Wisconsin defeats Arizona with a score of 85-78 as Kaminsky puts in 29 points and Dekker puts in 27 points. They play the winner of Kentucky and Notre Dame in the Final Four.Thank you for joining me tonight in this great game!
2nd (:9) - Kaminsky makes a single free throw.
2nd (:17) - Dekker makes the HUGE three for the dagger.
2nd (:50) - Ashley makes the lay up and makes the free throw. Wisconsin calls a timeout.
2nd (1) - Jefferson picks up a foul and Dekker is headed to the free thow line. He made both of them.
2nd (1) - Dekker responds with a step back three then Jefferson hits a lay up.
2nd (2) - York with the big three to pull within 5. Wisconsin calls a timeout.
2nd (2) - McConnell makes a huge jump shot.
2nd (3) - Gassar makes a single free throw.
2nd (3) - Ashley makes both free throws.
2nd (3) - Dekker makes a lay up and is fouled as we are headed to a timeout. Wisconsin is pulling away.
2nd (4) - Dekker picks up a foul as both coaches pick up a warning. Ashley made both free throw lines.
2nd (4) - Johnson gets the steal but double dribbles. Johnson picks up his 4th foul as Kaminsky is headed to the free throw line.
2nd (4) - McConnell is headed to the free throw line. He makes both.
2nd (5) - York makes a single free throw as Arizona needs to stop Wisconsin's offense.
2nd (5) - Gossar makes a big time three. Huge shot for the Badgers.
2nd (5) - York is at the free throw line then makes both of them.
2nd (5) - Tarczewski picks up his 4th foul as Gossar makes a single free throw.
2nd (6) - Hayes picks up his 4th foul and Arizona makes both free throws.
2nd (7) - McConnell makes the jump shot. Kaminsky makes a crazy shot on the other end.
2nd (7) - Ashley picks up his 4th foul and Kaminsky makes both free throws.
2nd (7) - Jefferson fouls Wisconsin as we are headed to a timeout.
2nd (8) - Gossar makes a lay up as the lead is at 11. McConnell is headed to the free throw line. He makes both free throws.
2nd (9) - Hayes makes a three as they are now 7/8 from beyond the arc in the 2nd half.
2nd (10) - Arizona makes a lay up and is fouled heading to the line after a timeout.
2nd (10) - Kaminsky makes a lay up then Arizona calls a timeout. The Badgers have their largest lead.
2nd (11) - Hayes comes off the bench and hits a 3.
2nd (12) - Koenig hits both free throws.
2nd (13) - Ashley hit the lay up but Dekker responds with a long range bomb. Johnson is back in. Jefferson with the putback.
2nd (14) - York makes a lay up as we are headed to a timeout.
2nd (14) - McConnell makes the lay up as Arizona is back in the game. Dekker responds with the three!
2nd (15) - Jefferson gets fouled on the shot and makes both free throws.
2nd (16) - McConnell makes both free throws as Johnson comes back to the bench.
2nd (16) - Wisconsin makes a three as now they are 5/10 from beyond the arc.
2nd (17) - Johnson is headed to the locker room then Kaminsky gives Jefferson his 3rd foul. He makes both free throws.
2nd (17) - Johnson is down on the floor in pain as he picks up his 3rd foul.
2nd (18) - Kaminsky makes the lay up and is headed to the free throw line. He makes the free thow.
2nd (19) - Dekker makes another three. They look sharp right now.
2nd (19) - Kaminsky makes the 3 point shot to start the 2nd half. Jefferson is at the free throw line and makes only one.
End of Half - Arizona leads Wisconsin 33-30 as the Wildcats played great defense but Kaminsky is pounding the paint. Wisconsin will need to play better on offense if they hope to win.
1st (:13) - Jefferson makes the shot then fouled Dekker. He makes both free throws.
1st (:49) - Dukan is fouled and makes both free throws.
1st (1) - Arizona makes both free throws.
1st (1) - Wisconsin picks up the shot clock violation. Jefferson flushes it down on the other end.
1st (2) - Hayes picks up his 2nd foul and Jefferson makes both free throws.
1st (3) - York drains the contested three then Kaminsky flushes it down. We head to another timeout.
1st (4) - Kaminsky with another lay up. He draws the offensive foul on the other end.
1st (5) - Jefferson attacks and makes the lay up for his first points.
1st (6) - Arizona makes a dunk then Kaminsky makes a lay up. Johnson makes another runner.
1st (6) - Dekker made a single free throw.
1st (7) - Dekker is fouled on the dunk attempt. We are headed to another timeout.
1st (7) - Koening makes the three then Arizona responds with a lay up. Wisconsin scores again.
1st (8) - Arizona ties the game up as the Wildcats look in control.
1st (8) - Ashley makes the shot to tie the game.
1st (9) - Dekker makes the clean up put back. Dekker then picks up his first foul. Ashley makes both free throws.
1st (10) - Ashley makes the turn around shot as they are on a 8-2 run.
1st (12) - Arizona is finally getting offense and Kaminsky is struggling for Wisconsin.
1st (12) - Kaminsky drives around the defense for a layup. They have doubled Arizona's score. But the Wildcats score a jump shot.
