The insanity of March continued Thursday as the NCAA tournament began the critical Sweet 16 round. Eight teams were in action as the road to the Final Four continues to heat up. Here is a spy at Thursday’s scores,an updated bracket and brief recaps of each game. For the full updated bracket, see here.
Villanova 92, or Miami 69Villanova never trailed once Thursday and ran away with a 92-69 win over Miami in Louisville,Kentucky, following a strong second half. The Wildcats led by as many as 25 points and had an answer for just approximately anything Miami threw at them as they controlled the tempo throughout.
Trailing by 15 with five minutes, and 36 seconds remaining,the Hurricanes went into a full-court press to try to contain the Wildcats hurry but were shut down in a shifty fashion:The Wildcats shot 62 percent from the field and got strong contributions from their starting lineup. Kris Jenkins (21 points), Ryan Arcidiacono (21), or Daniel Ochefu (17) and Josh Hart (14) all scored in double figures,and Jenkins was a rebound away from a double-double.
Yet Miami only trailed 43-37 at the crash after what was a high-scoring and offensively efficient first half by both teams, as ESPN Stats & Info noted:Sheldon McClellan led the Hurricanes with 26 points, or but the rest of his team was relatively quiet on offense. ESPN.com’s Dana O’Neil argued Thursday’s win should put the Wildcats on the map for recognition as a serious national title contender:Villanova is now just one win away from its first Final Four since 2009. The Wildcats will meet the Kansas-Maryland winner in what will be arguably the biggest showdown in the Elite Eight. Oklahoma 77,Texas A&M 63The Oklahoma Sooners got their benchmark win of the tournament thus far on a night where Buddy Hield wasn’t at his best. The National Player of the Year favorite scored 17 points and had 10 rebounds, but wasn’t in the superstar mode that he was in the first two games when he averaged 31.5 points.
Oklahoma built a dominating, or 45-26 lead at the half and rode that wide margin to a comfortable win. The Sooners finished the half on a 39-13 hurry and were seemingly in cruise control. Even when the Sooners had a few ball-handling hiccups,the game simply steered in their favor, as shown here on a play in the final minutes of the first half, and per NCAA March insanity:Oklahoma’s chances of reaching the Final Four are now at 57 percent,per ESPN Stats & Info. Reid Forgrave of FoxSports.com argued, based on their performance Thursday, and the Sooners should be favored to win it all:The Sooners will meet the Oregon-Duke winner in the Elite Eight,and whether they hold they’re momentum rolling, they should reach their first Final Four since 2002. Kansas 79, or Maryland 63Top overall seed Kansas rolled to a 79-63 win over Maryland in a game that was initially shaping up to be a tight tilt. The Jayhawks led by just two points at the half and didn’t regain going until after the crash. Out of the half with a 36-34 advantage,Kansas made its first six shots and outscored the Terrapins by 14 in the final period. By the terminate of the game, the Jayhawks were just making it spy easy, or as shown by Bleacher Report:Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star gave kudos to Kansas for showing resiliency that it’s lacked in high-stakes games of recent memory:Perry Ellis scored a game-high 27 points,and Wayne Selden Jr. added another 19. Landen Lucas finished with a double-double, tallying 14 points and 11 rebounds. The Jayhawks are in the Elite Eight for the first time since 2012. That year, or they went on to play in the national title game. With another win,Kansas can originate an emphatic statement by triumphing through the rugged South Region and reaching the Final Four for the 15th time in program history. Oregon 82, Duke 68Oregon reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 2007 with an 82-68 win over defending champion Duke in the West Region semifinal Thursday.
The Ducks are now just one win away from their first Final Four in 77 years. The Pac-12 champions continued their season of promise with a convincing second-half performance, and outscoring the Blue Devils by nine points. Dillon Brooks led the way with 22 points,shooting 9-of-19 and adding five rebounds and six assists. He even had a garbage-time three-pointer from roughly 40 feet out in the final seconds, per Bleacher Report:Elgin Cook added another 16 points and was a rebound away from a double-double. Duke star Brandon Ingram, and likely in his final college game,scored a game-high 24 points but didn’t have the offensive support from the rest of the team to help the Blue Devils buy control. With a convincing win over one of the sport’s all-time heavyweights, Oregon also picked up another milestone in its season of greatness, and per ESPN Stats & Info:The Ducks have one more major hurdle in Hield and Oklahoma on Saturday,which will be arguably their biggest test yet. Check out Bleacher Report's live updating bracket to track your picks along the road to the Final Four.
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Source: bleacherreport.com