Dylan Buell/Getty Pictures
The Arizona State Solar Devils and Fairleigh Dickinson Knights used blowout victories to advance out of the First 4 within the NCAA males’s basketball match.
Wednesday’s victories in Dayton, Ohio, will seemingly be the best outcomes each groups obtain in March Insanity.
Arizona State knocked out the Nevada Wolf Pack with a 98-73 win through which it jumped out to a 27-point halftime benefit.
Bobby Hurley’s Solar Devils arrange a No. 6-versus-No. 11 conflict within the West area in opposition to the TCU Horned Frogs on Friday.
Fairleigh Dickinson received a battle of No. 16 seeds in opposition to the Texas Southern Tigers. FDU faces the final word problem for a crew of its dimension in opposition to Zach Edey and the Purdue Boilermakers within the East area.
Wednesday First 4 Scores
No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson 84, No. 16 Texas Southern 61
No. 11 Arizona State 98, No. 11 Nevada 73
Make your picks: Play the NCAA March Insanity Males’s Bracket Challenge and Tournament Run.
NCAA Males’s Basketball Match Bracket
NCAA March Insanity @MarchMadnessMBB
THE BRACKET 🙌#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/HZYnwD3s3x
Watch March Madness Live to stream each match sport via the Ultimate 4.
Arizona State Blows Out Nevada, Units Up Conflict with TCU
Arizona State was the much better at-large crew on the ground at UD Area on Wednesday.
The Solar Devils annihilated the Nevada protection from the leap.
They shot 63.6 % from the sector and 52.4 % from three-point vary to earn their second First 4 win of Hurley’s tenure.
5 Solar Devils gamers obtained into double figures, whereas solely three Nevada gamers had over 10 factors.
The loss was a continuation of Nevada’s end-of-season struggles. The Wolf Pack completed on a four-game shedding streak.
Arizona State superior to play TCU in Denver on Friday evening. The Solar Devils will attempt to prolong the run of at-large groups to win one sport after Dayton. An at-large crew received a minimum of one sport after the First 4 for the reason that enlargement to 68 groups in 2011. Arizona State beat the St. John’s Pink Storm within the First 4 in 2019, however then it misplaced to the Buffalo Bulls within the first spherical.
TCU has among the finest backcourt playmakers within the nation in Mike Miles, nevertheless it may wrestle inside in opposition to an Arizona State protection that entered Wednesday ranked sixth in two-point protection on KenPom.
The Horned Frogs rank 340th in KenPom’s three-point metric, so it could have bother at first breaking down the Solar Devils protection contained in the three-point line.
Jamie Dixon’s crew does come into the match off a harder schedule within the Large 12, and that will assist it with no matter stress is thrown at it by the Solar Devils.
The winner of that contest seemingly faces a troublesome second-round title in opposition to the third-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs.
FDU Advances to Play Purdue
FDU acquired a double-digit scoring output from all 5 of its starters to take down Texas Southern.
The Knights went up 16 at halftime and sustained that lead for a lot of the second half in opposition to the SWAC match champion.
Sophomore ahead Ansley Almonor led the Knights with 23 factors and eight rebounds. These totals seemingly is not going to be the identical in opposition to Purdue.
FDU is the smallest crew in Division I, and that doesn’t bode nicely for its matchup in opposition to the 7’4″ Edey.
The Nationwide Participant of the Yr candidate thrived in opposition to average-sized groups within the Large Ten, so the injury he may enact on FDU’s small entrance line may very well be brutal.
FDU’s path to being aggressive on Friday is to strive to attract Edey out of the paint, prefer it did in opposition to Texas Southern’s huge males.
The Knights must match their 40.7 % three-point output and stress the heck out of Purdue’s younger guards to create turnovers and put the No. 1 seed in an uncomfortable place.
Even when FDU executes its backcourt sport plan to perfection, it could nonetheless lose by double figures due to Edey’s offensive potential. FDU’s forwards must keep away from foul bother in order that the sport doesn’t get out of hand earlier than halftime.
Purdue will attempt to feed Edey early and infrequently in order that it’s rested for a tricky second-round matchup in opposition to both the Memphis Tigers or Florida Atlantic Owls.