Box Score | Postgame Quotes 

CLEVELAND – A balanced scoring attack led the No. 3 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish to an 81-70 win over the No. 7 seed Wichita State Shockers in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

Wichita State (30-5) recorded its third consecutive 30-win season and are now 151-29 in the last five years. Notre Dame (32-5) advances to the Elite Eight on Saturday, March 28, where it awaits the winner of No. 1 seed Kentucky and No. 5 seed West Virginia.

Fred VanVleet led all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-20 shooting from the floor, to go with six rebounds, three assists, two steals and zero turnovers. It marked his sixth 20-plus point game of the season.

Darius Carter, playing near his hometown of Akron, Ohio, registered 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting and eight rebounds in his final game as a Shocker. Wichita State's other senior Tekele Cotton finished with six points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Four Irish players finished in double-figures led by Demetrius Jackson's 20 points. Jackson also added four rebounds and three assists. Pat Connaughton collected a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Zach Auguste and Steve Vasturia scored 15 points each. Jerian Grant dished 11 of the team's 18 assists to go with nine points.

Notre Dame started the second half much like the first by knocking down shots from everywhere. The Irish made 17 of their first 21 attempts (81 percent) to open play after halftime. For the game Notre Dame shot 55.6 percent (30-for-54) from the field and 47.4 percent (9-for-19) from behind the 3-point line.

WSU finished 26-of-65 (40 percent) from the field, but connected on just 3-of-18 (16.7 percent) 3-point attempts. The Shockers won the battle of the boards, 36-32.

The Shockers took their first lead at the 16:40 mark of the second half on a hook shot from Carter, forcing a Notre Dame timeout. Carter and VanVleet combined to score the first eight points of the second half after the Irish led by five.

WSU's lead would be short-lived, as the Irish would answer with a trio of 3-pointers to take a 48-42 lead with 14:26 to go. ND then extended its lead back to double-digits with 12:30 remaining and would lead the remainder of the game.

Rashard Kelly provided two big baskets inside to bring WSU within six, before Notre Dame went right back up by 11 with less than seven minutes in the game. The lead would grow to 17 at the 5:17 mark after Vasturia's second 3-pointer of the game, and as many as 19 in the game.

Every time it looked like the Shockers would grab some momentum, Notre Dame had an answer.

Notre Dame started the game hitting seven of its first eight shots from the field, including three from beyond the arc to take an 18-5 lead coming out of the first media timeout.

The Shockers cut into the lead, 20-14, after Carter scored consecutive buckets at the rim and Baker hit a pair of free throws. The Fighting Irish then went back up by nine before Baker drained 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to bring WSU within three, 23-20 with nearly eight minutes left in the half.

VanVleet scored the last eight points of the half for WSU, while the Shocker defense tightened up holding the Irish to just two points the final 3:38.

VanVleet led all scorers with 10 points in the half, while Carter and Baker each added nine points apiece. As a team, WSU was just 10-for-28 (35.7 percent) from the field and 2-for-9 (22.2 percent) from 3-point range.

Connaughton led Notre Dame with nine points and seven rebounds. Jackson and Auguste contributed eight and seven points, respectively. After making 7-of-8 from the field to start the game, ND finished just 12-for-30 (40 percent) overall.

Both teams pulled down 19 rebounds and the two teams combined for only nine turnovers – four for WSU and five for ND.

Wichita State trailed by as many as 13 points in the opening half before heading into the locker room facing a 33-30 deficit.

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