Indiana exits NCAA tournament after 19-turnover performance in 61-50 loss to Syracuse

WASHINGTON –  Nineteen turnovers. Sixteen baskets. A season-low 50 points.

Top-seed Indiana had no answer for the 2-3 zone of Syracuse, and now the Hoosiers are heading home after a 61-50 loss Thursday night bounced them from the NCAA tournament.

The Hoosiers (29-7) played against many strong defensive teams in Big Ten — none of which hounded them as well as Syracuse.

"Let's face facts. We haven't seen a zone like that," Indiana coach Tom Crean said. "They're very good. They're where they're at for a reason."

Syracuse (29-9) is in the round of eight because the Hoosiers made only seven field goals in the decisive first half, went 3 for 15 overall from beyond the arc and had 10 of their shots blocked.

Syracuse had 12 steals, which was more than enough to offset a 16-point performance by Indiana's Victor Oladipo.

"The story of the game for us is we didn't take care of the ball well enough," Crean said. "We gave them too many opportunities."

Indiana made a run in the second half, cutting what was once an 18-point deficit to 38-32 on a 3-pointer by Oladipo with 14:11 remaining. Syracuse's Michael Carter-Williams then sandwiched two layups around a pair of free throws by his teammate to boost the margin back to double digits, and the Hoosiers never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.

"We just could never get over the hump," Crean said. "We got it cut down but we could never get that gap, that margin, where we needed it to be."

Oladipo, who went 5 for 6, was the only Indiana player to make more than half his shots. Guard Jordan Hulls was 0 for 6, Will Sheehey 3 for 9 and forward Cody Zeller missed eight of 11 tries, many of which were swatted away.

It was a disappointing ending to an otherwise outstanding season. The Hoosiers finished No. 4 in the final AP Top 25 poll and held the top spot for 10 weeks. Indiana also won the Big Ten regular season title.

Those accomplishments meant nothing against a Syracuse team that got 24 points from Michael Carter-Williams and 14 from Brandon Triche.

"They played well and they deserve it. We didn't play as well but we played extremely hard," Crean said. "They move on and we call it a great year."

Oladipo said of the Orangemen, who will next face Marquette: "They were just long and active. We just didn't take care of the ball the way we should have."

Indiana forward Christian Watford had 13 points on 4-for-11 shooting along with a team-high five turnovers in his final college game.

"There have been ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade it for the world," he said. "I love my teammates and I'm happy to be an Indiana Hoosier."

The Hoosiers had more turnovers (12) than field goals (7) during a horrid first half in which they trailed by 18 points and needed a late surge to get to 34-22 at the break. It was the first time Indiana faced a halftime deficit of more than three points.

"In the first half we were a little bit too anxious, not having the ball secure in our hands, and our shots weren't falling at the same time," Oladipo said.

The cool-shooting Hoosiers had only five points with 10 minutes elapsed and were down 29-11 with 3:39 left before intermission.

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Wichita State rolls past La Salle 72-58 to reach final 8 of NCAA tournament

Published March 29, 2013

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES –  Wichita State went from sweet to elite, beating La Salle 72-58 on Thursday night to reach the final eight of the NCAA tournament for the first time in 32 years.

Malcolm Armstead scored 18 points, Carl Hall added 16 points and freshman Ron Baker 13 for the ninth-seeded Shockers, who proved their upset of No. 1 seed Gonzaga in the third round was no fluke. They never trailed in this matchup of small schools whose past NCAA tourney success was long buried in the history books.

The Shockers advanced to Saturday's West Regional final against No. 2 seed Ohio State, a 73-70 winner over Arizona in the first semifinal at Staples Center. Their yellow-clad fans, several waving handmade signs, made up nearly all of the smaller crowd that stuck around to see the end.

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Duke frustrates McDermott and sends Creighton out of the NCAA tournament

PHILADELPHIA –  Doug McDermott scuffled for open looks and usually missed when he did get them.

He won't get another chance this season to make up for it with Creighton. Now, the question looms for McDermott if he'll play for the Bluejays again

Rasheed Sulaimon scored 21 points, Seth Curry had 17 and the No. 2 seed Blue Devils beat seventh-seeded Creighton 66-50 on Sunday night to advance to the NCAA round of 16 for the fourth time in five years.

