The Sweet Sixteen has been full of great storylines and that holds true for the eastern region as well. Duke v. Arizona was a great game and the statlines of each of their stars shows it. Caleb Love and Cooper Flagg both had 30 point performances and were the clear leaders of their teams. Caleb Love in his last college game, ended with 35 points, 1 assist, and 4 rebounds on very efficient shooting. Ultimately, Arizona ended up losing 93-100 mostly from the poor shooting of Arizona’s role players with only 3 double digit scorers including forward Henri Veesaar and guard Jaden Bradley. Duke’s Cooper Flagg led the team with 30 points, 3 blocks, 7 assists, and 6 blocks. He was also very efficient along with his team as they went 60% from the field and 57.9% from 3 which was crucial in sealing the game.
On the other hand Alabama v. BYU ended in a record breaking blowout for Alabama. They ended with 25 total team 3-pointers on 25-51 shooting. Chris Youngblood ended with 19 points and 5 3-pointers, Mark Sears had 34 points and 10 3-pointers, and Aden Holloway had 23 points and 6 3-pointers. This combined effort led them to an 113-88 victory. BYU had a valiant effort from Junior forward Richie Saunders with his 25 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 steals but their poor 3-point shooting as a team only making 6-30 lead to them not being able to keep up with Alabama’s offensive barrage.
The Sweet 16 kicked off and it was the beginning of the second weekend in March Madness. Sixteen teams remaining and after this round, the field will shrink in half.
Florida and Maryland went back and forth in the first half all the way until halftime. Florida had one problem though, big man Alex Condon re-injured his ankle in the first half, so Florida lost a lot of skill down low in the paint. Florida began to pour it on in the second half and Alex Condon returned to the contest. The final was 87-71 Florida. The Gators had 6 players in double digit scoring including Walter Clayton, Will Richard, Alijah Martin, Thomas Haugh, Denzel Aberdeen, and Rueben Chinyelu. Florida will advance to the Elite 8 round for the first time since 2017. For Maryland, Freshman big man Derik Queen dropped 27 and will likely make his way to the NBA.
The second West Region matchup was between #3 Texas Tech vs #10 Arkansas. The Razorbacks jumped out to an early lead and never really looked back when they hit halftime. The Red Raiders were only 7 points down at the half, but All Big 12 First Team nominee Darrion Williams struggled to get anything to go. As Arkansas continued to impress, Guard Johnell Davis was on a heater. It only got worse for Tech as Arkansas stretched their lead to as many as 16 points, it was almost certain that the Razorbacks would advance to the Elite 8 with first year head coach and future Hall of Fame coach, John Calipari. Texas Tech was one of the top offenses in the country all season for a reason as they began to cut the lead down, point by point. Darrion Williams came live for Tech after missing almost every shot, he started to make every shot. It was 69-66 Arkansas, with 1:32 left until Arkansas Freshman forward, Karter Knox buried what seemed to be the dagger. But Tech responded with a three from Christian Anderson, now it was 72-69 in favor of Arkansas still. More possessions passed by and the Red Raiders had the ball with a chance to tie with seconds on the clock. Christian Anderson looked to drive, but was shut off by Johnell Davis, he faked a shot and swung the ball to Darrion Williams who launched over Knox and drained the three and tied the ball game at 72 with 9.7 seconds left. Sophomore Guard D.J. Wagner for the Razorbacks got a chance for the win and missed off the glass and the game was going into overtime. The teams traded baskets once again in OT, as it was knotted at 83. Texas Tech had the ball with time left on both the game and shot clock. They went back to Darrion Williams who put them in position to make the surging comeback in the first place. He backed down Knox and went for the shot over him and big man Jonas Aidoo and banked it in off the glass to take the 85-83 lead with 8 seconds remaining. D.J. Wagner could not drive around Elijah Hawkins of Texas Tech, so he tried to step back and shoot over him to tie and the shot was off and Texas Tech had pulled off the comeback win. It would go down as the second largest comeback victory in the Sweet 16 round ever. It all started with Darrion Williams putting on a second half masterclass, after a slow first half. Williams finished with 20 points as well as JT Toppin and Christian Anderson led with 22 for Tech, in their 85-83 overtime win. For the heartbroken Razorbacks, Johnell Davis netted 30 points and Karter Knox added 20. What a game!
