Kansas edges Seton Hall; Duke rolls into Sweet 16
WICHITA, Kan. — Malik Newman scored 28 points, Udoka Azubuike stood toe-to-toe with Seton Hall’s bruising Angel Delgado and No. 1 seed Kansas held off the plucky Pirates 83-79 on Saturday to send the Jayhawks to their third consecutive Sweet 16.
Svi Mykhailiuk added 16 points for the Jayhawks (29-7), who converted on every crucial play down the stretch to advance to the semifinals of the Midwest Regional.
They’ll take on the winner of Sunday’s game between Auburn and Clemson in Omaha, Nebraska.
Delgado finished with 24 points and 23 rebounds in a virtuoso effort for the No. 8 seed Pirates (22-11). Seton Hall’s Khadeen Carrington finished with 28 points, many of them on 3-pointers in the closing minutes, and Myles Powell added 14. DUKE 87, RHODE ISLAND 62
Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Marvin Bagley III poured in 22 points and the No. 2 seed Blue Devils overwhelmed the No. 7 Rams at Pittsburgh to earn the program’s 26th trip to the Sweet 16.
“After seeing these last couple games, these last few days of basketball, seeing what can happen, we have an idea that this tournament anything can happen,” Bagley said. “We can’t look ahead. We’ve got to worry about now.”
The rest of the field might need to start worrying about the Blue Devils (28-7), who will play either Michigan State or Syracuse in the Midwest Regional semifinal in Omaha, Neb., on Friday. Duke shot 57 percent (29 of 51) from the floor, finished with 20 assists and never let the Rams (26-8) in it following a 23-5 burst midway through the first half.
E.C. Matthews led Rhode Island with 21 points but the Rams looked confounded at times by Duke’s much improved zone defense.
“They played and looked like an NBA team out there,” Rhode Island coach Danny Hurley said.
Of course, the coach is pretty good, too. The victory was the 1,098th of Krzyzewski’s career, breaking a tie with late Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt for the most wins by a basketball coach in NCAA history.
“It’s an honor because she was a pioneer in her sport,” Krzyzewski said, adding “someone will have more eventually.”