NCAA Tournament: Charlotte Pod recap
The first game on Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina featured #7 Michigan State taking #10 Georgia.
Michigan State, which has been on fire recently, came in with only an overtime loss to Wisconsin in their last five games, a stretch which featured wins against Ohio State and Maryland. On the other hand, Georgia was coming out of the less-than-stellar SEC. Many picked the Spartans to win this game, and they did not disappoint.
Denzel Valentine paced Michigan State with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists as the team shot 45.6% from the floor and 38.9% from three-point range, including 2 of 5 performance from Valentine. The Spartans led 35-22 at the half as they were completely on top of Georgia and the defense was playing hard and fast for coach Tom Izzo.
HIGHLIGHT: Late three-pointer helps the Spartans’ momentum http://t.co/afBdmEhAWS
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2015
Charles Mann of Georgia poured in 19 points and kept his team in the game as best he could, but shooting only 33% from the floor and 28% from distance, the Bulldogs were just overwhelmed and the Spartans coasted to a 70-63 victory despite giving up 41 garbage-time points in the second half.
The other East region game pitted Malcolm Brogdon and the 2nd-seeded Virginia Cavaliers against 15-seed Belmont. If Virginia makes an expected deep run into this tournament, this will be the game people remember for Justin Anderson’s return. Having suffered a broken hand towards the end of the regular season, Anderson was noticeably unable to shoot or handle the ball throughout the ACC tournament. He put aside all doubts in this game as he poured in 15 on 4-of-6 shooting, including connecting on 1 of his 2 three point attempts.
HIGHLIGHT: Big and-one lifts the Cavaliers to victory http://t.co/ejdUObYHu3
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 20, 2015
Anderson’s running mate and ace defender Brogdon added 22 points of his own in what can be considered a rout by Virginia standards. They did not win by 40, but they did beat a talented Belmont team by 12 on a night where shots were definitely falling for the Bruins, who shot 47% from the floor compared to Virginia’s 45%.
Virginia really won this game at the free throw line as they made 21 of a possible 25 (83%) compared to Belmont’s 5-of-6 effort from the charity stripe, and though Belmont were get within 2 a couple of times, Virginia ultimately ran out 79-67 winners at the final buzzer.
To start the South region games in Charlotte, #1 Duke took on 16th seed Robert Morris. As you can guess from the seeding, this wasn’t much of a game. Duke, coming off an ACC Tournament loss to eventual champion, Notre Dame, was looking to make a statement, and did they ever.
Led by 22 points from senior guard, Quinn Cook, and 21 points from All-American freshman center Jahlil Okafor, Duke would cruise right past the Colonials of Robert Morris.
While Duke did shoot the ball well (63% from the floor), it was their defense that really ramped up the pressure and opened this game up, as the Blue Devils held Robert Morris to 36% shooting from the floor while only committing 8 fouls the entire game. The Blue Devils also out-rebounded Robert Morris 40 to 28.
HIGHLIGHT: Alley-oop for Duke! The Blue Devils were rolling in the 1st half. http://t.co/GcJasb68x7
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 21, 2015
The only part of the game that seemed worrisome for Duke was their 7-of-14 performance at the free throw line. That was fine and well in a 85-56 demolition of a 16 seed, but they will have to improve in that area if Duke wants to keep its National Championship aspirations alive.
The final game of the day in Charlotte was a match-up between St. Johns and San Diego State. St. Johns played without center Chris Obekpa, who was suspended on Sunday for a violation of team rules, Sir-Dominic Pointer played through a hip injury and guard Rysheed Jordan picked up two fouls in the first two minutes and had to sit the rest of the half.
HIGHLIGHT: Monster jam by the Aztecs! http://t.co/B2SdmIRKyR
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 21, 2015
All of this gave the Aztecs every opportunity to seize control of this game and they absolutely did in a very unconventional way for Steve Lavin’s squad. Not a very prolific deep-shooting team, the Aztecs would go on to throw up 22 three pointers, making 9 of them (40.9%).
Led by J.J. OBrien’s 18 points the Aztecs led the Red Storm 40-33 at the half, and outscored St. Johns 36 to 31 in the second half for a relatively easy 12 -point win, ending 76-64. Lavin and San Diego State will face off against Duke and Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski on Sunday.
