The Final Four is set as of Sunday evening when Kentucky beat #2 Michigan 75-72 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The #8 seed ‘Cats advance to North Texas for a match-up with #2 Wisconsin. The upcoming Final Four will be the third for Kentucky in the last four years. With Michigan down 72-70 in the closing moments, a Jordan Morgan putback tied the game with 31 seconds left. Kentucky held the ball until Aaron Harrison put up the winning three. Julius Randle finished with 16 points for the ‘Cats. Michigan star guard Nik Stauskas scored a game-high 24 points. Glenn Robinson III totaled 14 points and four rebounds.
UConn advances to Saturday’s round to face #1 Florida, after the #7 Huskies, anchored by Shabazz Napier’s 25 points and six rebounds, beat the #4 seed MSU Spartans at Madison Square Garden, 60-54. Napier scored seventeen of his 25 total in a pivotal second half when the Huskies went on a 12-and-0 run, turning around a nine point deficit with 12 minutes left. The senior superstar’s three free throws put UConn up and out of reach, 56-51, with 30.6 seconds left.
For Big Ten tournament champion MSU Spartans, who led 32-23 with just over 16 minutes left, senior point guard Keith Appling managed to accumulate just two points and four turnovers before fouling out late. Appling and teammate Adreian Payne became the first four-year players in head coach Tom Izzo’s storied tenure at MSU to have never reached the Final Four. Gary Harris totaled 22 points for the Spartans, knocking down four 3-pointers.
On Saturday, the #2 Wisconsin Badgers punch their ticket to the Final Four after an overtime thriller at Honda Center in Anaheim, knocking off #1 seed Arizona Wildcats 64-63. Wisconsin gets their first trip to the Final Four since 2000, and a first trip under current head coach Bo Ryan. A putback slam late in regulation by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson forced overtime. After an awkwardly long review in the closing session of an already late game out West, the ball was finally awarded to Arizona’s Nick Johnson, but the standout guard held on to it too long, failing to get the shot off before the final buzzer, sealing up the win for the Badgers.
The Florida Gators waltzed their way to the Final Four in North Texas on Saturday after a 62-52 win over the Dayton Flyers at FedEx forum in Memphis. The win gets UF to its fifth Final Four since 1994. The loss puts an end to a great run by the tourney’s Cinderella story, #11 Dayton. As has been somewhat of a pattern, Florida let its competition hang around for much of the first half, but the Gators were able to put away the Flyers with a 19-3 run ahead of halftime. No surprise that Scottie Wilbekin outscored everyone with 23 points, getting three assists and three steals. For Dayton, forward Dyshawn Pierre finished with 18 points, five assists and three rebounds.
