Utes knock off Sooners
Andrew Bogut makes everyone around him better, and his Utah teammates were at their best Saturday in Tucson, Ariz.
The sixth-seeded Utes capitalized on the 7-foot Aussie’s skilled passing and Justin Hawkins’ 20 points to beat No. 3-seed Oklahoma 67-58 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re excited as can be,” said Utah’s Marc Jackson.
The Utes (29-5) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1998, when they lost to Kentucky in the national championship game. They had been knocked out in the early rounds five of the last six years, but move on to play Kentucky in the Austin Regional.
“It’s the happiest day I’ve had in coaching,” said Utah’s Ray Giacoletti, who was hired last April from Eastern Washington University to replace Rick Majerus. “Probably only 20 of us believed, but it was the right 20.”
Although the beefy Sooners (25-8) did their best to beat up Bogut in the low post, they couldn’t overcome 32 percent shooting. Except for hitting the first basket, they trailed the entire game and got no closer than seven points in the second half.
“Bogut made a lot of good passes,” Oklahoma’s Johnnie Gilbert said. “I thought a lot of times we would pick it off, but somehow it got through.”
Utah opened the game on a 16-4 run and never looked back despite getting forced into 20 turnovers.
“I don’t understand our start,” Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We had a lot of good looks. Too many balls stayed on that rim and didn’t go down. I felt like we could hurt Utah with our pressure, but you have to make shots. We just didn’t.”
Bogut had a career-high seven assists and tied his season low with 10 points, taking just seven shots. He scored 24 points in Utah’s 60-54 opening-round win over 11th-seeded UTEP. The sophomore has been mentioned as a potential No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft.
“The bottom line with Andrew Bogut is he’s a winner and it’s about the team,” Giacoletti said. “I don’t know what the price tag is on that value.”
Taj Gray had 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Sooners, who had won eight of their previous nine games. Terrell Everett added 17 points.
“He made a lot of great passes. He made us alter our shots going into the paint,” Gray said about Bogut. “He did a lot of little things to help his team out.”
Bogut’s defense on Kevin Bookout neutralized the 6-8, 260-pounder, who got in early foul trouble and scored four points.
The Utes don’t have a consistent No. 2 scorer to Bogut, but Hawkins and Jackson proved more than capable. Jackson added 17 points and Bryant Markson 16. Hawkins grabbed 13 rebounds and Bogut 11.
Kentucky 69, Cincinnati 60: Kelenna Azubuike scored 19 points and the second-seeded Wildcats (27-5) held the Bearcats (26-7) scoreless for the final 2:41 to escape with a second-round victory in Indianapolis.
Rajon Rondo added 16 points for Kentucky (27-5). Randolph Morris finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds as the Wildcats avoided a second straight second-round exit. Nick Williams scored 16 points and Jihad Muhammad added 14 for seventh-seeded Cincinnati, which was trying to become the third straight Conference USA school to eliminate Kentucky from the tournament. The Bearcats have lost 15 straight to their nearby rival and still haven’t beaten Kentucky since 1939.
The difference was Kentucky’s power inside, where it outscored Cincinnati 34-12.