INDIANAPOLIS - The team that made it out of the First Four will not be going to the Final Four.
Shooting 55.1 percent from the field, No. 2 Michigan put four players in double figures and ended the surprising NCAA tournament run of 11th-seeded Tennessee on Friday night with a 73-71 Midwest Regional semifinal win at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Center Jordan Morgan scored 15 points for the Wolverines (28-8), who will play eighth-seeded Kentucky or No. 4 seed Louisville on Sunday for the regional title. Guard Nik Stauskas scored 14 points, forward Glenn Robinson III added 13 and guard Caris LeVert had 10 points, all in the first half.
Guard Jordan McRae bagged a game-high 24 points for the Volunteers (24-13), although he made just 6-of-11 free throws. Guard Josh Richardson contributed 19 points and forward Jarnell Stokes was good for 11 points.
Tennessee won three games last week in five days, surviving overtime with Iowa in the First Four before routing Massachusetts and Mercer in second- and third-round games. But it trailed in the last 30 minutes and fell behind by as many as 15 points with 10:55 left before mounting a late comeback.
McRae scored 13 points in the last 11 minutes as the Volunteers steadily chopped away at a 60-45 deficit. Richardson’s tough runner in the lane with 24.6 seconds remaining sliced the Michigan advantage to 72-69.
McRae converted a turnover into a transition layup with 10.8 seconds on the clock to make it a one-point game. After LeVert stepped out of bounds catching the inbounds pass with 9.6 seconds remaining, Tennessee had a chance to take the lead.
But Stokes committed an offensive foul, charging over Morgan on a drive down the left baseline with 6.0 seconds left. Stauskas made the front end of a one-and-one with 2.1 seconds left and missed the second, but all the Volunteers could get was a 55-footer by McRae that was not close as time expired.
- Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin played with Glenn Robinson, the father of Michigan F Glenn Robinson III, at Purdue from 1991 to 1994.
- Tennessee is one of only five teams in Division I to rank in the top 20 nationally in offensive and defensive efficiency, joining Florida, Louisville, Virginia and Wichita State.
Connecticut 81, Iowa State 76
DeAndre Daniels scored 27 points and the Huskies shot 52 percent from the field to hold off the Cyclones in the NCAA tournament East regional semifinals in New York.
Daniels hit 10-of-15 shots and Shabazz Napier added four 3-pointers en route to 19 points for seventh-seed Connecticut (29-8), which plays top-seed Virginia or fourth-seed Michigan State in the Elite Eight on Sunday. The Huskies led by 17 points with a little more than 14 minutes remaining, then withstood a late rally by Iowa State (28-8) by hitting 11-of-12 free throws in the final 47 seconds.
Dustin Hogue led the third-seed Cyclones with a career-high 34 points on 15-of-19 shooting from the field, but Iowa State leading scorer Melvin Ejim struggled through a miserable night from the field, finishing with 7 points on 3-of-13 shooting. Iowa State shot just 6-for-15 from the free throw line.
Daniels’ 3-pointer staked Connecticut to a 49-32 advantage early in the second half, but the Cyclones rallied with a 24-14 spurt - 21 of the points coming from Hogue and Kane - to draw within 63-56 on Kane’s 3-pointer with 4:40 to play. Iowa State pulled within 67-63 on Naz Long’s 3-pointer from the right corner with 2:18 to play, but Niels Giffey’s 3-pointer on Connecticut’s ensuing possession.
The Huskies shot 51.9 percent from the field in the first half, hitting 7-of-12 3-point attempts, in building a 36-26 advantage at intermission. Daniels scored 11 of Connecticut’s first 13 second-half points as the Huskies pushed their lead to 17 points.
Late Thursday Games
Florida 79, UCLA 68
Michael Frazier II scored 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and the Gators advanced to the Elite Eight for the fourth consecutive year with an impressive win over the Bruins in Memphis, Tenn.
Scottie Wilbekin had 13 points and Casey Prather added 12 while battling foul trouble for top-seeded Florida (35-2), which will face No. 11 seed Dayton in the South regional final Saturday. Dorian Finney-Smith added 10 points off the bench as the Gators extended their winning streak to 29 games.
Jordan Adams led No. 4 seed UCLA (28-9) with 17 points while Travis Wear added 14. Kyle Anderson had 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting along with nine rebounds and five assists for the Bruins, who shot 3-of-18 from 3-point range and were ousted from the tournament by Florida for the fourth time since 2006.
Arizona 70, San Diego State 64
Nick Johnson scored all 15 of his points in the final 2:46 as the Wildcats knocked off the Aztecs in the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 at Anaheim, Calif.
Aaron Gordon and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson also had 15 points apiece for top-seeded Arizona (33-4), which advances to face Wisconsin (29-7) in Saturday’s West regional final. Johnson made 10 consecutive free throws over the final 90 seconds as the Wildcats prevailed.
Xavier Thames scored 25 points for fourth-seeded San Diego State (31-5), which let an eight-point second-half lead slip away. Josh Davis grabbed 14 rebounds; Dwayne Polee II added 13 points and Winston Shepard had 11 points.
