The Tournament That Wasn't

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West Region--Round 1 (Part 4 of 4)

#7 seed Illinois Fighting Illini (21-10) vs #10 seed Saint Louis Billikens (23-8)

Illinois took the ball inside twice for dunks by PF Alvin Beerbohm in the first 45 seconds of play and followed that up with a 3 pointer by SF Marcus Holmes on their 3rd possession to make it 7-0. Houston got on the board on the following possession on a 3 of their own and tied the game at 7-all with 17 minutes to go in the half. Following those two 7-0 runs, Illinois scored another 7 unanswered points to lead 14-7 with 14-1/2 left before the break. The Illini opened a 21-11 lead with 11-1/2 minutes remaining in the half. The Billikens struggled to narrow the gap and with 1:32 on the clock tied the game at 35-35. The half ended with the Hoosiers holding a slim 41-40 lead. SF Marcus Holmes dropped in 11 points for Illinois but St. Louis’ SG Diego Moore peppered the net for 17 points.

St. Louis held Illinois scoreless for the first 3-1/2 minutes of the 2nd half but only led the Illini by a score of 44-41 at that point. The Hoosiers Marcus Holmes sunk a 3 with 11:42 remaining to give Illinois their first lead of the 2nd half at 54-51. PG Joshua Willis returned the favor with a 3 to put the Billikens back on top 56-54 with just under 10 minutes left in the game. Illinois regained the lead at 61-60 when SG Colin Stone drove down the lane and scored on a finger roll with 6-1/2 minutes to go. A minute later SG Damien Moore stole a pass, upcourted the ball to a streaking Ronald Crudup who slammed it in to put St. Louis back on top 62-61. On the next possession, Holmes hit 2 free throws and Illinois jumped back on top 63-62. C Pat Riggs dropped in 2 foul shots to tie the game at 68-68 with 2:46 left. PF Alvin Beerbohm got free out front and hit a 3 to make it 71-68 in favor of the Illini a minute later. The Hoosier held a 75-72 advantage with just 24 seconds on the clock. St. Louis brought the ball up court and got the ball over to SG Diego Moore who drilled a 3 to tie the game with 15 seconds remaining. Illinois missed a 3P attempt but SG Michael Gallagher grabbed an offensive rebound and put it right back up and in with 5 seconds left. St. Louis got the ball over the mid court line and lofted a desperation 3 that just barely rimmed out to preserve Illinois’ victory in one of the most exciting games of the tournament. The Billikens hit 44% of their shots compared to the Hoosiers 41% but Illinois got to the line 13 more times where they scored 5 more points than St. Louis.

Illinois-77 (SF Marcus Holmes-20 pts, 11 reb; PF Beerbohm-13 pts, 6 reb; C Adam Houston-10 pts, 8 reb)
St. Louis-75 (SG Diego Moore-28 pts, 5 reb; C Pat Riggs-9 pts, 12 reb)

“There were just too damned few opportunities for us at the foul line in the 2nd half. That’s all I’m gonna say about this game,” said disgruntled St. Louis coach Travis Ford.

Brad Underwood, the coach for Illinois, said, “My heart’s still racing. The entire 2nd half was so damned close. Michael Gallagher’s effort to get inside, grab that final rebound and hit a great put-back was pure determination on his part! And that final half-court heave by the Billikens looked right on the mark and seemed to hang in the air forever. My knees were so weak when it finally rimmed out that I could barely stand.”

#8 seed Richmond Spiders (24-7) vs #9 seed Southern California Trojans (22-9)

The Spiders never led or were tied with the Trojans early in the game, but finally gained their first lead at 19-17 lead with 9-1/2 minutes left in the half. USC the scored the next 6 points and held a small lead the rest of the half finishing it with a 40-34 advantage. The Trojans also held a small advantage in all team stats. SF Erick McMahon led USC’s scoring with 9 points but PG Rasual Crowley scored 5 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and dished out 5 assists. C Chris Kelly had 8 points for Richmond.

