SATURDAY’S ROUNDUP
EAST
Wisconsin 65, Villanova 62: Topseeded Villanova (32-4) was bounced from the NCAA tournament by eighth-seeded Wisconsin (27-9), which overcame foul trouble for two of its stars in the second half to upset the defending champions.
Nigel Hayes scored 19 points, dropping a layup in traffic with 11.4 seconds left to put Wisconsin ahead 64-62, and Bronson Koenig added 17 for the tournament-toughened Badgers, who are going to the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight year.
Josh Hart scored 19 to lead Villanova, but the senior guard was stripped by Wisconsin center Ethan Happ on a drive in the final seconds. Wisconsin’s Vitto Brown then split a pair of free throws with four seconds left, but Villanova couldn’t get off a final shot.
When the final horn sounded, Wisconsin’s red-clad fans erupted in celebration and the Badgers stormed the floor after taking down a No. 1 seed for the third time in four years. Wisconsin beat Arizona in 2014, Kentucky in 2015 and now can add Villanova to its list. SOUTH Butler 74, Middle Tennessee 65: Kelan Martin scored 19 points, and Butler (25-8) limited Middle Tennessee’s athletic scorers with smothering defense.
The Bulldogs are going to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2011, when they wrapped up back-to-back appearances in the national title game.
Andrew Chrabascz added 15 points for Butler, including a 3 with 3:25 left that snapped a 7-0 run for Middle Tennessee to get the lead back to 62-56.
Conference USA player of the year JaCorey Williams finished with 20 points for Middle Tennessee (31-5).
Giddy Potts, who averaged nearly 16 points a game this year, was held scoreless, going 0 of 8 from the field. WEST West Virginia 83, Notre Dame 71: Jevon Carter scored 24 points, and West Virginia (28-8) is headed to the Sweet 16 for the third time since 2010 following a win against Notre Dame (26-10).
Tarik Phillip added 12 points and Esa Ahmad had nine rebounds for the Mountaineers.
Notre Dame’s Bonzie Colson hit 10 of 15 shots, scored 27 points and had eight rebounds, but the Fighting Irish were stopped from making their third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance after entering the tournament as the only school to reach each of the past two Elite Eight rounds.
Carter ended the game by bouncing the ball untouched atop the Irish key and then slamming it emphatically to the court as the final buzzer sounded, ending a matchup of former Big East rivals.
The Mountaineers never trailed in a game their smothering press and size advantage proved too much for the Irish to counter. West Virginia forced 14 turnovers and had a 34-28 edge in rebounds. Gonzaga 79, Northwestern 73:
Gonzaga (34-1) fought off a wild Northwestern (24-12) comeback for a victory with help from an untimely technical foul on Wildcats coach Chris Collins.
Northwestern trimmed a 22-point deficit to five and had the ball when Gonzaga’s Zach Collins reached up through the basket to reject Dererk Pardon’s shot with 4:54 left.
There was no call, and Collins, jawing with the officials all day, ran onto the court and was slapped with a technical foul.
Nigel Williams-Goss made both free throws, and Northwestern, in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history, never got closer to coming back against the No. 1 seed in the region.
Williams-Goss led the Bulldogs with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Xavier 91, Florida State 66: Trevon Bluiett scored 29 points and Kaiser Gates came off the bench to contribute 14 as No. 11 seed Xavier (23-13) pulled off its second upset of the tournament with a victory over third-seeded Florida State (26-9).
The Musketeers advance to the Sweet 16 for the eighth time in program history.
The Seminoles, the ACC runnersup, were the bigger program from a power conference, but Xavier came in as a tournament tested team and it showed. The Musketeers dominated the bigger and more athletic Seminoles inside and then put the game out of reach with their superior 3-point shooting. Arizona 69, Saint Mary’s 60:
Lauri Markkanen and Allonzo Trier combined for 30 points and Arizona (32-4) rallied to defeat Saint Mary’s (29-5).
The teams went back and forth in the second half until Arizona went on an 11-2 run sparked by Trier, who scored nine of those 11 points. The run gave the Wildcats a 55-48 lead and Saint Mary’s never led again.
Markkanen finished with 16 points while Trier had 14.
Jock Landale had his 17th doubledouble of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Gaels. Calvin Hermanson added 14 points.