The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Late 17-4 run powers Indiana past Kentucky
Kentucky had the stars. But Indiana had more toughness — and that’s why the Hoosiers are going back to the Sweet 16.
Freshman Thomas Bryant scored 15 of his 19 points in the final eight minutes, Yogi Ferrell had 18 and fifth-seeded Indiana beat Kentucky 73-67 Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, to earn a spot in the regional semifinals in Philadelphia.
Awaiting Indiana will be the winner of Saturday’s late game in Raleigh, N.C., between No. 1 seed North Carolina and ninth-seeded Providence.
The Hoosiers (27-7) are back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013 despite losing starting guard Robert Johnson to an apparent left ankle injury late in the first half.
Indiana took control with a 17-4 run to go up 10 with four minutes left. Tyler Ulis and Alex Poythress pulled Kentucky within 69-67 on free throws, but Bryant hit two from the line with 10 seconds to go to seal the win.
Ulis scored 27 points for Kentucky (27-9), which suf- fered its earliest NCAA Tournament exit since 2008 — when it lost to a Marquette team then led by current Indiana coach Tom Crean.
Jamal Murray added 16 for the Wildcats, but he was just 1 of 9 on 3s.
Indiana went on a 9-2 run with Ferrell on the bench after he picked up his third foul. Ferrell quickly went back in, and the Hoosiers pushed their lead to 62-52 on a Bryant dunk.
It had been four years since these once-longtime rivals had faced each other; a Sweet 16 game that Kentucky won 102-90 on its way to a national title.
This one had the feel of an Elite Eight-type matchup from the opening basket.
Still, Indiana was lucky to go into halftime ahead 33-32.
Johnson went to the locker room with five minutes left after hitting a pair of early 3s, and Ferrell took 12 minutes to knock down a bucket.
Kentucky looked set to run away with it too, especially after Murray followed a Ulis 3 from the “March Madness” logo with a dunk. But the Wildcats went nearly five minutes without a basket to close the first, allowing the Hoosiers to inch out in front.
Indiana pushed it to six before Murray and Ulis 3s pulled Kentucky even at 38-all. But that would prove to be Murray’s last made 3.
Badgers, Musketeers face physical battle: Wisconsin and Xavier might as well be playing their game today in St. Louis in a boxing ring.
Under new coach Greg Gard, the seventh-seeded Badgers (21-12) pounded their way past Pittsburgh in a 47-43 first-round game that lacked any pretense of prettiness, and second-seeded Musketeers (28-5) relied on bruising big men James Farr and Jalen Reynolds while stomping on Weber State on Friday night.
“They’re big, they’re physical, they’re deep and they can roll a lot of bodies in there,” Gard said. “I think it’s very similar to what we’ve seen in our league in terms of Michigan State or Purdue or Maryland, teams that are big, physical and talented.”