This sets up a #1 Florida Gators vs #3 Texas Tech Red Raiders matchup in the Elite 8, for a shot at punching a ticket into the Final Four on Saturday.
In the first matchup to start off the midwest region’s Sweet 16, it was a thriller between #4 Purdue and #1 Houston. For the majority of the game, Houston was dominating. However, down the stretch of the final minutes, Purdue unleashed a huge 14-4 run. Houston was struggling, and Purdue was taking advantage of it. Purdue’s Camden Heide hit a massive corner 3 to even up the score 60-60, then greatness happened. Houston guard Milos Uzan came through with a game-winning layup with 1.3 seconds left in the game. This sealed Houston’s spot in the Elite 8, inching them closer to the goal of a National Championship. Some notable performances from this game included Houston’s Milos Uzan scoring 22 points, and Emanuel Sharp scoring 17 points.
The last game was between the #2 Tennessee Volunteers and the #3 Kentucky Wildcats. In the game, Tennessee ran away with the game early, solidifying a 15 point lead after the first half. It was a well-rounded performance for Tennessee. Guard Zakai Zeigler contributed 18 points and 10 assists, guard Chaz Lanier poured in 17 points, and guard Jordan Gainey scored an easy 16 points. After coming up victorious against Kentucky 78-65, Tennessee will face off against Houston in the Elite 8 for a chance to book their trip to the Final 4.
For the first matchup in the southern Sweet 16, Ole Miss vs. Michigan State was a thriller down in Atlanta. The final score was 70-73 with Michigan State barely winning. Throughout the first half Ole Miss was either winning or the game was tied. Michigan State rarely saw a lead and Ole Miss seemed like a better team the entire first half. The first buzzer was nearing and Ole Miss was beginning to pull away, leading by 8 at one point. MSU, however, were able to tie it before half with Jace Richardson starting this mini-comeback with a pull up 3 pointer.
Ole Miss went up fast coming out of halftime with their new adjustments, going up by 7 within 5 minutes after the break. However, MSU came back to within 1, being 48-47 and a grueling, high action back and forth commenced. With 2 minutes left, it was tied 63-63. Jaden Akins hit a huge mid-range, then Carson Cooper made a layup to put them up 4. This lead was too much for Miss to deal with, and they lost by 3.
Sean Pedulla of Ole Miss led all scorers with 24, followed by Jace Richardson with 20. Carson Cooper led MSU in rebounding off the bench with 7, and Jaemyn Brakefield matched that for Ole Miss off the bench as well. Overall, MSU shot 50% from the field compared to Miss’s 40.6%. However, Ole Miss forced 8 steals to MSU’s 1.
Now Auburn vs. Michigan, this amazing late game, Auburn defeated Michigan 78-65. This game was tight all the way through, with the largest lead of the first half being only 4 points. It was back and forth the whole first, with 8 lead changes in this time. Auburn went into the break being up by 1, 29-30.
The second half kicked off and Michigan started hot with a quick 3 pointer. This gave them a little momentum and they began to pull away with a lead. With 13 minutes left, they were up 9 points, being 48-39, and featured an 85% win probability. Tahaad Pettiford for Auburn started a run that the team desperately needed. He hit a huge 3 pointer himself then assisted Denver Jones on a 3 of his own. Johni Broome then hit a 2 of his own and Tahaad Pettiford hit one as well to put them up. It was wraps from there and Auburn continued to control the game, winning by 13.
Johni Broome led all scorers with 22 points on 30 minutes with 16 rebounds. Tahaad Pettiford had 20 points off the bench in a pivotal performance to win the game. On Michigan, Daniel Wolf had 20 points and led scoring for them. Auburn was either tied or led in every major category as a team in a dominant second half performance to advance.
Auburn now is matched up vs Michigan State in the Elite 8 and the winner advances to the Final 4.