1st (12) - Kaminsky airballs a shot but Johnson comes down and is fouled on a shot attempt. He makes both.
1st (14) - Jefferson is fouled by Hayes, Arizona keeps missing shots.
1st (14) - We are headed to another timeout as Wisconsin looks strong early.
1st (14) - Johnson with a much needed lay up for the Cats.
1st (16) - Gossar makes a triple as it's all coming effortless.
1st (17) - Dekker makes an easy lay up as they are playing great offensivly.
1st (18) - McConnell makes a lay up as Arizona is now on the board.
1st (18) - Ashley picks up the foul as Kaminsky heads to the line. He makes both of them.
1st (19) - Kaminsky makes a lay up and converts the free throw when he was fouled.
1st (19) - Arizona wins the tip but misses their first shot.
The lineups are the same as usual. Here we go!
Wisconsin won a season ago by 1 point in overtime. The Wildcats are looking for revenge! The game is in 8 minutes.
The winner of tonight's game will advance to the Final Four and play the winner of Kentucky and Notre Dame.
Tipoff is almost upon us! This is a rematch of last years Elite 8 but the seeds are flipped. Arizona is favored by a single point tonight.
Stanley Johnson is going to be another interesting piece to the puzzle for Sean Miller. Although Johnson is shorter than Wisconsin’s Kaminsky, he weighs more than he does and if he drives with force to the rack he could cause some damage to Wisconsin. Gabe York has also improved his shooting dramatically and if the sharp shooter can hit some buckets from outside of the arc it could change momentum significantly.
Nigel Hayes has been much improved this season and averages 12.5 points per game, up nearly five full points from a season ago. Junior forward Sam Dekker is also an important factor in Bo Ryan’s success in this game as the junior has been on an impressive run during the 2015 tournament. In his last three games, Dekker has put up 20, 17, and 23 points against Costal Carolina, Oregon, and North Carolina. He will have to put up those kinds of number one more time if Wisconsin wants to advance to their second Final Four in two years.
This year should be a much different encounter between the two schools. Arizona has an extra dimension in Brandon Ashley and along with Kaleb Tarczewski the pair will be a handful down low as Kaminsky will try to assert his authority around the rim. The Wildcats also have a much improved Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and he one of the premier defenders in the country and expect him to guard the Wisconsin big man from time to time as well.
The last time these two met was at this same stage of the tournament back in 2014. In that meeting, Frank Kaminsky took off scoring an astounding 28 points in the Badgers 68-67 overtime victory in Anaheim, California. In that game, Nigel Hayes came off the bench and only played 16 minutes, while going just 2-8 from the field. For Arizona, Aaron Gordon and Gabe York combined to score just nine points as York did not hit a single shot and made just one free throw.
Bo Ryan knows how to in and has done so impressively over the last few seasons. The Sweet 16 matchup with North Carolina was one of the more mouthwatering games of the round and it lived up to all the hype. The Tar Heels led for most of the way and had a seven point lead with a little over ten minutes left to go in the second half. Then it was Wisconsin’s turn to take over on offense and Josh Gasser hit a three pointer with 3:28 that gave the Badgers a four point advantage. Down the stretch, Frank Kaminsky hit his final four free throws as they squeaked out a seven point win.
Oregon was humiliated in the PAC-12 Championship game as they were destroyed by 28 points thanks to the Arizona Wildcats. The Ducks put up quite a fight in that game, but they never led and just did not have enough to cause an upset over the number one seed. In the game against Oregon, Bo Ryan’s squad did not have one standout performance, but rather, it was the collective effort that saw the Badgers move on to the round of 16. Sam Dekker led the Badgers that evening finishing the game with 17 points and making 50% of his shots.
In that next game, Sean Miller played against his former school, Xavier for the first time since he left. Chris Mack, one of Miller’s former assistants, through out a zone that Arizona had not really seen much of in a 1-3-1. This did not allow Arizona to throw in that playmaker in the middle as the Musketeers clogged the middle. Matt Stainbrook caused all sorts of trouble to Kaleb Tarczewski as he banged his way down low getting anything he wanted. If it weren’t for getting very fatigued late in the game, Xavier could have pulled off one of the bigger upsets of the second weekend. However, Arizona was able to hit their free throws and earn the seven point victory.
Arizona got to this stage of the tournament by defeating Texas Southern, Ohio State, and Xavier. The latter two schools had all kinds of story lines in them. With Ohio State and Thad Matta, Sean Miller had never gotten the better of his former boss, but on this occasion he was able to defeat the Buckeyes by figuring out their 2-3 zone and pulled away in the second half winning by 15 points. Miller threw in Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in the middle of the defense and being a play maker. Hollis-Jefferson would catch the ball and wait until the defense collapsed before throwing it out to the perimeter where either York, Johnson, or TJ McConnell would be waiting. In that game, the Wildcats hit seven three pointers with Gabe York being lights out from distance making 5 out of 9 shots and finishing with 19 points.
Hello and welcome to VAVEL USA's live coverage of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. This Elite 8 game is a game between the #1 seed Wisconsin Badgers and the #2 seed Arizona Wildcats. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6:09 PM EST from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.