Oklahoma routs A&M
Jordan Woodard scored 22 points and Buddy Hield had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the second-seeded Oklahoma Sooners to a 77-63 romp over third-seeded and cold-shooting Texas A&M in a NCAA West Regional on Thursday.
Christian James added 12 points for the Sooners (28-7), who used a late 19-4 run in the first half to distance themselves from the Aggies and advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2009. They’ll play Saturday against the winner of Thursday’s late game between Duke and Oregon.
OKLAHOMA 77, TEXAS A&M 63
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Oklahoma Sooners proved they can thrive quite nicely in the NCAA Tournament even if Buddy Hield isn’t going off.
Because of that, the Sooners are one victory away from returning to the Final Four for the first time in 14 seasons.
Jordan Woodard scored 22 points and Hield had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the second-seeded Sooners to a 77-63 romp over third-seeded, cold-shooting Texas A&M in the NCAA West Regional on Thursday.
It was a nice display of teamwork by the Sooners (28-7), who had five players in double figures as they advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2009. They’ll play Saturday against Oregon.
“That’s even better,” Hield said. “I’m able to have fun around there and watch my teammates make shots and make plays.”
Hield had scored 27 and 36 points in the Sooners’ firstand second-round victories.
“We shared the ball really well,” he said. “I’m real proud of the guys for stepping up and making shots. We were just taking advantage of opportunities. We tried to drive-and-kick and when they doubled somebody I tried to make the right pass.”
Oklahoma lost to North Carolina in the South Regional final in 2009. Oklahoma is trying to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2002, when it lost to Indiana in the national semifinals.
Tyler Davis scored 17 for A&M (28-9).
The Sooners blew open a close game by going on a 19-4 run during the last 7:42 of the first half to take a 45-26 lead. They forced the Aggies into bad shots and turnovers, and Woodard was the catalyst on offense.
Woodard started the decisive first half run with a three-pointer and had another shot from behind the arc with 3:15 to go. He also fed Khadeem Lattin for a slam dunk and then hit a sweet, off-balance bank shot as the shot clock was close to expiring with about 20 seconds left.
The Aggies went more than seven minutes without a field goal. Tonny Trocha-Morelos made a layup to pull them to 24-20 with 9:32 to go before halftime.
“They just did a great job defensively,” Davis said. “They made us pay for our missed shots, they hit threes, we weren’t knocking down our free throws, they never let you get comfortable in the post.”
The best the Aggies could do was go on a 7-2 run to open the second half. All that did was pull them to 47-33, and the Sooners responded with a 6-2 burst, with Ryan Spangler making three consecutive shots.
Oklahoma shot 49.2 percent while holding the Aggies to 34.2 percent. Texas A&M added to its misery by making only six of 28 three-pointers and just 13 of 24 free throws.
OREGON 82, DUKE 68
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Dillon Brooks scored 22 points and Oregon advanced to the brink of its first Final Four in 77 years with a victory over defending national champion Duke.
Elgin Cook had 16 points and nine rebounds for the top-seeded Ducks (31-6), who will meet Oklahoma on Saturday.
Duke freshman Brandon Ingram scored 24 points.
After a season-long rise in the Pacific Northwest, the Pac-12 champion Ducks emphatically arrived on the national stage with a strong second-half rally to beat the Blue Devils (25-11) for the first time in school history.
Brooks hit four three-pointers to lead the Ducks, who also broke the school’s single-season victories record with their 31st. They’ve won 10 consecutive since mid-February while winning the Pac12’s regular-season and tournament titles.
Grayson Allen got 12 of his 15 points in the second half, but Duke couldn’t make much progress after Oregon jumped to a double-digit lead early in the second half.
The Ducks took charge shortly after halftime, following a tight first half in which neither team made a big move. Oregon jumped out to an 11-point lead after back-to-back three-pointers by Casey Benson and Chris Boucher, and they got the arena rocking with back-to-back fast-break dunks from Jordan Bell and Cook moments later.
Duke even broke out a zone defense in an attempt to slow down the Ducks, but Oregon’s balanced lineup always found another scorer.