Australian duo Deng Adel and Mangok Mathiang have had their NCAA basketball title hopes dashed with their University of Louisville Cardinals eliminated by tournament darlings the University of Michigan Wolverines.
The giant-killing Michigan team, involved in a plane crash 11 days ago, came from behind to upset the second-seeded Cardinals 73-69 in Indianapolis on Sunday.
Michigan, a seventh seed, move on to the third round and will play the winner of Rhode Island and Oregon on Wednesday.
Louisville started the game strongly and had a 36-28 half-time lead.
Adel and Mathiang, Sudanese refugees who grew up in Melbourne, starred for their fancied team with high-flying offensive and defensive plays.
Mathiang, a senior who likely played his last game for Louisville and will enter the NBA draft, finished with 13 points off 6-7 shooting while Adel, a sophomore, had 16 points.
The Wolverines had a mediocre regular season, but their fortunes turned after the plane crash.
On March 8 strong winds aborted their plane's take-off, it slid off the runway and some team members wanted to miss the Big Ten Tournament.
A vote was taken, the majority wanted to play, they took a new flight, went on to win four games in four days to take the Big Ten Tournament title and secure an NCAA invite.
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