From Glendale, Arizona tonight:
(3) Purdue (33-4) v. N. Carolina St. (26-14) (5:09 P.M. Central on TBS)
(1) Connecticut (35-3) v. (19) Alabama (25-11) (7:49 P.M. Central on TBS)
Ken Pom likes the two favorites:
Purdue 81 - 71 N. Carolina St.
Connecticut 86 - 78 Alabama
Twitter reports that last night's Iowa/UConn game drew a record 14.2 million viewers, and they saw a dandy.
ReplyDeleteIn Lexington, Kentucky pounds Alabama 7 to 0 in baseball, and the Bat Cats are now 10-1 in SEC play.
ReplyDeleteIn Baton Rouge, the Vandy Boys trounce LSU 13 to 3 and take two out of three in that huge series. Vandy is now 8-4 in the SEC.
ReplyDeletePurdue 12 - 4 N. Carolina St. (15:46 left in 1st half)
ReplyDeleteSo far, this game looks like a mismatch.
Down 14-9, NCSU steals the ball from Zach Edey and has a runout going the other way. Suddenly, Michael O'Connell trips and falls, allowing the ball to go out of bounds and apparently injuring himself. I've never seen a play like that.
ReplyDeleteOn the next play, NCSU misses a dunk. It's that kind of day for the Wolfpack.
ReplyDeletePurdue 42 - 33 N. Carolina St. (13:18 left)
ReplyDeleteThe only real drama here is whether NCSU will score 50 points. For the record, D.J. Burns has been in foul trouble the whole game and the Wolfpack are 3-14 from 3-point range.
Purdue 45 - 33 N. Carolina St. (12:40 left)
ReplyDeleteThe Wolfpack has scored 4 points in the second half so far.
Oscar Combs tweets: "This Purdue-N.C. State FF game is terrible, shades of a final Four game I witnesses in Seattle (1984)." Actually, that 1984 game was much more competitive than this.
ReplyDeleteDown 49-40 with 8:48 left, NCSU just missed a layup.
ReplyDeleteDown 49-40 with 8:27 left, an NCSU player literally started to dribble, lost control of the ball, and fumbled it out of bounds.
ReplyDeleteOut of sheer mercy, the Boilermakers finally hit enough shots to blow this game open. Purdue leads 61 to 43 with 3 minutes left.
ReplyDeleteNCSU does get to 50 points, as Purdue rolls 63 to 50. The Boilermakers will play for the National Title for the first time since 1969.
ReplyDeleteFinal numbers for NCSU:
ReplyDelete16-38 from 2-point range (42.1 percent)
5-19 from 3-point range (26.3 percent)
3-4 from the line (75.0 percent)
50 points, 28 rebounds, and 11 turnovers.
Final numbers for Purdue:
12-30 from 2-point range (40.0 percent)
10-25 from 3-point range (40.0 percent)
9-10 from the line (90.0 percent)
63 points, 41 rebounds, 16 turnovers
Connecticut 13 - 8 Alabama (15:31 left in 1st half)
ReplyDeleteConnecticut 20 - 23 Alabama (10:24 left in 1st half)
ReplyDeleteAs Kentucky fans know, no defense works against hot three-point shooting. So far, the Tide are 5-7 from three-point range, and UConn is facing real competition for the first time in the tournament.
In 2022, UK lost to Saint Peter's in OT. In 2024, UK lost to Oakland by four points. In those two games, UK's opponents went a combined 24-48 from three-point range. Next year, we need to draw a team that misses some of these shots.
ReplyDeleteConnecticut 24 - 23 Alabama (9:30 left in 1st half)
ReplyDeleteAlabama calls time, trying to stop a 6-0 Huskies run.
Connecticut 28 - 28 Alabama (7:31 left in 1st half)
ReplyDeleteThe Tide is 6-9 from 3-point range. UConn is 6-9 from 2-point range, and 7-8 from the line.
Connecticut 35 - 31 Alabama (3:12 left in 1st half)
ReplyDeleteRemember that Alabama has no mid-range game -- they shoot threes or drive to the basket. Since the Tide has started 7-10 from three-point range, UConn is simply closing out on all the shooters and preventing them from taking more three's. In response, Alabama is driving to the basket -- but they cannot finish against UConn's front line. The Tide is 4-13 from 2-point range, and only 2-3 from the line.
One other note. Grant Nelson and Mark Sears both have two fouls for Alabama. If they played for UK, we'd put them on the bench for the rest of the first half, and UConn would build a huge lead. But Alabama is keeping them in the game, presumably on the theory that there's no point saving Sears for when Alabama is down by 12 points.
Connecticut 42 - 38 Alabama (43 seconds left in 1st half)
ReplyDeleteSears is 3-3 from 2-point range, and 1-1 from 3-point range, and single-handedly keeping Alabama in this game. But again, he has two fouls, so I don't really understand why he's still playing.
Connecticut 44 - 40 Alabama (Halftime)
ReplyDeleteHere's how good UConn is. Alabama went 8-11 from three-point range in the first half (72.7 percent). Mark Sears is playing out of his mind (4-4 from 2's, 1-1 from 3's, 11 points and only 1 turnover). I really don't see how Alabama can play better.
And UConn still leads by four.
With 17 minutes left in the game, Mark Sears commits a third foul. He stays in the game.
ReplyDeleteConnecticut 55 - 47 Alabama (15:31 left)
ReplyDeleteAlabama now 9-14 from 3, and UConn starting to slice them up on the inside.
Connecticut 64 - 56 Alabama (10:27 left)
ReplyDeleteGrant Nelson led Alabama on a 9-1 run to tie the game at 56, but UConn responded with an 8-0 run of its own. This game is underscoring Cal's complaint that UK didn't have enough physicality on this year's team.
TBS points out that UConn has not trailed in the second half of any tournament game this year. I think Kentucky did that in 2012, and I'm pretty sure we did that in 1996 as well.
ReplyDeleteConnecticut 67 - 61 Alabama (7:34 left)
ReplyDeleteUConn had opened up a 9-point lead, but Sears responded with an old-fashioned three-point play. He has 19 points. Nelson has 13 points. Stephon Castle has 21 to lead UConn.
Connecticut 73 - 63 Alabama (4 minutes left)
ReplyDeleteTo me, this UConn team epitomizes the current era of basketball, just like UK did in 2012, Florida did in 2007, and UK did in 1996. According to NBADraft.net, Stephon Castle (freshman) and Donovan Clingan (sophomore) are the UConn guys who will be drafted in the first round. They are good picks -- Castle is projected at 8 and Clingan at 14. But UK had Sheppard (who is projected 6th) and Dillingham (projected 9th). So that's not the difference. The difference is that UConn has a whole team of big, strong guys who can dominate the boards, play defense, and who know what to do with the ball when they get it. Kentucky doesn't have those guys.
I love Sheppard, but I can't fathom drafting him ahead of Clingan or Castle.
DeleteSame.
DeleteConnecticut 76 - 68 Alabama (2:29 left)
ReplyDeleteConsider this fact. Alabama is one of the highest-scoring teams in the nation. They have gone 11-22 from three-point range, which is excellent even for them. The game is almost over and they still don't have 70 points, in large part because they are only 13-31 (41.9 percent) from 2-point range.
Clingan goes wild down the stretch, and UConn ends the game on a 19-11 run. They are an awesome team. On Monday, the Huskies will play for the title for the sixth time. They have never lost a title game.
ReplyDeleteFinal Score: Connecticut 86 - 72 Alabama
DeleteGreat effort by Alabama. I've watched them all year, and that's as good as they can play.
ReplyDelete