A year after they lost their NCAA tournament opener, the Blue Devils (29-5) return to the regional semifinals for the 27th time. They'll play No. 3 seed Michigan State (27-8) on Friday in Indianapolis.

Creighton (28-8) went cold and never made a serious run in the second half. McDermott scored 21 points but made only four baskets.

McDermott, an All-American forward, has to decide if he'll return for his senior season or declare for the NBA draft.

"We discussed it six weeks ago and decided to wait until the season was over," his coach, and father, Greg McDermott said. "We'll let this all sink in and when the time is right, we'll sit down. He'll do what's best for Doug. He's earned that right."

McDermott missed 11 of 16 from the field and made only 1 of 4 3-pointers. He made all 12 free throws to keep his final scoring total from shambles.

"They did a great job on me, really physical, switched on every screen making it frustrating," McDermott said. "I missed a lot of shots I usually make, so that was unfortunate.

With McDermott slumping, the Bluejays were knocked out in the third round by an ACC team for the second straight season. They played their final game under the Missouri Valley Conference banner and move on next season to the Big East.

"They're a big reason Creighton moved to the Big East," Greg McDermott said of his team.

The Blue Devils will have to silence the whistle to keep the run alive. Mason Plumlee, Josh Hairston and Ryan Kelly battled foul trouble all game long that could have doomed the Blue Devils. Throw in 39 percent shooting, and the Blue Devils are far from playing their best in March.

While other high-seeded teams like Gonzaga and Georgetown made early exits, the Blue Devils are moving on to Indy.

"It was just so difficult," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It was the best defense we played all year."

Florida Gulf Coast beat San Diego State 81-71 in the opener in Philadelphia that had the crowd of more than 20,000 buzzing after the upset win.

Duke's victory could not match it in excitement or intensity.

Foul trouble hounded the Blue Devils from the opening tip. Plumlee hit the bench after he was whistled for his fourth foul early in the second half.

Hairston picked up his fourth foul at the 15:21 mark, allowing Ethan Wragge to convert a three-point play that inched the Bluejays closer.

Curry came right back with a 3-pointer and followed with a layup to make it 39-30. Plumlee and Kelly, each with four fouls, returned to the game as Krzyzewski clearly wanted his best players in there to try and put away Creighton.

"Seth got a couple of big ones for us," Krzyzewski said.

The usually sure-shooting Bluejays never found their groove.

Gregory Echenique had no chance on a wayward alley-oop lob that knocked off the backboard, and he fumbled the ball the next time down. Amile Jefferson scored off the second turnover for an 11-point lead. Hundreds of Duke fans stood in appreciation, and the program's 2,000th career win was in the bag.

Hairston was called for his fifth foul at the midway point of the second half, leaving the Blue Devils without a key frontcourt reserve. Plumlee fouled out with just under 3 minutes left.

But the Bluejays clanged brick after brick. The missed 17 of 19 3-pointers and shot only 30 percent from the field. McDermott, their All-American, was 4 of 16 and 12 of 12 from the free throw line.

McDermott gamely did his best to keep the Bluejays afloat by getting to the line. He hit two with 7:29 left to cut it to nine but went more than 18 minutes without a field goal. Without his 3-point shooting keeping Duke's defense honest — Krzyzewski called him one of the best offensive players he's seen in the last decade — the Bluejays were sunk.

"It was a tough way to go out," McDermott said. "It's hard letting the seniors down tonight. It doesn't take away from the last two years."

Curry's second 3-pointer pushed it back to 11 and Sulaimon followed with another 3 to wrap it up.

Plumlee finished with 10 points and the Blue Devils made 21 of 28 free throws.

