Tag: Adonis Arms

Notre Dame can’t close deal vs. Texas Tech, out of NCAA Tournament

That’s all she wrote for this season.

For 38 minutes, Notre Dame battled Texas Tech as well as it could have. In fact, the Irish had a three-point lead on the Red Raiders and just needed to hold on a little longer to earn a date with Duke in the Sweet 16. Instead, everything on both ends suddenly went south at the wrong time. The Red Raiders scored 10 unanswered points and eliminated the Irish in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 59-53 win in San Diego.

The Irish (24-11) had a 52-49 lead thanks to taking care of the ball, playing solid defense and making shots when they needed to. All of that changed in the game’s final two minutes, and the Red Raiders (27-9) were the beneficiaries.

Out of an Irish timeout with the lead cut to 52-51, Terrence Shannon Jr. stole the ball from Blake Wesley to set up the possession that ended in two free throws for Kevin Obanor, which he earned after being fouled on an offensive rebound. Wesley tried to answer, but his go-ahead layup attempt was blocked by Marcus Santos-Silva, who hit two free throws himself after he was fouled immediately.

The nightmare wasn’t over for Wesley. He turned it over again, leading to another foul that resulted in two successful Red Raiders free throws, this time from Kevin McCullar. Down five and desperate for points, the Irish came up empty on three straight shots. The last of those was blocked and thrown down the court so a completely-alone McCullar could dunk with authority to erase any doubt about this game’s outcome.

Obanor was the star for the Red Raiders as he achieved a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds. McCullar had 14 points, as did Bryson Williams. Adonis Arms grabbed seven boards and a game-high four assists.

Dane Goodwin led the Irish with 14 points. In what likely will be his final game for the program, Wesley scored 11 and also had eight rebounds. However, those three turnovers he had in the final two minutes are sure to weigh on him and Irish fans for a long time.

While it was a tough way to end the season, surely any Irish fan would have taken how this team got after such a rough start. Now, we wonder who will be back next year to join highly-touted commit J.J. Starling. Maybe he will get the Irish even deeper in the tournament next year. It sure will be exciting to find out the answer to that question.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Oklahoma vs. No. 14 Texas Tech: injury report, broadcast info for Friday

Everything you need to know as the Oklahoma Sooners get set for their semifinal matchup with No. 14 Texas Tech in the Big 12 tournament.

Oklahoma added a jolt to its NCAA Tournament hopes by upsetting No. 3 Baylor in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament, 72-67. Junior forward Jacob Groves led the way with 15 points and nine rebounds, while redshirt senior guard Marvin Johnson added 12 points off the bench.

Senior guard Umoja Gibson finished with 14 points and it was his driving and-one finish that put the Sooners in front 68-62 with 49 seconds remaining. Redshirt senior point guard Jordan Goldwire and junior forward Jalen Hill each scored 10 points apiece to also help pace OU.

“Really happy for the guys to stick with this and be resilient. When we lost Elijah Harkless, we found out like the day before I think it was the Iowa State game and it kind of took us by surprise. Now, we’ve regrouped. We’ve regrouped and we’ve won four in a row and we’re confident, we’re hot.

“That was a huge win for us. People kind of counted us out and we started one at a time, beating Oklahoma State, then West Virginia, then had to go to Kansas State on their senior night and now this. But it’s a testament to this group on how close they’re becoming and how resilient they’re becoming of blocking out all the outside noise and just trying to focus in on what we need to do to win games,” Oklahoma head men’s basketball coach Porter Moser said following the win over Baylor.

Meanwhile, No. 14 Texas Tech dominated Iowa State from start to finish in its 72-41 win over the Cyclones. Texas Tech junior guard Terrence Shannon Jr. led all scorers with 15 points. It sets up a third meeting between Oklahoma and Texas Tech. The two teams split their season series with OU winning in Norman on Feb. 9, 70-55, and Texas Tech capturing the second tilt in Lubbock on Feb. 22, 66-42.

How to watch

Date: Friday, March 11

Time: 8:30 p.m. CST

TV: ESPN2

Radio: 107.7 FM The Franchise

Stat leaders

Oklahoma:

  • Umoja Gibson: 12.4 points per game, 37.4 percent 3-point field goal shooting
  • Tanner Groves: 12.1 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game, 38.2 percent 3-point field goal shooting
  • Jordan Goldwire: 10.3 points per game, 3.5 assists per game
  • Jalen Hill: 8.9 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game

Texas Tech:

  • Bryson Williams: 13.8 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game, 42.1 percent 3-point field goal shooting
  • Terrence Shannon Jr.: 10.6 points per game, 2.9 rebounds per game
  • Davion Warren: 10.1 points per game, 3.1 rebounds per game
  • Kevin McCullar: 10.0 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game
  • Kevin Obanor: 9.8 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game

Injury report

Oklahoma:

  • Elijah Harkless: Harkless suffered a season-ending injury during the Texas game on Feb. 15.

Texas Tech:

  • Ethan Duncan: Duncan’s status is listed as questionable with an undisclosed injury according to oddschecker.com.

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