In the 2nd half, Southern Cal continued to lead until Richmond’s Ross Love hit 2 free throws to put the Spiders on top 51-50 with 14 minutes left in the game. Richmond then moved out to a 66-56 lead with 9-1/2 minutes remaining. USC cut into the lead slowly and with 4 minutes to go trailed 73-70. But the Spiders were able to hold off the Trojans to a narrow victory. Richmond’s scored 30 points in the paint compared to just 14 by USC.

Richmond-81 (C Chris Kelly-18 pts, 8 reb; PF Brett Perkins-14 pts, 8 reb, 1 steal, 3 blocks; PG Ross Love-13 pts, 5 assists; SG Jason Paige-10 pts, 8 reb, 5 assists)
Southern California-73 (PG Manny Walker-14 pts; SG Ben Carr-12 pts, 6 reb; SF Erick McMahon-11 pts, PG Rasual-8 pts, 6 reb, 8 assists)

“Su-weet! Both teams were in charge at various points of the game, but we took over in the latter stages and gamely held on to carve out an exciting victory,” said Chris Mooney, head coach for Richmond.

[PointGuard]

Gonzaga, the #1 seed in the West, was unimpressive in their first game in the tournament. #12 seed Wright State upset #5 seed West Virginia. Six of the 8 games were very competitive with one game going to overtime and another going down to the final shot.

[PointGuard]

Round 1 is COMPLETE!

11 of the 32 teams advancing to the round of 32 are from non-power conferences. Now the challenge for them is to continue moving forward as the competition stiffens.

Only 2 teams that were lower seeds won in the 32 games in round 1. One of those wins was a #9 beating a #8 and the only real upset was by #12 Wright State.

So the tournament committee’s seedings were pretty much spot-on...at least for the first round.

Top Individual Performances in Round 1:

Tyler Payne, PF, Oregon—29 points
Diego Moore, SG, St. Louis—28 points
Zack Hayes, SG, Maryland—27 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks
Lee Hahn, PF, Colorado—23 points, 7 rebounds
Mike Hollins, PF, Kentucky—21 points, 12 rebounds
Marcus Holmes, SF, Illlinois—20 points, 11 rebounds
Andre Sampson, PF, Arizona—19 points, 11 rebounds, 9 blocks
Kendric Pugh, SG, Wright State—17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 5 blocks
Joe Bush, SF, Baylor—16 points, 13 rebounds
Mike Grant, PF, Michigan State—16 points, 13 rebounds
Alvin Griffin, C, Colorado—18 points, 8 rebounds in 18 minutes
Copley Robertson, C, UC Irvine—18 points, 5 rebounds in 19 minutes
Renaldo Miller, PF, Duke—17 points, 5 rebounds in 18 minutes
Travis Murray, SG, Oregon—11 points, 9 assists, 3 blocks
Trenton Sarchet, SG, Colorado—7 points, 10 assists
Jeffrey Gardiner, PG, Duke—11 points, 8 assists
Rasual Crowley, PG, Southern California—8 points, 8 assists

[PointGuard]

Midwest—Round 2 (Part 1 of 2)

#1 seed Kansas Jayhawks (29-3) vs #8 seed Colorado Buffaloes (22-11)

Kansas held a 5-10 point lead throughout most of the first half. But in the final 5 minutes Colorado steadily cut into that lead to trail by just a single point before the Jayhawks hit some late shots to give them a 41-35 halftime advantage. Kansas outshot the Buffaloes 43% to 37% but Colorado held a 20-16 rebounding advantage. C Richard Williams hit for 12 points for Kansas plus had 4 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. The Buffaloes PF Lee Hahn scored 9 points.

Within the 2-1/2 minutes of play in the 2nd half, Colorado pulled into their first lead of the game at 43-41 and then held Kansas scoreless for yet another minute. Kansas then went on a 10-0 run. With 12:12 left Kansas opened their biggest lead thus far at 58-45 and had all the momentum in their favor. Colorado had a tough time hitting their shots which allowed Kansas to go ahead by 21 at 79-58 with 3-1/2 minutes to go as C Richard Williams was running roughshod over the Buffaloes defense and the game was out of reach for Colorado. Kansas scored on 47% of their shots and held Colorado’s shooting to just 33%.