The Bluejays missed 12 of their first 15 shots, then missed 10 of 13 to open the second half. They lost in the third round to North Carolina last year and talked all season about wanting to get back to this point. They would go no farther. The Bluejays haven't advanced to a regional semifinal since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

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NCAA Tournament Game Capsules

Published March 24, 2013

Sports Network

Dayton, OH –  Iowa State was the nation's top 3-point shooting team, but its season came to an end on a trey by Ohio State's Aaron Craft. The junior guard drained the game-deciding shot with five-tenths of a second left, sending the Buckeyes to the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight year with a 78-75 triumph over the Cyclones. Craft finished with 18 points and six assists for the second-seeded Buckeyes (28-7), who are headed to Los Angeles to face Arizona in the West Regional semifinals. Deshaun Thomas had 22 points and LaQuinton Ross supplied 17 off the bench in Ohio State's 10th consecutive win. Korie Lucious had 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range for 10th- seeded Iowa State (23-12), which erased a 13-point deficit late in the second half and led 73-71 on a Tyrus McGee free throw with three minutes remaining.

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Montana puts up dud in most lopsided NCAA tournament loss in school history, 81-34 to Syracuse

SAN JOSE, Calif. –  After all that talk about improving on last year's NCAA tournament dud, Montana played even worse in its return trip.

Star guard Will Cherry shot just 1 for 12 and the 13th-seeded Grizzlies had no answers for No. 4 seed Syracuse's zone defense in an 81-34 loss Thursday night.

Montana shot just 20 percent from the field and trailed by at least 10 points for the final 35 minutes of the worst tournament defeat in Grizzlies history, topping a 92-54 loss against Kentucky in 1997.

"They jumped us pretty good and I think our guys maybe panicked a little when shots weren't going in," coach Wayne Tinkle said.

Brandon Triche scored 20 points and C.J. Fair added 13 to help Syracuse earn the most lopsided victory in NCAA tournament history for a team seeded third or lower, breaking a mark set about an hour earlier by fifth-seeded VCU against Akron.

Michael Carter-Williams chipped in four points, eight rebounds and nine assists as the Orange (27-9) raced out to an early lead that grew as big as 50 points and coasted past the Grizzlies (25-7) to their most lopsided tournament win since beating Brown 101-52 in the first round in 1986.

"We knew that we were favored a little bit in this game and as far as our talent level. So we wanted to not give a team like that confidence in thinking that they can win the game," Triche said. "C.J. did a great job for us starting the game off with the first six points or so. He had a mismatch and we tried to go to him early. He kind of jumpstarted us."

Syracuse advanced to play 12th-seeded and local favorite California (21-11) on Saturday for a spot in the East Regional semifinals in Washington, D.C., next week. The Golden Bears beat UNLV 64-61.

The Orange were the lone team from the Eastern time zone to play in San Jose this week, joining five teams from the Western half of the country and Oklahoma State and St. Louis from the Midwest. Syracuse traveled a day earlier than usual to prepare for the game and looked sharp from the start.

The Orange led by 23 points at halftime and then turned it into a laugher with a 17-2 run to open the second half. Trevor Cooney's 3-pointer midway through the second half made it 62-20.

"Coach gave us a great game plan, we just couldn't really execute," said Kareem Jamar, who was tied for the team lead with five points for Montana. "And when we did execute it, we couldn't hit shots."

The Orange were reeling a bit at the end of the regular season, losing four of their final five games capped by a blowout loss at rival Georgetown. Syracuse recovered to win three games and make the final of the Big East tournament, and has now started the NCAAs off with a win for the fifth straight year.

For the second straight season, the Grizzlies won the Big Sky tournament to earn an NCAA bid only to fall flat in their opener. They lost 73-49 to Wisconsin a year ago, shooting 38 percent, including a 3-for-14 performance from Cherry.

He was hoping for a better result this year, especially with the game being played less than an hour from his hometown of Oakland. But he scored just two points and missed 11 of 12 shots.

The Grizzlies, playing without injured leading scorer Mathias Ward, shot just 20 percent (11 for 54), missed 27 of 31 3-pointers and had more turnovers (17) than made baskets.

"We didn't come out how we pictured it," Montana forward Spencer Coleman said. "We came out soft."

Fair handled the early scoring load, scoring nine points in the opening 6 minutes to give Syracuse an 18-4 lead. The Orange made seven of their first nine shots as their superior athleticism and size created easy chances almost every time down the floor.

That size gave Montana problems on the other end against Syracuse's 2-3 zone. The Grizzlies struggled to penetrate the defense and got few easy looks, missing eight straight shots in a span of more than six minutes early in the game to fall into a hole that proved too big to overcome.

