Marquette puts Colorado away late
Joplin’s free throws with 7.4 seconds left help Golden Eagles to Sweet 16
Marquette showed resolve in critical moments and avoided another early exit from March Madness.
Tyler Kolek had 21 points and 11 assists, and David Joplin made two free throws with 7.4 seconds left to help the Golden Eagles finally put away Colorado, 81-77, on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
In their third season under coach Shaka Smart, the second-seeded Golden Eagles (27-9) reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013 by outlasting the 10th-seeded Buffaloes (26-11) and their dynamic offense.
A year earlier, Marquette was also seeded No. 2 but was eliminated in the second round by No. 10 seed Michigan State. The Golden Eagles put that disappointment behind them by responding to every big shot by the Buffs with one of their own.
“We’ve had some adversity,” Smart said, “but the guys have never wavered in terms of their belief in our playing and our way and they stayed connected with one another. ... And I think that won us the game today.”
Kam Jones scored 18 points and Joplin finished with 14 for Marquette, which shot 61.8% from the field but still couldn’t shake Colorado until the closing seconds. Chase Ross made a tiebreaking 3pointer off a pass from Kolek with 2:53 left and finished with 12 points on 5- of- 6 shooting.
KJ Simpson scored 20 points and Tristan da Silva had 17 for Colorado, which trailed by 11 at halftime but rallied to take a 55-54 lead just over five minutes into the second half. Kolek put the Golden Eagles back on top with a short jumper and Marquette never trailed again, but Colorado tied it twice, the last time on a 3-pointer by da Silva with 4:02 remaining.
“We all just had the mentality of ‘I’m not giving up.’ We’ve done that throughout the whole year,” Simpson said. “That was just the mindset, that we can go out there and we can still come back and never give up and never give up on the effort. We did that, we just came up short.”
The Buffs trailed 79-77 and had to foul three times before putting Joplin on the line for a 1-and-1. He knocked down both and set up a South Region semifinal meeting with No. 11 seed North Carolina
State in Dallas on Friday.
Playing his second game since an oblique injury that sidelined him for six contests, Kolek was efficient for the Golden Eagles. The nation’s leader in assists at 7.8 per game, he shot 10 of 14 from the floor.
South Region Duke 93, James Madison 55:
Jared McCain scored 22 of his 30 points in the first half and set a Duke record for an NCAA tournament game
with eight 3-pointers as the Blue Devils ended 12thseeded James Madison’s dream season with a secondround win. The fourth-seeded Blue Devils (26-8) are headed to the Sweet 16 to face the winner of Houston-Texas A&M in the South Region semifinals Friday in Dallas.
Houston 100, Texas A&M 95 (OT):
Emanuel Sharp had 30 points, Jamal Shead had 21 and L.J. Cryer had 20 as Houston outlasted Texas A&M in overtime to become
the first team since UTEP in 1987 to win with four players fouling out.
East Region Connecticut 75, Northwestern 58:
Donovan Clingan, Tristen Newton and top overall seed UConn overwhelmed an undermanned Northwestern team to sail into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.
West Region
Alabama 72, Grand Canyon 61: Mark Sears had 26 points and 12 rebounds, Mouhamed Dioubate scored all nine of his points in the final 5 1/2 minutes, and fourth-seeded Alabama used a late surge to beat No. 12 seed Grand Canyon.
Clemson 72, Baylor 64:
Chase Hunter had 20 points and six assists, and No. 6 seed Clemson held off thirdseeded Baylor to meet up with No. 2 Arizona in the Sweet 16. The Tigers advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second time in coach Brad Brownell’s 14 seasons. They also made it in 2018, when they lost to Kansas in the third round.
Joseph Girard III scored 13 points for the Tigers (23-11), and Ian Schieffelin and PJ Hall each had 11.
Midwest Region Purdue 106, Utah State 67:
Zach Edey had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 1 seed Purdue cruised into the Sweet 16 by pounding eighth-seeded Utah State with an impressive offensive performance.
Trey Kaufman-Renn added 18 points and eight boards for Purdue (31-7), which broke the school’s single-season record for victories. Fletcher Loyer had 15 points, and Braden Smith had all six of his assists in the second half when the Boilermakers shot 65.2% from the field before pulling the starters.