By Ron Pitts for Urban Media Today
#1 seed Duke Blue Devils face #9 Texas Christian University Horn Frogs
#1 seed Duke Blue Devils faced off with #9 TCU Horn Frogs for an opportunity to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, in a predominantly Duke crowd, only 3 hours from home. Coach Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils needed their fans to give them the boost to overcome Coach Jamie Dixon and his Horn Frogs.
The Horn Frogs were not afraid of the moment as they showed up to play and compete with a lot on the line. They were down by as much as eight in the first quarter, but were able to get the game within 4 going into halftime, 38-34. The difference in the first half was at the free throw line. Duke shot 13-14 to TCU 3-7. The Horn Frogs spent most of the first half in foul trouble. #24 Xavier Edmunds and #3 Liutaras Lelevicius both had 3 fouls. Both teams shot over 42% from the field. TCU’s leading scorer at the half was Edmunds with 12 points, while Duke’s #3 Isaiah Evans is led the charge with 13 points.
The Horn Frogs limited the Boozer brothers to only 2 points apiece in the first half. #12 Cameron Boozer normally averages 22 points per game; however, he did lead all players in rebounds with 6.
TCU came out in the second and battled to tie the game. Once they came back to tie it up at 42, the Blue Devils went on a run and pushed the lead back to 64-50, forcing a timeout from Jamie Dixon, and the Blue Devils never looked back. The traveling Duke Cameron Crazies woke up to energize the Blue Devils which sparked back-to-back three pointers from #7 Dame Sarr.
The Horn Frogs went cold with #15 David Punch missing several shots at the rim including a dunk. Punch was hit with an elbow to the face which bloodied his nose. Speaking with Punch after the game, he said “That did impact his game the rest of the way.”
Duke pushed the score to 74-52 with 3 minutes left in the game on an ally-oop, closing the door on TCU’s tournament hopes.
Duke was ignited in the second half by their freshmen star Cam Boozer with a 17 point second half explosion, giving him a total of 19 points and 11 boards for the game. After the game, Cameron Boozer spoke about the slow start and strong finish, “They’re a great team. They did a great job swarming the paint, protecting the rim. So, I just didn’t have a lot of looks really. Second half we figured out some things that got me going downhill.”
The Blue Devils dominated the Horn Frogs on boards 42-25 limiting TCU from getting extra possessions, which proved the difference in the game on top of Duke defensive intensity.
When Coach Scheyer was asked about the difference from game one to game two, he said, “I thought there were incredible lessons there for me, for our staff, for our program, but most importantly for our players. I thought the urgency we had tonight was there from the get-go”.
Duke will play the winner of St. Johns and Kansas next week.
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#3 seed Illinois Fighting Illini faces #11 seed VCU Rams
Coach Brad Underwood and his Illini got off to a 20-8 start against Phil Martelli Jr. and his Rams.
The VCU crowd erupted after #8 Michael Belle assisted #15 Tyrell Ward with a huge dunk giving the Rams energy to make a run. VCU ramped up their defense which turned into points. They created 10 points off 8 turnovers. VCU was able to tie the score until Illinois pulled away, going into halftime with a 35-28 lead.
Leading the way at half for the Fighting Illini was #2 Andrej Stojakovic with 16 points.
Terrence Hill Jr. was the VCU scoring leader going into the half with 12 points off the bench and 4 rebounds.
Illinois came out in the second half with a strong start extending their lead to 43-30, thanks to #23 Keaton Wagler and #David Mirkovic with back-to-back three pointers.
Coach Underwood’s team cranked up the defense creating turnovers, blocked shots, and limited the Rams from having second chance opportunities. Coach Martelli Jr. seemed not to have enough to match up with Illinois, and fell behind by as much as 23 points.
Losing #1 Nyk Lewis with an apparent leg injury early in the game made a big impact on VCU’s defense. Coach Martelli Jr. remarked, “It certainly took the wind out of our sails to start, and we ended up getting it back, which was good. He’s a key to what we do. But we aren’t built around one guy. We are built as a team. But certainly, what Nyk represents, who he is, the person he is, the player he is, all those things, you can’t replicate.”
Martelli spoke about what he learned about himself and his team throughout the season; “That we can compete on the highest level, that VCU is built that way.”
VCU’s Terreance Hill Jr. came off the bench to lead the Rams with 17 points and said about Coach Martelli, “I’m super grateful he gave us the opportunity to compete every day against each other in practice, and in the game he just let us play free and be ourselves, and I’m just thankful for that.”
Illinois Coach Underwood said, “I thought that our defense was outstanding in the first half. Assistant coach Cam Crocker did a terrific job in game planning. These guys did a terrific job in following that.”
Coach Underwood went on to say, “Keaton (Wagler) and Mirk (#0 David Mirkovic) have been so instrumental throughout our processes here late, and now it wasn’t them having the night, it was other guys.”
Andrej Stojakovic spoke about what it means advancing for the second time in three years to the Sweet 16 under Coach Underwood: “It’s what we work for. It restarted last game, and we understand that that first game against Penn was the only guaranteed one and we’ve got to work for each one moving forward. That’s our mindset and going to continue to work”.
The Illinois Fighting Illini ended the dancing dreams of the VCU Rams with a final score of 76-55. Illinois was led in scoring by #2 Andrej Stojakovic with 21 points off the bench, with support from #23 Keaton Wagler who had 14 points
Illinois will face the Houston Cougars next week in the Sweet 16.