South Carolina, Baylor advance
Sindarius Thornwell had 24 points, Chris Silva scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and seventh-seeded South Carolina stunned No. 2 seed Duke 88-81 on Sunday night to advance to its first Sweet 16 in the era of the NCAA Tournament’s expanded bracket.
The Gamecocks (24-10) trailed by 10 points early in the second half in the East Region game in Greenville, S.C., after one of their coldest shooting stretches of the season. But behind Thornwell’s outside shooting and Silva’s dominance underneath, South Carolina rallied to win two NCAA games for the first time in 44 years.
The Gamecocks rushed to their fans when things were over, celebrating one of the biggest wins in program history.
The Gamecocks will face thirdseeded Baylor in the regional semifinals in New York.
Duke (28-9) was attempting to reach the round of 16 for the sixth time in eight seasons. The Blue Devils, though, could not surmount South Carolina’s stifling defense. Leading scorer Luke Kennard had his second straight subpar shooting game, finishing 1 of 6 for 11 points before fouling out.
The Blue Devils made 5 of 8 3-point attempts in the first half, but only 5 of 19 after the break. They tied a season high with 18 turnovers.
Duane Notice had 17 points for South Carolina, 14 in the second half. Silva added 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double this season. Grayson Allen led Duke with 20 points.
It sounded like typical coach hyperbole when Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski said the Gamecocks would be the best defensive team his club has faced this season. That proved out in the first half as the Blue Devils were continually disrupted by South Carolina’s pressure and lost the ball 13 times after averaging only 11 turnovers a game this season.
The Blue Devils did not make a basket after Matt Jones’ 3-pointer with 5:38 to play in the half, their only points coming on Allen’s foul shots in the final minute before the break.
Duke did its share to thwart the Gamecocks, holding South Carolina to 7-of-35 shooting the first 20 minutes. The Gamecocks missed 20 of their last 22 shots to fall behind 30-23 at the break.
Baylor 82, Southern California 78: Johnathan Motley had 19 points and 10 rebounds for No. 3 seed Baylor (27-7) at Tulsa, Okla.
Terry Maston scored 19 points, King McClure added 17 and Manu Lecomte scored all 12 of his points in the final five minutes.
Chimezie Metu scored 28 points and Bennie Boatwright added 16 for USC (26-10), which was trying to make its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2007. The Trojans had rallied from second-half deficits to win their first two NCAA Tournament games.
A four-point play by Lecomte put the Bears up 69-67. Lecomte, who hadn’t scored the entire game, scored eight points in 45 seconds to put the Bears up 73-67, and Baylor led the rest of the way.
The B e a r s got of f to a 2 0-1 start and were ranked No. 1 in the country before reeling down the stretch. They got back on track in a 91-73 win over New Mexico State in the first round. They went back to their recipe for success — physical dominance — by outrebounding the Trojans 34-23.