Louisville, Mississippi State advance to Final Four
Louisville players proudly strutted around the court in championship T-shirts and hats, some adorned with a little piece of the net.
Cardinals coach Jeff Walz brushed off confetti dumped on him during an interview to climb the ladder and clip the rest of the nylon, happily twirling it to celebrate his top-seeded team’s dominant run through the NCAA Tournament Lexington regional.
“It’s a great feeling,” Walz said. “I’m going to go home, and my 4 ½-year-old and my 2 ½-year-old (daughters), all they’re going to talk about is the confetti on the floor. That’s all they care about. To them, if we win, there’s confetti on the floor that I get to play on.”
Louisville’s next quest is collecting another net and more confetti in next weekend’s women’s Final Four in Columbus, Ohio, where the Cardinals will face Mississippi State on Friday.
Asia Durr scored 18 points, Myisha Hines-Allen added 16 and Louisville earned its first Final Four berth since 2013 with a 7643 rout of No. 6 seed Oregon State on Sunday in the Lexington Region final.
Playing its first regional final in four years and for the first time in school history as an NCAA No. 1 seed, the Cardinals (36-2) thoroughly ran the table while playing close to home. They never trailed in rolling to their 11th consecutive victory.
They outscored the Beavers 28-12 in the third quarter to break the game open and complete their fourgame run through the regional by an average margin of victory of 27.5 points. Louisville controlled the paint 32-18 and scored 24 points off 17 turnovers against an Oregon State squad that succeeded with precise passing.
The Beavers (26-8) struggled in their bid of adding Louisville to their remarkable run of NCAA upsets after previously ousting No. 3 seed Tennessee and No. 2 Baylor last week. Oregon State outrebounded Louisville 32-28 behind 6-foot-5 Marie Gulich (14 points, eight rebounds), but shot 35 percent in losing just their second game in the past 12. MISSISSIPPI STATE 89, UCLA 73>> Teaira McCowan had 23 points and 21 rebounds, Victoria Vivans added 24 points and top-seeded Mississippi State reached its second straight Final Four.
Morgan William added 17 points, and Roshunda Johnson had 12 for the Bulldogs (36-1), who blew a good chunk of an 18-point second-half lead before hanging on to extend their school record for wins in a season — and lock up a trip to the national semifinals in Columbus, Ohio.
Jordin Canada led the third-seeded Bruins (278) with 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Japreece Dean finished with 16 points, and Monique Billings and Kennedy Burke had 12 apiece, most of it coming when the Bruins were trying to rally from a 50-32 hole. They closed within 74-68 on Dean’s 3-pointer with 2:53 left, but they couldn’t get a stop on the defensive end.
Today’s games
OREGON-NOTRE DAME >> To reach the first Final Four in school history, the No. 2 seeded Oregon Ducks (334) will need to take down No. 1 seed Notre Dame (323) in the Spokane Regional final. Oregon was here in this position a year ago as a No. 10 seed and got routed by UConn in the regional final. And coach Kelly Graves was here in 2011 when Gonzaga — a No. 11 seed led by Courtney Vandersloot — made a memorable run to the Elite Eight before falling to Stanford. UCONN-SOUTH CAROLINA >> The Albany Regional final will pit the past two NCAA champions which is a rare occurrence. It’s the first time the previous two national champions have met in the NCAA Tournament since 1997 when UConn faced Tennessee.