"We haven't seen that kind of length and athleticism all season long," Tinkle said. "We knew when we saw their name come up on TV on Selection Sunday that it was a tough matchup for us. But we tried to approach it like upsets happen, let's get after it."

Instead, the Grizzlies trailed 30-11 after James Southerland's 3-pointer with less than six minutes to go in the half. Fair himself had matched Montana's scoring total at that point and the deficit only got bigger at the half when Triche hit a floater and then scored on a breakaway dunk off a block by Baye Moussa Keita to make it 38-15 at the break.

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NCAA Tournament Game Capsules

Published March 20, 2013

Sports Network

Dayton, OH –  Andre Nation scored 14 points to go with seven rebounds and five blocks to lead James Madison to a 68-55 win over Long Island in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday.

A.J. Davis added 20 points and Charles Cooke finished with 15 points for the Dukes (21-14), who will face top-seeded Indiana in the second-round of an Eastern region matchup on Friday.

James Madison's leading-scorer Rayshawn Goins was suspended for the first half because of disciplinary reasons. Goins finished with four points and eight rebounds.

Jamal Olasewere had 20 points and 10 rebounds and C.J. Garner added 16 for the Blackbirds (20-14), who were held to their lowest offensive output this season.

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Great West Conference Tournament Recaps

Published March 15, 2013

Sports Network

Chicago, IL –  Art Bernardi hit a pair of free-throws with two seconds remaining to lift the fourth-seed Houston Baptist Huskies knocked off the top-seed NJIT Highlanders, 62-61, in the semifinals of the Great West Tournament at Jones Convocation Center.

Bernardi scored a game-high 18 points for Houston Baptist (14-16) which also got 12 points from Rob Lewis and 10 from Dauson Womack.

Ryan Woods netted 16 points, P.J. Miller notched 15 and Chris Flores chipped in 10 for NJIT (16-13).

The Huskies will take on either third-seed Chicago State or second-seed Texas Pan-American in Saturday's title game.

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Big Ten Conference Tournament Recaps

Indianapolis, IN –  Cody Zeller scored 24 points to lead five Indiana players in double figures, as the third-ranked Hoosiers pulled away late to earn an 80-64 victory over Illinois in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

Christian Watford scored 15 points, while Victor Oladipo and Yogi Ferrell each chipped in 12 for Indiana (27-5), which won the Big Ten regular season title outright for the first time since 1993 but has never won the tournament crown. The top-seeded Hoosiers, who also received 11 points from Will Sheehey, will next play Wisconsin in Saturday's semifinals after the Badgers knocked off Michigan.

Tracy Abrams and Brandon Paul each scored 16 points to lead Illinois (22-12), which beat Minnesota in the first round on Thursday to likely seal an NCAA Tournament bid. Paul, who hit the winning shot at the buzzer in the Illini's 51-49 win on Thursday, didn't make a field goal in the second half Friday.

Illinois handed Indiana one of its four conference losses, taking a 74-72 decision Feb. 7 in Champaign on Tyler Griffey's uncontested layup just before the buzzer.

The Hoosiers, who were No. 1 at the time, made sure this one never got that close.

Indiana never trailed and opened a 10-2 lead just under seven minutes into the contest. The Hoosiers continued to play front-runner and built a 26-9 margin with just under six minutes remaining in the first half before carrying a 35-21 advantage to the break.

The Illini pulled within 10 early in the second half, but couldn't get closer until two free throws from D.J. Richardson made it a 60-52 game with 8:17 to play. The Hoosiers, who had an answer every time Illinois made it a 10-point game earlier in the half, came up empty when Jordan Hulls missed from beyond the arc.

However, the Illini failed to convert on their next two trips before a layup from Oladipo and a three from Watford made it 65-52 with 5 1/2 minutes remaining.

Illinois got only as close as 11 from there and a 13-4 run in the final few minutes gave Indiana its largest lead at 80-60 with a minute to play.

Game Notes

Paul finished 2-for-13 from the field and was 11-of-12 from the free throw line ... Richardson and Griffey each scored nine for the Illini, who shot just 34.5 percent overall ... Indiana shot 54 percent from the field, led by Zeller's 9-for-11 effort ... Zeller also had nine rebounds, while Oladipo had a game-high 11 boards ... Indiana outrebounded Illinois, 38-26 ... The Hoosiers have reached the Big Ten championship game just once, falling to Iowa in 2001.

