Gonzaga edges West Virgina, advances to elite 8

Adrien turned rimward, hoping to drop in a layup over Williams-Goss, when Gonzaga two-guard Josh Perkins flew into the picture, superhero-like, took an exaggerated swing at the ball, and stuffed Adrien’s shot.

West Virginia finished the half with six straight points and was up 42-33 at the break.

Esa Ahmad had 15 points for the winners. There is no guarantee that they’ll win the national championship or even make it to the Final Four (more on or, their competition for Saturday, below), but no one has looked more consistent through the NCAA Tournament than Kansas. West Virginia predictably refused to fade away.

Arizona shot 43.5 percent and had a 35-27 rebounding edge. With that said, the No. 4 seed had more than a fighting chance to upend No. 1 seed Gonzaga on Thursday, as the underdogs had the ball in a three-point game with less than one minute remaining on the clock. Would you rather that it’s in blowout fashion, like Purdue getting crushed by Kansas?

It was listed as a neutral-site game, but Sprint Center is less than an hour from Allen Fieldhouse, the home of the Jayhawks.

OR 69, MI 68: Tyler Dorsey’s teammates call him “Mr. March”.

The first half was, in a word, sloppy.

The complexion of the game changed early in the second half when Mathews started hitting his looks. The team wanted more, especially after last year’s demise in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Somehow even with the height advantage being supremely in GU’s favor, the Zags were outrebounded 25-17 in the first half overall. The Jayhawks held Swanigan and Haas to two rebounds apiece. Things changed when sophomore point Edmond Sumner tore his ACL on January 29, leaving the lead duties to freshman Quentin Goodin. Graham had 10 while Haas had 11.

Gonzaga, long removed from being a college-basketball upstart, is playing in its 19th consecutive NCAA Tournament. MI faces third-seeded Oregon Thursday, who is without shot blocker Chris Boucher. With Villanova already out, 2017 will be the first tournament since 2011 without a No. 1 seed in the Final Four.

Michigan’s Derrick Walton Jr. missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have won it.

A step-back 3-pointer from Carter cut into the Zags lead, but GU still was up 45-40.

Walton led the Wolverines with 20 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Dillon Brooks had 12 points and Dylan Ennis had 10.

For the Wolverines (26-12), it was the end of a wild ride. One of our guys scored in double figures.

Despite a heroic performance from Jevon Carter, West Virginia could not overcome its inability to put the ball in the basket and dropped a heartwrenching 61-58 decision to top-seeded Gonzaga to be eliminated in the Sweet 16 of the West Regional in the NCAA tournament Thursday night in San Jose. He fired a pass across the court to Jordan Mathews, who buried a three-pointer that gave Gonzaga a 60-58 lead it would not relinquish.

Gonzaga is on to the Elite Eight where it will face the victor of Arizona and Xavier.

Despite shooting 26.7 percent for the game, West Virginia stayed close and took a 58-55 lead on a 3-pointer by Carter with 1:47 to play.

The team’s leading scorer Jevon Carter (finished with 21 points, 7 rebounds) was the target, and got the ball with plenty of time on the clock, but made a decision to heave up a contested three that resulted in an air ball.

The Zags probably drew the most difficult Sweet 16 opponent possible, and they gutted out a hard fought win, which is what they have done every time (except for once) this season.

Carter made a 3 for WVU, but Karnowski backed a defender down for 20 or so feet and scored calmly inside and then swished a jumper from near the free-throw line.

The game was stopped frequently by blowing whistles with both teams combining for 51 fouls.