NCAA Tournament: Texas and Arkansas advance to Sweet 16 after hard-fought wins
March Madness brings out NCAA Tournament emotions. The Des Moines celebrations by Arkansas and Texas players, coaches and fans were unique.
Two teams that used to clash in the old Southwest Conference were victorious Saturday night in Des Moines. The emotional responses bordered on hysteria and relief. Second-seeded Texas advanced to the Sweet Sixteen playing for an ‘interim’ head coach and Arkansas who struggled during the regular season, is returning there for the third straight season.
Arkansas battled top-seeded Kansas in a largely pro-Jayhawk crowd at Wells Fargo Arena and bounced the reigning national champions 72-71. The victory sparked another Eric Musselman shirtless celebration. ‘Muss’ jumped up on the sideline media table and shirtlessly ‘called the Hogs’. It was hysteria.
Des Moines celebrations were special.
During postgame comments he said the emotional response was because of his great respect for Kansas.
“We’re celebrating back there because we have such incredible respect for Kansas,” said Musselman. I’ve been coaching a long time, that’s as great of a win as I’ve ever been a part of. Again, because of the history of Kansas, because of some of their veteran players that were part of a championship team last year. A lot of people didn’t think we were going to win our first-round game.”
Davonte Davis scored 25 points and Ricky Council tallied 21. Davis barely knew how to respond to the victory. It was more relief than celebration for the junior guard.
“Like Coach said, wonderful win, feels unreal right now. I don’t know how to react,” said Davis. “I know it does feel good and I know the guys that haven’t been a part of something like this, I know we feel like we’re at the top of the world and we want to continue and get better.”
Texas beats Penn State
Two teams that practically couldn’t miss a three-point attempt during their opening round wins, struggled mightily from distance in the round of 32. Texas defeated Penn State 71-66 as forward Dylan Disu had a career game and sparked the Longhorns into their sixteenth, Sweet Sixteen. Disu scored 28 points and grabbed ten rebounds, recording his second double-double of the season.
Interim head coach Rodney Terry’s team made one three-pointer, but pounded the ball into the paint where the Longhorns scored 40 of their 71 points. Terry is now 21-7 as the Texas head coach and was a Longhorn assistant the last time the team went this deep into the NCAA Tournament.
The bond between the coach and his players was evident during the postgame press conference.
“This is why these guys came back.,” said Terry. “Seven guys came back from last year’s team and they came back because they wanted more of this madness here and they wanted to continue to try continue to have an incredible year.”
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Sir’Jabari Rice says the players reflect their coach.
“He’s just a great leader. He’s like the definition of a leader,” said Rice. “Everybody wants to be a leader on our team and he’s paving the way for that. We are a reflection of our coach. He’s just a guy you want to be around. I love RT. I wouldn’t want to play for anybody else right now. RT is the man.”
Subdued and satisfied, or wild celebration, it is March and it is Madness.