With the first round of March Madness over we now turn our attention to round 2.
Saturday
No. 4 West Virginia 83, No. 5 Notre Dame 71
West Virginia started off the game hot with a 10-0 run and they never looked back after that. Junior Guard, Jevon Carter , led the way offensively putting up 24 points and shooting 53% from the field. West Virginia's head coach Bob Huggins used a very aggressive full court press that Notre Dame struggled to beat. West Virginia also shot 8-14 from the 3pt line and added 10 offensive rebounds in their route to victory. Notre Dame senior, V.J Beachem, had another bad game in this tournament. He shot 2-14 and only put up 9 points. Bonzie Colson of Notre Dame did everything he could to keep his team in the game by putting up 27 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. The MVP of the game was West Virginia's Jevon Carter who's impressive performance helped his team move on to the sweet 16 for the first time since 2015. West Virgnia will now play the winner of Gonzaga and Northwestern.
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| Elsa/Getty images |
No. 1 Villanova 62, No. 8 Wisconsin 65
Villanova once again got off to a slow start and this time it proved costly. Despite the slow start, Villanova managed to come back in the 2nd half but Nigel Hayes' game winning shot sealed the game. This is now the second time in 3 years that #1 Villanova as failed to make the sweet sixteen. Wisconsin has now made the sweet sixteen for the 4th consecutive year. Nigel Hayes was the games MVP. He had 19 points and cleaned the offensive glass, grabbing 5 offensive rebounds. Wisconsin will now face the winner of Virginia and Florida.
No. 1 Gonzaga 79, vs. No. 8 Northwestern 73
Gonzaga will move on to the sweet 16 after defeating #8 Northwestern. The game started off with Gonzaga dominating Northwestern, taking a 22 point lead 15 minutes into the game. Northwestern's offence struggled in the first half shooting, 1-11 from 3. Northwestern made a strong comeback in the 2nd half but questionable officiating slowed their momentum. With 4:57 remaining in the game, Gonzaga's Zach Collins, blocked a shot with his hand clearly inside the rim, but the call was missed by the officials. Northwestern head coach Chris Collins was enraged and stepped on the court while screaming at the officials, and was awarded a technical foul. This was a pivotal moment in the game since Northwestern was only trailing by 5 and momentum was on their side. The MVP of the game was Gonzaga guard Nigel Williams-Goss. He had 20 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Gonzaga will now play #4 West Virginia in the Sweet 16.
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| Zach Collins missed goaltending call. |
No. 3 Florida State 66, No. 11 Xavier 91
The Xavier Musketeers (11) faced off against the Florida State Seminoles (3) in the second round of the NCAA tournament with a very impressive showing, upsetting Florida State 91-66!
The Musketeers blew everyone away with their performance tonight defeating, the 3rd seed team by 25 points. Their offence stemmed from Trevor Bluiett, who finished the night with 29 points and 6 rebounds. Xavier executed the perfect game plan utilizing their depth and star players to confuse their opponent and always stay one step ahead of them.
Xavier pulled off their second upset of the tournament and will try to continue to do so against the winner of Arizona vs Saint Mary's.
No. 4 Butler 74 vs. No. 12 Middle Tennessee 65
Butler grabbed a 13 point lead early and maintained a lead all throughout the game. Butler shot an impressive 53% from behind the arc on their route to victory. Kelan Martin, who is our MVP for this game, had an impressive performance coming off the bench. Martin, a Junior out of Louisville, had 19 points on 66% shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and added 1 steal. Middle Tennessee got an unexpected performance from sophomore Antwain Johnson, who averaged 4.4 points per game during the year but managed to score 19 in the loss today. Butler will now face off against the winner of North Carolina and Arkansas.
