Elite 8 was set after four games on Friday, seeing buzzers, cold-blooded jumpers, highlights, reels and Johnni Broome’s annual national performance worth a year.
Everything you need to know before San Antonio tickets are punched later today.
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Michigan State No. 2 beats No. 6 Ole Miss
In a single-point race, Coen Carr raised the roof of the state farm arena.
After Ole Miss grabbed the defensive rebound and tried to run on the court, Jeremy was worried that Jr. Jr. had stolen Sean Pedulla’s exit pass, likely saving the transition barrel at the other end of the court.
Fear jumped in the air, intercepted the pass, and quickly threw it to Carl. Carr dribbled twice on the plane and took a step on the free throw line, lifting a vicious left-handed tomahawk grand slam backwards, throwing the arena into a craze.
The Spartans rode the power from Carr’s dunk and ended a fierce 73-70 match on the Rebels, 8 free throws to the Elite.
Freshman Jase Richardson led the Spartans with 20 points on an efficient 6-8 shooting night. In Carl’s first game of the season, he scored 15 points. The team’s leading scorer Jaden Akins scored 13 points.
Pedulla led the rebels with 24 points. Matthew Murrell added 13 points, while Malik Dia ended with 11 points.
Although the Rebels were two losers, they were close to the Spartans most of the game. They had four minutes left in the first half and four minutes left in the first half, but wasted the opportunity to enter the half after the Spartans ran 12-4 to hit two points with two minutes to finish the half.
In the second half, both teams fought, forcing eight ties throughout the final game. After Carl’s electric dunk, the Spartans took the lead after Akins ran out of tough running jumpers.
Michigan State later stamped the lead after six consecutive free throws after the Rebels intentionally fouled, maintaining the lead of two defeats.
With a win, Tom Izzo added his 11th Elite 8 tour to his legendary resume, and he will hope to make his ninth final when the Spartans face the top-seeded Auburn Tigers.
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Tennessee No. 2 beat Kentucky third
Tennessee beat Kentucky 78-65 to reach the second consecutive Elite 8.
Slam Cover Star Zakai Zeigler led the Vols with both sides, ending with 18 points and 10 assists. Cover star Chaz Lanier followed suit with 17 points, with Jordan Gainey adding 16 points to the bench.
Lamont Butler led the Wildcats with 18 points on an efficient 7-10 shot night. Amari Williams added 14 points while Otega Oweh scored 13 points.
Vols dominated early, leading Kentucky 43-28 in the first half and stayed ahead of Kentucky throughout the game. Felix Okpara scored a 4-3 lead at Tennessee with a 17:22 layup in the first half and they never looked back. Kentucky only ranked 32 seconds in the game.
Tennessee released an efficient scoring night with the floor shooting 50.9% but struggling deep. They cashed out only 5 of the 19 attempts outside the arc. However, the physical performance in the paint caused fouls, creating 20 free throw attempts, and they converted 15 of them to 15.
Kentucky shot 49% from the field and 40% from the deep, but couldn’t dig out from the first half.
The Vols will now face the most important Houston Cougars, trying to get into the fourth place in program history.
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No. 1 Auburn beat Michigan No. 5
Michigan’s lead was 9 points in the second half, and Auburn stretched out a spark from the bench for a real-time offense.
Slam Cover Star Tahaad Pettiford is delivered.
Pettyford immediately cashed in on three times, cutting the deficit to six. He then tried hard to get into the paint and threw a pass at Denver Jones when he stood out. Jones buried two-thirds and cut the lead into three.
Auburn had a chance to lead after Johnni Broome hit the cup. Bloom scored a layup, missed it, fighting for the offensive committee among a large number of players.
The ball went into Pettiford’s hand, where he blew over Rubin Jones and spind a backup return jump shot.
The freshman continued to tear the second half, making an easy layup over Vladislav Goldin and hit a fade out and tied up the 28-6 Auburn run.
Pettiford’s 20 points on the bench allowed Auburn’s victory over Michigan to inspire the win with a 78-65 victory, winning the Tigers’ third trip to Elite 8.
Bloom made a double-off, leading the Tigers with 22 points and 16 rebounds. Jones added 20 points and 4 three-pointers. Although Miles Kelly and Chad Baker-Mazara scored only 11 points, the Tigers dominated.
Danny Wolf led Michigan with 20 points, while Goldin scored 10 points and nine rebounds. Nimari Burnett scored 10 points and scored 7 boards. Tre Donaldson struggled with his former team and ended with five points and four turnovers.
Both teams are inefficient from the field, shooting below 40% and above 30%.
Both teams kept the game in the first half, Auburn gained a single point advantage in the half after Broome played his own miss.
After Michigan opened the second half with a 19-9 run, Auburn quickly made his own scoring run to be late.
Now, Auburn will face Michigan State, heading to the last quarter.
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Houston beat Purdue University No. 1
With three seconds left, Kelvin Sampson scored the perfect match.
Throughout the game, Purdue left a free defender to help guard the open person in the inbound game, making the inbounders open.
So when Braden Smith left Milos Uzan to help defend LJ Cryer, Uzan quickly poured the ball into Joseph Tugler inside the free throw line.
Tugler put the pass straight back to the cutting Uzan, where he scored a layup on the edge, 62-60 for Houston in the last second.
court.
The Uzan game winner helped lead the Cougars to a 62-60 victory, reaching their third-place Elite 8 under Sampson.
Uzan led the Cougars with 22 points and ranked in a season-high six three-pointers. Emanuel Sharp followed with 17 points. Houston’s leading scorer Cryer scored five points on a 2-13-efficient shooting night.
Fletcher Loyer leads Purdue with 16 points. Trey Kaufman-Renn added 14 points and Smith contributed 15 assists.
Both teams fought in the first half, Purdue entered the half with two points with Smith’s two free throws.
Houston quickly opened the final game with a 11-1 record, scoring an eight-point lead ahead of schedule. But Purdue fights, keeping the lead at halfway to the rest.
Smith had less than a minute left, hitting three times with less than a minute of shooting. Kaufman-Renn secured the offensive committee to expand possession, and later turned from Camden Heide around the corner to triple the game.
In the subsequent property, Uzan missed the circular jumper. However, as a large number of players fought for rebounds, the ball stood out from Purdue and later set up a game to win.
Houston will now play Tennessee with a chance to make Sampson’s second final.
