March Madness Day 3, Part 2

Marquette 62 - Murray State 53
This game was a barnburner. Not only was the action back and forth and tight till the end, but it was played at a pace that left breakneck in the dust. Marquette just kept the pressure on and on but Murray State, to their credit, handled it and stayed doggedly at Marquette's heels. In the end though, Murray State showed just enough cracks that the higher seed triumphed.

Wisconsin 60 - Vanderbilt 57
Wisconsin plays some boring basketball, but its effective. They slow the game down and kind of lull the other team to sleep. Vanderbilt got back in the game by switching defenses to a 2-3 zone. That zone came back to bite them though, as with under a minute left, Wisconsin recovered two consecutive offensive rebounds off of late-in-the-shot-clock 3-point attempts while leading by 2, again shortening the game. Vandy got a chance with 13 seconds left, didn't call timeout, and took a quick off-the-dribble 3 point shot which clanged, and that was basically all she wrote.

Indiana 63 - VCU 61
VCU was quicker than Indiana, and forced the Hoosiers into 22 turnovers for the game. That, and an early hot hand behind the arc is the only reason they were even in this game, let alone leading for most of it. Because their offense was putrid down the stretch, as they simply couldn't buy a bucket despite generating some good looks off of their quickness. Once Indiana was able to cut out the turnovers, they were able to come back and win the game based on their superior offense. VCU needed one or two more shots to fall in the last 4-5 minutes (I believe they hit 2 field goals in the last 12+ minutes) and they would have survived. Still for a team that came out of nowhere to make the Final Four last year, then lost 4 starters between last season and this one, it's a pretty inspired two-year stretch for VCU. Congrats coach Shaka Smart.