Seattle Pod Recap
Seattle had two regions with two Sweet 16 spots in play, neither of whose Regionals were anywhere close to where the Pod was being played. In the Selection Committee’s and NCAA’s wisdom, this twisted geography works.
South Region (Houston)
#2 Gonzaga vs #7 Iowa
East Region (Syracuse)
#4 Louisville vs #5 Northern Iowa
In the first game Gonzaga (34-2) took on Iowa (22-12). Gonzaga has struggled to get out of the first weekend the past five seasons, but on Sunday night they left no doubt about leaving those bugaboos behind, winning 87-68. The Zags hit 12 of their first 16 shots to start the game, and shot 62% in the first half. Kevin Pangos and Kyle Wiltjer paced Gonzaga with 16 points and 24 points respectively.
“There’s no greater feeling than this, because I haven’t been able to experience it, and most of the guys in the locker room haven’t,” Pangos said. “So for us to be able to get past this is definitely a great feeling. But it’s not like we were stressing over what people were talking about. We just wanted to do it selfishly for ourselves and our fan base.”
Wiltjer made his first six shots, and ended up hitting 10 of 12 from the floor along with 4 of 6 from three point range. He helped cap a 16-4 run that gave the Zags a 46-29 lead at the half.
It sets up a rematch of the 2006 Sweet 16 game against #11 UCLA who in spectacular fashion eliminated the Zags and leading scorer Adam Morrison.
Gonzaga plays UCLA in the early game on Friday night in Houston at 7:15 est.
The final game of the round of 32 also produced the final ticket to the Sweet 16. Northern Iowa (31-4) were a trendy Final Four pick by pundits and college hoops fans, but Louisville (26-8) had other ideas.
If you had asked head coach Rick Pitino if this Cardinals team was Final Four material or if he tipped them for an early exit, he would probably have said before this past weekend that he would not be shocked by either. He would probably sing a different tune now after the Cards put away the Panthers 66-53 on Sunday night.
“Tonight, we played our best game of the season,” Pitino said.
The 2-3 zone switching to man-to-man, and back frustrated UNI star Seth Tuttle to only seven shots, and 14 difficult points.
HIGHLIGHT: Cards take flight! http://t.co/RPHioU5OQy
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 23, 2015
The Cards are back in the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight season, and in a region that has fallen apart around them. As the fourth seed they are the second-highest seed left besides third-seeded Oklahoma, who also is playing in the double header at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse on Friday night. Quite impressive for a squad that goes with an eight-man rotation after dismissing guard Chris Jones in late February.
“We had to rally around it,” Pitino said. “We have a short bench. But these guys don’t take a play off, and that’s unusual in this world. “You see all these dunks. We see 15 of them at every practice, where we say, ‘Get out of the way or someone’s getting hurt,'” Pitino said.
Louisville forced 10 turnovers and held the Panthers to 39% shooting, which was nine points below their season’s average.
Coach Ben Jacobson of UNI pretty much admitted that Pitino outcoached him saying “We got off to a good start and found some openings against that zone,” Jacobson said. “But they made some adjustments, and I didn’t adjust soon enough to find some different ways to get Seth the ball.”.
The Cards who have struggled on offense all season, couldn’t have asked for a better time to find its shooting stroke. They shot 45.8% from the floor, and kept UNI at bay every time they tried to make a run.
UNI’s best chance to get back into the game was also the last run they had in them. Nate Buss made two straight baskets to cut a 10 point deficit to 6 with 4:26 to go, and looked to be on an easy breakaway dunk or layup when Wayne Blackshear came out of nowhere for the outstanding block on Wes Washpun‘s attempt.
“That was the big key of the game. Gigantic,” Pitino said of Blackshear’s shot eraser.
“As a basketball program, we had lots of ups and downs this season,” Montrezl Harrell said. “But we responded in the right way. We came together as a team tonight.”
They need to stay together as a team, and bring that shooting from Seattle back east to Syracuse as they take on ACC foe #8 NC State on Friday. NC State beat them in Louisville the last time they played, 74-65 on Valentines Day.