Whelp, the round of 32 killed our Cinderella’s. Only #11 NC State and #6 Clemson remain as lower seeds.
All #1 & #2 seeds advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Six of sixteen games were outright thrashings. Three! Went to OT!

#3 Creighton out lasted #11 Oregon 86-73 in 2OT 86-73. The Ducks just ran out of gas, specifically N’Faly Dante who had 28 points, 20 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and Jermaine Couisnard who had 32 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks. That’s 60 of the Ducks 73 points, 28 of their 43 rebounds, 6 of their 13 assists and all 4 blocks. Kalkbrenner had 19 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks for the BlueJays and was one of three plays to not leave the floor.

#11 NC State advances after knocking off Oakland 79-73 in OT. A thrilling game that saw Hohike hit another 6 threes and Trey Towsend score 30 points while grabbing 13 rebounds. All five starters were in double-figures for the Wolfpack highlighted by big man DJ Burns 24 points and 11 rebounds. Burns was difficult to stop in the interior and lead the Pack to +12 in rebounds and points in the paint. The turnovers were low, a combined 15, for two teams with their fair share of losses this season. It was a pretty clean, fun game. Oakland had a chance for the last shot in regulation with 12 seconds left, but came out of a timeout and blew an opportunity with a turnover. A tough end for Oakland that couldn’t get out of the weekend, but a legendary win over Kentucky. They also get to be a part of NC State’s wild run through the ACC & NCAA Tournament into the Sweet 16 at this point.

Perhaps the craziest OT game was #1 Houston surviving #9 Texas A&M 100-95. The Cougars were up 12 points! With 2:11 left in the game. A seemingly insurmountable lead, but the game was far from over. The Aggies rattled off a 19-7 run, yes 26 points in the final 2 minutes and change, to force OT. A&M’s Andersson Garcia actually hit a 3 at the buzz to force OT after an out-of-bounds play with 1.2 on the clock. Thrilling to say the least, but the Aggies fall in OT. Houston shoots 51.5% from the field and holds Texas A&M to 38.7%. The end run is frightening after a solid outing through almost 38 minutes by the defense. Emanual Sharp had 30 points, LJ Cryer 20 points, 21 points and 10 assist for Jamal Shead. Tyrece Radford, the 6’3 guard for the Aggies had 15 rebounds, 6 assists, and 27 points.

#2 Iowa State pulled away from a tied halftime game with #7 Washington State to win 67-56. The Cyclones held a +7 turnover edge that lead to a whopping +17 points off turnovers.

After #7 Texas survived a slog with Colorado State they matched up with #2 Tennessee and dragged the Vols into the slop in a battle of the Orange. Despite shooting 3/25 from three the Volunteers win 62-58 with Knecht leading in scoring again with 18 points and 9 rebounds. +8 Rebounds, +16 points in the paint and +5 turnover edge helped edge the horrible shooting from the perimeter. Not an impressive showing.

#10 Colorado rallied from a 9-point halftime deficit against #2 Marquette who wasn’t able to punch it up in the 2^nd half like they did against Western Kentucky. The Buffs cut the lead to one in the final minute but Marquette hit their free throws and held on 81-77. Another lights-out shooting game with Colorado at 47% and Marquette at 61%, KJ Simpson lead all Buffs with 20 points and tossed 7 assists while Kolek had 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead five double-digit Golden Eagles.

#1 North Carolina was down 17-7 early to #9 Michigan State before rallying for a 40-31 halftime lead. The second half was a similar story with MSU coming within 2 points just after half before UNC extended the lead back out and lead by 10+ for the final five minutes. Sparty actually held a slight rebounding edge but turnovers hurt and allowed UNC a +9 scoring margin. Tyson Walker was 9/16 shooting for 24 points to lead the Spartans. Malik Hall had 17 points and 9 rebounds. RJ Davis had 20 for UNC, Ingram had 17 and 7 boards, and Bacot had 18 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks.

#2 Arizona beat #7 Dayton 78-68 behind 19 from Love on 6/16 shooting. The Cats held a 17 point lead at one point and weren’t ever in trouble. They held a slight rebounding and points in the paint edge, but the bad shooting from Love, paint presence, and turnovers – 15 here – are troublesome. Daron Homes II for the Flyers will be off to the NBA, but logged 23 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assist, 3 steals, and 1 block in his final college game. I’m excited to see his career moving forward as a 6’10 wing/stretch big that doesn’t look like he’ll succeed immediately as a pro but has the size, athleticism, and ceiling to develop into something special.

#5 Gonzaga smashed #4 Kansas in the 2^nd half 89-68. The score was 43-44 at half. Hunter Dickenson didn’t play well with 15 and 5 and the team’s lack of talent showed. The Zags shot 60% from the field and 53% from three.

As good as #11 Duquesne looked on Thursday, they look just as overmatched against #3 Illinois on Saturday in a 89-63 smackdown. The Illini shot 59% from the field and were +20 in the paint behind 30 points from Terrance Shannon Jr and 22 points and 7 assists from Domask.

Zach Edey had 23 and 14 as eleven Boilermakers scored in a 106-67 win in the 1/8 seed matchup. Purdue double the Aggies points in the paint and nearly double them in rebounds.

#1 Uconn won 75-58 over #9 Northwestern. Clingan had 14 points, 14 rebounds and 8 blocks. The Huskies were only 3/22 from three which is something to keep an eye on. They were 9/24 against Stetson.

#5 San Diego State stifled #13 Yale 85-57 with 26 points and 9 rebounds from Jaedon Ledee. They also shot 52-48-82%.

#4 Duke also dominated shooting 52-50-72 in a 94-55 win over the #12 James Madison Dukes. Freshman Jared McCain hit 8 threes and lead all scorers with 30 points. Filipowski had 14 points on 6/8 shooting, 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block. Still a solid contributor, but not dominant.

Top Sweet 16 games:
#1 Purdue v #5 Gonzaga
#2 Iowa State v #2 Illinois
#2Tennessee v #3 Creighton
#1 North Carolina v #4 Alabama
#1 Houston v #4 Duke