No. 2 Arizona 69, No. 7 Saint Mary’s 60
Throughout most of the game, the St. Mary’s Gaels had a lead over the Arizona Wildcats. In fact, for almost 6 minutes. In that time, the Gaels added 8 to their score, giving them the largest lead of the game (10 points). It seems that the Wildcats only showed up for the last five minutes of the first, where they closed the scoring gap by one, making it 30-29 in favor of St. Mary’s by the break. Throughout the season, Arizona had been trailing at half seven times, and had come out with a win 4 of those times. Coming out of the half, both teams went back and forth on the scoreboard. At 2:53, the Wildcats had their largest lead of the game at 63-55. A big contributor for the Wildcats, for a second game in a row, was Lauri Markkanen. He finished the game with a team high 16 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks. He was a big reason for Arizona’s 69-60 win over the Gael’s. Despite the loss, the MVP of the game was St. Mary’s centre Jock Landale. The Australian native racked up a game high 19 points, along with 11 rebounds and 4 assists. The Wildcats will face Xavier, who are coming off an impressive win themselves.
No. 4 Florida 65, No. 5 Virginia 39
Despite the final score, Florida actually got off to a slow start, shooting 1/5 and trailing 6-2. However, an 18-4 run for Florida gave them a 14 point lead at the half (31-17). Florida continued their run after the half leading 40-17 with 17:30 remaining in the game.
Virginia shot 7-23 from the field and 0-8 from the 3 point line during the 2nd half. This is Virginia's fewest points scored in team tournament history. Senior guard, London Perrantes, had a very poor game compared to his previous game against UNC Wilmington. He shot
2-11 (6 points) from the floor and had 4 turnovers in the loss. Justin Leon and Devin Robinson earned MVP honours. The Florida teammates combined for 28 points and 21 rebounds. Florida will now face #8 Wisconsin, who upset #1 Villanova earlier today.
No. 4 Purdue 80, No. 5 Iowa State 76
Purdue had a strong first half and ended it with a 15-5 run heading into halftime. They continued their strong start at the beginning of the second half expanding their lead to 19. However Iowa State did not give up and took the lead (73-71) with 3:11 left in the game. Purdue would not let Iowa State get away with the comeback going on a 6-3 run to end the game. The MVP of the game was Purdue's Caleb Swanigan, the sophmore had 20 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block and 1 steal. Purdue will now face off against the winner of #1 Kansas vs #9 Michigan St.
Sunday
No. 2 Louisville 69, No. 7 Michigan 73
#7 Michigan upset #2 Louisville in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. Louisville ended the first half very strong going on a 8-0 run to close out the half. Michigan had strong second half led by Mo Wagner, D.J Wilson and Derrick Walton Jr. Mo Wagner had a career high 26 points and hit clutch shots to give Michigan the lead late. With 5:24 remaining in the game Louisville 7 footer, Anas Mahmoud, missed a wide open dunk, this was his second missed dunk of the game. With Louisville down late in the game they were left with no choice but to foul. Michigan's D.J Wilson was sent to the line twice in the final 30 seconds, he made all 4 shots to seal the game for his team. MVP honours go to Mo Wagner who had a career game and gave credit to his teammates and his coach. Michigan will now face the winner of #3 Oregon vs #11 Rhode Island.
No. 2 Kentucky 65, No. 7 Wichita State 62
Both teams started off slow with the first half ending 26-24 in favour of Kentucky. However, the game picked up in the 2nd half with players like Landry Shamet, Malik Monk and De'Aaron Fox finding their groove. Landry Shamet was giving the ball for the final possesion of the game with his team trailing by 3. He ran down the court and attempted a game tying 3 but it was blocked by Edrice Adebayo. The MVP of the game was De'Aaron Fox who had 14 points, 2 steals, 2 rebounds and 1 assist. Honourable mention to Wichita State Freshman Landry Shamet who had a game high 20 points. Kentucky will now face the winner of #3 UCLA vs #6 Cincinnati in the sweet 16.
5:15, No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 9 Michigan State
6:10, No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 8 Arkansas
7:10, No. 3 Oregon vs. No. 11 Rhode Island
Approx. 7:45, No. 3 Baylor vs. No. 11 USC
Approx. 8:40, No. 2 Duke vs. No. 7 South Carolina
Approx. 9:40, No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 6 Cincinnati
