Top seed MSU bounced; ’Cuse edges Wisconsin

Associated Press

PHOENIX

Gorgui Dieng swatted away the West Region’s top seed to send Rick Pitino into another regional final.

Chane Behanan scored 15 points and Dieng anchored Louisville’s stifling defense with seven blocked shots, helping the Cardinals knock off top-seeded Michigan State 57-44 Thursday night in the West Regional semifinals.

Louisville (29-9) smothered the NCAA tournament’s best-shooting team with its matchup zone, getting good pressure from its guards up top and some big swats by Dieng, one of the nation’s top shot-blockers.

The Cardinals relied on 3-point shooting in the first half and went inside the second to befuddle the Spartans, earning a trip to the West final against Florida on Saturday.

Michigan State (29-8) started slow and never got going against Louisville’s amoebic defense, shooting 28 percent while being outscored 20-14 inside by the leaner Cardinals.

Dieng finished with five points, nine rebounds and had three steals. Peyton Siva overcame a rough shooting night — four points on 2-of-9 shooting — with nine assists.

Draymond Green had 13 points and 16 rebounds in his final game for Michigan State and Brandon Wood added 14 points.

This sweet matchup of top programs featured two of college basketball’s best short-preparation coaches (Pitino and Tom Izzo).

Pitino has used his speed-the-opponent-up system to reach the Final Four five times, becoming the first coach to lead three different schools to the national semifinals. Once past the NCAA tournament’s first week, he’s had a knack for guiding his team farther along the bracket, advancing to the regional final all 10 times he’s gotten a team to the semifinals.

No. 1 syracuse 64, No. 4 wisconsin 63

BOSTON

Top-seeded Syracuse used a breakout game by the slumping C.J. Fair to advance to the East Regional final.

Wisconsin missed two potential winning shots in the final seconds, and the Orange hung on to reach the round of eight for the first time since 2003, when they won their only national championship.

Fair, who had scored a total of 20 points in his last six games, finished with 15 on 7-for-9 shooting.

Kris Joseph, a 75 percent free throw shooter, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 18 seconds to go with Syracuse up by a point, giving the Badgers a chance at the victory.

Passing the ball around the perimeter of the zone but creating much space, Jordan Taylor let go a 3 with 3 seconds left. It bounced off the rim and Josh Gasser’s shot at the buzzer was off.

Syracuse (34-2) plays Ohio State in the regional final Saturday.

A matchup of two very different styles of defense, the game came down to a final possession for the Badgers (26-10), who finished 14 of 27 from 3-point range but couldn’t make one over the final 6 minutes.

Scoop Jardine had 14 points for Syracuse, while Dion Waiters had 13 and Brandon Triche 11.

Jared Berggren and Taylor both had 17 points for Wisconsin, which led Division I this season by allowing 52.9 points per game.

Syracuse reached that many points with 9 minutes to play but there were two lead changes and two ties still to come.

Wisconsin, which averaged 7.7 3-pointers per game and has a season high of 15, hit one from beyond the arc on six straight possessions in the second half, the last of those by Taylor with 7:03 to play that gave the Badgers their last lead of the game, 59-56.

Syracuse went ahead for good on a spin move by Waiters with 6:03 to play, but the lead was never more than three points.

Gasser made two free throws with 31 seconds left to bring Wisconsin within 64-63.

The win was No. 890 overall for Jim Boeheim, third on the all-time list, and it was his 48th in the NCAA tournament, breaking a tie for fifth place with John Wooden.

No. 7 Florida 68, No. 3 Marquette 58

phoenix

Bradley Beal scored 21 points to set up Gators coach Billy Donovan with a meeting against his old boss, Pitino, in the West Regional final.

The seventh-seeded Gators (26-10) expanded a six-point halftime lead to double digits, then held off third-seeded Marquette (27-8) to take their second straight trip to the regional final. Last year, they lost to Butler. This time, they meet Louisville and Pitino.

Beal, a freshman who has NBA written all over him, shot 8 for 10 and had six rebounds and four assists. Marquette got 15 points from Jae Crowder.