Nowell has record night for Kansas State
Markquis Nowell broke the NCAA Tournament record for assists in a game with 19, his last two on spectacular passes in the final minute of overtime, and Kansas State beat Michigan State 98-93 on Thursday night in a Sweet 16 thriller at Madison Square Garden.
Playing in his hometown and fighting through a second-half ankle injury, Nowell found Keyontae Johnson for a reverse alley-oop with 52 seconds left in OT to give the Wildcats (269) the lead for good in this back-and-forth East Region semifinal. He then threw an inbound pass to Ismael Massoud, who knocked down a jumper with 17 seconds left for a 96-93 lead.
With Michigan State needing a 3 to tie, Nowell stole the ball from the Spartans’ Tyson Walker and drove for a clinching layup at the buzzer. The 5-foot-8, Harlem-raised Nowell finished with 20 points and five steals in a signature performance at basketball’s most famous arena that drew tweets of praise from Patrick Mahomes and Kevin Durant.
Johnson scored 22 points for the No. 3 seed Wildcats as they seek the program’s first Final Four berth since 1964.
A.J. Hoggard scored a career-high 25 points for seventh-seeded Michigan
State (21-13). Joey Hauser added 18 points and Walker had 16, including a layup with 5 seconds left in regulation that forced the first overtime of this year’s NCAA Tournament.
UNLV’S Mark Wade had the previous NCAA tourney assists record with 18 during the Runnin’ Rebels 1987 Final Four win over Indiana,
Uconn played like a team capable of winning its fifth NCAA Tournament title and first since 2014. The Huskies have outscored their three March Madness opponents by 62 points.
They won their first two games by outscoring Iona and Saint Mary’s by a combined 86-49 in the second half. Uconn surged early against Arkansas with a 14-point run and took a 4629 lead into halftime.
The Huskies never trailed and led by as many as 29 points when they went up 62-33. Arkansas answered with a 10-point run in just 27 seconds, but the outcome was never in doubt.
Adama Sanogo scored 18 points for Uconn.
Anthony Black led Arkansas with 20 points, Ricky Council IV had 17 and Nick Smith Jr. 11.
Florida Atlantic, playing in just its second NCAA Tournament, moved within a victory of the Final Four by using a second-half push led by Michael Forrest to beat fourth-seeded Tennessee.
The ninth-seeded Owls (34-3) will play thirdseeded Kansas State in the East Region final at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Even before the tournament started, this was the unquestionably the greatest season in FAU history. Now it the Owls are one of the biggest stories in all of sports.
Johnell Davis led the Owls with 15 points and Forrest finished with 11, eight in a second-half run.