North Carolina KO’d; Alabama in Elite Eight
Grant nelson converted a goahead 3-point play with 38 seconds remaining, and Alabama beat top-seeded North carolina, 89-87, at Los Angeles Thursday night to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history.
Nelson finished with a season-high 24 points, 19 in the second half, and he blocked RJ Davis’s attempt at a tying layup after giving Alabama the lead. Rylan Griffen added 19 points, tying his career high with five 3pointers, and Aaron estrada also scored 19 for the fourthseeded crimson Tide (24-11).
The Tide face sixth-seeded clemson Saturday for a berth in the final four. The Tigers (2411) defeated second-seeded Arizona, 77-72, in the first semifinal at crypto.com Arena.
After Nelson blocked Davis’s shot with 25 seconds left, Davis furiously dribbled around before missing a layup and the Tar Heels got called for a shot-clock violation with 8 seconds left. They were forced to foul, sending Nelson to the line. He calmly made both for an 89-85 lead.
Armando bacot scored inside with one second left, leaving North carolina trailing, 8987. The Tar Heels fouled Nelson again with 0.9 seconds left. He missed both and time expired on the blueblood Tar Heels, who own six national championships.
Bacot finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds for
UNC (29-8). Cormac Ryan had 17 points and made five 3pointers and Davis had 16 points.
Clemson stunner
Chase Hunter scored 18 points and converted a 3-point play with 25.7 seconds remaining, and clemson advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in school history, beating Arizona, 77-72, in a West Region semifinal at Los Angeles.
PJ Hall added 17 points for the sixth-seeded Tigers (24-11), who advanced to face either top-seeded North carolina or No. 4 seed Alabama.
clemson last reached the final eight in 1980, when there were 48 teams in the NCAA Tournament. coach brad brownell was making his second appearance in the second weekend of march madness in his 14 seasons with the Tigers.
“We’ve battled a lot of things. This is a great moment for clemson basketball,” Brownell said.
Jaden bradley scored 18 points, oumar ballo had 15, and Caleb Love 13 for secondseeded Arizona (27-9), which had a horrific shooting night, going 5 of 28 (17.9 percent) from 3-point range. Love missed all nine of his attempts beyond the arc as the Wildcats failed to reach the Elite Eight for the 12th time overall and first time since 2015.
Wildcats coach tommy Lloyd was ousted in the Sweet 16 for the second time in his three seasons.
After Bradley’s 3-pointer got
Arizona within 72-70, Hunter put it out of reach when he drove for a layup while being fouled by Bradley. Hunter’s free throw made it a 5-point game.
“I just wanted to make a play. At the end of the day, I wanted to get to the basket, wanted to get an and-1, wanted to make something happen, and that’s what I did.”
Clark invited to camp
Caitlin Clark has been invited to participate in the USA Basketball national team training camp during the final four in cleveland, contingent on Iowa’s season being over.
The NCAA’s Division 1 alltime scoring leader has earned three gold medals with USA Basketball junior teams, most recently as a member of the 2021 under-19 squad.
Clark, the likely No. 1 draft pick in the WNBA Draft on
April 15 by the Indiana fever, has been a ratings boon for college basketball.
Nearly 5 million people watched the Hawkeyes’ secondround game against West Virginia on Saturday.
Five-time Olympic champion Diana taurasi is one of nine former Olympians who will participate in the camp training camp from April 3-5. The others are Ariel Atkins, Chelsea Gray, brittney Griner, Jewell Loyd, kelsey Plum, breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, and Jackie Young.
Former WNBA Rookie of the Year winners Aliyah boston and Rhyne Howard also will participate, along with Sabrina Ionescu and Shakira Austin.
The US went 3-0 last month in a FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgium. The Americans beat the host nation, 81-79, on a lastsecond shot by Stewart. They went on to beat Nigeria and Senegal.
Third time a charm?
For most teams, facing a 7foot-4-inch, 300-pound force of nature like Zach edey is uncharted territory.
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, for the gonzaga Bulldogs, Edey is no mystery to them.
Twice over the past 16 months, the Zags have faced Edey and Purdue, and twice they have lost by double digits.
Gonzaga’s third try at toppling the big man comes friday in the Sweet 16. The winner will face either Creighton or Tennessee with a trip to the final four at stake.
“When you’re dealing with someone as special as Edey, we’ve at least experienced it,” gonzaga coach Mark Few said, looking at the bright side. “So we’re not trying to describe it to our guys and show them other teams playing against it.”
Edey’s lines against gonzaga: 23 points and seven rebounds in the 2022 meeting. Purdue won by 18. Then, at the start of this season at the maui Invitational, Edey went for 25 and 14 and the Boilermakers won by 10 in a game that both coaches agreed was not their teams’ best work.
“It gives you a reference point, but it means very little,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.
Edey is a first-team AP All-American for the second straight year, puncturing the narrative that a true post player no longer has a place in today’s game. He’s averaging 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks this year, about the same or better than numbers that earned him AP Player of the Year in 2023.
In friday’s later game, second-seeded Tennessee (26-8) and third-seeded Creighton (25-9) are both seeking their first trip to the final four.