“I talked to Showy all the time and he said, ‘We’ll be fine, we’ll be fine.’ So I believed him”.
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“It was exactly how we wanted it – either Nigel (Hayes) at the rim or Bronson coming at the corner”, Badgers coach Greg Gard said of the final play. And when coach trusts you to take the ball out, that puts confidence behind you as well. “Tell him to keep working and it’ll work out OK”. It hasn’t been a good tournament so far for Hayes, but he’s been the hero plenty of times for Wisconsin.
Oklahoma: Khadeem Lattin, who entered the game averaging 5.5 points, scored six in the first 3:07….
Ethan Happ added 18 points and Vitto Brown finished with 12 for Wisconsin.
“I have no idea how that one went in”, he said.
“I knew it was going in before it even left my hand, because that is a shot I practice quite a bit”, Koenig said after the game. “I think that’s what the Wisconsin basketball program has kind of been built on, just finding a way to win”.
Xavier looked to be in control after taking a nine-point lead with six minutes left, but the Badgers clawed back and Koenig delivered his first clutch basket with a deep three-pointer with thirteen seconds left in the game to tie it at 66 apiece. “A lot of good teams had great seasons and they won’t be in Sweet 16”, Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. Extremely happy locker room last night.
It was billed as a clash of styles, and in the first half’s first half, Wisconsin’s patience was superior to Xavier’s fast-paced system.
Though this version of the Badgers lost five of the top seven players from last year’s Final Four team, they won 11 of 14 games down the stretch and reeled off two more W’s in the tournament. But the 1-3-1 zone of the Musketeers eventually slowed them down, and the Big East runner-ups countered with a 21-8 run of their own.
Wisconsin led early but Xavier had a better end to the first half to grab the 33-30 lead at halftime.
The Badgers weren’t done, though. Hayes revamped his jumper this year and seemed to have overcome his initial adjustment struggles, but he might be back to square one.
But, here they are, two wins away from their third straight Final Four. Koenig hit a pair of foul shots, and then a strip-steal turned into a layup for Showalter, before Hill hit yet another shot to make it 61-57 at the under-4 minute timeout. Hayes made it a one-point game with a free throw, but the Badgers couldn’t get closer on their next series when Happ slipped on the baseline and was called out of bounds, setting up the wild finish. “Just that whole run a year ago is something that will be in my memory books forever”, Schlundt said.
“I can’t be more proud of a group of young men that have withstood every challenge that’s come at them, every adversity piece that’s been thrown their way”, he said.
“I heard, “shoot it” so I shot it”.
By The Associated Press The Latest on the fourth full day of the men’s NCAA Tournament, including games being played in New York; St. Louis; Oklahoma City and Spokane, Washington. Koenig also tweeted, “That was for all my Natives out there, & my team, & of course the true fans out there!!”
Fans at the Green Bay Distillery in Ashwaubenon gathered in their Wisconsin red to cheer on the Badgers who were trying to make it to the Sweet Sixteen for the third consecutive season and the sixth time in the last eight years.
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Xavier: Trevon Bluiett was held to seven points on 3-for-11 shooting…. He entered Sunday night having hit 14-for-29 from three in the final five minutes of the second half and overtime this season. Despite missing his first two attempts, Koenig shook off his shooting struggles by making a career-high six 3-point buckets; his last two couldn’t have come at a better time.
