Teague’s 24 leads Kentucky over Iowa State 87-71
Freshman Marquis Teague finally feels in step with Kentuckycoach John Calipari’s offense.
Now, he’s taking the Wildcats to the South Regional semifinals in Atlanta, and maybe a lot farther than that.
Teague scored a career-high 24 points and top seed Kentucky put together another complete performance with a dominating second-half run in an 87-71 victory over Iowa State in the third round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday night.
Top-seeded Syracuse beats Kansas State 75-59
It had been a while since Syracuseplayed like the team that spent all season ranked in the top five.
In the second half Saturday, the top-seeded Orange looked like that group and maybe even better, pulling away to a 75-59 victory over eighth-seeded Kansas State in the third round of the East Regional.
“The second half, we made shots. We haven’t done that lately,” Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. “Our offense was not good in the first half. We had to pick it up on the offensive end. Our defense was very good the first half. We got killed on the boards. … Second half we did a much better job on the boards.”
Indiana rallies to top VCU 63-61
Will Sheehey had two options when he grabbed the loose ball: back it out and play for the final shot of regulation, or take the open jumper.
Indiana coach Tom Crean wanted the Hoosiers to be aggressive on Saturday, and Sheehey was paying attention.
The sophomore forward made a 15-footer from the baseline with 12.7 seconds left after a shot was blocked right to him, and the fourth-seeded Hoosiers beat 12th-seeded VCU 63-61 on Saturday to reach the NCAA tournament’s round of 16 for the first time in a decade.
Wisconsin holds off Vanderbilt 60-57
The Wisconsin Badgers are riding the nation’s stingiest defense—and admittedly a bit of luck—back to the round of 16.
The Badgers held the Southeastern Conference’s two leading scorers in check Saturday night and Ryan Evans grabbed a crucial rebound with 2.1 seconds left to help Wisconsin fend off Vanderbilt 60-57 in the NCAA tournament.
The Badgers held John Jenkins (20.1) and Jeffery Taylor (16.3) to 13 and 9 points, respectively in advancing to face top-seeded Syracuse in the East Regional in Boston.
Crowder leads Marquette past Murray State, 62-53
Marquette has perfected the art of the comeback.
Down late yet again, Jae Crowder scored six points during a decisive 14-2 run, and the third-seeded Golden Eagles pulled away from Murray State for a 62-53 victory Saturday that sends the Golden Eagles into next weekend’s West Regional semifinals.
Crowder finished with 17 points, 12 in the second half, and also had 13 rebounds. Darius Johnson-Odom also had 17 for Marquette (27-7).
