Florida at the buzzer, Fox over Ball

The last four games in the Sweet 16 were very different from those played the night before, and set plenty of records. North Carolina and South Carolina had no problems at all against Butler and Baylor, with the Bears suffering the worst loss in their tournament history. Kentucky vs UCLA was a rematch of the Dember 3rd game and was highlighted by the duel between PGs De’Aaron Fox and Lonzo Ball, with the former scoring 39 points, the highest mark ever for a freshman in the tournament. The most exciting game finished with a win by Florida over Wisconsin, courtesy of an unbelievable three-point shot by Chris Chiozza in overtime.

Your bullet points to wrap up the Sweet 16.

North Carolina-Butler 92-80

• The 12-point deficit does not tell the full story of a game dominated by UNC from the very beginning. Butler’s Andrew Chrabascz said it best: “When you let a team like that feel good about themselves, it’s tough to get them out of that with how many talented guys they have on their team. And also they answered every run that we had.”
• To be fair, whenever Butler tried to get back into the game, North Carolina responded. Mostly, it was Joel Berry, who finished with 26 points on 2-of-6 2P and 3-of-7 3P, to provide the punch. Including the one you can see below.

• Besides, Butler had a bad shooting night. The Bulldogs did look for open shots, but they finished the game 8-for-28 from behind the arc (28%), way below their 37% season average.
• UNC won the rebounding battle 38-26, but it was the Tar Heels shooting accuracy that really won the game. Justin Jackson, Joel Berry and Luke Maye finished with a combined 15-for-21 2P and 8-for-20 3P.
• Kelan Martin box score is proof that he did play (16 points, 5 rebounds), but the truth is he scored all of his points once the Tar Heels had already run away.

South Carolina-Baylor 70-50

• South Carolina reaching the Elite8 proves that the win over Duke was not an accident. The game was virtually over at halftime, with Baylor already down by 15 points (37-22). Halfway through the second half the Bears put together a run and cut the deficit to 11 points, but they went scoreless in the following 5 minutes.
• The Gamecocks built their win on defense, as expected. Baylor shot 30.4% from the field (17-for-56) on a night where the Bears could not find good shots anywhere on the court, not even in the paint (12-for-31). Jo Lual-Acuil had a positive impact early on (9 points, 4-of-6 2P, 1-of-1 FT), but it did not last.
• The Bears are turnover-prone and the Gamecocks are good at forcing turnovers. It could have been a key to the game, but it really was not: both teams had 16 and Baylor scored 13 points off turnovers to South Carolina 11.
• The Gamecocks needed to make up for the physical and athletic disadvantage with their intensity. The effort kept them close in the rebounding battle (40-37) and on defense South Carolina was more aggressive and had more success in clogging the space and slow down their opponents. The Gamecocks as a team did a great job on Jonathan Motley, who had a hard time getting touches in the paint.
• Sindarius Thornwell carried the team’s offense for the whole year but last night he finally got some help in Duane Notice (11 points), who shot 3-for-4 from behind the arc (8-for-20 as a team). Four players scored in double-figures and that 40% from behind the arc are a good sign for a team dreaming about the Final Four.

Kentucky-UCLA 86-75

• De’Aaron Fox scored 39 points and was the better player on the floor last night in the duel against Lonzo Ball, who finished with 8 assists. Ball suffered Fox’s defense and could not buy a basket for the whole game (1-of-6 3P).
• The difference was mostly in the approach. Fox was aggressive from the very start, scored the first 8 points for Kentucky and never stopped attacking the rim. Ball let the game slip from his grasp without even trying. In a post-game interview he declared immediately for the draft, and it looked like that was the only thing on his mind for the whole game.
• “All I did at halftime was say: `Guys. Are you watching this game?’ Ok good. You know we are playing through De’Aaron Fox. The rest of you take a back seat and play off of him”. John Calipari delivered this speech to his players, but Malik Monk did not listen: the SEC player of the year scored 14 points in the second half and the two of Monk and Fox combined for 38, while UCLA scored 42 in the final 20 minutes.
• It was a slower game than what could be expected, and the credit goes to Kentucky’s defense: the Bruins were held to 75 points, while their season average is 90. The Wildcats perimeter players did a great job getting back on defense and denying transition points, forcing UCLA to slow down.
• Coach Steve Alford relied on his guards a lot this season, but Isaac Hamilton was the only one who delivered last night. All the others were awful on defense and were never effective on offense.
• UCLA’s frontcourt had a much better game, with TJ Leaf showcasing his scoring skills and Thomas Welsh keeping Bam Adebayo out of the game. The paint was not the issue for UCLA.
• Fox and Monk had an incredible game, but Kentucky’s supporting cast was a huge factor as well, and Dominique Hawkins 11-point-in-17-minute performance stands out. One of the many Kentucky guards who was free to do whatever he liked in this game.

Florida-Wisconsin 84-83 (OT)

• Way too many things happened in this game. Before getting to the three key episodes of the game, a couple of words on KeVaughn Allen‘s game: his 35 points (on 7-for-12 2P and 4-for-12 3P) set a new scoring record for a Florida player in the tournament. He carried the Gators for the whole second half, except for the final minutes.
• The Gators had an 8-point lead with 100 seconds remaining. The game was over. But then Bronson Koenig scored from three, Ethan Happ scored from inside and Zak Showalter sent the game to overtime with this shot.

• Wisconsin swung the game its way with the wild finish in regulation and carried the momentum in overtime, but missed too many free throws to build a safe lead. With the Badgers up 2, this possession should have sealed it. It still turned out to be a crucial possession, courtesy of Canyon Barry and Khalil Iverson, but not the way Badgers’s fan expected it.

• And then, the finale. Florida fouled Nigel Hayes (5-of-12 on free throws until then) who made both. Wisconsin had an 83-81 lead with 4 seconds left. The Gators had no timeouts. But Chris Chiozza took care of things.