Canadian NCAA players set to battle in Sweet 16

Many of the top Canadians in the NCAA basketball ranks are former teammates or rivals from high school or club competition.

Not Mfiondu Kabengele and Brandon Clarke, though.

Fresh off big performances during the first two rounds of March Madness, Florida State’s Kabengele, of Burlington, Ont., squares off with Clarke, who was born in Vancouver and raised in Arizona, and his Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Sweet 16 opener Thursday.

At the pre-game news conference on Wednesday, Kabengele was asked if he had any connection to Clarke. He proceeded to offer a little Canadian geography lesson to reporters.

“I’m from Ontario, Canada, which is east and he was on the west coast and I never had an opportunity to see him. When I came through college he came out of nowhere,” the six-foot-10 forward said. “I’m proud he’s a fellow Canadian and he’s playing really well.”

So, too, is Kabengele, who averaged 21.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the first two rounds last week.

Clarke had one of the top individual outings of the tournament in the second round. The 6-foot-8 forward set a Gonzaga tournament scoring record with 36 points and added eight rebounds and five blocks in a win over Baylor.

Clarke sat out last season after transferring to Gonzaga following two years at San Jose State.

“It was something that was actually really, really tough on me,” he said. “Obviously not playing games and just having to sit on the bench every game and watch was something I don’t really like.

“With that being said, I had lots of days where I was just training, lifting every day, shooting every day, I would still practise every day.”

Kabengele and Clarke are two of seven Canadians left in the men’s tournament.

The second Sweet 16 game in the Anaheim regional also includes a Canadian with Michigan’s Ignas Brazdeikis of Oakville, Ont., facing Texas Tech. Another all-canadian matchup goes Friday when Duke’s R.J. Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., faces a Virginia Tech team featuring Toronto’s Nickeil Alexander-walker and Jonathan Kabongo in Washington, D.C.

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes thinks Kyle Alexander has come a long way.

When asked about his six-foot-11 senior forward from Milton, Ont., before Thursday night’s Sweet 16 game against Purdue in Louisville, Ky., Barnes was full of praise for Alexander’s development.

“I wish we could have redshirted him at Tennessee, because I think his best basketball, I know his best basketball is ahead of him, and he’ll be one of those guys in a couple years, people are going to say, wow, this guy’s really come into his own.”

There are four Canadian women who survived the opening two rounds of the NCAA women’s tournament.

Arizona State’s Taya Hanson of Kelowna, B.C., faces Mississippi State on Friday.

North Carolina State’s Aislinn Konig of Surrey, B.C., returns to the floor Saturday for a game against Iowa.

Stanford, featuring Alyssa Jerome of Toronto and Mikaela Brewer of Barrie, Ont., goes against Missouri State on Saturday.