Kansas-89 (C Richard Williams-28 pts, 11 reb, 5 blocks; PF/C Scott Bullock-13 pts; SG Ron Lawson-12 pts; SF Leon Martin-11 pts)
Colorado-67 (PF Lee Hahn-17 pts; SG Trenton Sarchet-15 pts, 5 reb)

Tad Boyle, Colorado’s coach said, “I was feeling pretty good when we took a lead early in the 2nd half, but it was like sticking your hand in a hornet’s nest. Kansas came back stinging and never quit. That final 17 minutes was like getting your butt kicked over and over and over again and it was on both ends of the court.

#2 seed San Diego Aztecs (31-2) vs #7 seed Butler Bulldogs (23-9)

In a rough start with lots of fouls on both teams, San Diego State got out to a 10-2 lead after the first 3 minutes of play. With 12 minutes to play in the half, the Aztecs had bludgeoned their way to a 24-10 advantage with PF Steve Hordemann coming off the bench to score 11 quick points. By then a number of players on both teams were in foul trouble. Butler then began to narrow the gap and got within 6 points. But the Aztecs then ran off 9 straight quick points to take a 35-20 lead. Fouls continued to mount and San Diego State rode those to a 43-24 lead with 4 minutes remaining. With 2-1/2 minutes to go, Butler had 4 of their 5 players who were on the court sporting 2 fouls apiece and San Diego State had 2 players on the court with 2 personal fouls. The game was threatening to turn into a game of attrition. The half ended with the Aztecs leading 51-31. Butler had been called for 15 fouls sending San Diego State to the line for 21 foul shots. 5 Bulldogs players had 2 fouls apiece and one had 3 fouls. But the Aztecs had connected on 64% of their FG attempts and held a 12-4 turnover advantage. San Diego State was led by reserve PF Steve Hordemann with 13 points and 6 rebounds. PF Jake Ellis and SG Moses Williams both had 6 points for the Bulldogs.

San Diego State continued to roll early in the 2nd half and was on top 61-34 just 4 minutes into the final stanza. Led by C Tim Chappel, Butler then went on an 11-0 run but that still left them 16 points behind with 11 minutes to play. In the 2nd half the fouls were piling up against San Diego State. With 5:45 to go the Bulldogs had trimmed the lead to 71-59. But San Diego State didn’t let Butler get closer and came away with an impressive win. The Aztecs outshot the Bulldogs 51% to 41%, held a 34-28 rebounding advantage, and a 17-12 turnover advantage.

San Diego State-81 (SG Isaac Haston-15 pts, 5 assists; PF Steve Hordemann-13 pts, 9 reb; PG Jarvis Brown-11 pts)
Butler-68 (C Tim Chappel-14 pts, 10 reb, 1 steal, 3 blocks; PG Jake Ellis-11 pts, 5 assists; PF Vashon Adams-10 pts, 5 reb)

Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said, “We had one player foul out, 2 players with 4 fouls each, and 2 other players with 3 fouls each and sent the Bulldogs to the line for 32 foul shots. But our team banded together to just keep banging away and hold onto the solid lead we built up in the first half. Butler has a really good team so I’m just happy to have gotten past them. I’ve got to get going though, because I want to watch the Duke-East Tennessee State game.”

“We would have loved to make another deep run in the tournament this year, but it just wasn’t in the cards for us tonight. Both teams slugged it out from beginning to end, but San Diego State was just too much of a force,” said Butler’s coach LaVall Jordan.

[PointGuard]

Midwest—Round 2 (Part 2 of 2)

#3 seed Duke Blue Devils (26-6) vs #6 seed East Tennessee State Buccaneers (31-4)

Both teams started slow but Duke opened the scoring after 2-1/2 minutes of play and held onto it, expanding their lead to 23-10 with 11 minutes to play since the Buccaneers were having problems handling Dukes defensive pressure. East Tennessee State finally figured out how to score and slowly cut into the Blue Devils lead and at the half trailed 40-34. Duke turned the ball over just 4 times while the Buccaneers had 8 turnovers. PF/C Renaldo Miller came off the bench to score 10 points for Duke while C Reggie Poster led East Tennessee State with 10 points and 5 rebounds.

