Basketball – Page 69 – North Platte Post Archive

Baylor Shuts Down McDermott and Creighton, 85-55

Posted on March 23, 2014

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Isaiah Austin and Brady Heslip each scored 17 points and Baylor shut down Creighton’s Doug McDermott with suffocating defense, ending the career of the one of the most prolific scorers in college history with an 85-55 win Sunday night in the NCAA tournament West Regional.

Baylor’s size and speed overwhelmed the third-seeded Bluejays (27-8) and their national scoring leader, earning a third trip to the Sweet 16 since 2010.

McDermott, who averaged 27 points this season, finished with 15 but had just three in the first half as Baylor built a 20-point lead. McDermott ranks fifth on the NCAA career scoring list.

No. 6 seed Baylor (26-11) had five players score in double figures and shot 64 percent in one of the dominant performances of the NCAA tournament.

Faried Helps Nuggets to 105-102 Win

Posted on March 23, 2014

DENVER (AP) — Kenneth Faried had 20 points and Aaron Brooks hit four straight free throws in the final 12 seconds, helping the injury-riddled Denver Nuggets hold off the Washington Wizards 105-102 on Sunday night.

Randy Foye added 17 for a Nuggets team that was missing J.J. Hickson, who suffered torn ligament in his right knee on Friday. Wilson Chandler also didn’t play (strained left hip) and Jan Vesely didn’t return after bruising his rib cage late in the third quarter.

Bradley Beal wound up with 21 points as the Wizards wrapped up a four-game road swing with a 1-3 record. Trevor Ariza scored 15 of his 18 points in the first quarter and John Wall added 15, but also had eight turnovers.

Nuggets’ Hickson Out for Season with Knee Injury

Posted on March 22, 2014

DENVER (AP) — Nuggets forward J.J. Hickson has a torn ligament in his right knee, general manager Tim Connelly said Saturday.

A date for surgery to repair the ACL hasn’t been set.

Hickson is the fourth Denver player lost for the season to injury. Danilo Gallinari, JaVale McGee and Nate Robinson have all undergone season-ending operations.

Hickson was injured early in the fourth quarter of Denver’s 122-106 loss at Dallas on Friday night.

The 25-year-old Hickson went down along the baseline, got up and went straight to the locker room with 8:10 remaining in the game. Hickson was leading the Nuggets with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Hickson joined the Nuggets as a free agent last summer. He averaged 11.8 points and a team-best 9.2 rebounds in 69 games. He also posted a team-best 26 double-doubles.

Nebraska Women Beat Fresno State 74-55 in NCAAs

Posted on March 22, 2014

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jordan Hooper had 23 points and 11 rebounds, and fourth-seeded Nebraska defeated Fresno State 74-55 in the first round of the NCAA women’s tournament Saturday.

Emily Cady added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Cornhuskers (26-6), the Big Ten tournament champions who have won 13 of 14 games.

Taylor Thompson was the only player in double figures with 14 points for the 13th-seeded Bulldogs (22-11). They closed within four points early in the second half, but never got any closer in falling to 0-7 in the NCAA tourney. The Mountain West tourney champions had their eight-game winning streak snapped.

The Huskers advanced to play either No. 5 seed North Carolina State or 12th-seeded BYU in Monday’s second round at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus.

Tear’a Laudermill added 13 points, and Rachel Theriot had 10 points and 12 assists for the Huskers, who controlled the boards, 46-35.

Creighton Seniors Driven by Past NCAA Losses

Posted on March 22, 2014

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — For Doug McDermott and his Creighton teammates, the last two years at the NCAA tournament left them bitter after third-round losses robbed them of a chance to go farther than any Bluejays team before them.

They also were a major motivating factor in keeping this team together for another try.

With that goal in mind, McDermott skipped a chance to enter the NBA draft, rallying a senior-laden group to another big season. Third-seeded Creighton (27-7) plays No. 6 seed Baylor (25-11) on Sunday in the West Regional for a chance to advance to the round of 16 for the first time in school history.

“We’ve knocked on the door and come so close the last few years to try to get into that Sweet 16 and see what happens after that,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “I couldn’t think of a better way for their career to end than to go (farther) and have a chance to go to the Final Four.”

Creighton’s four senior starters give the Bluejays a blend of maturity and confidence to support a scorer like Doug McDermott, who leads the nation at 27 points per game.

Greg McDermott noted that the seniors could stay together because early career injuries led to redshirt seasons for Grant Gibbs and Ethan Wragge. Then his son Doug made the surprise decision not to turn pro.

“All of a sudden, you have these pieces in place again for a fourth year together,” Greg McDermott said. “There is a confidence about them. … They believe in each other.”

The group that earned their chops in the Missouri Valley Conference stepped up to the Big East and played for the conference title in their first season.

“This is our last go around,” Doug McDermott said. “We’ve been through so much together to get to this point.”

Baylor is a big and athletic team that all but collapsed in January, only to pick itself back up and turn things around with a frantic finish. Last season’s NIT champions started the season ranked No. 25 and rose as high as No. 7 behind a 13-1 start.

But the Bears nearly fell apart in the Big 12 with a 2-8 start in league play and were written off as one of the most disappointing teams in the country. They responded by winning 10 of their next 11 and made it to the Big 12 title game.

Baylor players called that life in the Big 12, arguably the best league in the country this season. Now the Bears are a team brimming with postseason confidence.

“No matter what we’ve been through this year, we feel like we’re a good team and we’re as good as any team in the country and can play with anybody,” Bears forward Royce O’Neale said.

