Morant, Murray State race past Marquette
HARTFORD, Conn. — Ja Morant logged the ninth triple-double in NCAA Tournament history as Murray State trounced fifth seeded Marquette 83-64 in the first round of the West Region.
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 fourthseeded 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 Racers fans began chanting “tripledouble” to mark the first one since Draymond Green did it for Michigan State in 2012 against LIU-Brooklyn.
The lanky 6-foot-2 Morant this season has rocketed to stardom and into a sure-fire NBA lottery pick — maybe second only to Duke's Zion Williamson — and answered the hype against Marquette. FLORIDA STATE 76, VERMONT 69: Mfiondu Kabengele had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Florida State held off a barrage of 3-pointers from 13th-seeded Vermont in a 76-69 victory Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA West Regional. Terance Mann added 19 points for the fourthseeded Seminoles (28-7), 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 (27-7), which lost for the first time in seven games. Three Catamounts finished with 15 points.