Midwest Region
(3) Notre Dame 81 (7) Wichita State 70
The Fighting Irish had four players score in double figures — Demetrius Jackson with 20 points, Pat Connaughton with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Steve Vasturia/Zach Auguste with 15 points each. Notre Dame shot over 55 percent from the field and shot 9-for-19 (47%) from the three-point line.
Notre Dame went on a 38-18 tear after the 16:37 mark in the second half to bust the game open with their offense. The Fighting Irish shot 18-for-24 (75%) from the field in the second half.
Notre Dame advances to their first Elite Eight since 1979. Their 32 wins is the second-most in program history.
(1) Kentucky 78 (5) West Virginia 39
This was a complete slaughter. It was 12-2 in the first six minutes. Then 18-2. Then 30-10 over the next seven minutes. The halftime score was 44-18. The Mountaineers never stood a chance, even if Daxter Miles had to try and believe it would go differently.
Kentucky manhandled West Virginia into a 24.1 field goal percentage, the worst in this tournament and of the last 50 NCAA Tournaments (via ESPN). That’s now the 13th team Kentucky has held below 30 percent shooting from the field this season. West Virginia’s 39 points was a school record for fewest scored in the NCAA Tournament.
The Mountaineers’ shot chart was bloody:
A fun but disturbing point from CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein after the game:
The crazy thing about Kentucky tonight? Karl Towns — possibly the number one pick in June’s NBA Draft — didn’t have a made FG. #BBN
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 27, 2015
Trey Lyles had 14 points and 7 rebounds and Andrew Harrison had 13 points for Kentucky. Dakari Johnson had Devin Booker each had 12 points. Juwan Staten led West Virginia with 14 points.
A late highlight from Kentucky as the onslaught ensued:
(3) Notre Dame and (1) Kentucky will meet in the Elite Eight on Saturday.
West Region
(1) Wisconsin 79 (4) North Carolina 72
Sam Dekker had a career-high 23 points along with 19 points from Frank Kaminsky to lead the Badgers past the Tar Heels. 15 of Dekker’s 23 points came in the first half and 18 of his points were scored in the paint. He’s averaging 20 points per game in the tournament.
Wisconsin went on a 19-7 comeback run in the last ten minutes of the game to rally from a North Carolina lead that lasted through most of the second half. Carolina’s biggest lead was 53-46. The Tar Heels came back within one at the 4:21 mark but never regained the lead.
Marcus Paige (12 points) hit two straight threes that brought Carolina back within one again with 54 seconds to go, but Wisconsin made all eight of their free throws down the stretch to seal it. The Badgers shot 20-for-23 overall from the foul line.
(6) Xavier 50 (2) Arizona 68
Perhaps the most hard-fought game of the night ended with the Arizona Wildcats’ 21-9 run down the stretch to advance past Xavier and into the Elite Eight for the third time in five years.
Xavier led 53-49 with seven minutes remaining when Arizona made their final push. T.J. McConnell scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Stanley Johnson added 12 points and the Wildcats got a big 12 points and 12 rebounds from Kaleb Tarczewski.
Matt Stainbrook, basketball Twitter’s player of the night, finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds for Xavier. He only made one field goal in the second half and his team only shot 5-for-24 (20.8%) on shots outside of the paint. Dee Davis and Jalen Reynolds both had 12 points for Xavier.
(2) Arizona meets (1) Wisconsin in a rematch of last year’s Elite Eight on Saturday.
