Notre Dame, Mississippi, Arizona Advance
K A N S A S C I T Y, Mo., March 17, 2001 -- They threw up air balls and missedmedium-range jumpers. They had layups roll tantalizingly around therim without going in.
NCAA records do not come easy. Not even embarrassing ones.
Nevertheless, Wake Forest went home from the NCAA MidwestRegional Friday with more than a 79-63 loss to Butler.
The Demon Deacons scored just 10 points in the first half,making only 3-of-25 from the floor. It's the lowest total of anyhalf of any NCAA tournament game since the introduction of the shotclock in 1985-86.
"I never, ever thought of being in a situation like that,"said Wake Forest's Rafael Vidauretta. "Not even in my worstnightmare. But that's basketball."Kansas City Edges Out Iona
In other first-round action in Kansas City on Friday, No. 3 seedMississippi survived a scare from 15-seed Iona and prevailed 72-70,No. 2 seed Arizona rolled past Eastern Illinois 101-76, and No. 6seed Notre Dame led wire-to-wire and beat No. 11 Xavier 83-71.
The Butler players themselves could hardly believe they wereahead 43-10 at halftime.
"I've never seen anything like that before," said center ScottRobisch. "We shot well and we rebounded well, and that was thebest defense I've ever seen us play."
In Sunday's second round, Notre Dame will meet Mississippi andButler will draw Arizona.
Mississippi's Rahim Lockhart played just 15 minutes because offoul trouble and a hard knock he took falling to the floor in thefirst half. But the muscular center sank the go-ahead free throwwith 50 seconds left, then made the defensive play of the game.
"This is exactly what we wanted," Lockhart said. "And we justtook care of it."
With 1.8 seconds to go, Lockhart stripped Iona's Courtney Fieldsof the ball in the lane and Jason Holmes then hit a free throw in aback-and-forth affair that was close in every way but the seeding.
"My man broke open and left me," Lockhart said. "But I wasable to get back to him. I knocked the ball out. Fortunately,Holmes was there to finish it off."Iona Gets Kudos
Ole Miss coach Rod Barnes tipped his cap to Iona coach JeffRuland.
"To be honest, I feel I got outcoached," Barnes said. "Butour kids took care of it. We knew they were going to play zone.That wasn't a surprise. But I just didn't teach our guys andprepare them on what will happen and when to recognize if they'rein the matchup or the 3-2 zone. After the half we adjusted."
Gilbert Arenas scored 21 points to lead Arizona and MichaelWright added 17 for the Wildcats (24-7), who had five players indouble figures.
Surviving an early surge by inspired underdog Eastern Illinois,the tall and talented Wildcats made sure there would be no repeatof Thursday's No. 15 seed upsetting a No. 2.
"Yesterday we knew there were a lot of teams going down, a lotof upsets out there," said Loren Woods, who scored 17 points andalso had nine rebounds and six blocked shots.Tough Night for Notre Dame Star
"We knew Eastern Illinois was capable of an upset because theyhave those really good 3-point shooters. They had guys who canscore on the outside, but we have guys who can score on the outsideand the inside."
Notre Dame star Troy Murphy had a tough shooting night, hittingonly 6 of 17 for 19 points. But David Graves more than made up theslack, hitting all seven of his shots for 20 points as the Irishbroke a three-game losing streak.