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#VegasMadness Blog: Trojans cruise to Pac-12 final

Las Vegas Review-Journal

#VegasMadness updates: The Madness is truly getting underway in Las Vegas as the Mountain West, Western Athletic and Pac-12 conference tournaments have started. Review-Journal reporters are on-scene for all of it.

Trojans cruise to final

Southern California crushed Oregon 74-54 to roll into Saturday’s Pac-12 tournament title game. The Trojans will face top-seeded Arizona for the conference crown at T-Mobile Arena.

Jonah Mathews scored a game-high 27 points for USC, which led by as much as 28 points in the second half. Oregon shot a cold 33 percent from the field.

MiKyle McIntosh recorded a team-high 21 points for Oregon. Las Vegas native Troy Brown had 11 points and five rebounds for the Ducks.

— Gilbert Manzano

Lobos roll over Utah State

Third-seeded New Mexico went on a 19-point run in the first half to take control over No. 7 Utah State and cruise to an 83-68 victory in a Mountain West men’s semifinal at the Thomas & Mack Center.

New Mexico (19-14) has won seven games in a row and will face No. 5 San Diego State (21-10) in Saturday’s championship at 3 p.m. The Aztecs have won eight consecutive games.

Troy Simons led New Mexico with 17 points, and Sam Logwood and Joe Furstinger each scored 16. The Lobos made 51.9 percent of their shots.

Sam Merrill finished with 17 point for the Aggies (17-17), and Koby McEwen added 16 points and eight rebounds.

— Mark Anderson

‘Eat mor chikin’ — but not here

Each time an Oregon player misses the first of two free throws, the USC student section at T-Mobile Arena chants, “Chick-fil-A.”

The popular (Writer’s note: and delicious) chicken franchise gives a free chicken sandwich to those in attendance at USC home games when an opponent misses both attempts during a single trip to the charity stripe.

That promotion is not in effect here at T-Mobile Arena for the Pac-12 Tournament, even though the company has now entered the market with three locations.

The fact there is nothing on the line hasn’t stopped the passionate students from having a whole lot of fun taunting players who dare to miss the first of two free throws with a boisterous chant.

Oregon’s Kenny Wooten missed both shots on his first trip to the line and brought great joy to the kids.

But no chicken.

— Adam Hill

Miller goes incognito

Sometimes even men as talkative as Reggie Miller want to be left alone.

Miller, a Hall of Famer and CBS broadcaster, took in the Mountain West semifinal between Utah State and New Mexico in street clothes and a baseball cap to try to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

It’s a definite departure from Miller’s time as a player, when he was one of the most notorious trash talkers in the NBA.

CBS will broadcast the Mountain West championship game on Saturday.

— Ben Gotz

Musselman says Wolf Pack have “done enough”

UNR coach Eric Musselman fully expects his team’s name to be called on Selection Sunday.

Musselman, whose 22nd-ranked Wolf Pack lost in the Mountain West semifinals to San Diego State, made it clear in his postgame press conference that he believes his team’s fully body of work this season will get it into the NCAA tournament.

“I mean, we certainly feel like we’re one of the best teams in the country without a question,” Musselman said. “We feel like we’ve done more than enough based on how we’ve played an entire season. Not getting hot during a stretch. We feel like we have done enough.”

Musselman pointed out that 12 of UNR’s 27 wins this season have come on the road, and the Wolf Pack didn’t play a Division II team all season. He’s not the only one who thinks his team will be in either; Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher thinks UNR will get a bid as well.

“They’re an NCAA tournament team,” Dutcher said. “I mean, they’ve got as good a resume as anybody out there.”

— Ben Gotz

Aztecs crush UNR to reach Mountain West title game

Fifth-seeded San Diego State dominated from the beginning, going up as many as 34 points in crushing top-seeded and 22nd-ranked UNR 90-73 to reach the Mountain West men’s championship.

San Diego State (21-10) extended its winning streak to eight games and beat the Wolf Pack (27-7) for the second time in six days.

The Aztecs will need to win Saturday’s title game to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but even with this loss, the Wolf Pack are expected to make the field of 68 teams.

