East Bracket Round of 32 Recap
In a weekend dominated by the favorites, the four teams who will represent the East bracket in the Sweet 16 are now set. The weekend kicked off with two-seed Iowa State taking on seven-seed Washington State. Both teams were coming off big wins and the game opened with Iowa State as six-and-a-half-point favorites. Yet, Washington State didn't go down easy, as at halftime they were tied up 27-27. Iowa State in the second half kicked it into another gear however, dominating the boards and showing why they came in favored. Iowa State would go on to win 67-56 after strong second-half performances from Curtis Jones and Tamin Lipsey. Iowa State will now play Illinois in the Sweet 16 which will be a major test. Illinois, who as mentioned above will be playing Iowa State Next week, was the second game this past Saturday. They matched up with Duquesne who was coming off an upset victory against BYU in the first round. However, this time up, Duquesne was going against a much stronger Illinois team, and this game did not go well for them. Illinois jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, winning 89-63 to move to the Sweet 16. Illinois has had two double-digit victories so far, but Iowa State stands in their way of a trip to the Elite Eight.
The second half of the games this weekend in the East bracket both featured heavy underdogs looking to prove they were not one-game flukes. The first game of the night was between number-one seed UConn and nine-seed Northwestern. Northwestern in the first-round beat FAU in overtime after an incredible shooting performance all around, especially in overtime. Yet, the reigning champion was too much to handle. Northwestern only scored 18 in the first half making it an uphill battle the whole way for them. UConn was hard to stop all night on the backboards as Donovan Clingman recorded 14 points and 14 rebounds. Due to impressive performances all over the lineup, UConn came away with a 75-58 victory.
The last game of the day was Yale vs San Diego State, this one from the beginning seemed like it wasn't going to be close. The magic Yale had in the first one seemed to be over as star player John Poulakidas only scored nine points. While on the other end, San Diego State Jaedon LeDee had a field day. He scored 26 points and gathered nine rebounds as well. Overall, Yale had a great year and really proved they could be a force in the future. Although San Diego State will be the one playing UConn in the Sweet 16 after their 85-57 win today.
