SALT LAKE CITY For those who don t already, it s time to Fear the Beard. After an amazing, double-overtime victory, Jacob Pullen and Kansas State are one win from the Final Four.
Scruffy beard and all, Pullen hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second overtime and finished with 28 points to help the second-seeded Wildcats outlast No. 6 Xavier 101-96 in an epic game in the West Regional semifinals.
After knocking off one so-called mid-major, the Wildcats (29-7) will play another, fifth-seeded Butler, on Saturday to try to make their first Final Four since 1964. This is the first time Kansas State has made it this far in the NCAA tournament since 1988.
Hard to call Xavier (26-7) a loser on this night, though.
With the Musketeers trailing by three at the end of regulation, Terrell Holloway got fouled while heaving up a 30-footer with 5 seconds left and calmly made all three free throws. Xavier was down by three again at the end of the first overtime, but Jordan Crawford jacked up a 35-footer that hit nothing but net.
One of those moments that belonged on YouTube, right beside Crawford s dunk on LeBron, for sure.
But for Kansas State, this victory might land in a more permanent archive.
It was a classic.
