Notre Dame has advanced in the NCAA Tournament after defeating Army in four sets, 23-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-11, in the first round. This is the 12th time the Irish (15-3) have made it to the Round of 32 in their history, and they did it in their first-ever meeting with the Black Knights. They will continue their tournament stay Thursday against Oregon (14-4), which swept the Irish in the teams’ only previous meeting Oct. 20, 1985.
Among the key contributors for Notre Dame were Charley Niego with 12 kills and 11 digs, Caroline Meuth with 10 kills and five blocks, and Zoe Nunez with 30 assists, 12 digs and three of the team’s season-high 10 service aces. The Irish got a match-high eight blocks apiece from Hannah Thompson and Lauren Wenzel. Hattie Monson contributed 14 digs.
If the Irish defeat the Ducks, it will mean the seventh Sweet 16 trip in program history. They now have won four matches in a row and six of their past seven.
The Alabama Crimson Tide are in a close one at the half, as UCLA is playing a similar style to Alabama.
No. 2 seed Alabama enters half time down against the No. 11 seed UCLA Bruins 40-29.
Herbert Jones got into foul trouble early with two fouls in the first 40 seconds, forcing him to be benched for a large portion of the first half.
Alabama’s scoring started off slow, but grew a double-digit lead. Then UCLA came storming back.
The latter portion of the first half consisted of the two team trading punches and switching leads.
Jahvon Quinerly leads the team in scoring with 10 points, and Juwan Gary has taken Jones’ spot as the lead rebounder for the Crimson Tide with four.
UCLA has seemingly playing Alabama’s fast paced style of play, which leads to mistakes on both parties.
For the Crimson Tide in the second half, the key is to get shots to drain and be stronger at the hoop, whether it be laying it in or accumulating rebounds.
The winner of this game will go on to face No. 1 seed Michigan in the Elite Eight.
Alabama will face UCLA in the Sweet 16 following a big win over Maryland in the round of 32. The Crimson Tide’s offense remains hot as t …
No. 2 Alabama made it look easy in the round of 32 with a 77-96 win over No. 10 Maryland. They will now move on to the Sweet 16 to face No. 11 UCLA.
Alabama’s defense was strong, limiting Maryland to only 52.7% from the field. The Crimson Tide also recorded 25 defensive rebounds, with Juwan Gary leading the team with seven total rebounds.
The Crimson Tide offense was electric, with the team shooting 48.5% from three. John Petty, Jaden Shackelford and Jahvon Quinerly combined for 55 points.
This will be alabama’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 2004.
UCLA won both game of their tournament run by double digits. During the regular season, the program went 13-6 in-conference.
The two teams will face off next Sunday in the Sweet 16.
Notre Dame NCAA Tournament hero Rex Pflueger has signed a pro basketball deal.
Rex Pflueger, Notre Dame’s all-time leader in games played for the basketball team, has inked a professional deal with the Newcastle Eagles of England. Newcastle plays in the BBC, the British Basketball League.
Pflueger chose Newcastle in part, due to his late mother who was English by birth.
“It feels great knowing that I will be starting my professional career in a country that I am very much familiar with”, he said.
“My mother was born and raised in Andover before eventually meeting my father in the US and moving out here full time.”
Notre Dame fans remember Pflueger for being a leader, leaving his heart on the floor nightly and for battling back from a knee injury.
Pflueger’s tip-in with under two seconds remaining against Stephen F. Austin in the Second Round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament helped send Notre Dame to the Sweet 16 and eventually the Elite 8 for the second year in a row.
Blake Griffin took Oklahoma to the 2009 Elite Eight with a little help from one Tony Crocker.
Blake Griffin took Oklahoma to the 2009 Elite Eight with a little help from one Tony Crocker.
The duo accounted for 58 of the Sooners’ 84 points. Griffin tallied a double-double with 30 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, and a steal on 12-of-15 shooting (6-of-10 at the free-throw line). Crocker put on a shooting display both Buddy Hield and Trae Young would appreciate. of his 28 points, 18 came behind the arc as Crocker went 6-of-11 from deep. He finished with a full stat line, hauling in three rebounds, two assists, a block, and three of the Sooners’ 11 steals.
