Wichita State, Notre Dame meet in Maui final

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Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall has achieved an undefeated regular season and a Final Four appearance but has never led the Shockers to the championship of a marquee, eight-team, in-season tournament.

He has that opportunity Wednesday when No. 6 Wichita State (4-0) will play No. 13 Notre Dame (5-0) in the title game of the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.

Wichita State defeated Marquette 80-66 in one semifinal Tuesday, and Notre Dame routed LSU 92-53 in the other.

It will be the Shockers' first eight-team championship game since 1963, when they won the All-College Tournament in Oklahoma City.

Wichita State senior reserve guard Rashard Kelly, when asked what a Maui Invitational title would mean to him, turned to Marshall on the interview podium and asked: "You have a championship here yet?"

"I've never had a championship here, Rashard," Marshall said in a loud tone.

"All right, then it would mean the world to us," Kelly said with a laugh.

Wichita State's Landry Shamet scored 19 points against Marquette, including 10 in the final four minutes to seal the win. Conner Frankamp (13 points), Shaquille Morris (11), and Austin Reaves (10) also scored in double figures.

Kelly was brought to the interview room because of his six points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks off the bench. His play exemplifies the kind of depth Marshall possesses.

"I just have to play and bring the same mindset I do every day and contribute and be that glue guy," Kelly said about being a reserve instead of a starter. "We have great scorers on our team and we have great guys that can shoot the ball. I just have to find a different way to contribute."

Important to Marshall was Wichita State rebounding almost 85 percent of Marquette's misses. The Shockers finished with a 42-25 advantage on the glass.

"The ideal situation for us is to force a tough, contested shot, then everybody checks out and the ball hits the floor and the guards can swoop in and get it," Marshall said.

Notre Dame's backcourt duo of T.J. Gibbs and Matt Farrell dominated LSU. Gibbs finished with 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range. Farrell had 17 points and seven assists.

Irish forward Bonzie Colson posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and he also had five steals. Reserve John Mooney contributed nine points and six assists.

"We're sharing the ball and playing as well as we can right now as a team," said Gibbs, whose team had 18 assists and only six turnovers against the Tigers.

The Wichita State-Notre Dame matchup is a rematch of a 2015 Sweet 16 game won by the Fighting Irish 81-70.

When Gibbs was told the Shockers might be motivated by that outcome, he said, "We definitely know winning this thing is important. Since we were coming here, we've been on a mission. It's about coming together and playing strong. We're ready."

Wichita State, Notre Dame meet in Maui final

Stats, LLC

Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall has achieved an undefeated regular season and a Final Four appearance but has never led the Shockers to the championship of a marquee, eight-team, in-season tournament.

He has that opportunity Wednesday when No. 6 Wichita State (4-0) will play No. 13 Notre Dame (5-0) in the title game of the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.

Wichita State defeated Marquette 80-66 in one semifinal Tuesday, and Notre Dame routed LSU 92-53 in the other.

It will be the Shockers' first eight-team championship game since 1963, when they won the All-College Tournament in Oklahoma City.

Wichita State senior reserve guard Rashard Kelly, when asked what a Maui Invitational title would mean to him, turned to Marshall on the interview podium and asked: "You have a championship here yet?"

"I've never had a championship here, Rashard," Marshall said in a loud tone.

"All right, then it would mean the world to us," Kelly said with a laugh.

Wichita State's Landry Shamet scored 19 points against Marquette, including 10 in the final four minutes to seal the win. Conner Frankamp (13 points), Shaquille Morris (11), and Austin Reaves (10) also scored in double figures.

Kelly was brought to the interview room because of his six points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks off the bench. His play exemplifies the kind of depth Marshall possesses.

"I just have to play and bring the same mindset I do every day and contribute and be that glue guy," Kelly said about being a reserve instead of a starter. "We have great scorers on our team and we have great guys that can shoot the ball. I just have to find a different way to contribute."

Important to Marshall was Wichita State rebounding almost 85 percent of Marquette's misses. The Shockers finished with a 42-25 advantage on the glass.

"The ideal situation for us is to force a tough, contested shot, then everybody checks out and the ball hits the floor and the guards can swoop in and get it," Marshall said.

