After a wild Thursday night that seemed very much in tune with how a lot of the college basketball season has gone, Friday night was comparatively ho-hum. In part, the matchups suggested that was a strong possibility, but the end results followed. If you were looking for a night that could match Thursday in terms of who won, it just wasn’t going to happen.
And the matchups on the two days to come couldn’t be more of a contrast as a result.
We start off in Boston, where the first game looked like it could be the game of the night. No. 1 Villanova had to take on No. 5 West Virginia, a former Big East rival. The big question of how the game could go was how well Villanova would handle West Virginia’s press. While the Wildcats did turn the ball over 16 times, they shot 50 percent from the field and held West Virginia below 39 percent to pull away for a 90-78 win.
The Wildcats led by just two at the break, but West Virginia came out strong and at one point went up 60-54. Villanova responded with 11 unanswered points to take the lead for good, and the big dagger was a three-pointer by Omari Spellman with 2:31 left that put them up 81-71, as the Mountaineers would get no closer than eight after that.
In the battle of the point guards, Jalen Brunson unquestionably came out on top with a game-high 27 points for Villanova, going 8-15 from the field. Jevon Carter closed out a great career with 12 points on 5-16 shooting and eight assists, but he did not score in the final 11 minutes of the game.
The nightcap at the Garden was similar in that No. 3 Texas Tech pulled away from No. 2 Purdue for a 78-65 win, though the Red Raiders did not fall behind in the second half and scored 11 unanswered points at a critical juncture to go up by 14 en route to the win. It’s the second time in three years that a Chris Beard-coached team eliminated Purdue, as Beard’s Arkansas-Little Rock team beat them in the first round two years ago, which led him first to UNLV briefly before Texas Tech snagged him.
Carsen Edwards did all he could for Purdue, scoring 30 points on 11-20 shooting, but it wasn’t a great night for some others and the Boilermakers were out-rebounded 34-30. They also got just six points and three rebounds off the bench, while the Red Raiders got 33 and 12.
In Omaha, No. 1 Kansas had to hold off a furious rally by No. 5 Clemson to win 80-76. The Wildcats were in control for much of the game, aided by the combination of three-point shooting and Udoka Azubuike being unstoppable inside (14 points on 7-9 shooting, 11 rebounds), though the latter was dogged a big by foul trouble in the second half.
The Jayhawks will take on No. 2 Duke, who edged No. 11 Syracuse 69-65 in the battle of the zone defenses. Offensive rebounds helped Syracuse stay in the game and even lead for a while, but Duke started to pile up the offensive rebounds of their own and then some better defensive rebounding helped even more. Syracuse ended up shooting 49 percent from the field, but 16 turnovers went a long way towards derailing them.
The four teams that emerged from Friday night include both No. 1 seeds in action, a No. 2 and a No. 3. In contrast, on Saturday the best seed in action will be No. 3 Michigan in the West. All the same, we have two great days to look forward to as we learn the Final Four for 2018.
Side Dishes
Coaching changes continued on Friday, with La Salle parting ways with John Giannini after 14 seasons at the helm. The Explorers made the Sweet 16 in 2013 after starting in the First Four, but could never build sustained success after that and were below .500 each of the past three seasons. One of the real good guys in the coaching business, Giannini ran a program where every senior he recruited graduated from the school. You can follow the coaching changes right here on Hoopville.
One head coach who isn’t going anywhere right now is Earl Grant, who agreed to a five-year contract extension with College of Charleston on Friday. While Grant’s name had come up for some other jobs after he led them to the NCAA Tournament, he grew up in North Charleston and has plenty of draws to the school already. The contract still has to be finalized, but that is a formality at this point.
Staying in the CAA, news of transfers continues to come out, and that includes Ryan Daly planning to leave Delaware. The sophomore guard was the CAA Rookie of the Year in 2016-17 and followed that up with a better season this year. He figured to be a key part of their young nucleus going forward, so this is a hit to the current rebuilding effort.
Tonight’s Menu
The first two teams in the Final Four will be determined in action this evening.
- First up is the South regional final in Atlanta, where Loyola-Chicago takes on Kansas State (6:09 p.m.)
- After that will be the West regional final in Los Angeles between Florida State and Michigan (8:49 p.m.)
- Also on tap earlier in the day is a CIT quarterfinal, with Central Michigan visiting Liberty (2 p.m.)
