IT’S HALL OVER!

Pirate seniors edged by No. 1 Kansas:

WICHITA, Kan. — Angel Delgado was nearly unstoppable Saturday night. But Kansas slowed the Seton Hall forward down just enough to survive and reach their third straight Sweet 16.

Delgado had 24 points and 23 rebounds in a virtuoso effort for the No. 8 seed Pirates (22-11) but the top-seeded Jayhawks held on for an 83-79 victory. Delgado was less effective when mammoth Kansas forward Udoka Azubuike was in the game. Azubuike stood toe-to-toe with the Pirates’ bruising Delgado, and he drew enough attention on offense to spring his high-scoring guards for open looks. The result was a 28-point performance from teammate Malik Newman, 16 more from Svi Mykhailiuk. “He was the best player in the game,” Kansas coach Bill Self said of Delgado. “He was a man. We knew he was good. And not having Doke in there more hurt us, because physically he was able to get the best of us.” Azubuike had practiced once in the last 11 days because of a lingering knee injury. He managed to go 22 minutes Saturday night. And the Jayhawks needed all of them. “If ‘Doke wasn’t able to come back from his injury, we don’t win,” Self said. “I was hoping for 20 minutes. That was what I was hoping. And he could have played more.”

Lagerald Vick added 13 points for Kansas (29-7). The Jayhawks will face the winner of Sunday night’s game between Auburn and Clemson next week in Omaha, Nebraska.

“It stinks, basically, to leave like this,” Delgado said, “because we had so much expectation. We wanted to win every game, be the best team in the tournament.”

Khadeen Carrington finished with 28 points, many of them on 3-pointers in the closing minutes, and Myles Powell added 14 as the pair of guards tried in vain to keep Seton Hall alive.

It was 71-66 with 53 seconds left when Devonte Graham made two free throws for Kansas. Carrington kept answering for the Pirates, but the Jayhawks were unflappable at the foul line.

Kansas led just 31-26 at halftime, when Delgado had already piled up 12 points and 12 rebounds, and was forced to make some significant adjustments in the locker room.

On defense, Self called for double-teams on Delgado whenever he got the ball down low, especially when Azubuike was sitting on the bench. On offense, he had his guys throw it to Azubuike on the block or rely on Mykhailiuk — by nature a 3-point specialist — to slash to the basket.

Delgado kept the Pirates in the game, though. Azubuike went to the bench with four fouls with about 9 minutes left, and coach Kevin Willard instructed his own guys to go right back to their center. Delgado was so effective that Self gambled by putting ‘Doke right back in the game.

Seton Hall closed to 63-59 with 3:22 to go, but Newman answered with a 3-pointer and a pair of foul shots, and the poised Jayhawks never allowed the Pirates to come all the way back. “I thought it was an extremely wellplayed game,” Willard said. “I thought the kids left everything on the floor for both teams. I’m proud of the way my guys kept fighting back. You just have to give Kansas credit. They made a lot of big shots late.”