Nkamhoua ties career best with 27 points as Tennessee beats Duke
Olivier Nkamhoua scored 23 of his careerbest-tying 27 points in the second half to help No. 4 Tennessee notch a 65-52 victory over No. 5 Duke in NCAA Tournament East Region play on Saturday afternoon at Orlando.
Santiago Vescovi made four three-pointers while scoring 14 points as the Volunteers (25-10) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019. Nkamhoua made 10 of 13 field-goal attempts, including 3 of 4 from threepoint range.
Tennessee will face either ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic or 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson next Thursday in New York.
Tyrese Proctor scored 16 points for the Blue Devils (27-9), who were eliminated in the second round for the first time since 2017. Kyle Filipowski added 13 points and eight rebounds and Jeremy Roach also scored 13 points.
Duke was plagued by 15 turnovers in coach Jon Scheyer’s first NCAA Tournament since replacing Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski.
The Blue Devils connected on 42.9 percent of their shots, including just 6 of 21 from behind the arc.
Tennessee shot 40.4 percent from the field and made 9 of 21 from 3-point range. The Volunteers held an 18-7 edge in points off turnovers.
Nkamhoua scored 13 straight Tennessee points to help his club hold off the Blue Devils’ bids to rally.
“This is what we do. We’ve been in these kind of fights all year,” Nkamhoua said. “We lost some, we won some and we weathered the storm all year.”
Nkamhoua’s secondhalf splurge came after he was limited to six first-half minutes due to foul trouble.
“They didn’t let me play in the first half so I had to get all my action in the second,” Nkamhoua said.
SOUTH REGION
No. 5 San Diego State 75, No. 13 Furman 52: Micah Parrish had 16 points and six rebounds to lead the Aztecs over the Paladins in the second round at Orlando.
Lamont Butler added 12 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Aztecs (29-6), who advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2014. They’ll face the winner of late Saturday’s Alabama
(30-5) vs. Maryland (2212) game next on Friday at Louisville, Ky.
Darrion Trammell chipped in 13 points and Matt Bradley finished with 10 points for the Mountain West regular-season and tournament champion Aztecs, who have won six straight games. Nathan Mensah had six points and nine rebounds.
Playing in its first NCAA Tournament in 43 years, Furman ended the winningest season in program history at 28-8. The Paladins earned just their second NCAA Tournament win and first since 1974 in Thursday’s firstround upset of fourthseeded
ADavid Pack, Nijel’s father. “Indiana players don’t usually turn over the ball, maybe don’t have all the flash, but solid fundamentals because they take the time to learn to shoot.”
Most of those kids also grew up idolizing the Indiana and Purdue programs, but not all of them got a
Virginia.
ANOTHER BIG UPSET
Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of what used to be the only victory by a men’s 16 seed in a non-play-in NCAA Tournament game.
On Friday, No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson cemented its place in March Madness lore, defeating Purdue, 63-58, to become the second team in NCAA men’s basketball tournament history to beat a top-seeded team.
Fairleigh Dickinson, the shortest team in NCAA Tournament history, was coming off a loss to Merrimack in the Northeast Conference tournament final. FDU likely made the tournament only because Merrimack was barred from playing in the tournament as it continues its four-year transition from Division II.
University of Maryland Baltimore County became the first team to achieve the feat in 2018, not only upsetting top-seeded Virginia, but also disposing of the Cavs in a fashion that most of the previous 132 top seeds had eliminated 16 seeds.
The game was tied
21-21 at halftime, but UMBC — behind 23 second-half points by Jairus Lyles — dominated the final 20 minutes in a 7454 rout, Virginia’s most lopsided loss of the season.
The Retrievers nearly didn’t reach the tournament at all, needing a lastsecond three-pointer by Lyles to defeat Vermont in the America East championship game. UMBC fell to Kansas State in the second chance to play for the Hoosiers or Boilermakers. Many talented players, such as 6-foot guard Pack, were overlooked.
“IU and Purdue always had a rich history in Indiana, but when Nijel was coming out, there was a different coaching regime at IU that maybe didn’t look at Nijel as a high
round, 50-43.
LATE FRIDAY
East Region — No. 9 FAU 66, No. 8 Memphis 65: Nick Boyd slashed to the basket for the decisive hoop with 2.5 seconds left as the Owls nipped the Tigers in a first-round matchup in Columbus, Ohio.
The ninth-seeded Owls (32-3) earned the first NCAA Tournament win in school history and advanced to face Fairleigh Dickinson, which stunned Purdue earlier in the evening to become just the second No. 16 seed to upset a No. 1 seed.
Boyd got the ball in the corner with seconds remaining and dribbled hard to his left, finishing just over the outstretched arms of two Memphis defenders. The eighth-seeded Tigers (26-9) did not get off a final shot before time expired.
“I thought our guys did a great job staying together, staying the course, finding a way to grab enough rebounds,” Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May said. “And they took care of the basketball. Those were the keys to the game against a scrappy, tough, athletic team like Memphis.
AELSEWHERE
Western Kentucky: Texas A&M Corpus-Christi’s Steve Lutz was named the Hilltoppers’ head coach. Lutz, 50, led Corpus-Christi to the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2023. He spent two seasons at Corpus-Christi and tallied a 47-23 record.
This year, he was named the Southland Conference and NABC District 22 Coach of the Year.
Arecruit,” his father said. “Not an issue. Nijel’s path was different.”
Pack began his college career at Kansas State, playing for Bruce Weber, a longtime Purdue assistant. He also had offers from Belmont, Rice, Ball State, Butler, Indiana State, IUPUI, Bradley, Cleveland State, Loyola of Chicago,
Behind a balanced scoring attack led by Haley Cavinder, Jasmyne Roberts, Destiny Harden and Lola Pendande, the University of Miami women’s team erased a 17point halftime deficit to beat Oklahoma State 62-61 in a thrilling NCAA Tournament opener on Saturday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington.
The comeback is tied for fifth largest in Women’s NCAA Tournament history and the win means that for the second straight year, Miami will advance to the Round of 32.
The ninth-seeded Hurricanes (20-12) will now face host Indiana, a No. 1 seed that advanced after beating Tennessee Tech 77-47 earlier in the day.
Cavinder, in her first NCAA Tournament game, had a team-high 16 points and eight rebounds for Miami.
Also finishing in double figures were Roberts, who had 12 points; Harden, who had 11 points; and Pendande, who had 10 points.
“I think that’s what we need,” Cavinder said of Miami’s balanced scoring attack. “I think March is about depth. Our bench is very, very important to us. Anyone can come off. It’s hard to scout.
“Anyone can have a good game.”
Ahead of the game, Hurricanes coach Katie Meier warned her team that more than a few tournament teams had played poorly in the opening minutes of their respective games, with nerves undoubtedly taking their toll on each of them.