NEW YORK CITY– Alijah Martin, Vlad Goldin and also ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic ended up being the initial and also lowest-seeded males’s basketball group to reach this year’s Last 4 as the Owls held up against an additional significant video game by Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell to defeat the Wildcats 79-76 on Saturday evening.
FAU (35-3), making simply its 2nd look in the NCAA event, won the East Area at Madison Square Yard and also will certainly head to Houston to play the champion of Sunday’s South Area last in between Creighton and also San Diego State.
The Owls went into the event at 300-1 to win the champion at Caesars Sportsbook and also would certainly be the lengthiest shot to win the event because seeding started in 1979, according to ESPN Statistics & & Details research study.
” I anticipate the prognosticators to choose us 5th in the Last 4,” fifth-year FAU trainer Dusty Might claimed.
FAU, the winningest group in Department I this period, had actually never ever won an NCAA event video game prior to duping 4 straight, all by solitary figures. They are the initial No. 9 seed to get to the Last 4 because Wichita State in 2013 and also the nine No. 9 seed or reduced to make it that much because 1979.
Nowell, the 5-foot-8 indigenous New Yorker, was extraordinary once more at Madison Square Yard, gathering 30 factors, 12 helps and also 5 swipes, coming off a Wonderful 16 video game in which he established the NCAA event document with 19 helps. He really did not obtain sufficient assist this moment.
Nae’Qwan Tomlin was the only various other gamer in dual numbers for Kansas State (26-10) with 14 factors. Keyontae Johnson, the Wildcats’ prominent marker, fouled out with 9 factors.
Martin racked up 17 factors, consisting of a significant 3 down the stretch, the 7-foot-1 Goldin had 14 factors and also 13 rebounds, and also Michael Forrest made 4 clutch totally free tosses in the last 20 secs for the Owls, that held stable as the Wildcats made a late press.
Cam Carter made a 3 from the wing with 22.8 secs entrusted to reduce FAU’s bring about 75-74, and also Kansas State fouled and also sent out Forrest to the line with 17.9 secs left. The elderly made both to make it a three-point video game.
Nowell discovered Tomlin inside for a layup with 8.6 secs entrusted to reduce the bring about one, and also once more K-State sent out Forrest to the line. With 6.9 secs left, he made them both.
Without any timeouts left, Nowell hurried down the court, surrendered the round to Ismael Massoud outside the 3-point line and also never ever obtained it back. FAU’s Johnell Davis swiped it away and also time went out.
The Owls hurried the flooring to commemorate a historical minute for the institution. FAU really did not also have a basketball program till the late 1980s and also has actually been a Department I coach for just the previous three decades.
The Associated Press added to this record.
