Louisville carrying Big East torch into Elite 8; Kansas too much for Villanova; Xavier needs OT to oust West Virginia

Earl Clark’s 17 points and 12 rebounds help third-seeded Louisville blast second-seeded Tennessee 79-60, and into the East Regional Final. Rick Pitino’s Cardinals are headed back to the Elite 8 for the first time since 2005, thanks largely to the numerous, confusing defensive looks Louisville fired at the Vols. The Cardinals held Tennessee to 34 percent shooting. Despite 15 points from Chris Lofton, it was another awful night shooting for the Vols. Lofton was only 3-of-15 (2-for-11 from downtown), and as a team Tennessee shot a lousy 5-of-20 from 3-point range. Louisville’s bigger bodies got the best of Tennessee on the glass, outrebounding the Vols 43-28. Andre McGee and Jerry Smith each contributed 13 points. David Padgett finished with 10 points and Terrence Williams added 12; both Padgett and Williams each had eight rebounds. Tennessee falls to 0-5 all-time in regional semifinal games. Louisville will face the one-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels in the East Regional Final in the Elite 8 round.

Third-seeded Xavier erased a six-point deficit in overtime and B.J. Raymond scored all eight of his points in the overtime frame to beat seventh-seeded West Virginia 79-75 in the Sweet 16 in the West Regional. Raymond nailed two crucial 3-pointers in overtime, his second 3-pointer giving Xavier the lead 75-74 with 1:18 to play and the Musketeers never trailed again. Josh Duncan netted a career best 26 points, helping Xavier recover from squandering an early 18-point lead. Joe Alexander led WVU with 18 points and 11 boards before fouling out in overtime. Alexander missed a critical free throw with just over 14 seconds to play that would have given the Mountaineers a one point lead, 65-64. West Virginia went cold from the free throw line in overtime, missing four of six attempts. The Mountaineers were also stone cold from 3-point range, shooting 1-for-11. Xavier advances to the Elite 8 to face one-seeded UCLA in the West Regional Final.

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One-seeded Kansas flexed their tournament muscles again in the Sweet 16, as the Jayhawks proved to be too much for 12-seeded Villanova, 72-57. It was the perfect storm working against Villanova. Kansas was bigger, stronger, and more athletic. On paper, Villanova didn’t match up well with Kansas, and that was magnified on the floor. Kansas blitzed Villanova in the first 20 minutes, taking a 41-22 lead into halftime and Villanova had no answers in the second half. Brandon Rush led Kansas with 16 points. Russell Robinson had 15 and Mario Chalmers added 14 for the Jayhawks, who held Wildcats guard Scottie Reynolds to 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Villanova didn’t fare well from 3-point range, hitting on just 3-of-17 attempts from long range. Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark each added 10 points for Villanova. Kansas will face ten-seeded Davidson in the Midwest Regional Final.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content

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