Notre Dame advances to Elite 8 with 61-56 win over Badgers

If Hayes does return, the Badgers will basically have everyone back, including seven freshmen who all expect to bounce back better than ever.

For the Wisconsin Badgers, the hurt from their Sweet 16 loss to Notre Dame is going to fade with time and be replaced with knowing that they had a great season considering that no one, including themselves, figured that they would even get to the tournament. The Fighting Irish hit five straight shots before McCall responded with another jumper.

The Badgers needed more of the same – but were doomed by off-kilter 3-point shooting (6 of 20) and 17 turnovers.

Notre Dame men’s basketball team narrowly defeated the Wisconsin Badgers Friday night 61-56, advancing to the Elite Eight. He forced two huge turnovers late in the game that put the Irish over the top.

Though he’s a regular viewer of Notre Dame games on TV, Roselle said Friday’s game was only the second in which he’d seen Brey coach in person since he left for Notre Dame, the other being a visit to Philadelphia.

Beachem hit both of his free throws and with just seconds remaining, Koenig was pick-pocketed by none other than Jackson himself and Notre Dame escaped with victory. He went to the line after a foul following a missed Bronson Koenig lay-up that was too hard off the glass.

Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie sat on press row and watched Notre Dame warm up before it played Wisconsin in the East Regional semifinal.

Kennedy Meeks had 15 points for the Tar Heels while Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II both had 14. The Badgers took a 22-13 lead with 4:55 left in the first half, but managed only a single free throw that point to the intermission. Mabrey 2-2 2-2 7, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 4-6 0-0 8, Huffman 2-3 0-0 4. That’s right, just six free throw attempts all night. Stanford junior forward Erica McCall went 5-for-6 from the field and led all scorers with 10 points, helping the Cardinal to a 28-21 lead. In addition to Jackson’s rise, energetic forward Zach Auguste shook off first-half frustration to finish with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The 28 points Stanford scored in the first quarter was its highest total for any quarter all year.

“We were laughing, I said, gosh, we can’t play any worse”, Brey said, reflecting on most of the game. “So we were able to just do that again today”.

Wisconsin was minutes from keeping a third straight Final Four berth in sight. “That was the biggest thing… we’re always having fun, and I think that let us play loose”. “I think we didn’t have the pressure on us”.

“Obviously, this is going to sting for a long time”, Gard said. I don’t know if there’s a program in the country that prides itself more on taking care of the ball, and values every possession, more than Wisconsin. We’ve had a nice run, and hopefully that will motivate us to come back next year. He’s not talking about the possibility of entering the National Basketball Association draft.

Neither would Brey, who is so confident in his style and his team that he’s growing a beard during the postseason. “Part of it is things we’ve still got to mature through and grow”. When I was in the Big East and I was recruiting kids in IN and Ohio, (they said), ‘Oh, you’re playing Georgetown?’ (Being in the ACC, they say, ) ‘Whoa, whoa, you’re playing Duke and North Carolina now?

The Irish have shown so far in this tournament that they find ways to win.

But just 2.9 percent of brackets have Syracuse making it to the Final Four, which is only slightly higher than the 1 percent of brackets that have the Orange making it to the title game. The Badgers were 9-9 after a loss to Northwestern January 12th. Those were the final of 17 giveaways by the Badgers, who averaged only 10.8 turns per game headed into the evening.