The 2nd half started auspiciously for the Buccaneers as they grabbed their first lead of the entire game at 42-41 with 17-1/2 minutes remaining. The two teams swapped the lead repeatedly during the next 6 minutes. But then Duke began to slowly pull away as the Buccaneers became error-prone. With 6-1/2 minutes left in the game the Blue Devils were on top 73-62. East Tennessee State’s defense simple fell apart after that and Duke went on to blow out the Buccaneers. Duke hit 64% of their shots in the 2nd half and finished with a shooting percentage for the entire game of 53% compared to 46% for East Tennessee State. The Buccaneers had 18 turnovers while the Blue Devils had just 8.

Duke-94 (PF Rick Blizzard-17 pts, 8 reb, 3 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks; SG Billy Horton-15 pts, 6 reb; PF Alan Garren-13 pts, 8 reb; C/PF Renaldo Miller-12 pts, SF Tyson Anderson-10 pts; PG Ben Scott-10 pts; PG Jeffrey Gardiner-6 pts, 9 assists, 3 steals)
East Tennessee State-72 (C Reggie Poster-16 pts, 7 reb; SG Brandon Thurston-14 pts, 5 reb; C Aki Archibald-10 pts)

“The Buccaneers played us tough, but we finally got our game together and then our guys just kept rolling. Rick Blizzard had a fantastic game and led us on both ends of the court,” said Mike Krzyzewski,

#4 seed Seton Hall Pirates (22-9) vs #5 seed Wisconsin Badgers (22-10)

The first 10 minutes were hard fought but then Wisconsin clamped down defensively and rapidly pulled away, leading 33-18 with 4 minutes to play in the half. So a game that was expected to be close, wasn’t. At the end of the half, the Badgers had put Seton Hall in a 46-28 hole. The Pirates hit only 35% of their shots while Wisconsin was blistering the net at a 54% rate. The Badgers also held a 10-6 turnover advantage and a 17-14 rebounding advantage. Leading the way for Wisconsin were two reserves, C Jason Thomas and PG Lonnie Edney who scored 12 and 10 points, respectively. The top scorer for Seton Hall also was a reserve, SG Scott Lee, who had 9 points.

Seton Hall was unable to make any headway to get close to Wisconsin in the 2nd half, and the Badgers won with ease.

Wisconsin-79 (PF Jon Stanton-15 pts, 7 reb; C Jason Thomas-12 pts, 5 reb; PG Lonnie Edney-12 pts; SF Shaun Copeland-10 pts, 6 reb; PG Marques Tucker-10 pts)
Seton Hall-62 (PF Greg Asbury-14 pts, 6 reb; SG Scott Lee-12 pts)

Wisconsin’s coach Greg Gard said, “We’re excited to get to the Sweet 16, but will need to up our game when we take on Kansas.”

[PointGuard]

MIDWEST REGION: Top 3 seeds advance to the Sweet 16, but #5 Wisconsin whips #4 Seton Hall.

[PointGuard]

East—Round 2 (Part 1 of 2)

#1 seed Dayton Flyers (30-2) vs #9 seed Cincinnati Bearcats (21-10)

Cincinnati’s PF Darnell Harris scored all of the Bearcats points as they opened a 7-1 lead. Trailing 10-1, Dayton finally hit a FG when PF Leon Smith hit a 3 with 16:35 on the clock. Meanwhile the Bearcats could do no wrong, hitting 10 of their first 12 shots and rolling to an early 23-6 lead. But the Flyers began trimming the lead to get to with 4 at 29-25 with 5-1/2 minutes remaining in the half. Cincinnati then began a run that lasted until the end of the having resulting in a 44-27 advantage at the break. The Bearcats outshot Dayton 58% to 36% and controlled the boards 22-10. C Kevin Hansen dropped in 11 points and hauled down 8 rebounds for Cincinnati. Dayton’s top scorer was SG Jonathan Jefferson with 9 points.

