UC Davis fights way into meeting with Kansas
DAYTON — Coach Jim Les challenged UC Davis to swing away Wednesday night in its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and the Aggies responded with a 67-63 win over North Carolina Central.
“Before the game, we just talked about having a fight,” Les said, meaning to play hard. “This is a really good, connected team. … We just asked them to fight, to keep it going. This has been an unbelievable ride and we’re not ready to go home.”
So they’re not. After a First Four victory in a meeting of No. 16 seeds at University of Dayton Arena, the Aggies (23-12) are headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma. But because they next will take on Kansas, the top seed in the Midwest Region, is it really just going to be a long layover? After all, no No. 16 seed has ever beaten a No. 1.
“It’s going to happen eventually, that’s how I look at it,” said Chima Moneke, the Aggies’ leading scorer with 18 points, a junior college transfer who rose to become the Big West tournament MVP. “And we all can play at this level.
“And you know, I don’t fear anybody, but I respect everybody and I feel like with the way we play defense we can make any game a game.”
After they figured out what to do against the Eagles’ trapping defense — which confused them for about the last 13 minutes of the first half — they showed they can play offense, too.
“It was just about being more patient and trying to get the ball to the corners,” UC Davis guard Brynton Lemar said.
Simple enough, but North Carolina Central (25-9), which led 34-31 at halftime, was determined to make the trip to Tulsa, too. That’s why Les wanted fight in the second half. Moneke’s basket and two free throws by Lawrence White gave UC Davis the lead for good just 90 seconds into the half, but it was a give-and-take game from there.
UC Davis led 64-63 with 1:50 to play after North Carolina Central guard Dajuan Graf made a three-pointer, part of his 15 points. From that point, though, the Eagles — also in their first NCAA Tournament — did not make another shot in five attempts. UC Davis used two free throws from White and one from Lemar with four seconds left to ice it.
North Carolina Central shot just 28.6 percent from the floor in the second half. It was testament, White said, to UC Davis’ defense.
That circled back to the challenge of taking on Kansas (28-4).
“To me, when that ball goes up on Friday, I’m not going to be thinking about what seeds” each team is, Les said. “We’re going to be playing basketball, competing at basketball. And like I said, the chips will fall where they may. We’re glad to be here, but we’re not satisfied by any means.”
USC led by five midway through the first half and knocked off Providence in a First Four meeting of No. 11 seeds. But in between, Providence took a 17-point lead and USC (25-9) had to fight back to earn an East Regional matchup against No. 6 SMU on Friday in Tulsa. A basket by Chimezie Metu regained the lead for the Trojans at 61-60 with 6:42 to play, and they never trailed again. Much of the reason was the play at both ends by 6-11 freshman forward Nick Rakocevic and the all-around play of Bennie Boatright (24 points) and Jordan McLaughlin (18). Providence went on a 29-9 run to take a 44-29 halftime lead, fueled by three-pointers from four players. But in the second half, the Friars (20-13) went 1 of 5 on threepointers and USC was 4 of 10.