March Madness: The finest and worst of every part from Thursday’s Sweet 16

Two absolute classics, a possible match favourite rising, and the highest play of March so far.

Let’s get to all of it.

(3) Kansas State 98, (7) Michigan State 93 (OT) (East)

The recreation of the match to date, and I didn’t assume the runner-up was significantly near being inside shouting distance … till just a few hours later.

As thrilling as Gonzaga-UCLA was down the stretch, it didn’t fairly ship as constantly from begin to end the way in which the primary recreation of the night to tip-off did.

The largest lead of the sport was seven. Michigan State shot 49.2 p.c from the sphere and Kansas State shot 55.9 p.c, turning into simply the second workforce this season to shoot higher than 50% from the sphere in opposition to the Spartans. Michigan State shot a scorching 52.0 p.c from three, whereas Ok-State countered with 45.8 p.c.

You additionally had two New York natives — Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell and Michigan State’s Tyson Walker — going enormous play for enormous play inside Madison Square Garden.

For a second, Walker appeared to have made the most important play of the night time; a driving left-handed shot that tied the rating at 82 and compelled the primary extra time of the NCAA match to date.

Nowell countered within the additional interval with the very best and most-talked about play of March up to now, one we’ll discuss a bit of bit extra about beneath.

The diminutive Wildcat flooring basic would attain 19 assists throughout extra time, setting a brand new NCAA match document for assists in a single recreation. Nowell’s closing dime was an inbounds move to one more New York native, Ismael Massoud, who buried a baseline jumper to place Kansas State forward by 3 with 17 seconds to play.

Walker tried to play hero as soon as extra on the opposite finish, however he was stripped by Nowell, who then drove the size of the courtroom for an exclamatory layup simply earlier than the ultimate buzzer sounded.

Oh, and Nowell did all this regardless of struggling an ankle damage within the second half that resulted in a fast 9-2 Michigan State run whereas he was sidelined.

“Today was a special one, man,” mentioned Nowell. “I’ve got to give a lot to credit to my teammates for battling, for fighting through adversity when we was down. I can’t even explain how I’m feeling right now. I just know that I’m blessed and I’m grateful.”

Narratives can change quick from one spherical to the following, however that is rapidly beginning to change into “The Markquis Nowell Tournament.”

The electrifying Third Team All-American now has 42 assists via three video games, shattering the earlier document for many assists by any participant via the Sweet 16. The previous document of 33 had been shared by Joey Rodriguez of VCU in 2011 (who took 4 video games to do it) and UCLA’s Earl Watson in 2000. Oh, and Nowell’s additionally averaging 21.3 ppg within the Big Dance.

A primary-year head coach in Jerome Tang versus a twenty eighth yr head coach in Tom Izzo who had pulled extra seed-line upsets than any coach within the historical past of the match. A Kansas State workforce that was picked to complete final within the Big 12 and which hasn’t been to a Final Four since 1964 versus a perennial powerhouse in Michigan State making an attempt to get to its ninth Final Four underneath Izzo alone. Incredible shot making and unimaginable effort on each ends of the ground for 45 full minutes.

This was an absolute March basic.

UConn

The Kansas State-Michigan State and Gonzaga-UCLA video games are all anybody’s going to be speaking about Friday morning, which is comprehensible. But misplaced within the shuffle goes to be the truth that UConn continues to maneuver like an incredible machine, and appears like it could now be the workforce to beat via two and-a-half rounds of this match.

The Huskies have been broadly anticipated to face a stern check from uber-talented Arkansas on Thursday night. Not so. UConn obtained no matter it need on offense from the sport’s opening tip to the ultimate horn, steamrolling its approach to an 88-65 demolition of Eric Musselman’s workforce.

For all its historic success within the match, the 23-point margin of victory was the biggest ever for a Connecticut workforce within the Sweet 16 spherical or past.

The efficiency was so full that it left Bill Murray — whose son, Luke, is a UConn assistant — begging Dan Hurley to drag a Musselman and go topless after the sport.