On the backs of Griffin and Crocker, Oklahoma cruised to a 13-point win over the Syracuse Orange, 84-71. As a team, the Sooners caught fire from the floor, shooting 54%. Oklahoma was slinging the rock around as they finished with 19 team assists.
The Sooners win sent them to the Elite Eight, setting up a one-two matchup. Oklahoma, a two-seed, faced off against one-seed and eventual national champion, North Carolina, losing to the Tar Heels 72-60.
Before he was drafted in the first round by the Warriors, Jordan Poole knocked down a game-winning shot at the Buzzer to send Michigan to the Sweet 16.
The first two rounds of the NCAA tournament is marked as a holiday weekend for basketball fans across the country. However, there will be no March Madness this time around due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With no brackets being busted, Warriors Wire is highlighting standout March performances from members on the current Golden State roster.
Before he was selected in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, Jordan Poole was coming off the bench for the Michigan Wolverines.
In 2018, Poole turned into a March Madness icon overnight. In the second round of the tournament, Michigan linked up with the sixth-seeded Houston Cougars. The round of 32 matchup turned into a classic.
Michigan and Houston exchanged haymakers throughout the game, but in the final minute, thing were notched at 61. Back-to-back free throws from Devin Davis gave the Cougars a two-point lead with 24 seconds on the clock. Luckily for Michigan, Davis missed his next set of free throws to give the Wolverines the ball back down two.
With four seconds left, Poole checked into the game. Michigan heaved the ball to the half-court line where Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman found Poole open behind the 3-point line.
Poole launched a shot deep beyond the arc that swished through the net as time expired. The 18-year-old freshman was mobbed by his teammates as they danced to the Sweet-16 with a 64-63 win. Poole finished the game with eight points in 11 minutes for Michigan.
Watch Poole’s epic game-winner via YouTube:
Poole’s Wolverines advanced all the way to the championship game, where they met Eric Paschall’s Villanova Wildcats. Jay Wright and Villanova cruised to a 79-62 victory to bring a banner back to Philadelphia.
The road to the Final Four went through Oklahoma City for the Sooners, led by Buddy Hield.
2016 was a magical year for Oklahoma.
The road to the Final Four went through Oklahoma City for the Sooners, led by Buddy Hield. The two-seed in the West bracket, second only to Oregon, Oklahoma beat Cal State Bakersfield by 14 in the first round to meet the 10-seed Rams of Virginia Commonwealth in the round of 32,
Much like the entire 2015-16 season, Hield led the way for the Sooners. His 36 points led all scorers while hauling in seven rebounds. Guards Jordan Woodard and Isaiah Cousins supplemented Oklahoma’s scoring efforts with 32 combined points while also holding it down on defense with four combined steals.
Forwards Ryan Spangler and Khadeem Latin protected the paint with 14 of the teams 37 rebounds and a combined for three of the teams five blocked shots. Offensively the duo complimented the elite guard play of Hield, Cousins, and Woodard with 14 of their own points.
The Sooners needed a team effort to advance as they beat VCU 85-81, leaving the hometown fans roaring inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Oklahoma would head west to Anaheim, Calif., for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, getting wins over Texas A&M and Oregon to give them a Final Four bid in Houston, Texas.
The Sooners would lose to eventual national champion, Villanova in the Final Four.
Led by Mookie Blaylock and Stacey King, Oklahoma cruised to a 42-point victory to advance to the Sweet 16.
Blaylock led all scorers with 34 points on 14-28 shooting from the floor, seven rebounds, seven assists, and four steals while playing the full 40 minutes. King chalked up a double-double scoring 21 points and hauling in 15 rebounds, dishing four assists and swatting away four of the Bulldogs shots.
Skeeter Henry led the way off the Sooners’ bench, filling up the stat sheet in his 31 minutes on the court. Henry scored 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dropped three dimes, snagging three steals and two blocks.
The one-seed in the Southeast region, Oklahoma narrowly got passed 16-seed East Tennessee State in the first round of the Tournament 72-71 to get to the second round.
The Sooners’ run came to an end in the Sweet 16 against five-seed Virginia 86-80. Virginia would lose to three-seed and eventual national champion Michigan in the Elite Eight.