Notre Dame's backcourt duo of T.J. Gibbs and Matt Farrell dominated LSU. Gibbs finished with 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range. Farrell had 17 points and seven assists.

Irish forward Bonzie Colson posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and he also had five steals. Reserve John Mooney contributed nine points and six assists.

"We're sharing the ball and playing as well as we can right now as a team," said Gibbs, whose team had 18 assists and only six turnovers against the Tigers.

The Wichita State-Notre Dame matchup is a rematch of a 2015 Sweet 16 game won by the Fighting Irish 81-70.

When Gibbs was told the Shockers might be motivated by that outcome, he said, "We definitely know winning this thing is important. Since we were coming here, we've been on a mission. It's about coming together and playing strong. We're ready."

Mountaineers clinch Sweet 16 berth with win over Notre Dame

By JOHN WAWROW
AP Sports Writer

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) Don't be fooled by the Mountaineers referring to themselves as "Press" Virginia as a result of their relentless defensive pressure.

This team can score.

Led by Jevon Carter's 24 points, the Mountaineers outshot the Fighting Irish in an 83-71 win on Saturday to clinch their third Sweet 16 berth since 2010.

"They thought of us as defensive players," guard Tarik Phillip said. "But the coaching staff instilled a lot of confidence in us, helped us develop our offensive game, and we became pretty good offensive players."

West Virginia entered the tournament leading the nation in forcing 20.4 turnovers, while also ranking 15th in averaging 82 points. The Mountaineers topped 80 points for the 18th time, while also breaking the single-season school scoring record set by the Jerry West-led 1958-59 squad.

Daxter Miles scored 18 points, and Esa Ahmad had nine rebounds.

Carter led the way in matching a season high, while going 8 of 15, including 4 of 5 in 3-pointers.

His last 3-pointer all but finished the fifth-seeded Fighting Irish (26-10) as they attempted one final comeback bid.

Notre Dame's Matt Ryan hit a 3-point basket in the right corner to cut West Virginia's lead to 72-66 with 3:06 left.

Carter responded by crossing through the middle and pulling up to hit a fall-away 3-pointer about 25 seconds later.

"Just staying confident," said Carter, the Big 12's defensive player of the year. "When we step on the court, we feel like we can beat them. We got hot early and kept going from there. We keep that chip on our shoulder."

The Mountaineers continue to overcome the sting of last year's first-round tournament collapse, when they lost to 14th-seeded Stephen F. Austin.

Now they're off to the round of 16 for the first time since 2015, for the fourth time since coach Bob Huggins took over in 2007, and seventh time since the NCAA field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

Notre Dame was denied a chance to reach the Elite Eight for a third consecutive year .

Bonzie Colson led the Fighting Irish in hitting 10 of 15 shots, scored 27 points and had eight rebounds. Otherwise, the rest of the teammates were stymied.

Guard Matt Farrell was limited to eight points, while V.J. Beachem hit 2 of 14 attempts and finished with 9 points.

Coach Mike Brey said the difference was Notre Dame falling behind 10-0 and eventually getting worn down from attempting to dig out of such a hole. The Irish did eventually cut the lead to 32-29 only to give up two baskets over a 20-second span in a game the Mountaineers never trailed.

"Any time we thought we'd get this thing to four or get it to two possessions, somebody hit a big 3 or they got a putback," Brey said. "It's really spirit-breaking after a while."

Brey had to gamble in keeping Colson in after the star forward picked up his fourth foul with 9:47 left and with West Virginia up 59-47 Colson scored 10 of Notre Dame's next 14 points over a 5-minute span.

"It's horrible," said Colson, whose shoulders were heaving in emotion as he left the court. "It's frustrating when you try to play your tail off and play with everything you have and just leave everything out there."

GONE COLD: Beachem hit a combined 3 of 23 attempts for 15 points in two tournament games. That was a significant drop off for a player who scored 70 points in propelling the Fighting Irish's run to the Elite Eight. "I just wasn't able to knock them down," he said.