Dayton came out in the 2nd half intent on turning the game around and did exactly that. Hitting from all over the court, the Flyers shocked the Bearcats and raced to a 52-51 lead with 10:46 remaining. The two teams then exchanged the lead several times but with 1:49 to go, Dayton was on top 69-65. With 49 seconds to go the Flyers lead was down to a single point. Dayton threw the ball away and Cincinnati in bounded with 39 seconds to go. C Kevin Hansen received a pass down low and took his man to the basket and scored on a finger roll that put Cincinnati ahead 70-69. The Flyers cut the ball over to PF Brooks Satchell on the left baseline who hit a 14 footer and Dayton regained a 71-70 lead with 25 seconds on the clock. Dayton pressed and the Bearcats had a tough time clearing the ball upcourt, but a quick upcourt pass to Kevin Hansen gave him a pathway to the basket and he made good as he threw down a jam to make it a 72-71 Cincinnati lead. Dayton had 14 seconds left. Jonathan Jefferson drove to the hoop but his path was blocked and he made a no-look pass back to C Devin Watkins but the Bearcats Hansen quickly moved to block Watkins’ shot from 6 feet from the basket out of bounds. Dayton’s coach Anthony Grant and all the Dayton fans felt there was a foul, but the refs weren’t convinced. With just 2 seconds to go, the Flyers got the ball inbounds but couldn’t get off a shot. Cincinnati finished with a 51% to 47% shooting advantage and dominated the boards 37-20 but had a 24-15 turnover disadvantage.

Cincinnati-72 (C Kevin Hansen-21 pts, 10 reb; PF Darnell Harris-12 pts; SF Terrance Wolfe-8 pts, 9 reb)
Dayton-71 (SG Jonathan Jefferson-19 pts, 4 reb, 6 assists; PF Leon Smith-12 pts)

Cincinnati coach John Brannen exclaimed, “What a game! The way Dayton turned the game around so quickly in the 2nd half was intimidating and showed why they were a #1 seed. We struck back though to sink two quick 3’s to keep them from running us off the court. BKenut from there on it was anybody’s game. Even though we trailed by 4 points, in the final two minutes our guys were determined to win and Kevin (Hansen) got it done with those 2 buckets and then that huge block.”

#2 seed Kentucky Wildcats (26-6) vs #7 seed Northern Iowa Panthers (26-6)

Northern Iowa hit just 2 of their first 18 FG attempts and trailed 25-13 with 6-1/2 minutes to go in the first half. Things didn’t improve for the Panthers as they hit just 20% of their first half FG attempts and 8% of their 3P attempts. Kentucky was a little better, hitting 40% of their FG attempts and 23% of the 3’s. Kentucky led 37-24 after the first 20 minutes of play. Kentucky’s SG Tim Woodley scored 13 points and SF Louis McClendon hit for 11 points for Northern Iowa.

The Panthers came out on a mission to start the 2nd half and with 15 minutes had overcome the Wildcat’s lead and took their first lead of the game at 42-41 with 14-1/2 minutes remaining. Kentucky then scored the next 6 points, but the Panthers came back again pull ahead 50-49 on Louis McClendon’s 3 with 10-1/2 minutes to go. The Wildcats rallied and scored 6 straight points again. With fouls going against Northern Iowa, their coach Ben Jacobson drew a technical foul. Kentucky’s defense stymied the Panthers and the Wildcats expanded their lead to 62-52 with 4:49 to play. Northern Iowa’s shooting never recovered to be able to make another run. Kentucky hit just 36% of their shots, but Northern Iowa’s shooting was even worse at 31%. But the key to the Wildcats’ victory was their scoring 13 more points at the foul line that the Panthers did.

