Morant, Racers rout Golden Eagles
Ja Morant logged the ninth triple-double in 30-plus years of NCAA Tournament history as Murray State trounced fifthseeded Marquette 83-64 in the first round of the West Region in Harford, Connecticut.
Murray State continued a trend of a No. 12 seed winning at least one game in all but three tournaments since 2001 — including last year’s — but this looked nothing like an upset.
Morant had 17 points, 16 assists and 11 rebounds as he sliced through Marquette on Thursday and showed the Racers (28-4) were better in every way than their opponent from the Big East. The Ohio Valley Conference champions face fourth-seeded Florida State on Saturday as the Racers next try to take down an Atlantic Coast Conference foe.
Murray State can always count on having the best player on the floor no matter who they play.
With 4:36 left in the second half and Murray State up 20, Morant grabbed his 10th rebound. The Murray State’s Ja Morant dunks over Marquette’s Joey Hauser during Thursday’s NCAA Tournament game.
Racers fans began chanting “tripledouble” to mark the first one since Draymond Green did it for Michigan State in 2012 against Liu-brooklyn. It was the ninth triple-double since the NCAA began officially tracking the mark in 1987.
The game was billed as a showcase of two of the nation’s best point guards and Morant and Markus Howard delivered plenty of highlights. Howard scored 16 in the first half on a mix of 3s off screens and hard drives to the hoop.
Marquette (24-10) promised to make Morant see walls of defenders. The Golden Eagles collapsed on Morant every time he went to the basket and
often double-teamed on the perimeter instead of switching on screens. Time and again, Morant found an open shooter while surrounded by defenders. He had eight assists in the first half, five that led to 3-pointers for the Racers, who led 42-35 at the break.
Howard finished with 26 points and Sam Hauser added 16.
FLORIDA STATE 76, VERMONT 69: Mfiondu Kabengele had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Florida State (28-7) held off a barrage of 3-pointers from 13thseeded Vermont (27-7) in the opening round of the West Regional in Hartford, Connecticut. Terance Mann added 19 points for the fourth-seeded Seminoles, who were tied with the Catamounts at halftime but pulled away late. Anthony Lamb had 16 points to lead a balanced, long-range attack for Vermont, which lost for the first time in seven games. Three Catamounts finished with 15 points. The America East champions stayed close by hitting 16 of 32 3-point attempts.
FLORIDA 70, NEVADA 61: Florida (20-15) nearly squandered a doubledigit lead before finally stopping a Nevada (29-5) comeback in Des Moines, Iowa. Kevarrius Hayes scored 16 points, Jalen Hudson added 15 and the 10th-seeded Gators won their tournament opener for the third straight year. The seventhseeded Wolf Pack rallied from down 18 to cut the deficit to two points in the final minutes. Cody Martin scored 23 points and twin brother Caleb Martin had 19 for the Wolf Pack.
GONZAGA 87, FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON 49: Gonzaga (31-3) backed up it’s No. 1-seed, crushing Fairleigh Dickinson (2114) in Salt Lake City. Rui Hachimura led the Zags with 21 points and eight rebounds. Gonzaga led by 10 after the first 4:12, by 20 after 10:25 and by the score of 53-17 at halftime.