March Madness: Kentucky edges Michigan

After Harrison’s teammate, Julius Randle, inadvertently tipped in the tying shot on Michigan’s previous possession, the eighth-seeded Wildcats got the ball to the 6-foot-6 guard, whose twin brother, Andrew, is another of the five freshmen in Kentucky’s starting lineup.

Standing a good three feet behind the arc, Harrison elevated over Caris LeVert and took a bit of contact on the arm from the Michigan guard as he shot. No matter. The shot rattled in, and for the second straight game in the Midwest Regional, Harrison had the go-ahead points in a tense game for the Wildcats (28-10). In this one, he scored all 12 of his points off four 3-pointers over the last 8:05.

Nik Stauskas missed a halfcourt heave at the buzzer for second-seeded Michigan (28-9), and moments later, Harrison was under a dog pile — or make that a puppy pile. This is the first all-freshman starting lineup to make the Final Four since another well-known group, the Fab Five of Michigan, did it in 1992.

“I’m gonna see everyone in Dallas this year,” coach John Calipari said, with a Texas Twang, as he addressed the crowd before the nets came down.

The Wildcats will play Wisconsin next Saturday outside of Big D.

Stauskas finished with 24 points for the Wolverines, who finished a win shy of their second straight Final Four.

Randle had 16 points and 11 rebounds for his 24th double-double and was named the region’s most outstanding plaayer.

No. 3 seed Louisville rolls No. 7 seed LSU

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Shoni Schimmel scored 19 points, Tia Gibbs added five 3-pointers and third-seeded Louisville rolled seventh-seeded LSU 73-47 on Sunday to reach the regional final of the NCAA tournament.

Facing an injury-riddled Lady Tigers squad that dressed just eight players, the Cardinals (33-4) rung up another rout highlighted by a season-best 12 3-pointers with the two seniors leading the way. Schimmel was 3 of 5 from beyond the arc and three other Cardinals contributed.

LSU (21-13) on the other hand went 31 minutes with just Danielle Ballard (24 points), Jasmine Rhodes (eight) and Theresa Plaisance (seven) scoring before other players chipped in. By then the game was out of hand and the Lady Tigers shot just 24 percent from the field.

Louisville moved on to host Maryland on Tuesday night, matching Cardinals coach Jeff Walz against Terrapins counterpart Brenda Frese, whom he worked under from 2002-07.

Antonita Slaughter added 10 points and Asia Taylor had 10 rebounds for Louisville, which shot 40 percent and was outrebounded 48-46 but cruised because its reserves outscored LSU’s bench 28-0 while dominating the Lady Tigers 21-2 in assists.

DaShawn Harden also had seven points for the Lady Tigers.

Maryland upsets Tennessee Lady Vols

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Alyssa Thomas scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as fourth-seeded Maryland upset No. 1 seed Tennessee 73-62 on Sunday in the Louisville Region semifinal.

The Terrapins (27-6) reached their ninth regional final and first since 2012. They did it against a program the Terps had beaten only four times previously and never before in the NCAA tournament. Maryland improved to 5-10 against Tennessee (29-6) with a little revenge for their previous tournament loss in the 1989 Final Four.

The Lady Vols’ self-titled “GrindFor9” in their chase for a ninth national championship is over. They will miss the Final Four for a sixth straight season. This hurts even more with the national championship game being played April 8 in Nashville just 179 miles from their home in Knoxville.

Meighan Simmons scored 31 points for Tennessee.