MOUNTAINEERS SCALE POINTS MARK: With Carter's fade away 3-point basket that put the Mountaineers up 13-4 6:04 into the game, West Virginia upped its season total to 2,886 points and broke the school record set by the Jerry West-led Mountaineers in 1958-59. There's an asterisk that goes with the record. The 1958-59 team scored 2,884 points in just 34 games in a season that ended with a loss to California in the national championship game. This year, the Mountaineers set the mark in their 36th game.

TURNED OVER: The Fighting Irish turned the ball over 10 times and trailed 42-35 at the half. Notre Dame had not committed double-digit turnovers in its previous nine games since a 13-turnover outing in an 84-72 win over Florida State on Feb. 11.

The Fighting Irish finished with just 14 turnovers overall.

HUGGINS LOVES BUFFALO: The Mountaineers coach improved to 4-0 in NCAA Tournament games in Buffalo. The Mountaineers opened their Final Four run in Buffalo in 2010. Huggins closed his news conference by referring to his success and saying: "Any time you want to invite us to come back, we'll come back."

UP NEXT

West Virginia advances to play the winner of the game between top-seeded Gonzaga and eighth-seeded Northwestern in the third round at San Jose, California, on Thursday.

Notre Dame hangs on to beat Princeton 60-58

By JOHN WAWROW
Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The Fighting Irish avoided the dreaded upset from a 12th seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Barely.

Bonzie Colson scored 18 points and the West Region's fifth-seeded Fighting Irish avoided a meltdown in the final two minutes to hang on for a 60-58 win over the Princeton Tigers on Thursday afternoon.

After Notre Dame's Matt Farrell missed the front end of a one-and-one with a 59-58 lead, Princeton had a chance to win on its final possession. Devin Cannady missed an open 3-pointer , and Notre Dame's Steve Vasturia pulled down the rebound and was fouled.

"We gave everybody a show, right?" Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "We escaped. We've been in a lot of games like that where game situations need a big defensive stop. We've been there. I'm proud we're still alive."

The Fighting Irish players appeared stunned walking off the floor.

Those players included Farrell, the usually clutch-shooting point guard, who hit six of nine for 16 points. He wore a scowl as he nearly left the floor through the wrong exit after Cannady's miss.

Ferrell finished with 16 points but in a game the Fighting Irish (26-9) nearly squandered an 11-point second half lead.

Notre Dame improved to 9-2 in its past 11. The Fighting Irish have also won seven of nine tournament games over the past three years, and they are the only team to reach the Elite Eight in each of the past two seasons.

Notre Dame led 59-54 with 1:10 left when Colson hit a pair of free throws.

The Tigers scored the next two baskets. Pete Miller put back a missed Cannady 3-pointer with 54 seconds left.

Farrell missed a 14-footer, and the Tigers cut the lead to 1 when Miller scored again, this time putting back a miss by Steven Cook.

"No matter how it looked, we got the win and that's all that matters," Colson said.

Spencer Weisz led Princeton with 15 points. The Ivy League champion Tigers (23-7) had a 19-game winning streak going into the NCAA Tournament.

"We had a shot," Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said. "Right now, this one hurts. When you're in the locker room, it's hard to say a proper 'Thank you,' because it feels like goodbye."

Cannady thought his shot was on target.

"I looked at the rim and when it went out of my hand, I thought it was good," said Cannady, who hit just two of 10 3-point attempts and finished with seven points. "But it didn't go in. It happens when you take those kinds of shots."

The Tigers were making their 25th tournament appearance and have lost in the first round in each of their past four trips. They haven't won since the fifth-seeded Tigers defeated UNLV 69-57 in 1998.

Princeton is known for making things tough on highly seeded teams .

In 1989 the Tigers nearly became the first No. 16 seed to take down a No. 1, when coach Pete Carril and his undersized squad took mighty Georgetown and twin towers Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo, to the final buzzer in a 50-49 loss.

Seven years later, Henderson played for Carril's 13th-seeded squad that scored a 43-41 first-round upset of defending national champion UCLA.

"This team has been punched in the face a little through the season, but they always responded," Henderson said. "They did a great job. I was pleased with the chances we had."

