The quarterfinals of the new College Basketball Crown began Wednesday with two highly anticipated matchups on FS1.
First up, Boise State took down Butler in a high-scoring affair. The Broncos, who earned $50K with the 100-93 win, now advance to the semifinals.
Next up at 9:30 p.m. ET, Georgetown will go up against Nebraska in a battle of two scrappy teams. Both teams earned comeback wins in the first round, thanks to two massive efforts from their top scorers. The Hoyas got a Michael Jordan flu game-type performance from Malik Mack, who put up 37 points despite being under the weather. Brice Williams, as he’s done so often this season, carried the Huskers with 30 points.
The second round will continue Thursday with two more quarterfinal matchups airing on FS1. The winners will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, with the championship game taking place on Sunday, April 6. Those three games will be available on FOX.
Here are the highlights from Wednesday!
Boise State puts pesky Butler away to move to semifinals
Boise State entered the Crown as a favorite to win the tournament and with a perfect record when scoring 80 or more points.
Through two games, Boise State is still a favorite to win the whole thing and is now 15-0 when scoring 80 or more points.
The Broncos prevailed over the Bulldogs 100-93 as both teams shot the lights out of the ball. Boise State connected on 60.3% of its field goals and made 11 3-pointers, while Butler was 57.6% from the field and drained 13 treys.
Although Boise State led for most of the game, Butler never quite went away. The Bulldogs trailed by 10 points at the half but got that deficit in half early in the second half. Yet every time they got close, the Broncos had a response.
For Boise State, Tyson Degenhart recorded his 2,000th career point in a 19-point outing.
Javan Buchanan, who came in off the bench, led the Broncos with 27 points, while Alvaro Cardenas also had 19 points.
Boise State’s Javan Buchanan throws down dunk to extend lead against Butler
The game’s highest scorer, however, was Butler’s Finley Bizjack, who put up a career-high 30 points. He was nearly unstoppable from the 3-point line, going 6-of-9 from behind the arc. He was even 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, despite the best efforts of Utah super fan Corey, who switched his allegiance to Boise State on Wednesday. This time, his screams didn’t bother Butler quite as much.
As Gus Johnson said on the broadcast, “Nobody beats the Biz!”
Well, except for Boise State, who now moves on to the semifinals.
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