UConn has received its first three video games of the match by 62 complete factors, and all of them have come by 15 factors or extra. That 20.7 ppg common margin of victory is well the biggest of any workforce nonetheless standing.

While they’ve made 30 three-pointers within the match to date (9-of-20 from three on Thursday), the Huskies did it each inside and outdoors in opposition to Arkansas. They shot 61.0 p.c from the sphere within the first half and had practically as many factors within the paint (24) because the Razorbacks had complete factors (29).

Despite going through an Arkansas workforce that Clark Kellogg may consult with as “spurtable,” Connecticut allowed the underdogs no hope after halftime. They stored up their breakneck tempo, they prolonged their lead from 17 factors to 29, and by no means let it dip beneath 19.

Adama Sanogo is enjoying as properly on each ends of the ground as any massive man within the match, Jordan Hawkins is stepping as much as be that star guard on a March tear that each Final Four workforce wants, and as a unit, the Huskies have been at their finest defensively over these final three video games.

It’s all there for Connecticut for the time being.

Tennessee

It’s nights and days like these that you just hope Rick Barnes isn’t Twitter title searcher.

Despite all his common season success at Tennessee, Barnes nonetheless hasn’t been in a position to get the Vols previous the Sweet 16. The head coach hasn’t been to an Elite Eight, interval, since taking Texas there in 2008.

The newest March disappointment got here Thursday night time in opposition to Ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic, a workforce in opposition to whom Tennessee managed the motion for the primary 29 minutes or so. The Vols performed the sport at their most well-liked tempo and efficiently drug the Owls “into the mud” with them up till in regards to the halfway level of the second half. It was then that FAU began to attach on the surface photographs that had been discovering solely rim up till that time, and it was then that Tennessee misplaced management.

Michael Forrest went on a private 8-0 run that turned a 4-point FAU deficit right into a 4-point benefit. The Owls by no means trailed once more, as defensive minded Tennessee merely couldn’t discover any offense to ship a return blow. The Volunteers shot simply 33.0 p.c from the sphere for the sport and went simply 6-of-23 from past the arc.

This is the fifth straight match the place UT has had its season ended by a worse-seeded workforce. A constructive? At least Florida Atlantic wasn’t a double-digit seed like Michigan (#11 in 2022), Oregon State (#12 in 2021) or Loyola-Chicago (#11 in 2018).

Baby steps.

1. Gonzaga-UCLA

This is primarily for Thursday night time’s thriller, however we are able to additionally prolong this cheers to the general Gonzaga-UCLA March sequence, which has now given us three absolute classics over the past 20 years.

The newest installment felt prefer it was going to wind up being a story of two halves. And then it wound up being a story of like eight completely different closing minutes.

UCLA dominated the opening 20 minutes. Gonzaga had nobody who may hold Bruin level guard Tyger Campbell in entrance of them, and solely the stellar offensive play of Drew Timme inside stored the Zags inside a decent distance. Mick Cronin’s workforce led 46-33 on the break, however their lead would by no means develop bigger.

A renewed vitality and dedication on the defensive finish fueled Gonzaga within the second half. Timme continued to gentle up the wounded Bruins —who have been enjoying with out massive man Adem Bona — within the submit, and on the opposite finish, the Zags held UCLA with out a subject objective for a whopping 11 minutes. This allowed Mark Few’s workforce to construct a 10-point benefit with simply 2:40 to play.

Then, the ghosts of 2006 crept out from the shadows.

Pac-12 Player of the Year Jaime Jacquez started to assault the basket successfully, some revved up UCLA strain pressured a key turnover, and Gonzaga instantly couldn’t discover its stroke on the free-throw line. The livid rally couldn’t assist however evoke recollections of “The Adam Morrison Game,” one of the well-known — and painful for those who’re a Bulldog fan — Sweet 16 contests within the historical past of March Madness.

The episode of historical past repeating itself took full maintain after Timme missed badly on a pair of free-throws and UCLA’s Amari Bailey buried a 3 on the opposite finish to place the Bruins forward with 12.2 seconds to go.