Kentucky-74 (SG Tim Woodley-18 pts; PF Mike Hollins-16 pts, 10 reb, 3 assists, 1 steal, 4 blocks; C Marckell Hedde-12 pts; PF Dennis Mickens-11 pts, 7 reb)
Northern Iowa-60 (SF Louis McClendon-31 pts; PF Aaron Brown-8 pts, 8 reb)

John Calipari, head coach of Kentucky said, “Northern Iowa gave us all we could handle tonight. But our defense stood up so that even though our offense was spotty, we were able to pull away late in the game.”

[PointGuard]

East Region--Round 2 (Part 2 of 2)

#3 seed Auburn Tigers (26-6) vs #6 seed Ohio State Buckeyes (21-11)

Auburn held a small lead throughout most of the 1st half and headed to the locker room with a 40-32 advantage. The Tigers sank 60% of their shots while the Buckeyes only hit on 38% of theirs. SF Pat Hawkins scored 10 points for Auburn. PF Jerry Hart came off the bench to lead the scoring for Ohio State with 7 points.

Ohio State’s defense stopped the Tigers early in the 2nd half so that with 15-1/2 minutes to go the Buckeyes had knotted the score at 43-43. Auburn crept back ahead but with 9 minutes remaining Ohio State took a 57-56 lead. The Buckeyes continued their dominance and with 4-1/2 minutes left had increased their lead to 69-58. Auburn fought to come back but couldn’t do it. Ohio State’s defense forced the Tigers to make 20 turnovers while the Buckeyes turned the ball over just 10 times. The Buckeyes held a 28-14 advantage in points in the pain, a 14-6 advantage in 2nd chance points, and an 8-0 advantage in fast break points.

Ohio State-77 (PG Speedy Costello-17 pts, C Dylan Tarver-12 pts, SG Drew Searcy-11 pts, PF Devon Emory-7 pts, 13 reb)
Auburn-68 (SF Pat Hawkins-21 pts, 7 reb, 1 steal, 4 blocks; C Alan Johnson-12 pts, 8 reb)

#4 seed Louisville Cardinals (25-7) vs #5 seed Virginia Cavaliers (24-7)

Louisville jumped on top 9-3 and held a small lead until 12-1/2 minutes of the first half remained when Virginia tied the score at 17-17. Louisville scored the next 6 points and held the lead the rest of the half finishing on top 42-36. The Cardinals outshot the Cavaliers 60% to 42%. Leading the scoring for Louisville were SF Gene Barnes with 15 points and PG Darius Howell with 12 points. Virginia’s SG Jason Mason had a big half, hitting 4 of 5 from 3-point distance and scoring 17 points.

Virginia closed to within a single point early in the 2nd half only to see Louisville pull away again. Louisville went on a 21-0 run to spurt out to a 65-43 lead with 12-1/2 minutes remaining in the game. Virginia closed the gap a little in the final minutes but the game was never in doubt. Louisville hit 55% of their shots while limited the Cavaliers shooting to 39%. The Cardinals completely dominated the boards to the tune of 37-24.

Louisville-80 (SF Gene Barnes-30 pts, 10 reb; PG Darius Howell-19 pts, 6 assists; SG Corey Kennard-10 pts)
Virginia-68 (SG Jason Mason-24 pts, PG Kurt Spurgeon-14 pts)

Louisville’s coach Chris Mack said, “Our defense was stellar tonight and Jason Mason had a big game and carried us offensively.”

[PointGuard]

East Regional

In the battles to reach the Sweet 16, two of the four games were upsets. One was a minor upset with Ohio State beating Auburn, but the Buckeye's comeback in the 2nd half was impressive. Cincinnati's edging of Dayton was a major upset, and the game was one of the best of the tournament thus far. #1 seed Dayton had an impressive comeback in the first 10 minutes in the 2nd half and then the final 10 minutes were pure tension with both teams punching and counter-punching and the the outcome in doubt all the way up to the final buzzer. And #2 seed Kentucky got a scare early in the 2nd half when Northern Iowa came from far behind to take the lead, but the Wildcats roared back to demonstrate their dominance.

