San Diego State dominates Furman
ORLANDO, Fla. – San Diego State had little trouble ending the run of March Madness darling Furman, getting 16 points from Micah Parrish to pace a balanced scoring attack and pulling away for a 75-52 win on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Darrion Trammell had 13 points, Lamont Butler added 12 and leading scorer Matt Bradley finished with 10 for San Diego State (29-6), which is heading to its first Sweet 16 since 2004.
The fifth-seeded Aztecs have won 11 of their past 13 games and will play either Alabama or Maryland next week in the South Region semifinals in Louisville, Kentucky.
“You should play your best at the end of the season, and we’re playing our best basketball as the end of the season,” coach Brian Dutcher said.
“Obviously we hang our hat on defense. That’s the one thing that we do every game,” Dutcher added. “Then when we get the opportunity, we start making shots and play good offensively, then we’re very good.”
San Diego State is the first Mountain West Conference team to reach the Sweet 16 since Nevada in 2018. It’ll be the third regional semifinal appearance for the Aztecs and the seventh for the Mountain West overall.
Two days after shrugging off cold shooting and overcoming a 12-point, second-half deficit to shock No. 4 seed Virginia 68-67 on JP Pegues’ bracketbusting 3-pointer, Furman was outmuscled and gradually worn down by the much more physical Aztecs.
The Paladins feel they still showed they belong in March Madness.
“We wish we would have played better. Wish we would have shot the ball a little bit better. But some of that you have to give credit to (San Diego State). But there’s nothing that can take away what this group has done,” coach Bob Richey said.
“It’s an unbelievable story, and I couldn’t be more proud of our team, at a time where I’m extremely disappointed that we didn’t advance,” Richey added. “But it’s really hard to not pull the lens back a little bit and still see what that group was able to accomplish.”
Tennessee 65, Duke 52: Olivier Nkamhoua tied his career high with 27 points, including 13 straight for Tennessee during a decisive span in the second half, and the fourth-seeded Volunteers beat Duke to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.
Tennessee (25-10) ended Duke’s 10game winning streak and sent firstyear coach Jon Scheyer, charged with replacing Mike Krzyzewski, home after just two NCAA Tournament games. Not sure Coach K could have done any different to combat these Vols, who used a brand of “bully ball” to send the fifth-seeded Blue Devils (27-9) packing.
Nkamhoua put an exclamation mark on Tennessee’s victory with an emphatic slam with 1:15 remaining. It prompted Vols fans to start chanting and sent many Duke fans toward the exits.
Tennessee advanced to face Florida Atlantic or Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.