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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014
PAGE 9
NCAA
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
UConn advances to national championship
Connecticut forward Tyler Olander (10) celebrates with teammates at the end of an NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game against Florida on Saturday in Arlington, Texas. Connecticut won 63-53.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARLINGTON, Texas Shabazz Napier looked up toward the Connecticut fans in the crowd at AT&T Stadium and held up one finger.
The Huskies had just beaten overall No. 1 seed Florida 63-53 on Saturday in the Final Four. But Napier's gesture had another meaning.
"One more to go," the firstteam All-American said.
The victory got them into Monday night's title game against Kentucky and it was as good an effort as any team came up with this season against the Gators, who came in having won 30 straight games, a streak that started after a loss to the Huskies four months ago.
"We have been in a lot of dog fights," Napier said. "We are just an experienced group. We believe in each other and continue to believe in each other.
Especially against Florida.
... We are going to win. That is what we do."
The Gators lost only three times this season — once to Wisconsin in the second game of the season and twice to the Huskies. The first time was on Dec. 2 when a foul-line jumper at the buzzer by Napier gave UConn a 65-64 victory.
They didn't have to wait that long to know they had this one.
The Huskies, the seventh seed in the East Regional, will meet Kentucky, the eighth seed in the Midwest, on Monday night. There have only been two No. 8 seeds to reach the championship game since the field expanded in 1985 — Villanova in 1985 and Butler in 2011. Connecticut is the first No. 7 seed to reach the title game.
This will be the first time since 1966 that two teams that weren't in the tournament the year before meet for the title. The teams that year were Texas Western and Kentucky. Connecticut was ineligible last season because of academic issues and Kentucky played in the NIT.
Napier helped seal this game with about 2 minutes to play when he made two free throws for a 59-47 lead. That margin was the deficit the Huskies (31-8) faced in the opening minutes after a cold shooting
start.
"I knew we was going to get back in the game. They knew we was going to get back in the game," second-year coach Kevin Ollie said. "We live and die on defense and hopefully everybody understands that."
With Ollie in a defensive stance himself most of the game, the Huskies sidetracked the Florida offense by shutting down point guard Scottie Wilbekin and 3-point specialist Michael Frazier II, who scored a combined seven points.
"UConn was very good with their pressure on our guards and we didn't convert points," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "They scored a lot on as well. So all the credit goes to them."
The Huskies were impressive
We are just an experienced group. We believe in each other and continue to believe in each other. ... We are going to win. That is what we do."
SHABAZZ NAPIER
UConn point guard
on offense, shooting 55.8 percent (24 of 43) from the field against a team that allowed opponents to shoot 39.9 percent this season.
"DeAndre was huge for us," Ollie said. "He stepped up and really rebounded for us and was pretty much unstoppable."
"Whomever 1 put in the game, it was positive and they were productive," Ollie said.
DeAndre Daniels had 20 points and 10 rebounds for Connecticut, and it was his two 3-pointers in a span of 1:43 that helped ignite the Huskies after they had fallen behind 16-4.
Napier had two key second-half steals on Wilbekin, both of which led to UConn baskets. Wilbekin was bothered by cramps throughout the game.
Napier, who leads the team in almost every category, finished with 12 points and six assists. He definitely got the better of Wilbekin in a matchup of senior point guards, both conference players of the year.
Wilbekin said. "I got out of the game and got some ice and it wasn't really a problem from then on."
"It was right when the second half started. I was getting a little cramp, it wasn't too bad,"
The Connecticut guards were. Florida had 11 turnovers and a season-low three assists.
"That's crazy, that's not usually what we do," Wilbekin said. "All credit goes to them and their guards and the way they were denying and putting pressure on us."
Patric Young had 19 points for Florida (36-3), which had won all of its NCAA tournament games by at least 10 points. The Gators shot just 38.8 percent from the field (19 of 49), well off their 46.1 percent average.
"Once they got their defense set, I thought we had a hard time dealing with their pressure up top," Donovan said.
The Huskies used 3-pointers to open things up inside, hitting 5 of 12 from long range. They had such an easy time scoring inside that they had only one basket outside the paint in the final 20 minutes, shooting 63.6 percent (14 of 22).
HUMBLE, Texas — Matt Jones earned his first trip to the Masters with a remarkable 42-yard chip-in on the first playoff hole, outdueling Matt Kuchar on his way to winning the Houston Open on Sunday.
Florida was just one for 10 from 3-point range and the Gators' most effective weapon on through most of the game was an offensive rebound off a miss. They had 12 in the game and turned them into 13 points.
Florida's defense — which was No. 3 in the nation — was suffocating early and the Gators took a 16-4 lead with a 7-0 run that was capped by a drive by Wilbekin with 9:47 to play.
The win is the first on the PGA Tour for the Australian, who made a 46-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to reach the playoff. He ended it one hole later, chipping over the right front bunker on the 18th and watching it roll in.
PGA
The Huskies suddenly found their shooting touch. Connecticut made four straight shots and three of them were from beyond the 3-point line
In the second half, the Huskies stretched the lead to 59-47 with 2:04 left, turning the 12-point deficit into a 12-point lead. They are in the title for the fourth time, the first three all wins under coach Jim Calhoun.
— two by Daniels and another by Ryan Boatright. A drive by Napier gave the Huskies the lead for good, 23-22 with 2:20 left in the half.
Jones' playoff chipin wins Houston Open
Jones, who began the day six shots back of Kuchar, shot a final-round 66 and ended the tournament 15 under overall.
Kuchar, who bogeyed the final hole of regulation, then missed his shot to give Jones the win.
Florida was looking to reach the national championship game for the first time since repeating as champions in 2007.
In September, Jones lipped out an 8-foot birdie putt on the last hole of the BMW Championship.
Jones sent his tee shot on the first hole of the playoff into the right fairway bunker. He then landed just short of the green-
It was the second straight miss of the 18th green from the fairway for Kuchar, who sent his fairway metal on the 72nd hole into the water before recovering to make bogey and reach the playoff.
side bunker with his second shot; while Kuchar found the bunker from the fairway.
Jones didn't leave Kuchar any room for error in the playoff, sending his chip over the greenside bunker and watching as it rolled in.
Golfers were sent off in three-somes early Sunday morning for the second day in a row because of the threat of strong storms in the Houston area. The rain, heavy at times, began early during the final pairing's round, but the pros finished without any delays.
Kuchar started the day with a four-shot lead over Garcia and Cameron Tringale, but he bogeyed the first hole and was one over on the front nine.
That allowed lones, who began the day at nine under, to briefly tie for the lead at 14 under following a birdie on the par-4 11th.
Kuchar answered moments later
with a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 10. The putt gave him a one-shot lead at 15 under, a lead that seemed solid until the final hole of regulation.
With Kuchar watching from the tee, Jones bounced back from a bogey on the 17th to make a 46-foot birdie putt on No. 18. That sent him to 15 under overall, one shot back of the lead.
Kuchar hit the fairway before his second shot found the water — opening the door for Jones to earn the win and his improbable trip to next week's Masters.
Garcia finished in third at 13 under, while Tringale was fourth at 12 under.
Rory McIlroy matched the low round of the tournament with a seven-under 65 on Sunday, finishing tied for seventh at eight under overall.
Filip Nickelson, who won the tournament in 2011, was one under on Sunday and finished seven under overall in a tie for 12th — a week after he was forced to withdraw from the Texas Open because of a muscle pull in his right side.
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