Posts Tagged ‘gonzaga’
From the Wire: Saturday Links
Today’s best from college newspapers around the country:
Raymar Morgan’s bruised face was evidence of Michigan State‘s battle against Kansas — Alex Altman, The State News
ALSO: The Spartans were calm at halftime despite trailing; Not “fragile” anymore; MSU hung in there
North Carolina was too much inside for the Zags — Jesse Baumgartner, The Daily Tar Heel
ALSO: The Tar Heels found it surprisingly easy
“You can’t do anything” when UNC plays like that, Gonzaga‘s Josh Heytvelt said — Steven Sandberg, The Gonzaga Bulletin
All season, it was clear Kansas would go only as far as Sherron Collins could carry them — Case Keefer, The University Daily Kansan
Blake Griffin had 30 and 14 as Oklahoma squeezed the Orange
– Daniel Martin, The Oklahoma Daily
Analysis: No. 1 North Carolina def. 4 Gonzaga
1 North Carolina 98
4 Gonzaga 77
South Region semifinals • FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tenn.
By Wyndam Makowsky
– What toe? Ty Lawson was the MVP, looking perfectly healthy as he guided the Tar Heels to a relatively easy win. Of course, Lawson wasn’t 100 percent—he needed to come out of the game for retapings and a rest, and he didn’t see much action in the second half—but he was eerily efficient in his time on the floor and showed few signs of duress, scoring 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting and dishing out nine assists. He was instrumental in the initial surge that helped the Heels create some early separation against a Bulldogs team that, at first, seemed like it came to play.
From the Wire: Friday Links
Today’s best from college newspapers around the country:
UConn‘s Craig Austrie came up big after slumping recently — Kevin Duffy, The Daily Campus
ALSO: A quick start helped the Huskies go from Sweet to Elite
Duke‘s big three — Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer — had no answers for Villanova
– Sabreena Merchant, The Duke Chronicle
ALSO: Lapsing in all phases of the game, the Blue Devils went out with a thud
Missouri sure knows how to make things exciting
– Lenny Goldman, The Maneater
Memphis, like Kansas, did well to make it this far after so much offseason turnover — Kelly Breckunitch, The University Daily Kansan
Pitt‘s Levance Fields lived up to his “Mr. Big Shot” nickname
– Michael Gladysz, The Pitt News
Zags’ unlikely game-winner is gift that keeps giving
By Andrew Greif
PORTLAND, Ore. — Call it Demetri’s Dagger, redux.
When they were herded into the Gonzaga locker room 10 minutes after the Bulldogs’ last-second, 83-81 win over Western Kentucky, reporters found the entire team congregated around a single 18-inch monitor replaying the series of events that led to a wild Zags celebration at midcourt of the Rose Garden.
Western Kentucky got a tip-in with 7.9 seconds left to tie it at 81. Down nearly the entire game, the Hilltoppers had to keep Gonzaga from going the length of the court, without a timeout, to reach their second straight Sweet Sixteen.
They didn’t.
As the Zags watched on the TV monitor, freshman reserve Demetri Goodson drove the entire court, passing Orlando Mendez-Valdez at the 3-point line on a hesitation move, and shot a floater from the left side that banked in with 0.9 seconds left on the clock.
Wrap: Saturday’s second round
One-stop shopping for all the action as 32 became 24 with Saturday’s second-round action. Or look back on the first round from Thursday and Friday.
West Region
1 UConn def. 9 Texas A&M
South Region
1 North Carolina def. 8 LSU
Analysis: 4 Gonzaga def. 12 Western Kentucky
4 Gonzaga 83
12 Western Kentucky 81
South Region second round • Rose Garden, Portland, Ore.
By Doug Tifft
– Trailing by seven points with less than two minutes left, Western Kentucky rallied to tie the game with a 3-pointer by Orlando Mendez-Valdez and a breakaway dunk and a tip-in by Steffphon Pettigrew. But Gonzaga freshman guard Demetri Goodson took the inbounds pass after Pettigrew tied it with 7.2 seconds left and drove the length of the court, laying the ball in with 0.9 seconds to save the Bulldogs.
At the Arena: Cozying up
Andrew Greif of the Oregon Daily Emerald reports from Portland:
Outgoing Oregon athletics director is good friends with Gonzaga coach and Oregon alum Mark Few, whose parents still live in his hometown of Creswell, 9 miles away from Eugene. Few has been the source of rumors for the past three seasons about becoming the probable object of Oregon’s affection when they search for a new head coach.
Few sat on Gonzaga’s bench Thursday night only 10 feet away from Kilkenny’s spot at the scorer’s table. Kilkenny has said he will meet with Oregon coach Ernie Kent this week to talk about the future, after he fired the women’s basketball coach at Oregon on Monday. Sitting this close to Few, no matter how unavoidable, has been magnified by media all week.
Wrap: Thursday’s first round
We ginned up analysis and commentary for 16 basketball games Thursday. The least you can do is read a few of them:
West Region
1 UConn def. 16 Chattanooga
5 Purdue def. 12 Northern Iowa
Analysis: 4 Gonzaga def. 13 Akron
4 Gonzaga 77
13 Akron 64
South Region first round • Rose Garden, Portland, Ore.
By Jim Reedy
–You know what I always say when a team is struggling to put away an underdog opponent? Maybe you should go on a 27-4 run. Yeah, I bet a 27-4 run would do the trick. Well, for once, somebody took my advice. Gonzaga spent three-quarters of the game wrestling with this gutty Akron bunch before Josh Heytvelt, Micah Downs and Matt Bouldin helped turned a six-point deficit into a 70-53 lead with four minutes left.
