Arizona cruises, but Kentucky’s win could be costly.
MINNEAPOLIS – With Keith Bogans watching helplessly from the bench in the second half, Kentucky turned to the power of Marquis Estill to ward off Wisconsin.
Estill scored a career-high 28 points Thursday night and the Wildcats ran their winning streak to 26 games, holding off the scrappy Badgers 63-57 in the Midwest Regional semifinals.
Top-seeded Kentucky (32-3) will try for another trip to the Final Four on Saturday when it meets Marquette.
Bogans, the Wildcats’ top scorer and floor leader, sprained his left ankle with 3:32 left in the first half when Wisconsin’s Kirk Penney committed a turnover, turned around to run back down the floor and fell over the Kentucky star.
Bogans winced on the bench during a timeout, lobbied to get back in and then limped on the court with just under two minutes left.
But hampered and in obvious pain, he headed to the locker room with 53 seconds to go in the half.
Arizona 88,
Notre Dame 71
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Arizona took all the drama out of this one early.
After beating Gonzaga by one point in a double-overtime classic, the top-seeded Wildcats rolled right over Notre Dame 88-71 to advance to the West Regional final. Luke Walton, last seen sprawled in exhaustion on the floor in Salt Lake City after grabbing the final rebound in the second round, had 16 points, seven boards and eight assists for Arizona.
Fellow senior Jason Gardner added 19 points in his school-record 134th career start. Channing Frye had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Hassan Adams added 14 points.
Kansas 69, Duke 65
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Roy Williams got that elusive victory over Coach K – thanks to Nick Collison.
Collison scored a career-high 33 points and had 19 rebounds to lead Kansas to a 69-65 victory over Duke in the semifinals of the West Regional.
A 6-foot-9 senior, Collison scored seven straight points to give second-seeded Kansas a 63-57 lead with 5:41 remaining, and the Jayhawks were on top the rest of the way. Kansas (28-7) will face Arizona on Saturday with the winner going to the Final Four. The top-seeded Wildcats (28-3) beat fifth-seeded Notre Dame 88-71 earlier Thursday at Anaheim Arena.
Marquette 77, Pittsburgh 74
MINNEAPOLIS – Not since the days of Al McGuire has Marquette made it this far.
Dwyane Wade scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half to lead the third-seeded Golden Eagles to a 77-74 victory over second-seeded Pittsburgh in the Midwest Regional semifinals at the Metrodome.
Chevon Troutman scored seven of his 15 points in the final 2:56 to lead a furious Panthers rally, but Marquette hung on as Pittsburgh was eliminated in the round of 16 for the second straight season.
The lovable coach McGuire led Marquette to the 1977 national title and the Golden Eagles hadn’t been to a regional final since.
Marquette (26-5) will play top-seeded Kentucky on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the Final Four in New Orleans. The Wildcats beat Wisconsin 63-57 earlier.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
