left wing to make it 59-50 with 1:52 to play.
That was the cushion the Wildcats needed, as Michigan closed within six points before Samuels made four three throws over the final 13 seconds to put it away.
Defensively, Villanova refused to yield space under the basket to the 7foot-1 Dickinson, who came in averaging 24 points in Michigan’s two NCAA Tournament wins.
Justin Moore scored 15 points and Gillespie scored 12 for Villanova.