WEST REGION FINAL Badgers earn Final Four return
Kaminsky, Dekker combine for 56 points to power West top seed.
Just call him Sam Dagger.
Sam Dekker hit dive of Wisconsin’s 10 3-pointers in the second half on his way to a second straight career high of 27 points, Frank Kaminsky added 29 and the top-seeded Badgers beat No. 2 Arizona 8578 on Saturday to reach consecutive Final Fours for the dirst time in school history.
The Wildcats twice got within dive points in the last 2½ minutes, but both times Dekker connected on arcing 3-pointers, narrowly beating the shot clock on the dirst one.
“Sam Dekker pretty much just crushed our dreams with that shot,” Arizona guard T.J. McConnell said.
Dekker condirmed the Badgers are more than just “Frank the Tank.” The junior followed up his career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds in a semidinal win over North Carolina with timely shooting that bailed out the Badgers.
“Incredible game,” tweeted Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers from his seat behind the Badgers’ bench, calling Dekker “cold blooded.”
Wisconsin (35-3) denied the Wildcats (34-4) a Final Four berth for the second straight year, having beaten them by one point in overtime in Anaheim a year ago when their seeds were reversed.
“That loss left a sour taste in our mouth, so we wanted to get back,” Dekker said of last season’s 1-point loss to Kentucky in the national semidinals. “As a team we set some goals of what we wanted to do, and now we’re two games away from our last goal.”
The Badgers and 67-yearold coach Bo Ryan head to Indianapolis next week for another shot at undefeated and top-seeded Kentucky.
“I’m so proud of these guys to be able to say that they’ve answered the bell in the second half in almost every game we’ve played here in the last seven to 10 games,” Ryan said. “They’re a tough bunch, and I hope they don’t change.”
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley scored 17 points each for the Wildcats, who once again failed to deliver a dirst-time Final Four appearance for coach Sean Miller. McConnell added 14 points in his college dinale and Kaleb Tarczewski and Gabe York had 11 each.
“It was tough to be playing hard on defense and trying to get a stop to win the game and he made those shots,” Hollis-Jefferson said of Dekker. “It was tough to watch them go in, but in basketball you have those days.”
The Badgers hit 10 of 12 3-point attempts in the second half.