DES MOINES, Iowa — Kentucky had the stars. But Indiana had more toughness – and that’s why the Hoosiers are headed back to the Sweet 16.
Thomas Bryant scored 15 of his 19 points in the final eight minutes, Yogi Ferrell had 18 points and fifth-seeded Indiana beat Kentucky 73-67 Saturday to earn a spot in the Sweet 16.
The Hoosiers (27-7) will return to the regional semifinals for the first time since 2013 despite losing starting guard Robert Johnson to an apparent left ankle injury late in the first half.
Indiana took control with a 17-4 run to go up 10 with four minutes left. Tyler Ulis and Alex Poythress pulled Kentucky within 69-67 on free throws, but Bryant hit two from the line with 10 seconds to go to seal the win.
Ulis scored 27 points for Kentucky (27-9), which suffered its earliest NCAA tournament exit since 2008, when it lost to a Marquette team coached by Tom Crean, now Indiana’s coach.
Jamal Murray added 16 points for the Wildcats, but he was just 1 of 9 on 3-point attempts.
The Hoosiers won this one with resilience more than anything else.
Indiana went on a 9-2 run with Ferrell on the bench after he picked up his third foul. Ferrell quickly went back in, and the Hoosiers pushed their lead to 62-52 on a Bryant dunk.
An O.G. Anunoby block and another Bryant dunk proved huge for the Hoosiers – especially after Troy Williams fouled Ulis from 3-point range to give Kentucky life.
It had been four years since these once-longtime rivals had faced each other; a Sweet 16 game that Kentucky won 102-90 on its way to a national title.
Indiana was lucky to go into halftime ahead 33-32.
Johnson went to the locker room with five minutes left after hitting a pair of early 3s, and Ferrell took 12 minutes to knock down a bucket.
Kentucky looked set to run away, especially after Murray followed a Ulis 3 from the “March Madness” logo with a dunk. But the Wildcats went nearly five minutes without a basket to close the half, allowing the Hoosiers to inch out in front.
Indiana pushed its lead to six before 3s by Murray and Ulis pulled Kentucky even at 38-all. But that was Murray’s last 3, and a 3-pointer by Anunoby with 6:53 left put the Hoosiers ahead 56-50.
(4) DUKE 71, (12) YALE 64: Grayson Allen had 29 points, including five 3-pointers, to help Duke fend off a furious rally by Yale and advance to the Sweet 16 with a victory in Providence, Rhode Island.
Brandon Ingram added 25 points and five rebounds for the defending champions.
The West Region’s No. 4 seed, Duke (25-10) led by as many as 27 points before seeing that dwindle to just three with less than a minute to play.
Yale (23-7) came close to forcing a needed turnover but eventually had to foul. Duke connected on four of its final five free-throws to close out the game.
Brandon Sherrod led the 12th-seeded Bulldogs with 22 points. Justin Sears added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Yale used a 15-0 run to cut what had been a 23-point halftime deficit to 54-47 with 11:38 left. Duke, which sizzled early offensively, missed eight consecutive shots during the spurt.
Yale kept chipping away and a tip-in by Justin Sears off a missed free throw by Sherrod made it 67-64 with just 39 seconds to play.
SOUTH REGIONAL
(3) MIAMI 65, (11) WICHITA STATE 57: Angel Rodriguez took over after Miami blew a 21-point lead midway through the second half, hitting a big 3-pointer with 72 seconds remaining and scoring 28 points to lead the third-seeded Hurricanes over No. 11 Wichita State in Providence, Rhode Island.
Miami (27-7) made it to the Sweet 16r three years ago under Jim Larranaga, in his fifth season as head coach. Sheldon McClellan finished with 18 points and Davon Reed had 10 for the Hurricanes.
Fred VanVleet and Shaquille Morris each scored 12 points and Ron Baker had 11 for Wichita State (26-9), which put on a furious rally in the second half of a bruising game, taking a 43-42 lead with 10:24 to go.
After Baker’s 3-pointer gave Wichita State its first lead, Ja’Quan Newton’s slam dunk put Miami back on top and McClellan scored eight straight points for some separation.
(1) KANSAS 73, (9) CONNECTICUT 61: Wayne Selden Jr. and Perry Ellis carried Kansas on a romp to the round of 16, combining for 43 points in a second-round win in Des Moines, Iowa.
Selden had 22 points and seven rebounds, Ellis scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the top-seeded Jayhawks (32-4) advanced to the regional semifinals Thursday in Louisville, Kentucky. Kansas will play the winner of Sunday’s game between Hawaii and Maryland.
Selden and Ellis combined to shoot 17 for 27 from the floor, shooing away the disappointment of second-round defeats each of the last two years.
Sterling Gibbs had 20 points for the ninth-seeded Huskies (25-11), who fell behind by 24 points in the first half.
MIDWEST REGIONAL
(4) IOWA STATE 78, (12) ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 61: Georges Niang scored 28 points and Iowa State kept Josh Hagins from any more second-half heroics in a second-round win at Denver.
The fourth-seeded Cyclones (23-11) advanced to their second Sweet 16 in three years.
Niang, the winningest player (97) in Cyclones history and Iowa State’s only two-time All-American, was simply too much for the 12th-seeded Trojans (30-5) of the Sun Belt Conference.
For the second straight game, Hagins had just two points at halftime.
Unlike last time, when he went off for 29 more in a double-overtime win against Purdue, Hagins added just six points after the break.
(1) VIRGINIA 77, (9) BUTLER 69: Malcolm Brogdon scored 22 points and Virginia used hot second-half shooting to beat Butler in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Anthony Gill added 17 points and Marial Shayok finished with 12 for the top-seeded Cavaliers (28-7).
Virginia shot 73 percent after halftime, hitting 14 of its first 16 shots of the second half, and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three years. The Cavaliers will face Iowa State (23-11) on Friday in the regional semifinals in Chicago.
Andrew Chrabascz scored a season-high 25 points for ninth-seeded Butler (22-11).
(11) GONZAGA 82, (3) UTAH 59: Gonzaga stayed on a roll, getting 22 points from Eric McClellan and another double-double from Domantas Sabonis in a runaway win over Utah in Denver.
The 11th-seeded Bulldogs (28-7), who beat Seton Hall by 16 points in the first round, are onto the Sweet 16 for the second straight year.
This game was billed as a battle of big men, between the 6-foot-11 Sabonis and Utah’s 7-footer, Jakob Poeltl, but it never materialized. Poeltl finished with five points and four rebounds, while Sabonis had 19 points and 10 rebounds for his 22nd double-double of the season.
The third-seeded Utes (27-9) trailed by 15 at halftime and by as many as 30 in the second half.
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