[PointGuard]

South Region—Round 2 (part 1 of 2)

#1 seed Florida State Seminoles (27-5) vs #8 seed Iowa Hawkeyes (21-11)

Both teams had a tough time getting their shots to fall early, but Iowa then jumped out to a 20-4 lead after about 7-1/2 minutes of play. Turnovers plagued Florida State and the Hawkeyes moved out to a 31-12 lead. When the half ended the Seminoles 14 turnovers and a 19-14 rebounding deficit offset their 47% shooting (compared to Iowa’s 36% shooting but just 5 turnovers) to cause Florida State to trail 41-28. PF Andre Howe had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks for Iowa. Reserve PF Doug Bybee scored 8 points for the Seminoles.

Iowa had a 7-0 run in the first 3 minutes of the 2nd half to extend their lead to 48-28. Florida State then scored the next 13 of 15 points to cut the lead to 50-41 with 13 minutes remaining. The lead had shrunk to just 5 points with 8-1/2 minutes to go. C Donta Boulware took a pass down low and turned to toss in a 3 footer to get the Seminoles within 2 points at 64-62 with 3:48 on the clock. With a minute left, PF Andre Howe hit two free throws to put Iowa ahead 70-64. With the Seminoles forced to foul, Iowa was able to pad its lead to gain a big upset win. The Hawkeyes only hit 39% of their shots compared to Florida State’s 52% shooting but held a 24-13 turnover advantage and got to the free throw line 21 more times where they scored 15 more points than the Seminoles.

Iowa-75 (PF Andre Howe-16 pts, 8 reb, 4 blocks; SG Marcus Cox-15 pts, 7 reb, 3 assists, 3 steals; C Williams Murray-13 pts, 6 reb, 4 steals)
Florida State-66 (C Walter Forney-13 pts, 5 reb; SF Greg Ferguson-11 pts, 5 reb; PF Doug Bybee-10 pts)

“We made just too many dad-gummed mistakes…too many turnovers and too many fouls. You can’t do that against the competition in this tournament,” said Leonard Hamilton, Florida State’s head coach.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said, “Even though we led the entire way, this was no cake-walk. The Seminoles kept attacking and got really close near the end of the game. When they got within 2 points of us, we could have folded but our guys never let down and held them off to get a really big win.”

#2 seed Creighton Bluejays (25-7) vs #7 seed Michigan Wolverines (20-12)

Michigan held a small lead early in the game, but with 13 minutes remaining in the half, SG Gerrod Ward launched a successful 3 that gave Creighton its first lead of the game and 13-10. Creighton continued to outshoot the Wolverines and led 26-16 with 7:47 on the clock. Hot shooting by the Bluejays (52% compered to just 30% by Michigan) resulted in a 43-28 Creighton lead at the break. SG Gerrod Wood popped in 14 points for the Bluejays. PF Jeff Maxwell and C B.J. Epps both scored 6 for Michigan.

With 14 minutes left in the 2nd half, PF David Warley drove down the baseline to deliver a monstrous dunk giving Creighton their biggest lead thus far at 58-37. Michigan cut the lead to 13 points with 4 minutes left to play. As Creighton’s hot shooting continued the Bluejays again pulled away to thump the Wolverines. Creighton dominated the game: hitting 50% compared to 31% by Michigan, controlling the boards 41-31, holding advantages of 30-14 in points in the paint, 8-4 on 2nd chance points, and 8-0 on fast break points.

Creighton-84 (SG Gerrod Wood-22 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks; PF David Warley-20 pts, 4 blocks; SF Andry Amaya-14 pts, 10 reb)
Michigan-60 (C B.J. Epps-10 pts, 5 reb; PF Jeff Maxwell-8 pts, 6 reb)

“We had the hot hand tonight and that kept Michigan from being able to seriously cut into our lead once we got things going. Gerrod Wood and David Warley buoyed our inside game and both had big games for us,” said Greg McDermott, head coach of Creighton.

Michigan’s coach Juwan Howard said, “Creighton put together a great offense and defense that knocked us out of the game early and kept us on our heels.”