nament late in the second half when
he swatted a Roosevelt Jones shot
attempt from the corner of the floor,
sending the ball into the seats and the
game into overtime.
"I said, 'Not tonight,'" Connaugh‑
ton remembered. "We had a few mis‑
takes then, and there were some guys
frustrated about the mistakes we had
made, and I said to them that's gone,
there's nothing we can do about it.
The beautiful thing about it is we have
complete control over the outcome of
this game."
With the win, Notre Dame advanced
to Cleveland the following weekend
for the Sweet 16. The Irish played an
excellent Wichita State team that had
knocked off No. 2 seed Kansas the
week prior. The Shockers have been no
strangers to success in recent seasons.
They went undefeated during the
2013‑14 regular season and advanced
to the Final Four the previous year.
The Irish cruised to a 20‑7 lead to be‑
gin the game, but Wichita State gradu‑
ally worked its way back into the con‑
test. The Shockers even took the lead,
38‑37, with 16:28 to play.
That advantage lasted 12 seconds.
A 23‑10 Notre Dame run, powered
by sophomore point guard Demetrius
Jackson, handed the Irish their second
double‑digit lead of the evening and
Senior Jerian Grant nearly guided the Irish to the program's first Final Four berth since 1978, but his
three-pointer in the waning seconds was off the mark in the 68-66 loss to No. 1 and then-undefeated
Kentucky.
PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA
