Thursday’s NCAA tournament roundup: Xavier stuns Arizona, Kansas routs Purdue

That team featured center/Uber driver Matt Stainbrook; this one has basically a bunch of guys who are mostly around 6-foot-6 and willing to get guards Trevon Bluiett or J.P. Macura the ball. Now, it’s the eighth team seeded No. 11 or worse since 1985 to make the Elite Eight, and with a win over Gonzaga, it would join 1986 LSU, 2006 George Mason and 2011 VCU as the fourth 11 to advance to the Final Four. Arizona erased a 10-point deficit against the Gaels, which marked the third time this season that is has overcome a double-digit deficit in a game.

After that, Xavier closed the gap right back, responding to yet another Arizona mini run.

Bernard scored all 15 of his points in the second half, nine of which came from beyond the arc. Xavier was 15-6 in his 21 games.

With the Elite Eight tip times already set, it’s hard not to get excited for it already. I think their coach (Chris Mack) is awesome.

Cameron, a point guard just like his father, scored 21 points in the 81-48 loss, finishing with 1,017 points in his career.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs and the West Virginia Mountaineers traded the lead back and forth throughout the game, with the game being tied at 55 with 2:26 left after an unnecessarily long review.

Bluiett hit his first seven shots from the floor, going 7-of-8 on field goals in the first half for a game-high 18 points.

No. 11 seed Xavier vs.

The two teams would trade mini runs in the first part of the second half.

Arizona played the first 19 games without sophomore guard Allonzo Trier and suffered through a string of injuries, yet shared the Pac-12 regular-season title and won the conference tournament. Tonight, they tip off against the Arizona Wildcats in the Sweet 16. After O’Mara’s bucket, Allen missed a jumper – only for O’Mara, after getting the rebound and being fouled, to miss the front end of two free throws, allowing Arizona one final chance.

Arizona looked like it might be en route to ending Xavier’s magical run when it broke a 61-61 game and turned it into a 69-61 lead with 3:40 remaining, but Xavier clawed its way back into the game. “But we were in the last three or four minutes of the game”. The latter knocked down all three of his triples against the Wildcats, and if he can provide the same spacing and perimeter scoring against Gonzaga, Xavier will have a legitimate shot.

The Wildcats owned a 16-14 advantage on the boards in the second half, but the Musketeers limited the opportunities off the offensive glass. The victor will play the victor of Thursday’s Gonzaga-West Virginia game on Saturday for the region championship and a spot in the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona, slightly more than 100 miles up the road from Tucson.