In that recreation 17 years in the past to the day, Gonzaga didn’t have a timeout to make use of after UCLA scored the go-ahead bucket, and a frenetic sequence ended with Bulldog level guard Derek Raivio dropping the ball and Morrison winding up on the courtroom in tears.

This time, Mark Few was prepared.

The man who possible holds the doubtful but in addition respect-demanding title of “best coach to never win a title” dialed up the identical full-court motion that Villanova used to beat North Carolina on the buzzer of the 2016 nationwide championship recreation. The play resulted in Julian Strawther getting a shot at a game-winner from just about the identical spot the place he hit one earlier within the season in opposition to BYU.

The Las Vegas native delivered once more.

After a steal by Gonzaga’s Malachi Smith, who then made 1-of-2 free-throws, UCLA had one closing probability to ship the sport into extra time. Campbell obtained an excellent look from about 30-feet, however the potential game-extender sailed simply lengthy.

For Gonzaga, the thriller places them simply three wins away from placing to mattress the “can they actually do it?” discuss eternally. For UCLA, the dialog about this season appears destined to encompass the questions of what if Jaylen Terry wasn’t misplaced for the yr and what if Adem Bona had been in a position to play in opposition to the Zags. The workforce definitely gave the impression to be adequate to win a nationwide title at full power, and was proper there even at about 75-80%.

For everybody else, we’ll simply hope that we see these two squaring off in each match from now till eternity.

2. The Markquis Nowell/Keyontae Johnson lob

You’ve seen the play by now, however to start out this dialog, let’s make certain we watch it once more.

Now let’s take a look at the court-level view.

Quick abstract right here: That is New York native Markquis Nowell showing to deliberately get into it along with his head coach to chill out the protection, then throwing a half-look alley-oop move from simply inside halfcourt to Keyontae Johnson — the participant who terrifyingly collapsed on the courtroom in December of 2020 — for a reverse cram to interrupt a 92-92 tie within the closing minute of extra time in a Sweet 16 recreation being performed at Madison Square Garden.

Oh, and the help allowed Nowell to tie the document for assists in a single NCAA match recreation, a document he would break minutes later.

Simply put, this might need been the best shit I’ve ever seen in my whole life.

Want it’s even cooler? Just earlier than it occurred, Nowell appeared up within the crowd at Isaiah Thomas and Michigan State legend Mateen Cleaves and mentioned “watch this.”

Now Jerome Tang informed Sports Illustrated’s Richard Johnson after the sport that this “wasn’t a dummy call” and that Nowell and Johnson simply have an ideal connection and made an ideal play. I’m selecting to utterly ignore this data.

Ok-State is essentially the most enjoyable workforce within the match, Markquis Nowell is essentially the most enjoyable participant within the match, Keyontae Johnson is the very best story of the match, they usually had been saving this swaggy as fuck play-call all yr lengthy, simply ready for the right second. This is my reality.

Pre-meditated or not, this was an all-time March second from a participant on an all-time March run.

3. Hometown children

Thursday was a incredible night time for lots of issues, none extra so than star gamers returning to their hometowns, burying game-winners, after which letting everybody each in attendance and watching from dwelling know whose metropolis it’s.

First up, Markquis Nowell, the person whose Twitter deal with is @MrNewYorkCityy and who would really like everybody to know that he calls the Big Apple dwelling.

Next up, Julian Strawther, who was born in Las Vegas and performed his highschool ball at Liberty in close by Henderson, NV. After burying the shot that will finally sink UCLA’s season, Strawther additionally needed the basketball world to be aware of the truth that the occasion which simply occurred had taken place within the metropolis which he calls dwelling.

If there’s a Louisville or a Kansas City native taking the ground of their dwelling metropolis on Friday night time, their workforce might be the one you must be wagering on.

1. Uros Plavsic’s flagrant foul

The dirtiest play of Thursday night time got here from Tennessee’s Uros Plavsic, who’s actually fortunate that he wasn’t ejected for this.