Five things to know about Baylor vs. Creighton:

NO STOPPING MCDERMOTT: Doug McDermott has scored at least 30 points in four of the past five games. He had 30 on Friday against Louisiana-Lafayette. Baylor coach Scott Drew seemed to ready to concede him another 30 on Sunday, but hopes to keep it there.

“If we can just contest as many shots and make it as tough as we can so he can’t get into a rhythm,” Drew said. “There is a difference between 30 points and 45 points.”

BAYLOR ZONE: With their size and athleticism, Baylor plays a zone defense that can be impenetrable with 7-foot-1 center Isaiah Austin and 6-10 forward Cory Jefferson. Add 6-7, 270 pound bruiser Rico Gathers and the Bears can intimidate anyone trying to get to the basket.

Creighton hardly seemed worried. They’ll just shoot over it. “We have one of the best shooting teams in the country,” Doug McDermott said. “We actually like it when we get zone.”

That wasn’t the case when Creighton lost the Big East title game to Providence when the Bluejays were 8 of 30 from 3-point range against the Friars’ zone.

BRADY BARRAGE: Baylor’s Brady Heslip is the Bears’ top 3-point shooter at 47 percent on the season. He struggled in Baylor’s second-round win over Nebraska missing all six of his attempts, but was 10 of 10 from the free throw line.

Heslip shrugged off the misfires and dared defenders to back off him Sunday.

“If they leave me open, I’m not going 0 for 6 again,” Heslip said.

BLIND SPOT: Baylor’s Austin is one of the top big men in the Big 12 and a top prospect for the NBA draft if he leaves school early. He’s also partially blind. Austin wears a prosthetic right eye, the result of a detached retina injury in junior high. Doctors tried four surgeries to correct the problem.

CBS Broadcaster Calls Gonzaga Player a ‘Polack’

Posted on March 22, 2014

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A CBS announcer has apologized to a Polish-born Gonzaga player for using a derogatory term while describing the defense Oklahoma State was using against Przemek Karnowski.

In an effort to make a comeback in the second half, Oklahoma State started deliberately fouling Karnowski, who is a poor free throw shooter. Andrew Catalon, the play-by-play announcer for the game, called the strategy “Hack-a-Polack.”

Catalon’s broadcasting partner, former NBA player Mike Gminski, who is of Polish descent, immediately responded, “Easy now,” and chuckled at the comment.

Catalon apologized on the air for using the term, and then found Karnowski after the game to apologize to him personally.

Karnowski tweets that he appreciated the apology.

A CBS spokeswoman says Catalon will be calling games when they resume on Sunday in San Diego.

Experience Pays off for Underdogs in NCAA Tourney

Posted on March 21, 2014

On the surface, a team like Mercer looked completely overmatched against mighty Duke and its roster of future NBA players.

But the 14th-seed from Macon, Ga., was able to pull the huge upset by following a script that more and more underdogs are using in the age of one-and-done college players. They turned it into a game of men against boys.

Mercer starts five seniors. The Bears used the toughness, cohesion and chemistry their group acquired over four years in college to beat a Duke team headlined by freshman Jabari Parker, who many figure will turn pro after just one season.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski says it was clear that his young team wasn’t physically or mentally mature enough to compete with experienced Mercer.

Nebraska Women 2 Wins from Going Home in NCAAs

Posted on March 21, 2014

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nebraska came all the way to Los Angeles, and what the Cornhuskers really want is to go home.

First, though, they’ll need to get two wins to return to their home arena in Lincoln, which will host an NCAA women’s regional next weekend.

Led by Big Ten player of the year Jordan Hooper, the fourth-seeded Cornhuskers (25-6) face No. 13 seed Fresno State (22-10) in the first round Saturday at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus. In the other game, fifth-seeded North Carolina State (25-7) plays 12th-seeded BYU (26-6).

Nebraska (25-6) has won 12 of its last 13 games, including four victories over Top 25 opponents and its first Big Ten tournament title. The Huskers haven’t played in nearly two weeks.

McDermott Rolls on over Louisiana-Lafayette 76-66

Posted on March 21, 2014

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Doug McDermott scored 30 points and third-seeded Creighton got three huge 3-pointers in the second half from Ethan Wragge to beat No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette 76-66 Friday in the West Regional.

McDermott had a double-double by halftime but went scoreless for nearly 14 minutes of the second half, leaving it to Wragge’s long shots to bail out the Bluejays from a potential upset by Ragin’ Cajuns, who attacked Creighton (27-7) with fearless defense and rebounding.

Sun Belt tournament champion Louisiana-Lafayette (23-12) led 50-48 before Wragge struck from long range to turn momentum.

The win means the Creighton family keeps marching on its final days together. McDermott, the nation’s leading scorer, opted against going to the NBA after last season to play one more year with his father, Creighton coach Greg McDermott.

4 Overtime Games Most in 1 Day at NCAA Tournament

Posted on March 21, 2014

Now this is madness.

Four games in the NCAA tournament went to overtime Thursday night, setting a record for one day, according to STATS.

The last of the 16 games on Thursday — New Mexico State against San Diego State — produced the fourth and final OT.

Before that, North Dakota State upset Oklahoma in overtime at Spokane, Wash. Saint Louis rallied late to force OT and beat North Carolina State in Orlando, Fla. The first overtime game came in Buffalo, N.Y., where Connecticut beat Saint Joseph’s.

The final game of the First Four also went to overtime Wednesday night, when Tennessee beat Iowa. That means five of the first 20 games in the tournament, a thrilling 25 percent, have extended into an extra 5-minute session.