Northwestern Moves Ahead In NCAA Tournament

By ESPN

At Northwestern, the party goes on.

At Vanderbilt, there is only one question: What was he thinking?

Northwestern's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, 68-66 over Vanderbilt, came after Commodores guard Matthew Fisher-Davis inexplicably grabbed Bryant McIntosh of the Wildcats on purpose, sending McIntosh to the free throw line for the go-ahead points with 14.6 seconds left.

"I actually thought we were down one," Fisher-Davis explained after Thursday's heartbreaker in the West region. "Coach ... pointed at him, but he was just telling me that was my matchup. I took it as (I should) foul."

And though Fisher-Davis scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half to help ninth-seeded Vandy (19-16) rally from 15 points down, his mistake was the main takeaway from this game -- maybe not as bad as Chris Webber calling a timeout that Michigan didn't have or Georgetown's Fred Brown throwing the pass to James Worthy of North Carolina in the final, but certainly not one for the "One Shining Moment" video, either.

"An honest mistake," Northwestern coach Chris Collins called it. "You feel bad for players. He was tremendous today. Certainly, I was surprised."

The sequence was set up after Riley LaChance made a layup with 17.8 seconds remaining to put the Commodores up by one.

But seconds after the in-bounds pass, Fisher-Davis reached out and grabbed McIntosh around the waist while the Northwestern guard was dribbling up the backcourt. That put eighth-seeded Northwestern in the double bonus, and McIntosh went to the line and calmly swished the free throws with 14.6 seconds left for a 67-66 lead.

"When he grabbed me, I had thought we were down one, and I'm thinking maybe I made a mistake," he said. "I had to put my mind on making the free throws at the end."

Northwestern forced LaChance to miss a 3 on the next possession and the Wildcats made (24-11) another free throw.

Fisher-Davis heaved a desperation shot at the buzzer, but it missed, and he sunk his head and reached down to his shoes in despair before heading to the sideline where his teammates hugged him.

While the Wildcats doused Collins with water to celebrate a win that extends the program's first trip to March Madness by at least one more game, there were red eyes in the Vanderbilt locker room. But Fisher-Davis' teammates had his back.

"He's the type of person (who's going to) feel some blame," forward Luke Kornet said. "But in the second half, we have no chance if he doesn't make the shots that he made. We're with him no matter what."

Coach Bryce Drew, who enjoyed a much different moment decades ago as a player , said certainly he and his star guard would talk more in the near future. His message in the aftermath was simple: "From Day 1, we teach our guys that we're a team and one play at the end ... doesn't win or lose the game."

Fisher-Davis, a junior who led the SEC in 3-point shooting last season, tried to keep it in perspective.

"We all love each other like brothers," he said. "They know I didn't do that on purpose, obviously. We had a great season. Nothing to be ashamed of."

Thursday, March 16 Scoreboard

Villanova 76, Mount St. Mary's 56

Gonzaga 66, South  Dakota State 46

Arizona 100, North Dakota 82

West Virginia 86, Bucknell 80

Notre Dame 60, Princeton 58

Purdue 80, Vermont 70

Florida State 86, Florida Gulf Coast 80

Iowa State 84, Nevada 73

Florida 80, East Tennessee State 65

Butler 76, Winthrop 64

St. Mary's 85, VCU 77

Virginia 76, UNC Wilmington 71

Wisconson 84, Virginia Tech 74

Middle Tennessee 81, Minnesota 72

Northwestern 68, Vanderbilt 66

Xavier 76, Maryland 65

Friday, March 17 Schedule (All Times Central)

Oklahoma State vs. Michigan, 11:15 a.m.

New Mexico State vs. Baylor, 11:40 a.m.

Seton Hall vs. Arkansas, 12:30 p.m.

Iona vs. Oregon, 1 p.m.

Jacksonville State vs. Louisville, 1:45 p.m.

USC vs. SMU, 2:10 p.m.

Texas  Southern vs. North Carolina, 3 p.m.

Rhode Island vs. Creighton, 3:30 p.m.

UC Davis vs. Kansas, 5:30 p.m.

Wichita State vs. Dayton, 6:10 p.m.

Troy vs. Duke, 6:20 p.m.

Kansas State vs. Cincinnati, 6:27 p.m.

Michigan State vs. Miami, 8:20 p.m.

Northern Kentucky vs. Kentucky, 8:40 p.m.

Marquette vs. South Carolina, 8:50 p.m.

Kent State vs. UCLA, 8:57 p.m.

Saturday, March 18 Schedule (All Times Central)

Notre Dame vs. West Virginia, 11:10 a.m.

Wisconsin vs. Villanova, 1:40 p.m.

Northwestern vs. Gonzaga, 4:15 p.m.

Xavier vs. Florida State, 5:10 p.m.

Middle Tennessee vs. Butler, 6:10 p.m.

Saint Mary's vs. Arizona, 6:45 p.m.

Virginia vs. Florida, 7:40 p.m.

Iowa State vs. Purdue, 8:40 p.m.