The petition, which was started on Change.org by UNCW spirit group the Screamin’ Seahawks, states that this is UNCW’s first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2006, and since the university will be hosting a viewing party of the game against Duke on Thursday at 12:15 in Trask Coliseum, UNCW students who have class at that time should be afforded the opportunity to watch the basketball game. Duke got just 10 points, two rebounds and two assists between Derryck Thornton and Chase Jeter, the only two players to come off the bench for the Blue Devils. He is there to do the dirty work and fill a spot where the Blue Devils quite literally have no other choices since Amile Jefferson’s right foot injury.
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UNC Wilmington led by three at the break and was up by as many as seven points, before breaking down from there.
Seahawks guard Chris Flemmings grew up in Cary, so he is well familiar with the deep basketball tradition in the state. That allowed the ninth-seeded Huskies to hang around – and a 24-6 run midway through the second half put them firmly in front. He threw down a number of alley-oop jams after tossing aside the mask he was wearing to protect a recently-broken nose. They were able UNCW’s press with regularity in the last five minutes of the game, resulting in numerous uncontented dunks by Marshall Plumlee. The Blue Devils will play the victor of the Baylor-Yale game on Saturday in an attempt to advance to the Sweet 16. His previous high was a 21-point perfromance against Virginia Tech earlier this year.
Not to be outdone, another No. 12, Arkansas-Little Rock, beat No. 5 Purdue 85-83 in a rare double overtime contest that won’t soon be forgotten. When it broke down, they never could quite recapture the magic of the first half.
The Seahawks appear to have made a similarly wise coaching hire in Kevin Keatts. The other three teams playing early games (UNCW, Butler and Texas Tech) shot 44 free throws, combined.
The Bulldogs, galvanized by the recent deaths of a former school star and a child of an assistant coach, rode a huge second half from Kelan Martin (all 11 of his points) and 23 from Kellen Dunham to improve to 22-10.
This will be the first game to tip off on Thursday, which officially marks the beginning of the NCAA Tournament outside of the First Four matchup.
In Iowa, Connecticut had to rally back from an 11-point deficit at the half to defeat No. 8 Colorado 74-67.
25-99: All-time record for No. 13 seeds vs. No. 4.
It’s March Madness, the greatest time of the year.
From the top of the bracket, Kansas survives tough games against UConn and Cal – both blue, by the way – and from the bottom, Villanova – blue, too – meets the Jayhawks in the Elite Eight. The Hurricanes prevailed 79-72.
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All that said, Duke has shown the ability to clamp down defensively for key stretches of games this season. Still, he was told not to move around or gesture the rest of the game and had some fun with that afterward. They play to win, and they have a style that fits their personnel really well. Izzo might be the best coach.
