For the second straight game Ohio State was tied with its opponent and had the ball for the last shot. Against Iowa State it was Aaron Craft who hit the dagger 3-pointer, tonight against Arizona it was LaQuinton Ross. This game was back and forth all night, with each team controlling a half. In the first it was all Arizona who held an 11 point lead before the Buckeyes cut it to four, 38-34, at the break. OSU opened the second stanza with a 10-0 run to take a six point lead, which later grew to ten. But the Wildcats weren't done as Solomon Hill and Mark Lyons kept them in it during OSU's run. At one point Hill scored nine straight and finished with 16 on 7-11 shooting. In the last 1:20 Arizona was down 69-63 when Lyons scored the last nine for the Cats and he tied the game at 70 with 21 seconds left. So again OSU can take the last shot and the ball is in Craft's hands. This time he gives it up to Ross who nails the triple with only two seconds remaining and Ohio State finishes off Arizona 73-70. Ross was on fire in the second half as he scored 14 of his 17 after the intermission. For Arizona, Lyons had a great tournament scoring no less than 23 in each of his three games. In the 2012 NCAA tournament, players were 0-12 in the last ten seconds on potential game-tying or go-ahead field goal attempts. This year we've already had four made field goals by Vander Blue, Tyrone Garland, Aaron Craft, and now LaQuinton Ross.
Syracuse and the 2-3 zone slows down Indiana
That sound you hear are thousands of people ripping up their brackets. If Gonzaga and Miami going down wasn't enough, we lost a very popular pick to win it all when Indiana fell to Syracuse 61-50. The Orange controlled the pace of the game and slowed down Indiana with their 2-3 zone. The Hoosiers scored a season low 50 points while shooting 33% from the field (3-15 on 3's) and committed 18 turnovers. Syracuse was disruptive all night with their length blocking ten shots and creating 12 steals as Michael Carter-Williams led the way. MCW had 24 points and 4 steals because nobody on Indiana could contain him, not even Victor Oladipo. But, Oladipo was the lone bright spot for IU scoring 16 on 5-6 from the field. Cody Zeller posted 10 and 10 but was 3-11, and Christian Watford and Jordan Hulls combined for 4-17 (Hulls 0-6). Syracuse is a tough team to prepare for if you don't play against a lot of zone during the regular season and they are a very dangerous team that seems to be clicking on both sides of the ball.
Marquette breezes past Miami FL to get to Elite 8
The Marquette Golden Eagles were a bad in-bounds pass away from being bounced early by Davidson and are now heading to the Elite 8 after routing Miami. Marquette won its first two games of the tournament by a total of three points but against the Hurricanes their largest lead was 22 before the game finished at 71-61. It was definitely a total team effort as the six players that scored all had at least eight points and Jamil Wilson led with 16. Marquette shot 54% from the field and held Miami to only 35% and 8-26 on 3-pointers. The Hurricanes had a terrible start to the game, only scoring 16 in the first half and were never able to recover. The Golden Eagles reach the Elite 8 for the first time since 2003 when Dwyane Wade was running the show. This year it's been Vander Blue leading this team hitting the game-winner against Davidson, putting in 29 in a 74-72 win over Butler and last night scoring 14 on 7-12 shooting. Marquette had an early exit in the Big East tournament but are now showing signs of the surprise team that shared a regular season title with Louisville and Georgetown. They epitomize the word "team" and now have to face a familiar foe in Syracuse for a chance to go to Atlanta for the Final Four.
The Shockers continue their post season run
For the first time in this tournament Wichita State was the favorite in their matchup with LaSalle and they played like it. The Shockers started the game on a 17-3 run and the game was basically over from then on as they cruised to a 72-58 win. Carl Hall scored ten of his 16 points during that run and also added eight boards. In the second half it was Malcolm Armstead that paced the Shockers scoring nine straight at one point en route to leading the team with 18. Wichita State also played great defensively holding LaSalle to only 35% shooting and continued their trend of keeping their first three opponents to that same percentage. For the Explorers, Ramon Galloway and Tyrone Garland were a combined 9-30 from the field. Wichita State has a date with Ohio State on Sunday and earlier in the tournament Thad Matta told reporters teams that a good at rebounding scare him. Well, the Shockers outrebounded LaSalle 44-23.
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