Michigan State outlasts Marquette
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tyson Walker scored 23 points and No. 7 seed Michigan State beat second-seeded Marquette 69-60 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, sending coach Tom Izzo’s squad back to the Sweet 16 for the first time in four years.
Joey Hauser – a Marquette transfer – had 14 points and A.J. Hoggard had as 13 Michigan State (21-12) took over in the last three minutes. The Spartans advanced to play third-seeded Kansas State in the East Region semifinals on Thursday at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
It’s a familiar situation for Izzo, the 68-year-old Hall of Fame coach who won his 16th March Madness game with a lower-seeded team, the most of any coach. He had shared that record with Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, who retired after this season.
This one was particularly meaningful. Izzo became the face of a grieving school where three students were killed in a campus shooting on Feb. 13.
“It’s been a long year,” an emotional Izzo said in a courtside interview. “I’m just happy for our guys.”
Olivier-Maxence Prosper led Marquette (29-7) with 16 points and Kam Jones had 14 points, including three 3pointers.
Xavier 84, Pitt 73: In Greensboro, N.C., Jack Nunge scored 18 points, Adam Kunkel added 15 on five first-half 3pointers, and No. 3 seed Xavier beat 11th-seeded Pittsburgh to reach its first Sweet 16 since 2017.
Colby Jones had 10 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, and Souley Boum and Jerome Hunter each chipped in with 14 points as all five Xavier starters scored in double digits.
Xavier distributed the ball well, particularly early on with 17 assists on 19 baskets in the first half to build a 48-34 lead at the break. The Musketeers finished with 22 assists.
Xavier (27-9) moves on to play No. 2
seed Texas on Friday in the Midwest Region semifinals in Kansas City, Missouri.
Blake Hinson scored 18 points and Jamarius Burton had 16 for Pitt (24-12).
Nunge set the tone early, dominating the paint with eight points in the first 10 minutes while Jones knocked down two 3s as the Musketeers built a 28-18 lead.
The Musketeers then blew the game open with a 12-2 run behind Kunkel, who made two 3s and threw an alleyoop dunk to Nunge. Kunkel followed with his fifth 3 of the first half to give Xavier a 19-point lead with 1:26 left.
Nunge picked up his fourth foul with 9:35 remaining in the game and Xavier
up by 18, a play that ended with Pitt coach Jeff Capel getting slapped with technical foul that left him barking at officials.
Pitt guard Greg Elliott stepped in front of his coach and tried to box him out at the scorer’s table to keep him from getting a second tech.
The Musketeers managed just fine without Nunge, pushing the lead to 20 with 7:22 remaining on a jumper by Boum.
Nunge returned but fouled out with 3:18 left and Xavier up by 14.
Kansas State 75, Kentucky 69: Markquis Nowell scored 23 of his 27 points after halftime and Kansas State overcame a horrid start from outside by hitting a couple of clutch 3-pointers while topping Kentucky in Greensboro, N.C.
The win sends the third-seeded Wildcats (25-9) to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018, and it came thanks to a series of big shots that finally pushed them through in a tight game.
Kansas State missed its first 13 3pointers and sat at 2 for 17 for the game when the outside shots started falling. There was Nowell burying a step-back 3 against Cason Wallace to bring Kansas State within 60-59, followed a bit later by Ismael Massoud burying one from the right wing at the 2:21 mark that gave Kansas State the lead for good at 64-62.
Tshiebwe had 25 points and 18 rebounds for sixth-seeded Kentucky (2212), which shot 55% after halftime and led by eight early in the second half.
UConn 70, Saint Mary’s 55: Adama Sanogo scored 24 points and Jordan Hawkins delivered from the 3-point line in the second half as UConn pulled away from Saint Mary’s for a win in Albany, N.Y., that put the Huskies in the Sweet 16 for the first time in nine years.
No. 4 seed UConn (27-8) advanced to the West Regional in Las Vegas on Thursday. Next up is eighth-seeded Arkansas, which knocked off No. 1 seed Kansas.
Sanogo followed up his 28-point game in the Huskies’ NCAA tourney opener against Iona with another powerful and efficient performance in the paint. The 245-pound junior was 11 for 16 from the floor and grabbed eight rebounds, dominating a big-man matchup with Mitchell Saxen (six points, three rebounds and four fouls).
Saint Mary’s (27-8) of the West Coast Conference failed to get out of the first weekend of the tournament for the second straight season as a No. 5 seed. Aidan Mahaney and Logan Johnson each scored nine for the Gaels, who played the final 25 minutes without third-leading scorer Alex Ducas. The senior left with an apparent back injury.