By Ken Cross
South Region:
(9) Creighton 89, (8) Louisville 75
Blue Jays of Prey: Louisville’s J’Vonne Hadley made a layup with 6:20 bringing Louisville to within 28-25. Creighton went on a 21-4 run over the next 4:37 as Jackson McAndrew and Steven Ashworth made four consecutive three-pointers and Jamiya Neal found five points in the decisive run. Neal scored 10 of his game-high 29 points down the stretch to move the Blue Jays into Saturday’s second round.
Cardinal Principals: A tough game for the Cardinals as they managed an early lead, but couldn’t sustain when the Blue Jays connected on their threes. After they fell behind 56-37 at the outset of the second half, Terrence Edwards and Chucky Hepburn joined Hadley in desperately trying to revive the Cardinals. Hepburn finished with 22 while Edwards netted 21 and Hadley posted 13. It was an incredible rebuild for Pat Kelsey in his first season as the Cards won 21 out of their last 24 games.
Key Stats: Creighton shot 57.1 percent from the field and was 11-of-24 from three. Louisville had 70 shot attempts while Creighton posted 56. The Cardinals scored 14 points off of turnovers while while the Blue Jays had 12 -9 on offensive rebounds.
Creighton head coach Greg McDermott on the Blue Jays’ beginning: “The start of the game was really critical defensively. They scored on two of their first seven possessions, just to keep the crowd kind of at bay. I think Jamiya said it. We had four pretty good looks from the three-point line during that stretch and didn’t make any of them.”
Pat Kelsey on the consistency of the Creighton offense: “They binge score, as I like to call it. We tell our guys, like you can be on transition for five, six, seven minutes, and you relax for one second, and ball gets out of the net or off the rim, gets in their hands, pitch ahead, they get threes. When they missed them, they were getting second shots and got a couple kick-out threes, as well.”
(1) Auburn 83, (16) Alabama State 63
Roaming the Jungle: Auburn had a tough time getting separation from Alabama State but Johni Broome had four points as the Tigers ended the first half on a 9-0 run for a 41-31 halftime lead and they started on a 17-7 run to begin the second half when Tre Kelly scored on a layup for a 58-38 lead with 13:02 left in the game. Kelly had 24 points in 29 minutes as he was 7-of-15 from three and led all scorers with 23 points. Tahaad Pettiford connected for 16 points while Broome had another double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Hornets Stingers: Quickness and aggression allowed the Hornets to overcome a 28-15 deficit and cut this to 32-31 when Amarr Knox scored on penetration off the right side. Knox led ASU with 18 points after his game-winner in the Hornets’ 70-68 opening-round win over St. Francis.
Key Stats: The Tigers made 11 threes and scored 15 points off of 10 Hornets’ turnovers. They held a 46-36 rebound margin with 18 points off of 14 offensive boards. The Tigers made only 18-of-32 free throws after shooting 73 percent on the season. They held Alabama State to 24 percent from the field while the Hornets made only 6-of-25 three-point attempts
Bruce Pearl on the key for the Tigers to be successful vs. Creighton and other opponents if they beat the Blue Jays : “Part of that is valuing possessions, and if there’s one thing I can get my guys from this point forward to lock into right now, did we value every possession on the defensive end? Did we value any offensive end scoring through contact? Did we just rely on the whistle? And then would we finish plays?”
Alabama State had coach Tony Madlock on the Hornets’ season which included a SWAC championship: “ What a great run, man. We are so — I’m so proud of these guys and everything that they stand for. Again, I am just so proud and happy about what we’ve done for the city of Montgomery, for Alabama State University, for all the HBCUs to get to the dance, and win a game.”