NCAA Tournament 2019: Tre Jones, PJ Washington top Sweet 16 performers

Chuma Okeke – Auburn

This section was just going to be about Auburn’s overall performance. The Tigers, who have looked like a legit national title threat for a month, absolutely dominated North Carolina, and they did it with style.

Auburn zoomed up and down the court, splashing 17 (!!) three’s on offense while seemingly being everywhere at once on defense (eight steals, six blocks, a number of highlight stops).

But, sadly, the focus of this write-up shifted to Auburn’s Chuma Okeke. The sophomore was the best player on the floor in the Sweet 16, scoring more points (20) and corralling more rebounds (11) than anyone in the game, until he went down with what looked like a devastating knee injury.

The Tigers and Okeke were both peaking at the perfect time. Now, Auburn will have to fight for Bruce Pearl’s first-ever Final Four appearance without him.

Tre Jones – Duke

Zion made a few otherworldly plays as usual and RJ Barrett had his best game as a playmaker all season with 11 assists, but Tre Jones was the skeleton key for Duke in another close call win over Virginia Tech in the Sweet 16.

Jones, who came into the night having made just one three in the previous two rounds, canned five of seven from behind the arc to finish with 22 points. With Jones hitting from deep like that, Zion has more room to roam free and the Duke offense opens up.

The freshman point guard also grabbed four rebounds, dished out eight assists, and led the Blue Devils on defense. Could a repeat of brother Tyus’ legendary championship game performance be coming? They’ll have to make it past Michigan State and possibly Gonzaga to find out.