Butler, ND set for all-Hoosier showdown
PITTSBURGH — Notre Dame won first, then Butler. All that’s missing in Saturday’s all-Hoosier showdown is Jimmy Chitwood telling Norman Dale, “I’ll make it.”
Villanova has a date with North Carolina State in a matchup between two 1980s NCAA Tournament darlings who have spent three decades trying to recapture national championships.
It was getting another game at the Consol Center that was the hard part for N.C. State and Notre Dame.
Butler got by on Thursday like it always does in March. And Villanova? Well, beware a top-seeded Wildcats team that romped their way toward a blowout win against Lafayette and showed President Barack Obama might have a future as a full-fledged bracketologist.
“They were very scary on film,” Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon said.
It was a true horror show for the Leopards in real life as they lost 93-52.
Dylan Ennis scored 16 points and helped Villanova (33-2) win its 16th straight game. The Wildcats shot close to 70 percent for most of the game and led by as many as 45 points.
They made 11 of 22 from 3-point range and shot 63 percent overall from the floor.
“I could tell our guys were fired up for this game because it was the NCAA Tournament,” coach Jay Wright said. “They weren’t thinking seed. They weren’t thinking we could be the first 1-16 to (lose). They don’t think about that stuff. Coaches do.”
Here’s how the rest of the tournament shaped up on Thursday at the Consol Center.
Irish Eyes
Zach Auguste scored 25 points, Jerian Grant added 17 and Notre Dame dodged a scare with a 69-65 win over Northeastern. The third-seeded Irish (30-5) returned to the tournament after a one-year absence determined to build off their ACC Tournament title and make a Final Four run.
The Huskies (23-12) chased down the loose ball after an inbounds pass was wildly thrown away by the Irish.
Out of timeouts, Northeastern passed the ball five times on its final game-tying possession.
Butler Ball
Indiana hoops fans may stuff local sports bar Plump’s Last Shot and watch some Hoosier vs. Hoosier action.
The Bulldogs may not be Indiana’s school — that title still belongs to the Hoosiers — but making back-to-back national title games earned them some serious cred.
Kellen Dunham scored 20 points, including a pivotal 3-pointer with 1:18 to play, and sixth-seeded Butler churned out a 56-48 victory over 11th-seeded Texas.
Comeback
BeeJay Anya’s hook shot rolled around and in with a second to play, lifting North Carolina State to a stunning 66-65 victory over LSU.
The eighth-seeded Wolfpack (21-13) trailed by as much as 16.