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Mountain West Conference Tournament Recaps

Las Vegas, NV –  Anthony Bennett poured in a game-high 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and also pulled down seven rebounds to lead UNLV to a 72-56 win over Air Force in a quarterfinal matchup of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

Bryce Dejean-Jones scored 12 points and Anthony Marshall added 11 for the third-seeded Rebels (24-8), who will face Colorado State on Friday.

Kyle Green and Marek Olesinski finished with 13 points apiece for the Falcons (17-13), who lost leading scorer and first team All-MWC selection Michael Lyons to an apparent knee injury just minutes into the game.

The senior guard banged knees with Dejean-Jones and remained on the floor for several minutes before he was helped to the locker room.

Lyons was averaging 18.3 points per game entering the contest.

Air Force pulled within 9-7 five minutes in following Taylor Broekhuis' jumper, but UNLV used a 17-3 run to go up 26-10 with 6:22 left in the first half and took a 33-20 lead into the break.

The Falcons couldn't get closer than nine points down in the second half as the Rebels cruised to their sixth win in seven games.

Final Score: Colorado State 67, Fresno State 61

Las Vegas, NV (Sports Network) - Wes Eikmeier scored 18 points and Greg Smith added 11 as Colorado State downed Fresno State, 67-61, in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Wednesday.

Gerson Santo had 10 points and Colton Iverson, who battled foul trouble all game, finished with seven points and five rebounds over 23 minutes for the second-seeded Rams (25-7), who will face third-seeded UNLV in the semifinals on Friday. Colorado State split the season series with the Rebels.

It is the second straight season, and fifth time overall, CSU has reached the semifinals of the MWC Tournament.

Tyler Johnson scored 14 points, while Jerry Brown and Marvelle Harris added 12 points apiece for the seventh-seeded Bulldogs (11-19), who competed in the MWC Tournament for the first time.

Fresno State led 29-26 after a back-and-forth first half, but Colorado State opened the second half with a 9-4 run.

Daniel Bejarno canned back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Rams a 49-42 lead with 9:19 to go.

Fresno State scored seven straight points to make it 55-53 with 2:42 to go, but a pair of Eikmeier free throws made it a four-point game.

After the Bulldogs pulled within two, Jon Octeus split a pair of free throws for a 58-55 lead. Eikmeier then delivered the dagger to Fresno State with a trey from the right wing with 1:03 left.

Harris' three-point play made it 62-60 with 29 seconds left, but the Rams outscored Fresno State 5-1 over the final 24 seconds.

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Southern Conference Tournament Recaps

Asheville, NC –  Jake Cohen scored 17 points as the top-seeded Davidson Wildcats rallied from a 13-point deficit to secure a 65-62 win over the fourth-seeded Appalachian State Mountaineers in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament at U.S. Cellular Center.

De'Mon Brooks added 16 points, Tyler Kalinoski chipped in 11 off the bench and Chris Czerapowicz tacked on 10 for Davidson (25-7) which will take on the winner of the other semifinal matchup between third-seed College of Charleston and second-seed Elon.

Nathan Healy had 14 points and seven rebounds, Jay Canty registered 13 points and seven boards as well while Mike Neal tacked on 13 points for Appalachian State (15-16).

In the first half the Mountaineers shot 59.1 percent from the field to take a 28-26 lead into the break. The Wildcats netted 40.7 percent of their field goal tries in the first period.

The Mountaineers stretched their lead to 13 points with 15:03 remaining by ripping off a 13-2 run to open up the second half. The Wildcats responded with a 13-2 run of their own to pull back within two points (43-41) midway through the half. There were four ties in the final 10 minutes and the last one was broken when Davidson pulled away in the final minutes with an 8-2 run to take a 65-59 lead with 25 seconds left. Tab Hamilton netted a 3-pointer on the Mountaineers' next possession and Nik Cochran missed the front end of a one- and-one to set up a final shot attempt for the Mountaineers. However Healy's last second 3-point attempt was off the mark giving the Wildcats the win.

Davidson shot 58.3 percent from the field, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range, in the second half.

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