The Tigers led just once in the first half, building a 17-15 edge with 11:24 remaining, when Amir Bell scored on a transition drive, was fouled and completed the three-point play. The Fighting Irish regained the lead two minutes later when Colson scored from the right post.

COMING OUT COLD: The Tigers missed five of their first six attempts through the first 5 1/2 minutes, with Weisz scoring the only basket, a 3-pointer 2:55 in to cut Notre Dame's lead to 4-3.

CHRIS CHRISTIE SIGHTING: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie watched the game from behind the Notre Dame bench. Christie's son Andrew played baseball at Princeton, while his daughter, Sarah, has been a Fighting Irish team manager. Christie is also a long-time friend of Brey.

IN STITCHES: Fighting Irish guard Rex Pflueger left the game about six minutes in with a cut to his left forehead after being elbowed by Princeton's Cook. The cut required between six to seven stitches. A TV sideline reporter said Pflueger asked a fan to take a picture of his stitches because he thought they looked cool.

UP NEXT:

Notre Dame: Plays winner of 4th-seeded West Virginia versus 13th-seeded Bucknell on Saturday.

Princeton-Notre Dame Preview

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 Notre Dame has made its mark in March as the only team to reach the Elite Eight round of the past two NCAA Tournaments.

To be truly elite, however, the Fighting Irish know they need to carry that success into another month.

“We have a great opportunity ahead of us to make a deep run in this tournament,” senior guard Steve Vasturia told the Chicago Tribune. “It culminates in April, and we haven’t been able to get there. That’s a goal.”

Notre Dame (25-9) is seeded fifth in the West Region and will tip-off the first round Thursday afternoon against No. 12 seed Princeton (23-6) in Buffalo, N.Y.

The Irish were emotionally and physically drained after reaching the ACC tournament championship game. But after Saturday night’s loss to Duke, coach Mike Brey tried to lift his team’s spirits by pointing to the past postseason success.

“When that bracket shows up on Sunday night, we’re the only that that has played in back-to-back Elite Eights,” Brey said. “That’s a great advantage of ours, and it’s a psychological advantage for this nucleus.”

Brey also believes his team benefited from its run to the ACC title game in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“We delivered under bright lights and played well enough even though we couldn’t finish and get the championship game,” Brey said. “We had our March swagger.”

Princeton enters the NCAA Tournament having not lost since December. The Tigers’ 19-game winning streak includes a perfect 16-0 record against the Ivy League, including two wins in the league’s first championship tournament.

The Tigers had to come back from 10 points down in the second half to defeat Pennsylvania in overtime of the semifinals before beating Yale in the title game.

“We’re battle-tested,” senior Spencer Weisz told the Asbury Park Press. “These two games kind of give you that feeling of sudden death.”

Princeton last played in the NCAA Tournament in 2011, the year before coach Mitch Henderson took over the program. Henderson played on the Tigers team that upset defending national champion UCLA in 1996 as well as the ’98 squad that beat UNLV in the first round

“I’m really fired up about one opportunity we have,” Henderson told the Asbury Park Press. “It can end really quickly and these guys know that, but they’re playing with the fearlessness that I think you’re going to need.”

An Ivy League team has won a first-round game in two of the past three NCAA Tournaments as the 12th seed. Yale beat Baylor last year and Harvard defeated Cincinnati in 2014.

Senior forward Steven Cook and sophomore guard Devin Cannady each average 13.7 points for Princeton, leading four double-figure scorers. Weisz leads the Tigers in rebounding (5.4 per game) and assists (4.1).

Cannady is from Mishawaka, Ind., just outside South Bend, and has played summer pickup games at Notre Dame.

“It was cool seeing them pop up as our opponent,” Cannady said. “I’ve played with them and against them. I’m pretty familiar with their roster and their coaching staff.”

Bonzie Colson is Notre Dame’s leading scorer (17.5 points) and rebounder (10.2). The 6-foot-5 junior has 19 double-doubles this season. Senior forward VJ Beachem is scoring 15 points per game while junior point guard Matt Farrell averages 14.2 points and 5.5 rebounds.

Brey said this is the best defensive team he’s had at Notre Dame.