Freshman guard De’Aaron Fox scored a game-high 39 points to lead the No. 2 seed Kentucky Wildcats to a win over the No. 3 seed UCLA Bruins in the South Region semifinals on March 24 in Memphis, Tenn.
Kentucky (32-5) advances on to the Elite Eight for the 39th time in school history and sixth time in the last seven years.
Kentucky guard De’Aaron Fox and UCLA guard Aaron Holiday chase a loose ball in the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament South Regional semifinal game Friday, March 24, 2017, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
The outcome was, perhaps, different than most fans anticipated. UCLA’s star freshman point guard, Lonzo Ball has been widely considered the best player in college basketball. Yet he was outshined by Kentucky point, De’Aaron Fox, who made 13 of 20 shot attempts for 39 points. Fellow freshman guard Malik Monk also played well with 21 points for Kentucky.
Ball had a game-high eight assists but made just four shots from the field for 10 points. He was 1-of-6 from behind the arc.
Kentucky will face No. 1 North Carolina in the South Region Championship on Sunday, March 26 at 5:05 pm (Est).
In other NCAA Tournament action:
South Region:
- No. 1 North Carolina beat No. 4 Butler, 92-80
East Region:
- No. 7 South Carolina beat No. 3 Baylor, 70-50
- No. 4 Florida beat Wisconsin, 84-83
