Resourceful Utah Beats Iowa State
Midwest Region
The Utah Utes proved again they can win without star forward Keith Van Horn.
Michael Doleac scored a career-high 23 points and Andre Miller hit a 3-pointer and two free throws in the last minute Saturday as Utah beat Iowa State 73-67 Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.
“I couldn’t have picked a better time to have a game like this to get us into the Sweet 16,” Doleac said.
Utah held on down the stretch without Van Horn, who fouled out with 6:05 left. Van Horn, a second-team All-America who missed Utah’s first-round win over Canisius with the flu, had only 11 points and two rebounds. “I think it helped us that we played without Keith on Thursday night,” Utah coach Rick Majerus said.
Fourth-seeded Utah plays Thursday in Minneapolis against top-seeded Kentucky (30-2), an 84-60 winner over Virginia Tech.
Doleac, a sophomore whose previous high was 19 against Air Force, made 9 of 12 shots from the field and hit all five of his free throws. He also grabbed 12 rebounds for Utah (27-6).
Miller, who finished with 14 points, hit a 3 with :43 left to put Utah ahead 67-62 and added two free throws with :26 to go.
Utah 73, Iowa State 67
Iowa State (24-9) - Bankhead 0-4 0-0 0, Pratt 3-11 4-6 10, Cato 5-9 1-4 11, Holloway 3-6 0-2 9, Willoughby 11-21 1-2 26, Modderman 3-4 0-0 9, Edwards 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-56 6-14 67.
Utah (27-6) - Van Horn 4-7 2-3 11, Jessie 3-10 0-0 7, Doleac 9-12 5-5 23, Caton 1-1 2-2 5, Miller 5-10 3-4 14, Rydalch 3-6 0-0 8, Melmeth 1-3 0-0 2, Hansen 1-2 1-1 3. Totals 27-51 13-15 73.
Halftime-37-37. 3-Point goals-Iowa State 9-20 (Modderman 3-4, Holloway 3-5, Willoughby 3-10, Pratt 0-1), Utah 6-15 (Rydalch 2-4, Caton 1-1, Van Horn 1-3, Jessie 1-3, Miller 1-3, Hansen 0-1). Fouled out-Van Horn. Rebounds-Iowa State 31 (Pratt 12), Utah 29 (Doleac 12). Assists-Iowa State 10 (Pratt 5), Utah 15 (Miller 7). Total fouls-Iowa State 17, Utah 18. A-NA.
Kentucky 84, Virginia Tech 60
The top-seeded Wildcats pounded the ball inside to Antoine Walker and Walter McCarty, who scored 21 and 19 points, respectively, in leading Kentucky past the ninth-seeded Hokies.
Kentucky’s press wasn’t able to rattle the veteran Hokies, but it didn’t matter. Virginia Tech shot 39 percent.
“It didn’t give us a lot as far as points,” coach Rick Pitino said of the press. “But it gave us a lot in preventing them from being as fresh running their half-court offense, and we played superb half-court defense.”
The Wildcats had their share of highlight-film plays, breaking open the game with a series of dunks midway through the second half.
“They’re a great full-court team defensively, they really run the ball well and you get caught up with watching them shoot 3s,” Virginia Tech coach Bill Foster said. “But I’m going to tell you, in the half-court offensively, they really execute. I remember the dunks and I remember the transition, but that’s not where we got beat. We got beat because we couldn’t stop their half-court game.”
Virginia Tech (23-6) - Custis 3-7 2-3 8, Smith 5-10 3-4 13, T.Jackson 2-4 0-0 5, Watlington 4-10 0-0 11, Good 2-9 1-4 5, J.Jackson 2-6 2-2 7, D.Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Manns 3-7 2-2 8, Guillory 1-2 0-0 2, Matthews 0-1 1-3 1, Tor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-56 11-18 60.
Kentucky (30-2) - Anderson 3-5 1-2 8, Walker 8-15 4-7 21, McCarty 7-9 3-3 19, Delk 3-8 2-2 8, Epps 1-5 2-2 4, Edwards 1-1 3-3 5, Turner 0-1 0-0 0, Sheppard 1-3 0-0 2, Mercer 4-7 0-0 8, Pope 4-6 0-0 9, Simmons 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 32-60 15-19 84.
Halftime-Kentucky 38, Va. Tech 30. 3-Point goals- Virginia Tech 5-17 (Watlington 3-7, T.Jackson 1-2, J.Jackson 1-3, Custis 0-1, Good 0-2, Manns 0-2), Kentucky 5-10 (McCarty 2-3, Pope 1-1, Anderson 1-1, Walker 1-1, Delk 0-2, Epps 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Virginia Tech 27 (Custis 5), Kentucky 43 (Walker 11). Assists-Virginia Tech 16 (Manns 8), Kentucky 20 (Epps 6). Total fouls-Virginia Tech 17, Kentucky 19. A-15,469.
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