Not solely was the forearm an affordable transfer, it was dumb. Tennessee trailed by simply 4 on the time (though the three-point shot that was within the air would finally rip via the online), and there was solely 7:33 to play. The offensively-inept Volunteers may ill-afford to only give factors away to the Owls at this juncture, and Plavsic did simply that.

2. The Big Ten

While we nonetheless have a shot at our first West Coast champion since 1997, Michigan State’s loss to Kansas State signifies that the Big Ten’s streak of title futility will prolong into a minimum of its twenty fourth yr subsequent season.

But it’s extra than simply the shortage of nationwide championships for the league at this level.

The Big Ten has obtained extra bids than every other convention in every of the final three NCAA tournaments. With these 26 complete bids, the convention has produced zero Final Four groups and only one regional finalist. The convention has put 17 groups within the subject the final two seasons and hasn’t had a single workforce play within the Elite Eight.

The metrics will possible proceed to inform us that the Big Ten is likely one of the two finest conferences in school basketball subsequent season, but it surely’s getting tougher and tougher to belief any of the league’s prime performers on the game’s greatest stage.

3. UConn’s Vegas lodge

No workforce within the NCAA match is enjoying in addition to the UConn Huskies proper now, however that doesn’t imply that Danny Hurley’s workforce hasn’t been met with some adversity in Las Vegas.

The workforce was set to examine into the Luxor lodge on Tuesday, the lodge booked for the workforce by the NCAA, however gamers rapidly complained that their rooms have been riddled with “dirt, vomit, and worse.”

The workforce bailed on the lodge and was fortunately capable of finding new lodging. While athletic director David Benedict mentioned the varsity “didn’t want to make a big deal” out of the scenario, UConn followers rapidly started to accuse the NCAA of making an attempt to sabotage the Huskies.

Thankfully, the scenario didn’t seem to have any form of unfavorable have an effect on on the Huskies’ play Thursday night time.

Drew Timme, Gonzaga

UCLA had no reply for the Gonzaga massive man, who went nuts to the tune of 36 factors (essentially the most for any participant on this match to date) and 13 rebounds. With the efficiency, Timme went from twenty fourth to tied with Austin Carr for eleventh on the all-time NCAA match scoring checklist.

Markquis Nowell, Kansas State

The man who has taken this match by storm put forth one more murals, scoring 20 factors, handing out a match document 19 assists, and recording 5 steals in Kansas State’s extra time win over Michigan State.

Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA

In what was possible his closing efficiency as a Bruin, the Pac-12 Player of the Year practically willed UCLA into the Elite Eight, scoring 29 factors, grabbing 11 rebounds, recording three steals and meting out three assists.

Jordan Hawkins, UConn

He solely needed to play 28 minutes due to his workforce’s complete effort in opposition to Arkansas, however Hawkins buried three triples and all 9 of his free-throw makes an attempt on his approach to a game-high 24 factors.

A.J. Hoggard, Michigan State

Hoggard did every part he may to maintain Sparty’s season alive, scoring a game-high 25 factors and recording a team-high six assists.

Keyontae Johnson, Kansas State

Sure, let’s see it once more.

1. The Markquis Nowell match

Sometimes this match could be so magical that it could possibly get the entire nation speaking a couple of man they didn’t know existed three weeks earlier. The entire nation is speaking about Markquis Nowell.

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

2. Owl energy

Florida Atlantic, which had been to only one NCAA match earlier than this yr and by no means received an NCAA match recreation, is only one win away from the Final Four.

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

3. Timme time

The man you both love or hate isn’t carried out but.

Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

1. “I’m just really, really thankful I get to yell at them in practice one more day. We just get to spend another day and dap each other up, all little things that really matter. I’m just so thankful for that.” —Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang

2. “If people have a problem with that, they can go … go somewhere else.” —Drew Timme resisting the urge to swear on stay TV for the second time in every week.

3. “My opening statement is it took 33 minutes to get me in here, which is ridiculous.” —UCLA head coach Mick Cronin

Let’s do that once more. Bring snacks. Maybe a scorching dip or one thing.