Arkansas coach goes shirtless after shocking No 1 Kansas to reach Sweet 16
Kansas’ national title defense ended in the second round of NCAA tournament on Saturday when Arkansas’ Ricky Council IV made five free throws in the closing seconds and the eighthseeded Razorbacks beat the No 1 seed Jayhawks 72-71.
Davonte Davis scored 25 points and Council added 21 as Arkansas rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit. Kansas, playing without ailing coach Bill Self, became the second top seed not to escape the tournament’s first weekend after Purdue lost on Friday night to No 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson.
Arkansas (22-13) and coach Eric Musselman return to the Sweet 16 for the third straight year. The Razorbacks will play either Saint Mary’s or UConn in the West Region semi-finals in Las Vegas on Thursday.
Musselman and his players rushed to a section of fans sitting courtside after the final buzzer. Musselman ripped his polo shirt off, waved it over his head and shouted with joy.
Self has been with the Jayhawks (28-8) since they arrived in Des Moines and has attended practices and meetings, but he still doesn’t feel well enough to coach a game after having a heart procedure on 8 March to clear clogged arteries.
Longtime assistant Norm Roberts was acting coach for a fifth straight game in Self’s absence.
Kansas, bidding to become the first repeat national champion since Florida in 2006-07, were ahead 35-27 at halftime and lost for the first time in 27 games when entering the second half with a lead. Kansas had been 47-0 in the NCAA tournament when leading by eight points or more at the half.
Davis scored 21 of his points in the second half. He fouled out with 1:56 left, turning things over to the veteran Council, a transfer from Wichita State who scored nine of the Razorbacks’ final 11 points.
Council’s free throw put Arkansas ahead to stay, 68-67, with 24 seconds left. He then rebounded his own miss of the second free throw and made two more to give the Razorbacks a threepoint lead.
The teams traded free throws, and Arkansas sent the Jayhawks’ Jalen Wilson to the line with three seconds left to prevent a potential tying threepointer. Wilson made the first free throw and appeared to try to miss the second intentionally, but it banked hard off the glass and in, and Kansas never regained possession.
Arkansas were playing a No 1 seed for the third straight year. Last year, the Razorbacks knocked out Gonzaga on the way to their second straight Elite Eight.
No 4 Tennessee 65, No 5 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 fourthseeded Volunteers beat Duke 65-52 on Saturday 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 fifthseeded 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.
Duke didn’t handle Tennessee’s physical style very well all afternoon. The Volunteers set the tone early, clearly wanting to push around Kyle Filipowski and get hands in the faces of guards Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor.
Vols big man Uros Plavsic picked up two offensive fouls in the first four minutes, both going against Filipowski. Duke’s seven-footer later took an elbow to his face and ended up with a small cut under his left eye.
Proctor struggled to inbound the ball several times, getting a five-second call, turning it over once and nearly giving it up again. Roach had even more issues, finishing the first half with three fouls and four turnovers.
The Vols, meanwhile, took much better care of the ball than they did in their first-round victory against Louisiana-Lafayette. They turned it over just nine times, their fewest since point guard Zakai Zeigler sustained a seasonending knee injury last month.
Proctor led Duke with 16 points. Roach and Filipowski chipped in 13 apiece.
No 5 San Diego State 75, No 13 Furman 52
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), who are heading to their first Sweet 16 since 2004. The Aztecs have won 11 of their past 13 games and will play either Alabama or Maryland next week in the South Region semi-finals in Louisville, Kentucky.
San Diego State are the first Mountain West Conference team to reach the Sweet 16 since Nevada in 2018. It’ll be the third regional semi-final 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’ bracket-busting three-pointer, Furman were outmuscled and gradually worn down by the much more physical Aztecs.
Southern Conference player and the year Jalen Slawson picked up his fourth foul with 16:27 remaining and fouled out shortly after returning midway through the second half. The super senior stomped the floor in protest, drawing a technical foul that gave San Diego State a pair of free throws that put the Aztecs up 60-37.
Mike Bothwell led the 13th-seeded Paladins (28-8) with 15 points. Alex Williams had 11 and Pegues finished with 11 as Furman shot 32%, including 6 of 26 from three-point range.