Devin Watson led a balanced San Diego State scoring attack with 20 points, and Jalen McDaniels had 17 points and 12 rebounds. The Aztecs made 51.9 percent of their shots.

Jordan Caroline had 25 points and 10 rebounds for UNR.

— Mark Anderson

Ayton lifts Arizona into final

If Deandre Ayton hadn’t locked up the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft already, the Arizona star probably did that Friday at T-Mobile Arena.

Ayton scored 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Arizona to a 78-67 victory in overtime against UCLA in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals.

The 7-foot-1-inch freshman forward carried the Wildcats down the stretch by scoring 13 consecutive points for Arizona. The Bruins didn’t score in overtime.

UCLA star Aaron Holiday fatigued in the final minutes after playing every minute of the past two games. Holiday scored 15 points and Thomas Welsh contributed 17 points and grabbed 17 rebounds.

— Gilbert Manzano

Aztecs advance

San Diego State just burst a lot of bubbles.

The Aztecs upset No. 22 UNR 90-73 in the Mountain West semifinals at Thomas & Mack Center, meaning the conference’s automatic NCAA tournament bid isn’t going to go to its best team.

The Aztecs will play the winner of Utah State/New Mexico on Saturday for the right to be the league’s second team in the tournament after the Wolf Pack.

It was a clinical performance from San Diego State, which outshot, outhustled and outmuscled UNR for the majority of the game. The Aztecs led by as many as 34 and were on their way to the biggest rout in Mountain West tournament semifinals history before a late Wolf Pack run.

— Ben Gotz

Wolf Pack getting devoured

Maybe those pesky Runnin’ Rebels tired out No. 22 UNR on Thursday.

That’s probably a bad excuse, but really there’s no good one for what’s happening at the Thomas & Mack Center right now in the Mountain West semifinals. San Diego State is thoroughly whipping the Wolf Pack so far, leading 55-25 at halftime.

The Aztecs shot 61.3 percent from the floor in the first half and went 7 of 15 from 3-point range. San Diego State also has more offensive rebounds (eight) than UNR has total rebounds (seven).

The Aztecs led by as many 34 points, causing many of the San Diego State faithful to shout “No mercy!” from the stands.

None has been given yet.

— Ben Gotz

Fisher comes to support Aztecs

San Diego State will be getting support from its former coach at the Mountain West semifinals.

Steve Fisher, who coached the Aztecs, from 1999-2017, was at the Thomas & Mack Center on Friday and wearing a San Diego State pin. He received a nice ovation from Aztecs fans after walking by them before the game.

Fisher led San Diego State to four Mountain West tournament championships in his tenure, as well as seven regular season titles. Fisher, 72, was also known for coaching Michigan’s “Fab Five” earlier in his career.

He retired at the end of last season and his longtime assistant Brian Dutcher replaced him.

— Ben Gotz

Australian BeeGees strike wrong chord

It was a little awkward at the halftime of the Utah-Oregon game Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Give credit to MGM Resorts, which has tried create some different halftime shows during the Pac-12 Tournament. Featured have been singers and cirque performers. Most have gone over well. The Australian BeeGees didn’t.

The trio, which has had a residency at The Excaliber for seven years, received a lot of boos as they left the court. Maybe it was their version of “Night Fever.” Maybe it was the mashups for the second song. Regardless, the crowd didn’t give them a warm farewell.

Of course, basketball fans took to Twitter to voice their displeasure.

— Bill Bradley

Boise State, UNLV come out winners

A’Shanti Coleman’s putback at the buzzer gave Boise State a 62-60 victory over UNR on Friday in the Mountain West women’s basketball championship and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

This is the third trip in four years to the NCAAs for the top-seeded Broncos (23-9), who shared the regular-season Mountain West title with UNLV.

Boise State’s victory over seventh-seeded UNR (17-16) at the Thomas & Mack Center means the Lady Rebels will receive an automatic bid to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

— Mark Anderson

[View the story “#VegasMadness blog, Fri. Mar. 9” on Storify]
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