After a fantastic round one of March Madness, round two is now in the books. Round two featured more of the same dramatics just as round one did. From upsets to wild endings, we had had a bit of everything. Let’s take a look at what went down in round two of the Midwest Region.
(1) Virginia (9) Butler
The first game played in the Midwest Region was supposed to be a tight, low scoring contest. After the first half of the game it seemed like that was going to be the case. The two teams combined for a low 48 points with a slim 25-23 Virginia lead. The second half of the game was a different story with the teams combining for 98 points but Virginia pulled away from Butler outscoring them 54-44. Virginia simply refused to let the number 9 seed get in their head and came away with the upset. The cavaliers found a way to do what they usually do, which is win ball games. They won this one 77-69. Malcolm Brogdon led the way for Virginia with 22 points while Butler’s Andrew Chrabascz had a game high 25 points.
(4) Iowa State (12) Little Rock
Georges Niang, Iowa State’s best player will be going back to the Sweet 16 this year, only this time he will not be wearing a walking boot like he did in 2014. There was a bit of speculation that Little Rock could have been one of the tournament’s “Cinderella” teams but Iowa State quickly put that speculation to rest dominating the trojans and finishing the first half with a 40-28 lead. Little Rock tried to claw their way back in the second half but ultimately ended up getting beaten by a score of 78-61. Georges Niang was once again Iowa State’s best player in this game finishing with 28 points, 6 boards and 3 assists. Roger Woods was Little Rock’s best player in the loss finishing the game with a double double, with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
(3) Utah (11) Gonzaga
After the Bulldogs first two games in the tournament, they look more like a one or two seed, rather than an 11. There is really not much to talk about for this game other than the fact that the 11 seed Gonzaga absolutely ran the number 3 seed out of the building by a score of 82-59. Gonzaga dominated in field goal percentage shooting 56%, while Utah only shot 42% from the field. Gonzaga also out-rebounded Utah 34-24 in the victory. Eric McClellan, Domantas Sabonis and Kyle Wiltjer were Gonzaga’s go to guys in this one combining for 58 of their 82 points. This will be Gonzaga’s second straight Sweet 16 appearance. So far, in this tournament, the injury to star center Przemek Karnowski doesn’t seem to have had too much of an impact.
(10) Syracuse (15) Middle Tennessee
For Syracuse, this game sort of had the same feeling towards it like the game they played on friday. The first half was as tight as a ball game can be but Syracuse pulled away from their opponent and went on a run at the beginning of the half, a move their opponent could not overcome. On the other side of the ball, Middle Tennessee just did not have enough gas left in the tank to knock off another higher ranked seed like they did to Michigan State. Syracuse’s trademark zone defence was too much for Middle Tennessee to handle and wore them down in the second half. This win for Syracuse was a real team victory as four players scored in double digits with Star Michael Gbinije leading the way with 23 points. The final score was 75-50. Syracuse was 1-6 going into the NCAA March Madness tournament and now looks like one of the teams to beat.
