Kansas moves on after classic battle
Newman leads Jayhawks into Final Four in OT
The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. — Kansas is going back to the Final Four.
It’s hard to argue that Duke shouldn’t be headed there as well after the most riveting show of the NCAA tournament.
Malik Newman and the top-seeded Jayhawks got past their Elite Eight road block Sunday, knocking off second-seeded Duke, 85-81, in overtime to clinch the program’s first trip to the Final Four since 2012.
Newman scored all 13 of the Jayhawks’ points in OT and finished with a careerhigh 32 to lead Kansas (31-7).
“We didn’t even talk about going to the Final Four. All we talked about is Duke. I do think playing Duke in that game helped us. It was fun. I would be proud to have coached in that game even if the outcome was different,” Kansascoach Bill Self said.
The Jayhawks will face fellow top seed Villanova on Saturday in San Antonio — the site of KU’s last title against Memphis in 2008 — after snapping a two-game losing skid in the regional finals.
“Everything we’ve been through ... we do it for moments like this,” Kansas star Devonte’ Graham said. “Especially after the last two years, getting over the hump. It just feels perfect.”
This might be the unlikeliest of Self’s three Final Four squads. They are not stacked with obvious future NBA starters and they lost three times at home this season. But the Jayhawks banded together to win the Big 12’s regular season and conference titles and now the Midwest Region.
By doing so, they proved to their coach that they were hardly soft — a claim that Self made often earlier in the season. And with the final outcome suddenly in focus, Self clenched both of his fists and lifted his arms in the air for a celebration years in the making.
This was college basketball at its best, two bluebloods trading blows for 45 minutes, one that featured 18 lead changes and 11 ties.
Had Grayson Allen’s bank shot to end regulation gone half an inch in a different direction, it might be Duke heading to South Texas.
But it didn’t, and instead the Jayhawks are moving on.
Kansas outrebounded Duke 47-32, a staggering stat given that the Jayhawks barely outrebounded their opponents heading into the game.
Newman, a redshirt sophomore who came on late this season, drilled his fifth and final 3 from the corner to make it 81-78 with 1:49 left. Newman followed with four free throws in a row, and the Jayhawks’ defense stiffened enough to knock the favored Blue Devils out of the tournament.
Trevon Duval scored 20 points, two shy of a career high, for Duke.
Freshman star and future lottery pick Marvin Bagley added 16 points and 10 rebounds in what could have been his final game for the Blue Devils (29-8), who fell shy of their first Final Four trip since winning the national title in 2015.
Allen had 12 points for the Blue Devils, but the senior’s try at the buzzer in regulation went in and then out and then off the rim before spinning away to force overtime.
“I was trying to drive right, he cut me off. Went back left. Their big stepped into help. I had to get a shot up over him. I tried to bank it in and it about went in,” said Allen, who finished his brilliant career with 1,996 points.
“It was an honor to play in this game,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who remains tied with UCLA legend John Wooden with 12 Final Four performances. “I think both teams were deserving of winning.”
BOSTON — With all of the underdogs and upsets that have upended the NCAA tournament, no one has managed to come close to Villanova.
The 2016 national champions are headed back to the Final Four, thanks to a fourth consecutive double-digit victory in a month of March where they’ve played every bit like the No. 1 seed they earned.
“This tournament’s a crazy tournament. Anybody can beat anybody,” guard Jalen Brunson said after the Wildcats beat Texas Tech 7159 in a cold-shooting East regional championship on Sunday to send Villanova back to the Final Four for the second time in three years.
“The underdog mentally, they may have it. But, honestly, they believe they’re good. That’s why they’re in that position. That’s (also) why we’re in that position,” Brunson said. “We’re a good team, and we believe we can keep getting better.”
The Wildcats (34-4) will play the winner of the Midwestfinal between top-seeded Kansas and No. 2 seed Duke. Sunday’s winners will join 11th-seeded Loyola-Chicago and its telegenic nun, along with No. 3 Michigan in the national semifinals on Saturdayin San Antonio.
Sister Jean, get ready for FatherRob.
“I very much look forward to meeting Sister Jean,” said the Rev. Rob Hagan, the priest on the Villanova bench. “I was 12 years of Catholic School and taught by the nuns. I have great respect for the Nuns. Usually what Sister says is what goes.”
But if these two Catholic schools — one Jesuit, one Augustinian — meet in the national championship game, the Wildcats won’t be without spiritual support of their own.
“He’s our rock,” said guard Donte DiVincenzo, who scored eight points. “He keeps us level-headed to make sure we don’t get too highor too low.”
After starting four guards, Texas Tech (27-10) grabbed just 33 boards and shot just 18 free throws compared to 35 for Villanova to miss a chance to play for a championship in San Antonio in its homestate.
“We knew they were a great 3-point shooting team and talented players, but we also knew how tough they were,” Texas Tech coach ChrisBeard said.
The teams matched each other with 33 percent shooting from the floor — Villanova’s lowest since 2015— and the Wildcats made just 4 of 24 from beyond the arc. One of the most prolific 3point shooting teams in NCAA history, they need seven to set a Division I single-season record.
They’ll get that chance in theFinal Four.
“Wasn’t really a pretty offensive game. But we played pretty good defensively too,” said Villanova coach Jay Wright.